Married to Ginger: happy birthday to me

You may remember from my forgotten 30 by 30 bucket list (that flew out the window once I learned I was pregnant) that I had planned to turned 30 in Paris. If it wasn't for Charlie, I definitely would have been in Paris on February 25th. I'm not mad at Charlie for putting a wrench in my plans, but it did leave me with a pretty grim outlook on the big day.

Instead of Paris, I had plans to go to the spa, and Jon offered to cook me a delicious dinner. With a 2-month-old at home, that sounded like just the right amount of celebration. Quite honestly, we couldn't really come up with anything better...or so I thought. It was a pretty big production just to leave the house for a few hours that morning to head to the spa, and I knew we weren't quite ready to leave Charlie with a babysitter - more for the sitter's sake than ours. It's hard to ask someone to watch your baby when he is still too little to be in any kind of routine. And even though he does take a bottle, he still just wants his mama sometimes...errr, all the time.

My first surprise of the day was Jon making me breakfast that morning. It was no ordinary breakfast. He made homemade waffles complete with freshly whipped cream and berry compote. It was delicious, and I was appropriately impressed. My time at the spa was equally wonderful, and I even got to do a little shopping afterward since Dad assured me Charlie was fast asleep at home.

Things turned a bit strange when I got home. I wanted to take a shower, but Jon insisted that I open my presents first. I protested (I didn't want to look like a hot mess in any birthday photos), but he won. I thought maybe he had something up his sleeve, but after opening all the gifts, nothing had materialized (although it should be noted that I loved everything I opened!). After the presents were opened, Jon immediately suggested I should go shower now. Again, quite strange since he had told me to delay the shower earlier.

Once I came upstairs, he announced that there was another gift. I opened the bag (it was in a baby gift bag) and inside was a weekender bag that I already owned. Hmmmm. That's weird. I was quite confused, BUT, inside the bag was a note telling me to pack my bag because we were going to enjoy an overnight stay and private dinner for three at a mystery location. Squeeeee! I was so shocked. I really didn't think Jon had anything planned. He's not the greatest at pulling off surprises. And by not the greatest, I mean he's pretty terrible at surprising me.

Now I was in a hurry so I hopped in the shower, got ready, threw some things in my bag and quickly got everything packed for Charlie. We hopped in the car and I caught up on birthday phone calls while Jon drove us toward DC. We ended up at the Jefferson hotel near the White House in downtown DC. It wasn't quite Paris, but as Jon pointed out, it was a hotel named after a famous Francophile. :)

Not only had Jon booked a lovely suite complete with a travel crib for Charlie, but he had talked the fancy schmancy hotel restaurant into serving us a private dinner in the sitting room of our suite. The table was already set and there were fresh flowers in the room. It was all so lovely, and I was completely blown away. It never would have worked to bring Charlie to a fancy restaurant so Jon brought the restaurant to us. It felt like a true night out - I even did my hair, put on makeup and enjoyed a glass (or two!) of wine. The food was divine, but my favorite part was sharing it all with my two favorite boys. I felt very loved.

After a good night's sleep for all, we ordered room service breakfast the next day. As a little kid, I thought room service was SO fancy, and it's still one of my favorite guilty pleasures. There is just something wonderfully luxurious about hotel robes, slippers and room service.

Even though we were just a few miles from home, it felt like I was world's away. It was such a nice retreat and a really great 30th birthday.