First trip without baby booked

The baby isn’t here yet, but I’ve just booked my first evening away from her. She’ll be approximately two months old and it will be our fourth wedding anniversary.

I received a great Groupon offer, from a hotel an hour from our home, that includes dinner for two and a night’s lodging. Two months is a bit young, but it’s only one night and it’s so close to home.

I didn’t leave River for any extended period until he was three months. Then I left him for 12 hours with a woman in Mexico, while Mark and I took a van far away to go see monarch butterflies. I didn’t mind being away from him for that period, but the conditions didn’t allow me to pump, and it was a killer on my boobs.

This trip is more likely to be 18-24 hours and it will be overnight, but we’ll probably know our sitter much better than we knew the (kind and wonderful ) woman in Mexico, we’ll be in control of the transportation, and we’ll be in easy phone contact.

Mark and I haven’t slept together in what feels like ages. He’s been complaining about the couch lately and asking when he gets to sleep in a real bed. We agreed that whoever is on baby duty at night will get the real bed after the birth, while the other sleeps on the couch with earplugs. So his only prospect for a mattress in the near term comes along with a baby that will probably be wakeful.

I’m excited to have a date on the calendar in which we’ll be able to share an evening together, share a bed, and have some time alone. I don’t even care much about the attractions in the town. I’m thinking dinner, a movie, some wine, a good night’s sleep, breakfast and perhaps a stroll. That sounds like a fantastic, and sufficient, celebration.

It may not be easy – we’ll have to find a sitter, I’ll probably be dealing with breastfeeding issues, it might be hard to leave so early. But I think it’s a good thing for us to do and I’m already looking forward to it.