Now that most of us on this board are officially joined as one (or very close to being joined as one)...how do you find balance in your relationship? This means finding time for DH/FI, family, friends, yourself, children, work, etc;? DH and I are expecting our first child at the end of the year and for me, finding balance has always been pretty easy but now that it will no longer be just the two of us, I am wondering how I will still make time for my husband, hang out with the girls, manage work, remember to not neglect my family and now make room and time for our precious little baby who I know will require ALOT of attention. Any ideas or suggestions?! Please share.

I know for us as newlyweds, we make sure we have a date night every week no matter how busy our schedules get...even if it's just a nice dinner and movie at home. That quality time with your SO is so crucial. If we neglected that time, we would always feel like two ships passing in the night and it is NO FUN! Also, try to make time once or twice a month to spend time with family and friends by either inviting them all over to our house or going out with them for a quick movie or lunch. Whatever works, we just did not want to be the couple that fell off the face of the earth AFTER the wedding. For personal time, DH continues his hobby of tennis and I enjoy my little time on the weekends designated for a mani/pedi or just sitting somewhere quiet and reading a good book. What are some ways you finding balance and maintaining it, as challenging as it can be sometimes?

Right now we are struggling with that a bit since his family is all here, and we want to make sure that we spend as much time with them as possible since we don't know when exactly we'll see them again.  But typically we make sure that we go out for dinner or a movie once every couple of weeks or less, and we snuggle on the couch watching shows we both enjoy at least once a week.

As for babies, we are TTC, but have none at the moment, so we'll have to see how that will work.  I know that my parents had a date night every so often when I was growing up while someone watched us.  We live with my parents currently, so when we do have kids, we'll have a built in babysitter!  :P  

i think its just that, you may not get to have that date night as the children come , its about the quality not the quantity of the time. We try to do 10 mins before bed with no interruptions talk about our day or things going on an cuddle. when we are uber busy like now it doesnt always happen but we try to plan on it once a week.

i think you have perspective, while he is doing his thing you do your thing, an plan on those date nights an family time.

your life doesnt have to change completely an you seem to get that. dads often get the short end of the stick when babys come an just keep that in mind an strive for different.

we dont have kids yet , but our schedules are different so it takes effort to get that one on one time. like tonight we are having one on one no tv he is cooking dinner an he is gonna teach me to play his favorite video game

when i read the 5 love languages it suggest you make a list of 5 activitys to do together so we did , we are slowly checking things off the list.

cute little love notes also help us