Love: From Weekend Getaways to Chinese Takeout

My husband is amazing. Having a child in our lives makes me recognize that on a daily basis, and I am so thankful to have him around. That's the sweet truth.

There's also an ugly truth: Marriage is hard. It's harder with a kid.

Dan and I have been through challenges. We have been together for 7.5 years. We graduated college, got jobs, lost jobs, lived in bad neighborhoods, dealt with emotional issues, tried for multiple years to get pregnant...we have struggled. We're incredibly lucky, and very blessed, but we still face un-pretty things. But we face them together, and generally with a similar attitude. This baby thing has thrown us for a loop though.

It's always been so easy to face challenges together, and to turn to each other when times are hard, that we never anticipated a time when we couldn't work together, or how we would handle that. But Lovebug has changed that, and we're still working through things. Some weeks, Dan and I have almost completely opposite schedules. It makes communicating things about Lovebug really difficult, and the sleep deprivation is not helping.

Anyway, in addition to the communication challenges, the lack of sleep and new schedules for everyone, Hubby and I are also adjusting to this new way of caring for our relationship. Gone are the days of taking a weekend getaway, or even spontaneous date nights. Now, Valentine's day is celebrated with putting Lovebug to bed by 8, ordering takeout, and cleaning out the DVR. The hours we spent talking about random topics like politics or our future have quickly moved to discussions about daycare, schedules, dinner and who's turn it is to change the poopy diaper.

However, thanks to my awesome parents and sister who live in town, we're able to at least schedule a date night. It's funny how different you approach a night out when it feels like a luxury. We're just doing dinner at Red Lobster, maybe a movie or something...but the thrill of having a whole evening to ourselves, without cramming all the 'adult stuff' into one or two free  hours, is amazing. I'm so excited to take time and hang out with Dan sans-Lovebug, and to remind myself that there is more to our relationship than the dinner plan and daycare schedule.

Our lives are so different from a month ago...but, in a way, it makes me more grateful for my relationship. It makes me feel so lucky to have such an awesome partner-in-crime, and a support system when things are rough.

So, here's looking at you, Dan.

-Jenn