Date Night

Last night was a rare "night off" for me and Mark. The 1st one since Martha Grace was born. Mark was ill and I was tired - what we really wanted was to stay in and do nothing, without having to make bottles, wash said bottles, change nappies and pacify a Baby and a Toddler. It's been a tough 7 weeks for any couple to cope with, so we decided to celebrate that we didn't end up divorcing at the end of it we went out to a local pub for a meal.

We went to a pub called "Four Crosses" which is only down the road from ours, it was packed - and it was only after Mark had ordered and paid for the food was he warned there was a 40 minute wait for food. I appreciate being warned, but I do think it should have been before we ordered and paid so we'd have the

option of going somewhere else if we didn't want to wait - but hey ho, what can you do!!??

So we had 40 minutes to wait for food and nothing to do in the meantime. We only had each other for company. That hasn't happened for as long as I remember.

I've seen in Films and TV shows over the years when the parents go out they're not allowed to talk about the kids, I've never understood this. WHY??? Why do we need not to talk about our kids for a set amount of time when they're not with us?

They are our children. Lives we created together. Half him, Half me. They are the reason we do everything from getting up and going to work to getting off my but and putting clothes in the washing machine. I may have met Mark before we had kids and married him because I loved him - but we're at the stage in our relationship now where we are rearing children.

Having an hour's break from talking about them will not do anything for our relationship.

I completely agree that we need to remember we are a couple as well as parents, that we should give always take time and make the effort go give each other the attention we deserve. But we chose to have children so I don't understand why we should take a time out from seeing each other as the Mother/Father of our kids during date night.

Am I missing something. Does anybody else out there know something I don't about the future of relationships when the parents don't take a break from being "parents"??

GM

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On a beach a few months after we met

On our Wedding Day

At a recent Wedding