Chris and I went on a date this Friday – our 2nd date since Joe was born!

I know what some of you are thinking: “Wow – only 2 dates in 8 months?  How sad.”

And then the mothers out there are thinking, “Wow – 2 dates in 8 months?  How awesome!”

We think more like that second group – it’s pretty awesome that we’ve been able to go on 2 dates, especially considering that none of our family live nearby and most of our friends either (a) have children themselves and aren’t able to come stay with Joe in the evening or (b) work really busy jobs or are going through major life changes.

This time around we left Joe in the capable hands of our friend, Priscilla.  Priscilla does work a busy job and even lives a good bit away from us, but she was willing to babysit anyway – bless her!  We put Joe down for bed at 7pm {his usual bedtime} and headed out shortly thereafter.

Sad to say, but this is the best photo of the two of us that I could find:

I’m not looking at the camera.  Chris is making a weird face.  In other words, a typical picture of the two of us!  It could be worse.  This was my other option:

Now we’re both making weird faces!  I did get one of just me, sans sunglasses.

We had a good time.  We ate dinner at a little downtown place called “Agents & Merchants”, or just “A&M” for central city dwellers.  If you’re thinking about going there, I’d recommend getting a reservation.  We did that, and as it turns out it was a good thing.  All of the tables were full, and the server actually had to ask a couple at one of the tables to get up so that we could sit down.  Awkward!  By the time we finished, there were 3 couples loitering nearby and as soon as I stood up, one of the women moved in and took my chair.  I guess that’s a good sign, though – people really want to eat there!

I ordered an Amstel Light {first time I’ve had one of those in over 2 years – they’re just not that common in NZ} and Chris decided to get some caffeine with a kick: espresso + Bailey’s.  We split 3 of the tapas plates: chips {fries} + aioli, bread + dipping sauces, and grilled Eggplant Parmesan.  All three were delicious, though Chris enjoyed the eggplant more than me.  Something about the sauce didn’t sit quite right with my palate, so he finished it while I drank the rest of my Amstel Light.  All in all, it was a good dining out experience.  We had good food, nice drinks, and fast service.  The only drawback was the noise – very loud music – and the smoke.  We were seated outdoors, though, so you kind of have to expect that.

Afterwards, we decided to walk back up Queen Street towards the movie theater rather than catching the free CityLINK bus.  Chris was keen to check out the newly opened New World supermarket on Queen.

That’s right – our 2nd date, and we spent part of it visiting a new supermarket.  We were curious!  And besides, we wanted to buy a few snacks for the movie, so why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

We finally headed out for the last half of our date, arriving at the movies with about 5 minutes to spare.  We took our assigned seats {yes, our movie theater has assigned seating – some people prefer this because you can book online and choose your seats, but I have to go in person to buy my tickets, anyway, in order to get my employee discount and avoid paying $16 per ticket} and watched “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt.  Chris liked it.  I wasn’t over-the-moon about it, but I won’t spoil it for any of you who might be considering going to see it.

 We got back home just before 11:30pm.  Joe slept the whole time and Priscilla had enjoyed a relaxing, albeit slightly boring, Friday night in our apartment 🙂

I’m hoping to make these date nights into a regular thing.  It’s important for us to spend time together without Joe and focus on keeping our relationship healthy.  I don’t see date night turning into a bi-weekly or even monthly sort of thing, but bi-monthly would be great!

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How about you parents out there?  Are you able to do regular date nights?  Is it something that you’d like to do but haven’t found the time for yet?  Are you, like us, living far from family and don’t have a lot of people that you can rely on to watch your little ones?  What sorts of things do you do instead to keep your relationship strong and stay in touch with each other’s lives?  Have you thought about teaming up with some other new parents, perhaps creating a babysitting schedule where you rotate and take turns so that you’re all able to have the occassional night out?  Do tell!