To parents new and old: When someone offers to babysit or agrees to babysit—get your asses out of the house and go somewhere together. I don’t care if it’s out to dinner, to a concert, for a cup of coffee, or to McDonalds for a Big Mac (that actually sounds amazing 🤣)… just go out! With each other. By yourselves.

Look at each other in the eyes and revel in the fact that you can speak a full sentence without breaking eye contact to see what wall your 15-month-old is now scaling. String together multiple run on sentences with glee, free from worrying about hearing “Excuse me, Mom! Mom? Mom? Mom, I said excuse me!” in order to see your 3-year-old’s latest dance move.

Eat everything on your own plate without cute chubby toddler fingers stealing your fries. Be proud of your brain and it’s ability to think of things to talk about that have nothing to do with colds or teeth coming in or figuring out what kindergarten to go to next year.

Enjoy dreaming together about where you might wanna go for your first ever “no kids” trip. Talk about what features your “forever home” might have. Laugh so hard your stomach hurts. Get dessert before dinner. Hold hands across the table then laugh at how weird you both are. Remind yourselves why you love each other and what all this hard work is for. Have fun together.

Seriously—prioritize dating each other. I know it’s flipping hard. Colin and I drove up 2.5 hours to his parents in Vermont for the weekend so we could sneak out for a date tonight. Do what you have to do. Drive around and listen to music if you can afford a dinner out. Go for a walk. Do something new and exciting. Budget for it. We give so much of ourselves to our children, let’s try to save a little for each other.

Try and get date night closer to the top of your list. It’s worth it. We know that. This is just a reminder. 😘