Trying to plan everything

I am a planner. Not a great planner. But still.

We have a budget sheet that I have mentioned before. I rely on this to make decisions on when to spend money and on what.

When we sit to make plans about things, my husband and I both look at the calendar and check for holidays and weekends. We try to make sure that we don't overlap with family birthdays so that we are available and free.

When we first talked about having children the similarities about what we wanted was amazing. Both of us would be happy with a healthy baby regardless of sex, but the preference is to have a boy. He wants to make sure to pass along the family name. I have 3 nieces and would like to have another boy added to our family of mostly females. Both A and I have agreed that if we have a boy on the first try that I can decide in a couple of years if I would like to try for another one. It will be up to me to make that decision in the long run, seeing as how I manage the finances and will have a better feel for what we will be able to afford. Now, if we have a girl first then we have both agreed we'd try again for a son later. I've also announced that if we have multiples of any kind we are stopping. Twins run in my family, and the thought of having more than 1 at a time was fun when I was 16. Now that I am approaching 35 I have to wonder if I could still handle it. We'll see.

So, with the aforementioned rules in place I have begun trying to plan.

Do you know how many so-called ways there are to "guarantee" the sex of your baby? You should try a Google search. There is everything from Chinese gender charts to discussions on position and time of day and cycle. I'm afraid to come home and mention to A that I have decided to approach this as a science experiment of sorts because this time he may actually try to commit me. At least for a small evaluation.

Which then leads me to think I need to trust in whatever supreme being is watching over us and pray that they aren't bored and in need of entertainment. That maybe, just maybe, what we want will actually happen and we can continue along in our happy bubble.

And then I wake-up and wonder if I could really just "let it happen".

So now I find myself trying to cross-reference my cycle and age to the Chinese gender chart as well as the the Shettles method. Maybe if I can get everything to overlap then I can find that exact perfect moment when everything aligns and we can be alone long enough to make a baby without interruptions.

Which may mean also finding a cat sitter so there isn't any meowing or purring to interrupt.

And that last thought is the one that made me realize I need to relax and stop trying to plan everything. Because if I am seriously contemplating paying to have the cats watched then I think I've gone off the deep end on this one. (Originally posted 2/11/2009)