Dating Your Partner

Don’t take life so seriously, you’ll never get out alive.

Nico requested a re-take as he NEVER smiles in the first 3 photos— but jokes on him, I embrace it & share it with a few hundred of my closest internet friends!⁣

One of the best things we can do as busy, stressed, parents is to not forget we are also partners. That person we are parenting alongside? We have to remember to leave enough left of ourselves to be able to give to them and in return, we need them to offer us the same. ⁣

It is so easy to let life get in the way. Just last night, after a difficult bedtime with a certain tiny person, I came out and said “THIS! This is why I’m so touched out and tired at the end of the day.”

It is so easy to let life get in the way, to let the hard moments steal the joy. To let all of our energy be pulled out of us over the course of the day. To stop focusing on the bond you have. To let your partner or yourself take a backseat.⁣

I get it. We were there.⁣

Just surviving - not thriving. Going through the motions but forgetting to LIVE in them. ⁣

We were trying to find our footing as new parents, not too long ago. I was trying to figure out who I was as a mom. He was trying to figure out who he was as a dad. Somewhere in the middle we were in there trying to figure out how those two new pieces fit back together. ⁣

And damn, it was hard. ⁣

The first year was really rough for us as new parents and as partners. In those early days as parents, I think it’s inevitable that some days and weeks and maybe even months WILL be survival mode and that’s ok. You aren’t doing it wrong if that’s where you’re at right now. Everything is new and hard and all-encompassing and sometimes even the surviving is more than you think you can do. ⁣

But we did survive and now we work on thriving, together.

A couple of Saturdays a month, we make a conscious effort to take two hours to connect and grow, together. It’s usually a dinner with friends or some activity for just the two of us. The point is that it doesn’t really matter WHAT it is or where we are as long as the focus is on us. It is a special time for us to not lose sight of our partner and to remember and celebrate the fact that we are in this together.⁣

Do you still date your spouse or partner? If your answer is no or if you’re having trouble remembering the last time you spent uninterrupted time together, make a goal together of when you will make it a priority. It’s easy to set non-structured goals or to mention in passing what you would like to do together but when you sit down and make it into a solid and reachable goal, you’ll be far more likely to attain it.

I promise you, it’ll be worth it.