My First Night Away From My Baby

There are many milestones in motherhood, one of those being the first time you spend a night away from your baby. Now all moms are ready for this at different points in their motherhood journey, and I was finally ready for it the weekend before last.

Like it has been for many others, 2020 has been a rough year with a lot of challenges and changes for us. One of those changes for us was moving in with my parents in rural northern Vermont. We love Vermont and my parents and we are so grateful for them welcoming us into their home with open arms. But moving in with your parents after 10 years on your own and also bringing your husband, baby, and dog, is a big change, and at times, a bit of a challenge as well.

Well, we finally got to the point where we needed some time alone and away from the house we’ve all been sharing since February. We wracked our brains for where to go that wouldn’t be too far away and would also be budget-friendly. Suddenly, I remembered that one of Jon’s old co-workers from Massachusetts had a cabin relatively near to us that she had offered if we ever wanted to stay there when she found out we were moving to Vermont. So Jon reached out and she was more than happy to let us stay there. She did, however, remind him that there was no water or electricity. But we were so ready for a night away that we still happily accepted (once I made sure there was cell service, because no way was I leaving my baby for the first time with no way to reach us if something happened).

I kept thinking of the fact that I had never been more than a room away from Jack overnight since he was born. But I knew, not only was he in good, more than capable hands, he was also in a good routine and would do well for my parents. I also knew, I really needed some time away with my husband. And, not only that, but just some time to refresh and recharge. Taking care of a toddler day in and day out is no joke (but I love it so so much)!

So we packed up all of our camping gear and our warmest clothes, said goodbye to Jack and Scout, and hit the road.

We drove up the "driveway" (more like the suggestion of a driveway) to the cabin and stepped out of our car to the most beautiful mountain view and knew it would be a great night away. We unpacked the car then decided to head into town to grab some lunch and see where the day took us.

We looked at several places to grab lunch and finally settled on a local diner because I was craving a turkey club.

Funny story about getting lunch at this diner: we were standing outside looking at the menu when a man in the window above us saw Jon and made a crazy, wide-eyed face like he knew him and was very excited to see him. So we politely waved thinking he mistook us for someone else but would realize we didn't know him. But the man continued to look at Jon like he wanted Jon to recognize him. We finally decided to go in and were waiting to order our food to go when the waitress came over and asked Jon if he was trying to find his dad, to which he answered no. But it made much more sense why that man was looking at him the way he did.

After ordering our food we left the restaurant and as we were leaving we saw a young man, maybe a little younger than us, heading into the diner, who must have been the man’s son! While he was also wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and a hat, his hair was much longer than Jon’s and they really didn’t look much alike, but I guess it's hard to tell with masks on (#2020). We giggled over the situation and pondered what this father-son relationship was. Were they estranged? Had they not seen each other in many months? Did his father think he just decided to bring some random girl with him? What was their story?! I guess we'll never know. But it certainly entertained us.

While we waited for our food we decided to go to a candy shop we’d seen just down the road. We were very impressed with their cleanliness and they had clean scoops and used scoops to put the candy in your bag. Jon went with his usual brightly colored candy like spree, runts, skittles, and jelly beans, and I went for my usual of chocolates and caramels. (Fun fact: I much prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate since having Jack). Yum! We filled our bags, probably more than we should have, and while I checked out with our candy, Jon went to get our food, and then I drove over to get him from the diner.

After filling up with gas we drove to find a picturesque place to see the mountains and foliage while we ate our lunch. We went to a place in Barnet we had been before and fallen in love with the view. We enjoyed our lunch then decided to go for a drive and enjoy more views and the beautiful foliage before going back to our cabin. I even took a little nap in the car!

We finally got back to the cabin and decided to make a fire and settle in for the night. It was pretty chilly for awhile, but Jon got the old antique wood stove going and within a couple of hours it was pretty toasty!

We weren’t hungry because we ate lunch so late (and probably a little too much candy), so we just cozied up on the couch and talked, which was so nice. Finally, we got a little hungry, so I made dinner of my honey chicken and Annie’s White Cheddar Mac n Cheese on our camp stove and we ate a late dinner by candle and lantern light.

It was so strange not to feed Jack dinner, give him his bath, or put him to bed. But we got plenty of updates and pictures from my mom and sister. Turns out my sister brought my grandmother over too, so Jack had three generations taking care of him and doting on him.

Another thing I had to take into consideration regarding a night away was that I am still nursing Jack. So how does one pump in a cabin with no water or electricity and a pump that needs to plug in? I pumped in the car using our inverter! Then I would store my milk in milk storage bags on ice, heat up water on the camp stove, and wash my pump parts with nice hot water and soap. There’s always a way to make it work! But it was strange not nursing Jack like I normally do.

The next morning we enjoyed laying in bed as long as we wanted since we didn’t have to go get a baby out of his crib (turns out he slept until 9 anyways). Then went out to the car for me to pump and enjoy some pumpkin bread I’d made the day before for our breakfast. Then we just laid on the couch, read, and enjoyed the quiet.

Finally, we decided to start packing up our things and cleaning the cabin since we had one more stop to make before heading home to our baby. We took a few more pictures to commemorate our night away then said goodbye to the cabin and drove away.

My sister had a coupon for a free peck of apples at an orchard nearby that we had gone to as a family a few weeks earlier, so Jon and I drove the 2 1/2 miles there. Burtt’s Apple Orchard has a game where they hide a golden wooden apple and you can win free things, so of course we looked for that first, probably longer than we should admit, and unsuccessfully. Then it was time to pick our peck! A lot of the apples had been picked out, but we found some super yummy golden delicious and the reddest, juiciest, sweetest honey crisp apples! As we were heading to the barn to pay for our apples and get hot apple cider and the most scrumptious cider donuts, we saw so many young families with babies arriving and were ready to get back to our baby. So we paid for our snacks, gave the coupon for our apples, and hit the road!

Jack had woken up from his nap right before we got home. But he perked right up with a big smile as we walked through the door. It felt amazing to have my baby back in my arms again and we both couldn’t be happier!

While it was hard to be away from our baby for a night, it was so worth it to spend some time alone with my husband to reconnect and refresh. As moms it is so easy to only take care of your baby, but I'm slowly learning how important it is to take care of yourself too.

I'd love to hear about your first time being away from your baby and other things you do to take care of yourself as a mom in the comments below!