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Sparks. Keep Em' Flyin'.

I am a sucker for romance.

I love the out of the ordinary things that Husby does for me and little ways that he lets me know that he's thinking about me. I loved it while we were dating and I still love it after four and a half years of marriage. I am not one of those girls who says "I just know he loves me by the way he takes care of me." Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE and SO APPRECIATE the way that Husby takes care of me and Levi, and that speaks volumes.

But.

I love romance. Quiet dinners at fancy restaurants. Flowers and candy out of the blue. Hand written notes and cards. Surprise dates. I want to be planned for, doted on and made to feel like the most special girl in the entire world, every now and then.

And I know that you do, too. Who doesn't?!

Husby and I have had several nights alone since Levi has been born, but we have had very few "date nights" since he's been here. On our nights that we have had without him, we have just relaxed at home or had commitments to attend. Earlier this week, I decided that it was time we GO out. Just Husby and me. And that I was going to take the reigns and make HIM feel special. Make HIM feel planned for and doted on. I was going to surprise my guy!!

I arranged for Levi to be away for the night and got to planning.

Friday afternoon came along and Levi headed home with Glam*Ma. Husby is on an OB/GYN rotation this month and this week he is on Labor and Delivery. They didn't have any deliveries all week long and he got off at 6pm on the dot every night which was nice, because I had something to work with. All week, I just KNEW that a lady would go into labor at like 5pm on Friday afternoon and that he would be stuck there for hours and my plans would be ruined. I just had this fear.

He texted me around 2pm and it said, "looks like we're going to have a delivery today!"

I panicked.

And lied.

"Awesome!!! Um, you don't think you'll get off late, do you? I have supper in the crock pot and it's set to be finished at around 6:30." (As if a crock pot meal HAS to be eaten as soon as possible. Haha. Hey. I panicked and this was the only thing I could come up with. I didn't want to say "supper is going to be ready at 6:30, because he would say, "just don't start it til later", so I blamed it on the crock pot and hoped he didn't think it out too hard.)

"She should be ready to go around 3 or 4, so we'll just see how it goes. I may be a little late depending on when she has her."

This is when I dropped to my knees in the middle of Target and begged Jesus to progress the ladies labor.

Just kidding.

But I did panic. I'm good at that.

I got home and started getting ready for the evening. We had reservations at his favorite steak house in town (that I had Christmas $$ for) and plans to see a movie after. I had done a few out of the ordinary things for him to find throughout his day, and hoped that he wouldn't think anything was up besides his wifey just being the sweetie that she is.

Around 5 I texted him and said, "Levi has been screaming all day long. I really hope you can hurry home because I need your help ASAP."

Total lie.

At 5:30 he said the lady still had not had her baby and that she was dilated to a 9 and was about to start pushing.

Great. If she was anything like ME, she was going to be pushing for 2.5 hours and our evening was going to be ruined.

I sat on the couch in my flow-ey new cream cardigan from Anthropologie, my dark jeans, high heel boots and my dramatic evening makeup. Waiting.

Biting my nails and playing Words With Friends to pass the time away. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

"Has she had her yet?", I texted.

Nothing.

"I'm really worried about supper."

Nothing.

".....????"

Nothing.

Great.

I ironed and laid out Husby's clothes for the evening so he could quickly change from his scrubs to his nice clothes and we could fly out the door.

6:10...

6:15....

My phone rings.

It's HUSBY!!!!!!!!

The lady had her baby at 6pm and he was headed home. Yaaaaay!!!

When the garage door opened my heart started racing. Why was I nervous? This is my husband!! I see him all the time, why on earth was I nervous?

I had a little note taped to the door of the garage that read: "Will you go on a date with me?"

He opened the door and there I stood saying, "Surprise!! I'm taking YOU on a DATE!"

He got super excited and said, "Where's Weebie?"

I explained where Weebie went and then had him throw on his clothes. I drove and kept him guessing the entire time. When we pulled into the restaurant he freaked out....I was so excited! :)

We had the BEST time together laughing and talking...talking and laughing. It is one thing to have an evening without the baby, but it is an entirely other thing to have an evening without the baby ON A DATE. It was so much fun.

Of course, we talked about how much we missed Levi a lot, but also voiced how thankful we were to focus on "us". We felt like teenagers again. We were out until 12:30am! Such rebels.

We slept in all morning and for breakfast we ate the assortments of desserts from a local bakery that I had picked up for dessert the night before (that we never got around to eating since we got in so late!) It was the perfect evening and the perfect morning with my Love.

Husby told me time and again how much fun he had and how much he appreciated the thought and time I put into planning for him. You know, girls aren't the only ones who want to be made to feel special. Our husbands love it, too. I am a firm believer that romance should never be a one sided thing. It should never be all on the man's shoulders. If you want some romance in your life, create it! I don't know about you, but my husband bends over backwards to provide for Levi and me. All of their hard work is exhausting, and they need nights out just like we do, to be celebrated. And appreciated.

And even though Levi is a dreamboat and an angel on any day or evening out that the 3 of us go on, it is just different going without him. We miss him, of course, but those nights alone are vital. It is a time to remember "us". It's a time to focus on the two of us that created the three of us.

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It also gives us a chance to miss Levi. Of course, I am a big advocate of leaving your children now and then so they won't freak out when you do eventually (and inevitably) leave. Not only is it good and healthy for them, but it is good and healthy for you as a parent. It's good to miss your baby. It's good to have time alone to rest and rejuvinate. It's good to sleep!!

If you do get an evening alone without your child(ren), I recommend leaving the house. Leaving your normal environment behind and completely clearing your mind to encourage true refreshment. You will talk more, you'll relax more, and I'm sure you'll laugh more. Take time out to remember those days when it was just the two of you. I know that the older Levi gets, the more cloudy life without him becomes. It's good to taste the days of old and then come back together as our family of three, because as good as those old days were...well, these are every bit as fantastic.
I am a modern day homemaker with a passion for family, cooking, celebrating, decorating, travel, and memory making! The Lord has blessed me with the desires of my heart in my husband and our two sons. We recently built our dream home and cultivating a loving and happy haven for my family is where I find so much joy.

Comments

  1. You know, this is such a good idea... to plan a date FOR HIM! I honestly don't know why it hasn't occurred to me before to do this! You're right, I'm sure everyone wants to be surprised and treated every now and then, even our guys!

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  2. So sweet! What a great surprise for your husband. (Also, I love that you say "husby" because for some reason it's always totally driven me crazy when people say "hubby.") I should totally do that one of these days, too.

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  3. Awww.. how sweet! My husband's birthday is tomorrow and our kids are both 16 now so we have a few date nights alone now and again. Unfortunately we live in the Northeast and have way different work schedules with late hours so it makes it hard to get out during the week. We do a lot of our celebrating and things of that nature over the weekend. P.S. I LOVE your wedding picture - it is SO BEAUTIFUL and SO SWEET! Thanks for sharing! :o)

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  4. What a great thing to do! It's so easy once we are married to forget about those "nervous, exciting" feelings that we had when we were dating and how fun to re-create that and have a special evening and to appreciate our spouse. I may have to plan something now....

    Blessings,

    Cari

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  5. Amen to keeping the sparks flyin'! Marriage is an undercherished thing to so many people these days, but it truly is important to keep it a priority and keep it enjoyable!

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  6. aww that is the sweetest post ever! :)

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  7. I LOVE date night! I could totally feel your excitement as I read, which was funny, because even though they are our husbys, we still get nervous to surprise them!!! We like to turn almost anything into a "date night," just because we like to celebrate, but it's been a while since we've done full out "date date night!" thanks for the inspiration!

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  9. What a fantastic night. I agree wholeheartedly about focusing on your relationship without the kiddos sometime. Derick and I have had a few nights like that and I cherish those times:)

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  10. We are trying to do a little of that before our little one gets here in a few weeks---we are feeling the crunch as we close the chapter on 'just the two of us'...date nights are very important. To make sure we had some built in time together after baby, we got season tickets to the Broadway shows coming to town as our Christmas gift to each other. At least once every two months, we'll have an excuse to get out, go to dinner and go see a show together. I love dates with the hubby! :)

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  11. I loved this, I could just feel your anxiousness of waiting for him and hoping that everything that you planned turned out as wonderful as you had pictured, and it sounds like it did!! Date nights are so important. we try to do them now without kids, so that when we do have kiddos we will already be in the habit of doing them. Love this story!

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  12. What a sweet post! Hmm...you've inspired me to plan a night away from our precious one to focus on "us"! Thanks! =)

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  13. doing it! thanks for the inspiration!

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  14. Awww...how sweet of you to plan something like that. Glad you had a wonderful time!!!

    Hugz,
    michele

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  15. This is so sweet. I've been thinking lately that I need to do something similar for my sweetie...this is the extra push I needed to get it done!

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  16. awww this just made my day!! soo adorable!!!! glad you had a great evening!

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  17. I am such an advocate for continuing to date after you have babies. I think I cherish those dates more because they are few and far between. Great post.

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  18. This post brought a tear! Thanks for posting, I may just have to scheme up something for the Boyf! Valentines Day IS just around the corner!! :)
    May the Lord bless you, as well.

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  19. SO fun!! And I'm totally with you on this (I'm sure you know that by now!!)! I love a good date night out!

    Good for you for planning it--and keeping it a surprise! That's a great idea!!

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  20. Awww - this is such a great story and such a great reminder: men need romance too!

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  21. Glad it worked out and husby got home in time! I'm always afraid to plan things during the week because I never know when Rob will be home from the hospital :) I'm sure it was much needed and hope you get to do date night again soon!

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  22. That's so nice of you!

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  23. So sweet! Good job! And I love:

    "This is when I dropped to my knees in the middle of Target and begged Jesus to progress the ladies labor." So funny! I bet that lady is thankful, too! haha.

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  24. Sooo sweet! I love date nights and can't wait to continue them into marriage -- woohoo! Also, this is totally random, but can I just say that I LOVE that (at least it doesn't appear) you didn't tan excessively before your wedding. Not that there's anything wrong people tanning, but I'm a pale girl too, and everyone asks me when I'm going to start tanning for my wedding, and they think I'm crazy when I tell them I don't want to, but pale is me. I'll just have to wear lots of sunscreen on the honeymoon -- hehe :)

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  25. What a great idea! It's the little things that one does that really makes relationships last. And you're wedding picture is so so so cute.

    http://asthefarmturns.wordpress.com/

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  26. What a great idea! It's the little things that one does that really makes relationships last. And you're wedding picture is so so so cute.

    http://asthefarmturns.wordpress.com/

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  27. I loved the story! Definitely romantic! I totally believe that onus for romance should be from both the partners and not just hubs.

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  28. this is one of my favorite whitney posts! how fabulous are you?!
    thank you for reminding me about that excitement. my husband and I have been together for 6 years and although I try to do special things for him... its been a while since I planned date night!
    mind if I copy you? ;)
    -jen

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  29. So glad he made it home! You guys are too cute! I think date nights are super important :)

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  30. What a great idea. I forget that he doesn't have to do all the planning! I just found your blog today and have so enjoyed reading it and ignoring my kids! Just kidding about the kid part! I love seeing how you love your baby! It's so much like how I love my baby. I'm tempted to go wake her up and snuggle her right now.

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