Now that Colter is here, keeping up with regular dates has crept near the top of our priority list. Not that it wasn't important before, but it was easy. We could go out whenever we wanted, never worrying about finding a sitter, whether traffic is bad going downtown, or whether we had enough energy to have meaningful conversation. Sometimes the thought of making it happen each week feels overwhelming, but we've found that if it's a priority, we can make it happen. We went through a date slump where we weren't going out or doing at home dates for a month or so, but we have recently made a renewed commitment and I already notice a difference. As easy as it is to solely focus on parenting Colter, we have to remind ourselves again and again that our relationship is the most important relationship on earth and deserves some serious attention and prioritization.
Lately, most of our dates are "at home" dates, with the occasional night out when we get a sitter or the grandparents are in town. Before Colter was born, I discovered an amazing website with tons of creative ideas for free. She doesn't really post anymore, but I have loved all of the dates she has done. Last Christmas, I gave Ben the gift of 12 preplanned dates, one for each month. I definitely haven't gotten through all of them, but I think we've done 8 or 9 of them and each one has been amazing. They are kind of cheesy, and Ben is a good sport about appreciating the little details.
Last night was VIP movie night. You can see her date here. I used a lot of the left over decorations from my golden birthday party, bought a $1 rectangle table cloth for the red carpet, and made and printed most of the signs.
I bought the popcorn containers from the dollar bin at Target, and picked up the snacks at the gas station on my way home.
I did splurge on the hollywood sign, $4 at the party store, but I thought it really made the whole VIP thing seem more legit.
I rented pirates because Ben has been wanting to see it for a while and I was SO stoked to see his face when I told him I rented a movie he actually wants to see.
I heard him pull up in the driveway, so I turned on the "clubbin" station from pandora (who knew that even existed!) and made him work the red carpet when he came in. He was pretty bashful, (probably shocked), but he did give me some serious VIP looks.
We had a blast and in total, it was around $9 for everything. Everything did not go perfectly- Colter apparently really wanted to hang out with us and it took over an hour to get him to sleep, and miss snoozer over here couldn't make it past 9:30 so we'll have to continue the movie tonight, but it was absolutely wonderful spending time with my man.
