date night!

The hubs and I rarely go out on dates together. It's a flaw and we need to go on more we just... don't. It's not that we don't get oodles of alone time together though. With little man's early bed time we're still able to get at least an hour together before our own bed time. We're both kind of homebodies anyhow and would prefer to cuddle on the couch with a movie rather than go out dancing. So it's very easy for us to skip going out altogether. As in we probably went on a total of 10 dates last year... and this year we're hoping to make it to a minimum of 12 dates (at least one a month) while still doing romantic date type things at home. (With a new one arriving in June we hope to keep this up - but already I'm kind of thinking it's going to be a challenge. But probably more needed then ever!)

It really is so important to go out. We don't have any family close by but fortunately we have a lovely family at church that little one is smitten with and luckily they offer to babysit for us every once in awhile... They happened to offer about a week ago for last night.

Well, yesterday started out a little rocky. Little love awoke with a fever of just under 100. He is cutting four of his eye teeth right now and they have been by far the worst so far. He had a small rash around his mouth and his nose may have well as been a faucet. We could just tell he wasn't himself. We really try not to give him medicine unless he is obviously unhappy and he never got to that point so we spend a majority of the day cuddling and by the late afternoon he was back to himself, mostly but still with a small fever. We debated canceling our date all day. But it had been about 2 months since our last date and we were both really, really looking forward to it. He called and Mrs. U said something like "Michael, take your wife out! We will be just fine. Don't worry" So they got here at 5 (yes, 5) and we left around 5:45.

We had a Red Lobster gift card so that's where we went... the wait was over 45 minutes so we ended up sitting in the car and chatting until our little buzzer went off. It was so nice... so, so nice. We were seated in a booth in a corner next to a family of 3 - with a daughter C's age and the wife was also expecting. So we kind of made some new friends... or at least buddies to chat with while we waited for our food. :) Anyway, after dinner we headed to Starbucks for dessert (it was much too cold for ice cream... so hot chocolate it was!). Not a crazy fancy date night or anything but it was wonderful and something we both desperately needed. We were home by 8 and still ended up cuddling on the couch while watching something on Netflix :)

It was just so refreshing being out - alone - with my husband. The opportunity to really chat without one of us being a little distracted with our toddler while we were out. Plus (as I mentioned) these teeth have been a doozie and C has been... a handful the past few days. So it was also just really nice to have someone else do dinner and bed time for just one night. Although I woke up about 5 times last night anxious for morning to be here so I could snuggle with my little man... I missed him like crazy but it was so refreshing to just have a night off. And today I felt like I was looking at him with new eyes. New appreciation for all the things he's learning, how much he's growing. If I hadn't taken a step back (a night away) I probably wouldn't have noticed all the things in the same way I noticed them today. In order for me to be a good mom - I need to make time for myself. And one of the most important things I can do is date my husband. Even if it is just one night a month...

And little C? He did great. He was crying pretty hard when we left which was more than heartbreaking... but on our way to the restaurant M got a text that he had stopped crying the moment we were out the door and he was happy playing. Sigh... what a relief! She also said he ate like a champ and fell asleep without any problems.

So glad we didn't cancel that date! :)