babymoon #1

It's been an eventful and exhausting past 8 months (something I've mentioned often so you've probably seen this list before:)—the 3-month country-wide job search for my husband, moving out of our apartment in Southern CT, putting our stuff in storage, living with my mother-in-law for 2+ months while we spent our summer frantically searching for a house and doing paperwork, moving into said house in a new state, taking on a never-ending list of house projects….oh, and getting pregnant. On top of it we've had plans every single free moment and weekend since we've moved into our house (so not like us). 

Needless to say, we are a bit exhausted! This is quite the contrast to the lifestyle we were so used to living before this all began—endless nights to ourselves, romantic weekend getaways every chance we got, big vacations a couple times a year….lots of peace, quiet, and relaxation. We were recently reminiscing about the old days (that weren't so long ago in reality) and immediately knew we needed a healthy dose of that right now in order to make our way through all this chaos. We had originally planned to do this on our anniversary weekend, but wouldn't you know…we had plans (unrelated to our anniversary!)….and we had plans the next weekend too…ahhh! But, finally this past weekend we enjoyed babymoon #1 (I'm hoping for a couple more before the baby arrives). It was heavenly and just what we needed…….

We spent the first night at our usual spot (Alex's family owns this lovely inn where we got married). It's always so cozy, warm and relaxed at the Stowehof. We had a long dinner by one fireplace and fell asleep by another fireplace…so nice.

Then we decided to splurge (since it's been so long since we've done anything like this) and stay at this brand new monstrosity on Stowe Mountain….

Total opposite of the night before, but equally enjoyable. This place is not exactly warm and homey like the Stowehof, but it certainly makes you feel pampered! I was also a big fan of the eco-consciousness of this hotel—while disgustingly enormous and modern (we had an electric fireplace instead of a real one), they use all natural cleaning products, provide organic sheets, towels and bath products and have energy-saving devices everywhere you look.

They also have the most insane pool I've ever seen! It's outdoor, but used year-round—heated to 90 degrees in the colder months and 86 during the summer.

You climb into the water indoors then swim out into the pool through this little flap (below). Crazy!

One of the other reasons we wanted to try this hotel was the food. I had been wanting to try their restaurant for years….but, it was entirely disappointing. I barely chocked down a few bites of the fancy risotto I ordered before calling it quits, heading back to the room and ordering a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off the kid's menu with a glass of milk and warm cookies. I haven't been a milk drinker in over 10 years nor do I ever eat peanut butter, but it was the most satisfying meal I've had since I've been pregnant. Gotta love cravings!

Who needs champagne on a romantic getaway when you can throw back some ice cold skim instead?

Sort of an aside, but my belly looked especially pregnant this weekend (please excuse the horrible lighting/pictures).

I know this is super blurry and poor quality, but it shocked me when I saw it. This baby is really starting to grow!