The Monday Snapshot – Reconnecting Edition

Well, after my post last Friday, I’m happy to report that Charlie and I spent more time talking together this past weekend than we have in literally months!

Friday night we went to dinner together with the family (our regular Friday night tradition). It was the four of us and Charlie’s parents along with two of Charlie’s good buddies. After dinner everyone split for their respective homes, and we hung out in the living room together as a family of four. My brother was already out on the town for the night, and we enjoyed a quiet hour together with the kids before bedtime. After they went to bed, Charlie and I hung out chatting for another hour before he went to bed and I went out to meet my brother for a few drinks. That refresh time together was SO nice! 

Come Saturday morning, Charlie brought up the idea of getting a babysitter for the night so that he and I could have a dinner date together just the two of us. The first 3 babysitters I contacted were all out of town, so we decided to ask my brother if he was interested in watching the kids for us. After a quick diaper changing tutorial he was good to go, so at 5pm we headed out for dinner and left the kids in the care of Uncle Tommy for the first time ever!

We sat at the bar of our favorite restaurant in town (because you can’t do that when you’re with the kids!), ordered a drink and an appetizer, and took a selfie to commemorate the event. We started talking about it, and we literally don’t remember the last time we went to dinner together just the two of us. Last summer maybe? Sad!

30 minutes after we got to the restaurant, our best friends walked in. She is 38 weeks pregnant with their first kid and they were having a last minute date night and wanted to sit at the bar as well, so they sat down with us and we had a fun kids-free conversation for the next couple of hours. So fun!

After dinner, they headed over to the local ice cream shop, and we headed to the local distillery where there was live music and pool tables. We spent the next couple of hours people watching, having drinks, and just enjoying the shit out of each other’s company. We very rarely go out together because it’s so much easier to take turns watching the kids, but it was super fun to be out at the same time for once!

We were home by 10pm (big partiers, ha!) and in bed shortly after that. On Sunday we took the kids to church together, and then Charlie’s Mom called and asked if we could bring the kids up for the day. We brought them up at noon, and when we got back to town we decided to take a walk around the edge of town. It was a beautiful, sunny day, my foot was feeling okay, and we decided to just take it easy and go for it. 4 miles later, we had spent 90 minutes talking and talking and talking, and I know that we both felt incredibly refreshed. It’s been 3.5 years since we’ve gone on a walk with just us and the dog. You forget how fragmented and abbreviated your conversations get when there is always a 17 month and 3.5 year old interrupting and needing attention and care! We spent the afternoon chatting on the front porch with my brother and the neighbor, and by the time the kids came home at 6:30, we were ready to spend some quality time with them before bedtime for them and an episode of Mad Med in bed for us. Words cannot explain how much a weekend like that was needed in our lives!