Date Night: No Babysitter Required

My husband, David, and I started a tradition a month or two ago of making Sunday night date night. I can't tell you how healthy these have been for us! It's so easy to fall into just becoming roommates when you are parents because baby has needs and schedules and time frames that need to be met, regardless of what your needs are. By the time Ryenne Ashley goes down for bedtime, I'm already feeling like I should be going to bed too, because I know that in just a few short hours she will be awake and hungry and I'll have to be up again feeding her. Setting Sundays apart for date nights has helped me immensely because I can gear up during the day or week for a later bedtime Sunday night, and also look forward to some priceless one-on-one time with my husband.

Now the reason these date nights are "No Babysitter Required" status is because we simply wait for Ryenne's bedtime (usually around 6/6:30) and as soon as we put her down, it's date night time! Usually she gets at least a couple of solid hours of sleep then, which enables David and me to have a  good chunk of time together - just the two of us!

Up until we found out that Ryenne seems to be allergic to dairy, we were making Sundays Pizza-and-a-Movie nights, but since learning of her allergies, we've switched to Sunday Burgers-and-a-Movie night! The point of the date is not to whip up an amazing 5-star meal; the point is to enjoy one another, and we've found that one of our favorite ways of doing that is to be in the kitchen together! Most times during the week I am the one who makes dinner - which I do enjoy - but on Sundays, it's both of us together! We chose to have pizza or burgers because both of those are super fun to make together, and they have a lot of room for variety! For example, last night we did mushroom burgers, but the week before we had some delicious plain cheeseburgers.

Now, if you find that while you're in the kitchen together you are arguing about what to put in the burgers or the "right" way to do x, y, or z, then you are missing the point. The point is to enjoy one another, NOT necessarily the burgers! When I used to find myself constantly nagging my husband during dinner prep about "wouldn't it be better if..." or "you spilled this..." or "can't you do this..." then it was NOT an enjoyable date night. Seriously, keeping my mouth shut and letting him do his thing regardless of how I might do it differently always results in a much better date! And who cares if he adds way too much salt or makes a huge mess in the kitchen? All of the other 6 nights of the week I can make dinner and do things the way I like them to be done, but if he's taking over Sunday night dinner, then I'm not going to complain! And there's nothing that makes him happier than hearing how amazing his skills are at dinnertime. That smile is priceless.

We even keep clean-up relatively simple by busting out the paper plates and plastic utensils. Unromantic? Maybe to some, but we've found that washing dishes after dinner is much less romantic than paper plates and plastic utensils ;)

So, I'm intentionally refraining from making this into a "how to make burgers" kind of post because I want you two to decide how you want to do things! It's way more fun to experiment together than to follow a recipe. Here are some shots from our burger-making fun last night.

It was my pick for a movie so I chose Monsters vs. Aliens. Can you tell we're parents? haha

Something else that we do for these date nights is to bring every blanket and pillow that we own and pile it all up on the living room couch. Our couch actually pulls out into a bed so that makes things even more cozy! Remember that giddy, excited feeling you would get as a girl when you had sleepovers? Well, sleepovers with your hubby are even more fun haha

Note: Once in a while Ryenne will wake up an hour into our date night - but when that happens, I just go in, feed her, and then I'm back out again in just 5 minutes. Don't let little interruptions like that get you down :) Go with the flow and remember it's a date night - which means relax, enjoy, and make memories!