Post Baby Date Nights

Having babies is a huge lifestyle change (duh), and as wonderful as every second of being a parent is, we would be lying if we said we didn't miss our weekly date nights or sleeping as late as we wanted to on a Saturday. Sleeping in, what's that??

While sleeping in may be a thing of the past, we have managed to create the new version of "date night", and it's been so good for us. I lay Preston down to sleep in the early evening, and as soon as I do, it's date night. This doesn't happen every night- Parker may have to work late, I may meet the girls for dinner, etc- but when it does happen, it ends up being some of our favorite hours of the week. 

We pick out some delicious meat for Parker to grill, I whip up a few sides, and we pour a glass of wine from our boxed wine (keeping it classy over here). We turn on some easy listening music and snack on an appetizer while we talk about our day and cook our meal. We don't get on our phones, and we don't turn the TV on. It is pure bliss!

The hardest part for Parker when we had baby Preston was giving up our independence, flexibility, and the loss of date night. That all just comes with the territory of having a newborn, but the minute we put our baby on a schedule and he went to bed early, Parker and I suddenly had something to look forward to. We got "us time" back. I've said a few times on this blog that Parker and I struggled a lot with coparenting in the beginning, and I want to go more in detail on that in another post because I think it's something a lot of new parents can relate to. I can see now that a lot of that struggling was just because we didn't have any time as a couple anymore. One of the best things we've done for our marriage is put our sweet baby to bed early and turn the evenings into intentional, couple time. 

Another reason we are savoring this time is because we know, like everything, this is a season, and we won't get these "date nights in" much longer. Once Preston starts eating table food consistently, we will eat dinner together as a family, and he will stay up a little later. That will be so much fun, but we aren't rushing it. For now, we are loving time alone just the two of us and savoring this short, sweet season we are in. 

Date night doesn't have to be a 5 star restaurant and a night on the town. If you're new parents, put that precious baby to bed, cook something fun together, pour a glass of wine, and voila... date night. :)