The Importance of Us

How easy is it to put yourself on the back burner when you have young kids? Even more, how easy is it to put your spouse? Remember that person? The one you were so madly in love with just a few short years ago? 
So often, our lives are consumed by our children and jobs, the trudgery  of life. As parents, in my case being a mom, we lose sight of who we were before they came along. I have found that it is so important to take time off from life and enjoy it with my husband. 
This weekend we went away for a couple days while each set of grandparents took a kid, giving us the gift of time. During this weekend I realized how important these weekends can be. Here are a few lessons I learned. 

1. You really do need more sleep!

As a mom, I haven't fully slept through the night since I found out I was pregnant with my oldest. We learn to live on very little sleep, or most of us just continue to drink more coffee. We all know that we need more sleep but often don't have the time. After getting to sleep two FULL nights, plus a nap, I felt more rested then I have since before I was pregnant with our oldest. 

2. I really do love my husband. 

Do you ever feel like you and your spouse are just to ships passing in the night? You talk all the time, you see each other every day, sleep next to each other nightly(well, if you aren't married to a firefighter) yet somehow you still feel like you are not connected to this person. Taking a weekend away allowed for us to just be with each other. One of the best moments we had this weekend was simply sitting on the couch next to each other reading books. I had my feet up in firefighters lap, just the simple act of being with each other in quite moments helped us feel more connected. 

3. Communicating with my husband is more than talking about our daily life. 

We also had the time to really talk, not just talk about what needs to be done, or what to have for dinner. We talked and laughed about simple things. We wondered at the beauty of the mountains around us. We dreamed about our future. What we would do if we bought our own cabin in the woods. How would we decorate it? What would we need? 

4. Hot food really does taste better. 

As a parent, how often do you really get to eat hot food? Better yet, hot food that isn't also be sampled by a smaller version of yourself? I feel like I never truly get to enjoy my meals. I always have little hands in it, or it was something I made over an hour ago, but put aside to help the kids with something, only to come back and find that it is a lesser version of it's once glorious self. 

5. Your kids really will be okay. 

Part of why we haven't been away for more than a night is my worry about the kids. Will they miss me? Will they feel abandoned? We are so lucky to have two wonderful sets of grandparents who love our kids. Our kids had a blast being with their grandparents. Our 3 year old was so excited to tell us about all the things he got to do (and was purchased for him). They truly had a wonderful weekend without parents. While I think they did miss us at times, overall they were happy to get a break from us too.