Child-free weekends spent blotto

My mum has been giving us child-free weekends ever since we started breeding.  It's my standing birthday present, a weekend off whenever we like in the year and she'll move into our house to look after our kids - how awesome is that!  An opportunity to rest, relax and reconnect with Mr D away from needy offspring.

The first time we did it we left our new baby in the suburbs and went to stay in a fancy boutique hotel in the city.  It was so fancy I ordered a lavender pillow from the 'Pillow Menu' left in the bedroom!  Then I got shitfaced on wine, some gin or whiskey (I can't remember) from the mini bar and finally a Baileys in the bath. Then I fell into bed and slept like crap breathing alcohol fumes all over the fancy pillow, negating any lovely soporific effects it supposedly had.  The next day I was hungover as hell and felt quietly miserable (the niggling knowledge that I had a drinking problem was probably just a tiny spec at this point, but there nonetheless). Second night we went out to a restaurant for dinner where I probably valiantly tried to drink heaps again because That's What You Do!  When You're Out! Without Kids! Celebrating! Drink, Mrs D, Drink!

You know that kind of heavy drinking never made anything more fun.  I can see that now.

Went home more tired than before, feeling like crap and trying to make my mother believe that we'd had a wonderful break.

Another one of these weekends we went by ferry to a Island near the mainland and stayed in a Bed & Breakfast place and got hammered on wine the first night and again slept like crap .. hungover the next day ... (am I relaxing here?).

Two other weekends away with Mum left in charge I was pregnant so no chance to booze freely.  But not drinking because you're pregnant doesn't feel the same as not drinking because you choose not to drink.  I don't know why.

So this weekend just gone was the first one where I actually felt like I took full advantage of what mum was offering.  I had such fun at the wedding. There was a spell in the middle where I felt quite conspicuously sober - there was a lull in proceedings and everyone was just boozing and piss-talking which I was finding it hard to join in with. But once the sun went down it didn't matter that I was sober, I just joined in the loose talk and had a great time!

And one of the absolute highlights of the weekend for me was lying in bed with Mr D the following morning drinking cups of tea and chatting away happily for an hour or so until we had to get up and check out.  We looked out to the courtyard of our eco-motel with grass growing on the roof and the triffid cactus and talked about the wedding, his work, my studies, the kids, or whatever.  It was great!

Love, Mrs D xxx