Lack of Sleep and Baby Towels

These days, alot of our spare time around the house has been spent setting up the nursery, washing new clothes, blankets and such and getting the house ready for Baby. Why do mommy and daddy have so much of that spare time? That would be because the nights of eight consecutive hours of sleep are a distant memory.

This past weekend was no different. At about 4:45am on Saturday morning I had tossed and turned enough to wake Mike from his peaceful slumber and he finally asks me if I wanted to get up and go watch TV. With that we travel downstairs with pillows and blankets and camp out on the couch to watch early morning infomercials. So romantic! At about 5:30am I begin to ask about breakfast and by 6:00am we were dressed and seated at a new local breakfast joint not far from the house. Yes, we were the first ones there that morning. It proved to be a rather productive day. Mike completed some projects around the house and I cleaned the house. After visiting with some friends that evening, we both crashed at about midnight.
...Sunday...5:00am...Are you awake? Yes, we were both awake and downstairs watching the early Sunday morning televangelists. What's so interesting about this particular morning is that one would think if we woke up THAT early... surely we could make it to Sunday School by 10:00am. But, no.
Check out the converstion that made us late:

Mike: "Sweetie, do you want to go to the store after church and take some baby returns?"
Melissa: "Sure, there is a bag of things right there."
Mike: "We can't take THIS back...it is TOO CUTE!" (speaking of two baby towels)
Melissa: "Mike, honey, we have four baby towels already and we don't even need that many. The baby will out grow them too fast"
Mike: "But Melissa, we need more than 4 towels for the baby."
...and so the conversation went on to receiving blankets, wash rags, crib sheets...until we were sprinting out the door to get to church.

Fortunately, we received some expert advice from Mike's sister who was very helpful on the matter. I want to hear from some other experienced moms.
What item(s) are absolutely necessary for a new baby?
What item(s) are are a waste of money?

"You could be carrying the next female president!"

These were the wise words of wisdom we received from the self-proclaimed "Pizza Queen" yesterday at lunch. Mike and I decided to treat ourselves and the baby to lunch after church and went to a pizza joint. We walk up to the counter and Mike orders two buffets and two waters. The lady working (who really was very sweet) thought she'd be funny and say..."oops, I almost charged you for three..." Initially, I was not amused but knew that was the cranky pregnant part of me. She then asked when I was due and we told her February, right around Valentine's Day. She notified us that many former presidents were born in February and that we could be carrying the next American President... maybe even the first female President! We both chuckled and said, "Maybe..." as we grabbed our plates and headed towards the buffet.

It was better than our next door neighbor telling me "Wow! You're as big as a house!" on Saturday. Nonetheless, it sparked some fun and interesting lunch conversation for mom-and-dad-to-be. I doubt that a future president of the United States has taken up residence in my uterus, but Mike and I do have high hopes and dreams for our child. Above all, we pray that he or she will know and love Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and have a healthy respect and love for others.

Aside from carrying around future famous people in my "size-of-a-house" belly, Mike and I have been doing some "nesting" and we start our childbirth classes tonight. The time is getting near and we're excited (and a little scared...)