A Refreshed Soul

I know the title sounds a little cheesy, but this is exactly how I feel tonight. My soul has been refreshed! After finding out that our babysitters don't need to be cleared through CPS, I was excited to plan a date night. Matt's cousins offered to watch the kids, and we jumped at the chance to go out. However, as it got closer, I started to wonder if we were going to have to cancel. Alex has been dealing with a food intolerance, but we can't figure out which food is giving him trouble (we just cut milk, hoping that works). That food intolerance created very messy diapers which created a horrible diaper rash. Jake wasn't handling his formula well, so we've been trying out new options. CJ has been acting out a little, which encourages Alex to act out too.

Yesterday was rough! Never mind the toxic diapers we were changing, the kids were acting out of control. Matt and I were not our best selves yesterday. As we went to bed, I asked him if we should just cancel. As frustrated as we were, we did not want anyone else do deal with the craziness of our kids. We decided to wait until today to make a final call. We figured that maybe they just needed a good night's rest.

Things were still a little iffy today, but we had already made a reservation at a foot spa. We decided to go to our appointment (which was amazing) and then see how the kids were doing. Thankfully, they were behaving well, so we continued on to dinner... a dinner that was not interrupted by kids asking for more noodles, or complaining about the meal, or throwing food at the dog.

As we got in our car to head home, we were a new couple. We were relaxed, which may have been due to the glass of wine we enjoyed with our meal. We were excited to see the kids and they were excited to see us. We had a great night as a family!

We've always known the value in time spent as a couple, but lately we haven't had the time or energy to go out. Three kids has been more of an adjustment than I was ready for. We've had great days and we've had terrible days. While it was hard to carve out time to go on a date, this was when we needed it the most. We will be better about date nights in the future, even if it is only once per month. We are better parents when we are able to spend a little time away from our kids. We love them, but we also know that our family will function much better when our marriage is strong.