Mom's Night Off

On Monday, I checked into a hotel about 15 minutes from my house for a little R&R. I picked up dinner first (hibachi chicken and steak... one of my favorites this pregnancy!) and, after driving to the wrong hotel by the same name first, I pulled up to the correct one. I was pleased to find that it had been newly renovated and felt much more luxurious than the 2.5 stars it was labeled at on Priceline. I spent the evening watching trash tv, coloring in my grown up coloring book, eating junk, and making my feet soft. I slept a full 8 hours with no interruptions in a very dark room and woke up refreshed. I had breakfast (the only bad part of the whole experience- their breakfast was pretty lame) in bed while I watched more trash tv. Then I took a bath while I read a magazine, checked out, and went to get a hair cut. I still got home in time to join Steven and Felicity for story time at the library.

I can't even say how relaxing and enjoyable that 16 hours was! Motherhood has been a lot of amazing things for me, but I have spent the majority of the last 2 years feeling pretty touched out. My love language is physical touch, but it has nothing on my sweet girl's need for constant touch and cuddles! Add to that the fact that she's a huge mama's girl and you've got one touched out Stacy. (Side note: my mom's love language, by my guess, is not physical touch (my guess is words of affirmation) and I was this way as a kid. Sorry, mom!!!) I had been telling Steven I wanted a night away for a month or 2 and, love him, he hadn't really done anything about it. So I decided to take things into my own hands and plan/book it. Well, I got all the way to the point of clicking "confirm" and chickened out. What if I missed her too much? What if I regretted spending the money? What if I didn't have fun? So I was kind of kicking myself but just figured I'd go get a pedicure or something. Thankfully I have a friend who decided to fund the evening and wouldn't take no for an answer. Since she was paying, I couldn't say no. And didn't really want to besides feeling guilty about taking her money! So I booked and I'm so, so glad I did! I told Steven this might need to be a yearly thing. I still feel so much more refreshed, recharged, and more loving towards both my child and husband. After I got home yesterday and Felicity was down for a nap, I cuddled up to Steven on the couch. He immediately noted that was unusual and pleasant. Pre-Felicity, I cuddled up to him any chance I got. Post-Felicity, I'm cuddled out and don't even want the cat touching me when Felicity is asleep. So it was not only good for me, but good for my marriage and my relationship with my daughter. Win, win! I figured an additional win was that it was practice for both Felicity and myself to be away from each other in the hospital. Well, not a total win because Felicity kept insisting to Steven that "mama go have baby" after I left, haha. But she did splendidly, of course, with her daddy and I think will do just as well with her grandparents when the time comes. And I'm feeling pretty officially ready for baby #2 to join us in a few weeks :).

 Trash tv exhibit A 

Trash tv exhibit B