Valentine's Day

Dave and I really don't do much for Valentine's day, but we did attend our Church's Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday night. In fact, they asked us to speak at it this year! They told us they wanted a younger couple, a middle aged couple, and an older couple to speak on marriage. I told Dave we better take them up on their offer, since we won't be the "younger couple" much longer! Ha!

It was so nice because it was at our Church and it was at 5pm, AND they offered childcare. So we could go, drop the twins off downstairs, enjoy dinner, and then pick them up and still be home at a decent hour to put them to bed. We ended up getting home close to 8pm, which is LATE for Luke and Abbey, but, we have been very attentive to their sleep needs pretty much every single night for the last 10.5 months, and they weathered it well. Unfortunately, they were still wide awake and raring to go at 6am, and just fussier than usual until their morning nap. Oh well. =).

Not only was it a wonderful dinner and a great night of fellowship, but it felt like a "shift" in our life as parents. The babies did wonderful downstairs. They know the nursery, but because the childcare was for all ages they were in a different room on Saturday. We stayed for just a few minutes to help the babies acclimate, and then left. They didn't cry or fuss when we left, and they were playing happily when we went to pick them up.

I suppose we could have been doing this kind of thing all along, but here's the thing...I don't like to leave my babies. I don't do it well.

But, it's good for me. It's good for my marriage. And, it's good for them too!

And speaking of "good for my marriage", I guess that is what's on my mind this Valentine's day...making my marriage more of a priority. These last almost 11 months have been all consuming with the twins -as it should have been- but now that they are almost a year old, (and they don't need to nurse as often or for as long), a new chapter is unfolding.

And just like making time to take care of myself, making our marriage a priority isn't just going to happen. We must make it happen.

A few weeks ago my work hosted a party. We put the twins to sleep for the night, and my sister Natalie came over to sit at the house while we were gone. Dave and I had SO MUCH fun together. It was the first time we had been out just the two of us in months, and only the 4th time since the twins have come. It was like we had forgotten what it was like to get out just the two of us. He is my very best friend, and I just relished an evening out with him. It was good for us.

And truly, one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is parents with a happy, healthy marriage. I want them to see us making our marriage a priority too.

So, even though we don't really celebrate today...Happy Valentine's Day Davey...let's plan another date night soon...

This picture makes me smile for a lot of reasons, but one is because Lucas and Abbey are with us there too, we just didn't know it yet... =)