Having A Social Life As a Parent. Is This Possible?

Date Nights?  I say yes.  But the must-have is a local family.  I don't have blood-relatives around, but I do have a network of folks who care for and love me just as well.  One of the things we do for each other is swap babysitting and watch each others' kids on a whim.  This works excellently for date nights because who doesn't want alone time with their spouse?  They do and I do, so we both win.

Sometimes it's on the calendar ahead of time.  Other times it's a phone call a few hours before checking to make sure the other couple didn't have plans to be out.  If they don't, then since they also have littles, they are home bound for the evening doing the routine of dinner, bath, books, bed.

We are extremely fortunate to have our "family" live within a 2-mile radius; 3 other couples.  Each family has 2 kids, and I've found that adding 2 more on occasion is less burdensome than I used to think.  They entertain each other.  We stick 'em all in the bathtub together and do pjs and books.  It's much like organized chaos an assembly line.  We've got our system down here and it's fun.

* It works well to have date nights planned out a month ahead.  We do a little calendar sesh and write it all out.  Organization is key.

Girl Time/Alone Time?  Again, yes.  Chris has conference calls for work once a week.  He works from home and is on the computer.  I enjoy using that time to take Marlow to a dog park or going to a store by myself.  It's also especially fun to meet a friend for Happy Hour or a run (one after the other is not recommended!) or a thrift store run.

In our marriage, we are happier people if we each get ourselves some quality alone time (this usually means coffee shop with a book or something of the like), friend time, and kid-free dates.  Because I am mostly home during the week, I am usually ready to get out at night or on the weekends.  (Who knew that people are still awake and out doing things past 7pm?  How exciting!)  Chris is the opposite.  He is a homebody and enjoys lounging it up and being productive around the house.  We both get our fix and it works for us.