Frequent & Quick (Requires No Planning)

• Pick up the ingredients you need to create a fabulous meal at the grocery store and then return home and cook it together.
• Throw a slumber party for two. Have dinner in bed and have each other for dessert.
• Plan a movie night. Rent a flick that you’ll both enjoy, make popcorn, and get cozy under the blanket on the couch.
• Go for a hike or long walk together.
• Go to a diner and share a milkshake. Delicious!
• Fill up a picnic basket with goodies – bread, wine, cheese, fruit. Go to the park and share your feast with one another. Don’t forget your picnic blanket.
• Act like tourists in your own neighborhood. Go to one of the major sites, take photos, and pretend you’re seeing this place again for the first time.
• Draw sketches of one another. Even if you can’t draw, you’ll have fun and create a lovely memory.
• Make love and go all out. Wear sexy lingerie, send each other naughty text messages beforehand, light candles, throw rose petals on and around the bed, use edible body paints – whatever you must do to take the romance up a notch.
• At your favorite local pub or bar, order champagne and flirt with each other all night long. If you’re into role playing, you could even take on different personas for the evening and act like you’ve just met. Stay in character until you get home.
• Have a snow ball or water balloon fight. Water pistol shootouts can be lots of fun, too.
• Make out like teenagers on the couch.

Once a Month (Requires Little Planning)

• Get coffee at your favorite coffee house and just talk to one another. 
• Swim, lounge, and enjoy a day at the beach or pool.
• Take a sculpting or drawing class together. Or go to one of those stores where you can paint pottery. Your art will give your beloved a new window into your personality.
• Miniature golf, bowling, pool, or the arcade are always great for some old-fashioned fun and friendly competition.
• Go to a club and dance all night like you did when you were single – but this time dance with each other.
• Sledding is a delight for children of all ages.
• Take a road trip to the city if you live in the country or to the country if you live in the city. See how the other half lives.
• Have dessert for dinner – a huge sundae, sinful brownies, decadent cheesecake.
• A poetry reading can spark romance – or at the very least a stimulating conversation.
• Shoot each other – at your nearby paint ball or laser tag facility.
• Glide at the nearest ice skating rink.
• Root for the home team at a sporting event of your choice. Indulge in hot dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jack.
• Climb a wall or a real mountain together. This sort of activity is fun but also helps couples build trust.
• Volunteer for a worthy cause together. Visit the ill, organize a fundraiser for a non-profit, or work at a shelter. You’ll spend time with each other, but you’ll also make a difference and help others.
• Have a tournament of your choice – Battleship, Monopoly, cards, Playstation, etc. For a twist, the winner has to take the loser out to dinner for another date night.
• Think outside the box and go out for a romantic breakfast instead of dinner.
• Shop together for something you want but do not actually need – a stereo, fancy barware, a home theater.
• Get a couple’s massage at a spa. You’ll get the knots out of your back while bonding with your spouse. How relaxing!
• Watch the sun rise or set from a beautiful location.
• Have high tea replete with scones and cucumber sandwiches at a ritzy hotel or tea house.
• Pick a restaurant that serves an exotic, ethnic cuisine neither of you has ever tried before. Be as daring as you can with what you order. You just might like it!
• Accomplish a fun home project. Paint your basement a bright, new color, install your home theater, create a collage of wedding photos for the wall. You’ll work as a team and feel a whole new kind of satisfaction when you’re done.
• Bump each other with bumper cars.

Quarterly (Requires Planning)

• Go to a theme park and clutch each other on the scary rides.
• Perform a duet at a karaoke bar.
• If you’re adventure seekers, you can go skydiving together.
• Head to the zoo or museum. Stroll through the exhibits, hold hands, and comment on what you see and learn.
• Attend a concert and sing out loud to one another. Rocking out – even if you’re more Beethoven than Bon Jovi – is a great stress reliever.
• Rent a motor scooter and go for a spin. Think Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday!
• Look at the homes and properties for sale in your area. You may find a bargain that you’ll actually buy or you’ll just dream out loud about your future together. Either way, you win!
• Flowers are an eternal symbol of romance. Head to the botanical gardens and learn all about them together.
• Camp out and kiss under the stars. Roast marshmallows to boot. If you are not the outdoor types, head to the planetarium for safer star gazing.
• Participate in a wine tasting.
• Buffet at a casino.
• Political rallies get couples united behind a candidate who they think could improve their lives. It gives them a sense of accomplishment, too.
• Take a hot air balloon ride.
• Learn a romantic foreign language – French, Italian, Spanish. Then, practice talking to each other around the house but especially when you’re in the mood for love.
• Rent a boat or head to a dock and go fishing. You can cook your catch later in the day, so it’s like two dates in one.

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Isaiah was born 5/12/09 at SkyRidgeMedicalHospital. He weighed 7 pounds and 11 ounces and was 21 inches tall when he was born! Great job mommy!  We also praise the Lord for being with us from conception to the day of delivery. There were no major complications while Dulcinea was in labor. In fact, I never knew the strength of my wife to tolerate pain. She was 9.5cm dilated before having to use the epidural and this was only 0.5cm away from her being able to start pushing him out of her belly. The doctors and I praised her for her courage and strength.  

As far as Isaiah was concerned, his heart rate kept an average 140 beats per minute which is very strong and healthy. He never waxed nor wayned even through the toughest part of it all the time the doctor had to use forceps to take him out. When he was born he had symptoms of jaundice which was yellow skin even noticeable in his eyes. Jaundice, to my lack of knowledge, is a very common symptom for new borns. Simply put it is the baby’s inability to cleanse the large amount of red blood cells in the body due to their liver not being fully developed. When this happens a large amount of biliruben is present in the blood stream which causes that yellow discolor.  The treatment applied to him was to have him bathe in the sun, but in our case since his levels keep on increasing from 12 to 18, we had to put him under UV lamps (see below).

So far his condition is getting better. His skin color is starting to normalize and we as so happy that the Lord continues to answer our prayers.

As with all new borns it is hard to get sleep so I took a video of him trying to fight sleep so he knows what Mommy and Daddy went through.  But now we feed him every 2 hours and it is definitely a joy to watch him sleep.

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Psalm 37 was the one I read as I prayed for my wife and my son and I am so thankful that the Lord gives us His Word to uphold us when we are weak.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
       dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

 ⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
       and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
       do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
       when they carry out their wicked schemes.

 ⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
       do not fret—it leads only to evil.

¹⁸ The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
       and their inheritance will endure forever.

 ¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
       in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
       but those he curses will be cut off.

 ²³ If the LORD delights in a man's way,
       he makes his steps firm;

 ²⁴ though he stumble, he will not fall,
       for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

 ²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
       yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
       or their children begging bread.

 ²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
       their children will be blessed.