Making time for dates!

One of my awesome friends, Lauren, decided to take the 52 dates challenge and has done an amazing job blogging about it and sharing great date ideas! She she has a young baby and a three year old and is still managing to make time for her husband -- such an inspiration to me! I asked her to share a little about her experience, as well as some links for creative date ideas. I hope her ideas will inspire you as they did me to make more time for my husband!

Quality time with my husband? Let me think… I think we were in the same room last night when we were bathing the kids. We definitely ate dinner at the same time on Thursday night, but I'm not sure that counts since I had to get up to put our toddler in time out, and my husband was bouncing our youngest baby in his arms. Nah, that probably isn't considered quality time.

These were my thoughts back in May of this year. Do they sound familiar? We needed to regroup. We needed quality time. Conversations in the car over the clamor of kids praise songs and toddler chatter were not enough. We needed to date again.

I scoured the internet for ideas, took a few from here, there, and everywhere, and combined them for a 52 date challenge. I excitedly pitched the idea to my husband who was a little overwhelmed at first, but then readily agreed to the challenge. I called it a challenge, because, well, when you are busy and have young children, dating is a challenge (Oh, what did we do with all of that free time before our children?)! You can read the guidelines we created here.

So far, we've been on 17 dates, and we are having the best time doing it! It has really helped our marriage grow. Marriage can be hard, and while I adore my sweet girls, having young children definitely complicates things. I sometimes refer to our household as "happy chaos." That being said, we realized that we really needed to take time out for just us again. And I encourage you to do the same thing. Satan is scary-smart and he hates marriage… he wants you to be too busy to spend time with your man. So, you have to take charge and make time.

It has made a huge difference in our lives. We have found that we really look forward to date nights. We spend a lot more time talking, laughing, and loving without all of the distractions and demands of crazy young life. We've done cheap dates, not-so-cheap dates, outdoor dates, and indoor dates. We've had laid-back nights and fun nights. And we've also failed… we've had plans fall through, sick kids, and babysitter cancellations. We have had to be creative… and sometimes have a date at home! But, the important thing is that we have tried to make dating, and quality time, a priority. And we've had a lot of fun doing it! I can't wait to finish our challenge…and hopefully start all over again next year!

I hope you try a weekly date, even if its just an evening without distractions after you tuck the kiddos in bed. What can you lose? You know that pile of laundry will still be there tomorrow (although it would be nice if it disappeared!), the dishes will wait, and no lives are hanging in the balance if you don't update your Facebook status tonight. Your darling babies will enjoy a sitter (or grandma!) for an evening. Turn off the computer, kiss your babies goodnight, and quit answering the phone. Take up the challenge. Ask your hubby out on a date…and have fun living, laughing, and loving together again.