Endangered Species: Date Night

Now that we have Ada, Rick and I rarely go out by ourselves. And when I say rarely, I mean that I can sit here and write about each and every time we've gone out without Ada --just the two of us-- because the number is very small. Four actually. We went to a movie for Rick's birthday in March--he picked the ever romantic "No Country for Old Men" which I proceed to rate the most disturbing movie I've ever seen. Then to our big date back in our hometown that involved a fancy steakhouse, Target and the local custard shop while Grandma Ba watched Ada sleep. For my birthday we went to Indiana Jones and had pizza. And finally dinner at a local restaurant two blocks away while my mom was babysitting Ada.

Sure, we've been to parties and out to dinner with friends, but most of the time we go in the afternoon, take Ada with, one of us stays home -- she's a great excuse for not attending things when we'd really rather not--and on rare occasions, we find a sitter.

But not just any sitter mind you. No. We've done our best to work the system of friends who always offer "Anytime you need a sitter. Just give me a call. I'll gladly come watch her." Unfortunately for those who offer, she has been going to bed at 7 or earlier these days and they just come to our house and hang out while she sleeps. It helps that we have a lot of movies, high speed Internet, and encourage them to bring books along. I just can't bring myself to pay someone $10 an hour to sit in my house and read for 3 hours while we go grab a bite to eat. It just seems silly. And so many of our friends don't mind or at least haven't told us they are busy washing their hair.

So my many thanks go out on this one to all of those wonderful friends and family members who have offered to help and who we've actually been able to take up on their offers. We really appreciate all of them and how they contribute to our sanity. And how they aren't a drain to our wallets.

Moral of the story: When you're ready to have kids, be sure to have a collection of single friends who don't mind getting their baby fix at your house. It does wonders for your sanity, and helps those who just aren't ready to be parents but love kids to fill their baby contact quota. Everyone wins.