A vacation...even though it was just one night, it was much needed. Rick had a 2 day conference in Orlando at the Marriott and I decided to go with him...without any kids. Yes, even the 4 month old. I had not yet left her for more than about 3 hours. I am still breastfeeding and was worried about how she would do. I almost chickened out about 3 or 4 times before we left. My mother-in-law (Lynda) offered to keep her along with my other 3 kids (bless her soul). She is always such a good sport about keeping the kids.
So, I left her early Thursday morning giving Lynda all the instuctions, tips, advice, worries, concerns, etc. that she didn't need to hear but that made me feel better about leaving the baby for a night. I kept saying it was for two days while Rick insisted it was just over 24 hours...he had no worries whatsoever and was ready to hit the road leaving all behind in our dust.
We got there about lunch time and Rick headed to his meetings for the next 5 hours. So, there I was...all alone. It doesn't happen very often...especially away from home in a nice hotel...with an amazing pool (did I mention the lazy river??). I almost didn't know what to do by myself. Sometimes it's easier to have a kid on your hip. After a while you feel lost without one! But I knew I needed this time alone and was very excited about it. After getting something to eat and then pumping out some breast milk, I was ready to hit the pool...
Can I just mention that I was telling Rick we needed to somehow save all the breastmilk I pumped so I could take it home to use for the baby (I hate pumping at home). He thought that was a dumb idea and too much trouble. I assured him that breastmilk was comparable to gold and we weren't about to pour it down the sink! So, every so often I would stroll down the hall to the ice machine and fill up the little ice holder and put my little bags of milk in it...brilliant I thought. And it worked great. I even had a large zip lock bag that I used to put all the little bags of milk in and filled the whole thing with ice and then put that inside another bag to take on the car ride home. Rick was sure this was a bad idea and that the ice would melt and leak everywhere...he was right. However, the milk stayed cold and now I have a respectable amount of milk in the freezer. Wow, prior to kids I never would have thought I would be so excited about something like this.
Back to my vacation...the pool was amazing. It felt so good to just have no where to go and nothing to do but read my book and get a tan. I silently laughed at the other mom's being dragged into the pool by there kids. Not me, I got in the pool when I wanted to and had no one to rub lotion on and no one to interrupt me...nice. Rick and I went out to eat that night and did a little shopping at the outlet malls. The next morning I went out to the pool again and we headed home after lunch. I'm so glad I got that little break. I must say that I did miss the baby...I'm use to being away from the other kids for 2 days...but not her yet. And she was so cute when I got home, she wouldn't take her eyes off of me. I guess she didn't want me sneaking off again.
