I THINK I surged yesterday. The pink line SEEMED to be darker both that morning when I used a stick and that night when I tried again. I even think it was pretty much the same shade of pink as the control line. And today, there was the telltale CM so I'm thinking that I'm ovulating as I write (day 19). Since we last had sex late at night on day 16, I'd say I gave myself a two to three day window between sex and ovulation — pretty much what I wanted.

It's day 15, and my ovulation kit says my luteinizing hormone is not surging. It was supposed to surge today. I knew this trip and change of routine might throw things off. I'm thinking the chances are slim that the sperm from day 13 will be waiting around for me to ovulate if I haven't even started surging yet. Since we're off now to visit one of my best friends and her family in Olympia, Washington, I suppose we'll just have to "do it" furtively at their place tonight. Not ideal.

Aaahhh, vacation. Relaxed, leisurely, sleep late, no-time-schedule vacation...except for the sex schedule, that is. Yup, in order to try one more time for a girl, I need to keep track of the timing of our not-so-carefree vacation sex.

So, in preparation for our trip (which includes a couple of days in Seattle first for a family wedding, a visit at my friend's house in Olympia, Washington, and then a jaunt on our own to British Columbia), I packed my windbreaker, hat, sunglasses, sneakers, and of course, my ovulation kit. Now, I know that a change in routine like travel can mess with ovulation (and last time I traveled, I did end up having an unusually long cycle), so this could get tricky.

It's getting close to ovulation time, which means that we need to get this party started.

The problem: My husband has his annual work conference this week, which involves entertaining clients late into the night — for multiple nights in a row — well past my bedtime (and our window for sex). Plus, both of us need to get up early this week, so sex in the morning isn't an option either.

We had sex last night. My suggestion. And I'm way past ovulation. I wanted to make sure my husband knew that I want him for more than just his sperm. If he didn't already know, now he does.