Independence Day

Which is today. Hooray! And THE. SUN. IS. OUT. If you don't live in New England you have no idea what a big deal this is. You know how you'll get a few days of rain in a row, and even if you like rain, after a while you think "enough already, let's have some sun!" Well we hit that point probably six weeks ago. And the rain never stopped. But today? AHHH!!! As soon as I finish posting this I'm going out for a good hard run.

I haven't posted in a while and I've got a few things on my mind.

1. My current mood about a second child:

Whatever. I'm so done with tracking my cycle and forcing sex and getting my hopes up and then getting my period. I have started to renovate my kitchen and I'm focusing on that. Also, for the first time since-- well, ever, we actually have a small financial surplus! Nick wanted to put that money towards a trip to Aruba so that we'd get to see the sun sometime this year. It was a very tempting prospect during the eternal rains, and we priced several options. Unfortunately, the trip would have used up the entire surplus. We decided to not go. That way, if I get pregnant, we'll have money for my maternity leave (I always think of my non-American readers when I reference that, and yes, a little smoke comes out of my ears). If I don't get pregnant, then that money will grow and we can really take a nice trip next summer. We'll have the option (financially) to either fly to Omaha first, leave Sascha with Nick's parents, and go on our trip from there; or we can take the trip with her, when she's older and easier than she is now. It's win-win. I am thrilled to finally have a cushion in the bank. During the first two years of our relationship, we were so broke at times that we had to sell our CDs for grocery money, and since then we've been paying off credit card debt, so this is a dream come true.

Anyway, so I'm tired of thinking about getting pregnant. I'm not going to prevent it (until October or so, when the school year timing would be bad-- and please, everyone stop telling me to disregard that, you are not the one who has to teach on no sleep), I'm just done worrying about it. My body is annoying me and I want to know why, if my ovaries are not actually sending an egg every month, why I am not just going through menopause. Let's just get it over with already. I've got moustache cream, I'm ready.

Oh, and my kitchen! I'm painting the cabinets white. I've also cut out the center panels of 6 of the 8 top cabinet doors and I'm going to replace them with frosted glass. Then the walls... I've got a few colors in mind but I'll see how I feel when the cabinets are done. Something greenish. Then I'm going to replace half the counters with butcher block... which makes me teary with excitement, like an adolescent girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. I can only do half because the other half has a weird angle which will require professional labor to cut & fit it, as well as a new sink, and that little $$ cushion ain't that big. So, half.

2. Funny kid story: at the park today, Sascha was calling "Hey Nick! Hey Nick!" and after we cracked up and got her to call him Daddy again, she paused, then turned to me and said "Hey Abby!" Little smartass. Good Christ she is going to give us a run for our money.

3. This is for those of you who are over, let's say, 30. When was the last time you tried to do a cartwheel? I'm 37 and fairly active. I can run a dozen miles and I lift weights often. Well! We were at the playground today and I hopped on a swing. Nick started to push me kind of high and it was the weirdest sensation, almost painful. I was laughing hard enough that no sound was coming out of my mouth. It is bizarre what a typical American adulthood (sitting in front of a screen) can do to your body. I may have strength and stamina, but wow, range of motion? So then Nick tried it-- same result for him. We both tried hanging upside-down by our knees-- whoa again. The hardest part was getting our legs up to the bar. And getting down. It reminded me of a few months ago, when my four-year-old niece asked me to do a cartwheel. I said sure, no problem, then... AI!! It had probably been a decade since I last did that, and it was a rude awakening for many of my muscles.

So today I resolved to start whipping myself around more often. We'll see how that goes... Yoga would be good, except I hate it. It's boring. I get way too impatient.

(Had to cut this short because kid wouldn't nap. Shocker.)