Brian and I were finding that we were literally never having date nights. Sometimes I would just burst saying "I have GOT to be taken out on a date -its an EMERGENCY!!" I would start to totally lose any sense of being a wife - and just got into the mom mode - where you mismatch all day, don't brush your teeth until noon, and don't really do your hair. SICKENING! I could feel things going downhill.Then a girl in our ward suggested we do a babysitting co-op. We have 4 families - and each family has 1 week of the month to watch EVERYONE'S kids. We have 9 kids on that day. (The babies under 1 do not come - they stay with mom and dad). It is sure awful on the day you have to watch the kids, but it sure pays off to have THREE DAY NIGHTS during the month where you don't have to worry about lining up a babysitter, paying them, giving instructions, or feeling like its too much hassel to plan everything and then not doing it. We have set times 6 to 10 pm every Saturday night.
We have also found that pizzas from Aldi - the 89 cent ones - are perfect for this crowd. We go through two of them. Pretzels and popcorn are also a must.
Well, this past Saturday was our 3rd night, and it was hilarious because the kids all started dropping like flies because they were tired starting at 8:30. We had 2 kids per bunk with the bunk beds, plus a pack and play, we had kids sleeping in the living room, one on our bed, and one resting in the family room. All but 3 were asleep when the parents came! Brian and I looked at each other and agreed that this was our easiest one yet.
And then on those three weeks in a row - our goal is to do a NEW restaurant for one of the nights, a movie for one of the nights, and our "walking date" for one of the nights - where we just walk and talk and wander downtown homewood - maybe getting coldstone or some chocolates or walking to the videostore and getting something.
This CO-OP is REALLY good for me - gives me something to look forward to during the monotony of changing diapers, making food, doing dishes, and doing time outs!
3 comments:
Whwat a great idea! I good definitely use some more date nights in my life as well. And as long as we're discussing our dental hygiene, I haven't brushed my teeth yet today and it's 1:45!
Sounds great! There are a lot of babysitting co-ops around here, but we have declined to be in one for now. I get kind of exhausted going out so much, and it seems that the co-op people are always having to back out of things because of scheduling problems. We like to be flexible. But it sure would be nice to have a planned date so often! That is awesome.
That sounds like a dream! Good for you!
Post a Comment