Man, I feel like a woman!

This past Saturday, Joe and I went out to dinner for the first time in over half a year.  Yep. It’s been that long since we’ve had a date night.  Ridiculous, indeed, but it’s been a pretty busy six months.  Marlo was born, we moved to Orange County, Joe started a new job, and we bought a new house.  Date night was not really on the “to do” list.  Not to mention Marlo has never taken a bottle and will only breastfeed so that has made leaving her with anyone very difficult.

Luckily, we got both kids to sleep on Saturday night and we were staying at my mom’s house so we had a great babysitter on site.  We weren’t even prepared for an evening out.  Joe suggested we eat at Lukshon, one of our favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, and I said we didn’t have clothes to go there.   Joe brought me to my senses by saying, “Who cares?” and we were off!  Joe was wearing the clothes he had worn all day with a day’s growth on his face and I put on a pair of jeans that had a spit up stain on them. 

Here is a picture of us before we left my mom’s house.

The night was great!  We had adult conversation without talking over Dora the Explorer and I got to wear my hair down.  My long hair that is always in a ponytail so Marlo won’t grab at it, was down for the evening…I felt like a sexy woman again!  It didn’t matter that my jeans had spit up stains or that I was wearing nursing pads.  And it became so apparent that Joe and I need to do this more often.  We need to find time for ourselves as a couple.  We’re pretty good about visiting our family and friends.  And, of course, Liam and Marlo are our priorities, but we haven’t put much time into our marriage.  We did go away for a wine tasting weekend in May, but we brought Marlo. It’s different when you don’t have the kids and the whole parenting responsibility is not there.

I guess it’s easy to put your relationship with your spouse on the back burner. I’m not sure why?  And Joe and I always have a good time together so evenings at home after the kids have gone to sleep are nice and relaxing.  But we deserve a night out every once in a while!  And I deserve to feel like a woman and not always a mom in sweatpants…so pathetic.  And really, in addition to the kids, Joe is the most important person in my life.  There is no reason for putting our time together on the back burner.  I am not sure how to make sure we get this time together though.  I feel like we need some structure so we can commit.  We can’t let another 6 months go by without having some wife & husband time.

Anyone have any suggestions?  Do scheduled date nights or date lunches work?  What’s realistic with two young kids?