For Christmas one of my gifts from my husband was a night at a hotel alone. Not the two of us alone – just me. Doing whatever I want whenever I want, eating my favorite foods without having to share, and sleeping through the night without a single interruption. It was the perfect gift for this mom of young kids and since this would make an amazing Mother’s Day gift, I thought this would be a great time to share my experience.

A night alone might sound like a terribly strange gift, but I bet if you have babies or toddlers, you understand. My youngest was 7 months old at the time and wasn’t sleeping through the night. (And sadly still isn’t.) And my 3 year old was in a bit of a destructive phase where he couldn’t be trusted to be out of my sight. So a night completely alone sounded like heaven.

And it was – though there were a few hiccups along the way.

I didn’t travel to anywhere interesting or do anything fancy – I just found a good deal on a nice local hotel, packed a bag (and my breast pump), and left that evening when my husband got home from work. I picked up some of my favorite takeout and then settled in for the night. I didn’t do anything special – mostly I just munched on my favorite snacks and enjoyed some trashy TV. It was pure bliss. Not a single interruption to go help someone on the potty or pick up a crying baby. No long bedtime routines to perform. And all of my stuff stayed exactly where I put it.

The only problems were breastfeeding related. My wonderful night of sleep wasn’t interrupted by a baby crying, but was sadly interrupted by my own body. I pumped right before going to bed but still woke up before six very uncomfortable. So sleeping in didn’t exactly work out the way I had hoped, but I did still get to wake up on my own which was an improvement.

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The second part of the problem was my baby had decided this was the perfect time for a bottle strike. When I called home that morning to check in, my poor husband had hardly slept and the baby had hardly drunk anything. The plan was for me to have the rest of the day to myself, but there was no way I could enjoy my day with my baby at home hungry and miserable. So I swung home and nursed him before heading out for the day. It actually worked out well because I was also able to drop off the milk I had pumped. I had placed it in an insulated bag full of ice from the hotel, but it was still nice to not have to worry about it.

After that brief visit home, I spent the next few hours browsing in local antique stores. I love looking for great vintage stuff for our home but never go there with kids – way too many things that can break. Then I headed home for a nice dinner out with the family.

Even though things didn’t work out exactly the way I imagined, it was still one of the best gifts I have received in a long time.