Date Night

JD and I went on our first real date since Beatrice was born on Friday night. JD pulled out all the stops and made reservations at a nice restaurant, lined up a babysitter and told me what time to be ready. I pulled a triple whammy and wore fabulous shoes, real makeup and showed a respectable amount of cleavage for my man. It was a lot of fun being on an actual date. We talked about our future, we caught up on the happenings of our lives and we barely talked about Beatrice. We even flirted a little. There may or may not have been some sloppy kissing in the car before he dropped me off (aka parked the car and walked in the house together to relieve his parents from babysitting).

We've actually done pretty well at keeping the romance alive after having a baby. That was the one thing that I was not willing to let go with our new roles as parents. We haven't gone on many baby-less outings, but we manage to put her down early every night to have time for just us. We cuddle and talk and consider each other. As easy as it is to use each other only as diaper-change-helpers or messy-face-wipers, we really try to treat each other as spouses who are hot for each other too.

Raising a baby is an all consuming feat and sometimes cultivating a loving, passionate marriage can take the back burner. We really feel that Beatrice will benefit more by having parents that are in love and put their marriage first instead of focusing entirely on her. She is such an important part of our lives, but not the most important part. Our marriage is. After all, we were married before she came into our lives and will be married long after she has grown up and moved out. If we don't put each other first now, what will be left when she's not under our roof anymore?

We decided that we will make a real effort at going on a real date at least once a month. It makes us better parents and better spouses. And I could use more excuses for sloppy kisses in the front seat of our car. Or the back....