Couple Time Now that Baby is Here

Caring for baby & managing the household all day can leave one exhausted, with little energy for ANYTHING else. It is important, however, to stay connected with our loved-ones & not lose touch- especially with the one living under the same roof which is the one we most often take for granted. If baby has a grandparent or other relative or close friend who you can entrust to babysit for a bit, it will provide both you & your spouse a nice change of pace to go out “sans enfant” – just to grab a bite, a coffee or to catch a movie like “way back when”. You can arrange to feed the baby right before leaving & he may not even know you’re gone if he falls asleep right away. Of course when your baby is sleeping through the night, it will be even easier to get away for a few hours in the evening.

If getting a babysitter is not an option than trying to enjoy a romantic evening at home IS a possibility. You can have a movie rented, prepare dinner in advance & get some candles ready, table set nicely, have the food warming up while putting the baby to sleep, so that as soon as she falls asleep, you can have a “date night at home”. Granted you may be interrupted right after stage 1-dinner for a feed & then go to stage 2 —the movie, board game (or whatever other form of entertainment you have in mind!). It can be nice though. My husband & I always made Saturday nights our “Romantic pasta” night as we called it- we didn’t feel like we needed to get out- it was a really nice change of pace for us. The pasta was easy to prepare & cleanup, easy to digest, since we were eating after the kids went to bed & we quite enjoyed it. We still do have romantic pasta night, but sometimes vary the menu…onion soup au gratin is another good one! Of course, if you’d rather not spend the energy cooking, there’s also the option of take-out which one spouse can go out to pick up while the other feeds the baby or puts her down to sleep.