Metal Meredith

Between Vivienne and Phil

Vivienne: Where’s Daddy?
Me: I think he is in the bathroom.

--She heads toward the bathroom and I hear a door open--

Vivienne: Whatcha doin’ Daddy?
Phil: Peeing.
Vivienne: Good job, Daddy.
Phil: Thanks, Baby.
Vivienne (clapping): Great job flushing, Daddy.
Phil: Thanks, Vivienne.
Vivienne: You are a big girl!!!
Meredith (laughing hysterically): Yes Phil, you are a big girl.

I always knew Phil was a big girl, I have been telling him for years.

And I am so tired....

We left the Park Hotel (or the PH for Phil) this morning at 9am with a nice European breakfast in our tummies. We took a tram and a train to get to the plane to ride 8 hours to get on a shuttle to wait in 90 minutes in customs to drive 2 hours to get home at 7pm EST, which is 1am Amsterdam time. My god...we are so tired that I am seeing double and am dizzy from all the travel.

I won’t be doing an extensive update but feel the need to boast a little on my husband. Not only did he give me a fabulous vacation for my anniversary, while we were gone he won First Place, Eight Place and Tenth Place in the Expression Engine Web Design Shootout.

I am just so proud and Phil is so excited. If nothing else, it was a giant cherry on the sundae that was our holiday. I cannot pile the praise on high enough to show my appreciation, respect and love for my wonderful husband.

Gushing over. More updates coming as soon as we recover and lost more photos from the last three days. 

...and not Vivienne

Vivienne will be heading down to Williamsburg this Friday for her very first sleepover. Not only is this her first time staying at someone else’s house, but her first time sleeping away from Mom and Dad.

Mom is worried. Dad is a little nervous. Vivienne is ecstatic.

When Phil gave me a trip to Europe for our anniversary this year, it didn’t even cross my mind to be concerned about leaving Vivienne for a week. It wasn’t until well into the evening that I realized the logistical problems of not being here.

Luckily, we have more than 3 sets of Grandparents and family all vying for the chance to keep her overnight without my watchful, evil eye. Just considering all the packing, quirks and routines, not to mention the fact that someone will be staying in my house….seeing the real dirt that has collected in the corners and piles of stuff stashed in closets to be ‘dealt with later’, makes me incredibly nervous. After, Phil and I are dreading the reality of coming home to a kid who has eaten whatever she wants, slept whenever she felt like it (or not, which is always more of a problem) and been spoiled rotten. Such is the punishment for wanting a week off from parenting, I suppose.

I remember spending weeks with my Grandparents in Baltimore when I was a child. For whatever reason, I barely remember them going to work, only taking me to the Aquarium, Chuck-ee-Cheese’s and other ridiculous restaurants, Friendly’s for ice cream and the local mall to ride on the carousel and eat bad food court food. Those are truly some of my fondest childhood memories.

This weekend will be great as a trial run. We are hoping that Vivienne behaves and is easily amused. If so, this might be a more regular thing. Can you imagine? A weekend alone for Phil and me? I am not sure we would know what to do with ourselves. Knowing us, we will be perched on the sofa, each with a laptop, reading blogs and eating cookies. Better yet, we might finish the kitchen floor.

We are a lot of fun.

Bah Lovebug

Since my site has been lacking in updates as of late, I thought I would do a quick recap of the past few weeks:

Week of January 29th, our wall is finished and now I am stressing about doing the floor. We now have a bar at which to enjoy our meals (no more coffee table dinners, hooray), both kitchen and living room benefit from the sunlight they once hogged all to themselves, and I have cleaned the last layer of drywall dust off every piece of furniture. Now there is more painting to do, Phil has to put down baseboards and we must order the light fixture for over the bar. Luckily, we still haven’t received the bill for all this yet.

Week of February 6th, I catch Vivienne�s cold on Tuesday and feel like poo as Phil diligently works to get the office ready for the Open House on Thursday. Vivienne rolls off of her bed for the first time on Wednesday morning at 530am. I sleep through the screeching until 630am, when I get up and relieve Phil from Her Holy-Awakeness. Phil gets sick on Wednesday and we all cough and hack and feel gross until the weekend. Thursday is Suite C�s Open House. Lots of great food, more people than I thought possible to cram into the space and a few people who refer to Phil as �the Graphic guy�, which made me laugh and scowl all at once. I take Vivienne home way too late that night and she is a royal pain. Little did I know she would make me pay for this lack of sleep for the next 4 days.

Weekend starting Feb 10th, Vivienne starts to scream at school and does not stop until I come pick her up at 1045am instead of noon. There is no real reason for this outburst besides she is tired and giving a good bid for the Oscar. On Saturday and Sunday, Phil and I stay close to home because Vivienne is not only screaming, but refuses to poop, my child with the sphincter of steel. It has been 3 days and she is miserable, allowing us to share in every ridiculously grumpy mood.

Monday she stays home from school and is told she won�t be returning until she can see fit to rid herself of her backed-up-ness. She stays on the sofa all day watching Dora and not eating. At 6pm, Phil comes home and helps me administer (and I am sure you can guess where) the evil medicine that will force her to feel better. This lasts for a good 3 hours until she passes out. Phil misses his drawing class. My rank of favorite parent has been usurped by someone only known as �I want Daddy, I want Daddy, Where is Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, My Daddy?�

This is where you all say a small and quiet prayer that you weren�t me these past few weeks. I am not quite done feeling sorry for myself for not getting the proper amount of time to recover from my cold, for losing 2 days of childcare, therefore missing out on a few precious hours of freedom. It amazes me how much I can get accomplished in just 8 hours each week without my child. I have missed two trips to the post office and had to fight to keep a hair appointment. It is the little things that make weeks like these livable.

Now that the Open House has passed, Phil and I are concentrating on getting ready for our trip. We got the tickets today and looked up our hotels online. The Amsterdam hotel is a 4 star beauty on the canals (Phil tells me everything is on the canals, so it isn�t all that special) and looks lovely. The website boasts a multilingual staff, which is a good thing since words with more than 7 vowels make me a little nervous.

All in all we are excited and a little anxious about going. Although I am not a fan of Valentine�s Day, the trip is making me a little more tolerable. Of course, Saturday Night Live hit the nail on the head this past weekend with the skit about the teddy bear, �Not only is the little bear holding a heart available just about anywhere in the world, but, when used as a gift, it also shows that a man has put a lot of thought into his woman’s Valentine’s Day gift.�

I hope you get all the teddy bears holding hearts that you can handle.