When it comes to sleep, I think things are not going to change for quite a while. I�m just not going to be able to get my normal, required nine hours a night of solid, uninterrupted slumber.

It�s not going to happen in the next ten weeks, while I am forced to sleep uncomfortably on my side, with various body parts falling asleep (but not in a good way) and me having to get up every two hours to pee anyway.

It�s certainly not going to happen when this little girl of mine is born and decides she needs to eat every two to three hours for the first, what, eleventy weeks of her life.

So what I need to do is change my attitude about sleep.

Instead of being cranky about not getting enough sleep, I need to be okay with not getting enough sleep. Instead of being grouchy, I can be tired but pleasantly so. Right? It�s worth a shot.

I�m going to budget my time a little differently so that I can definitely get a nap in most days. I think that will help a bit.

I�m going to try to make sure I do all of my heavy thinking in the morning, when I�ve got more energy and my brain seems to be working better. (I always thought that �pregnancy brain� was a myth. Now I understand. After about 7pm, I have serious trouble forming complete sentences. I lose words. Blue and I were talking on the way home from dinner tonight and I was trying to explain how I moved the dog gate and exercise equipment so I could vacuum and run the steam cleaner on the carpet in that room. The sentence went something like this: �So I had to, you know, with the thing and the, um, equipment. And then I vacuumed and used the clean steamer, I mean the hoover, I mean the steamer, the carpet cleaner thing.� DUH.)

So it�s worth a shot, adjusting the attitude around sleep. If it doesn�t work, I can just go back to being grouchy and stuff. But if I can make it work so that I�m a bit happier regardless of my sleep quotient, then I�ll be better off.

I want to do some more shopping for the baby, but I think I have to wait until the end of the month. I put a bunch of stuff on a Babies R Us registry (you asked, Vin, there�s your answer!). And I�d like to start getting a bunch of it � but my mom and sister are taking me to a spa at the end of the month as a �shower� and I�m sure they�ll buy some stuff off of the registry. And I think Blue�s family will be sending some gifts, too.

So I think I just have to wait.

It�s not so much that I�m dying to shop � I�m not a big shopper. But I took a look around the empty baby�s room today after cleaning the carpets up there and thought, geez, I�ve only got 10 weeks until this little critter shows up. I ought to have some stuff here for her!

The furniture should be delivered this week. Once that�s here, I�ll probably draw up a list of tactical stuff to have (a hamper for her laundry, diapers, wipes, that kind of thing) and do a first run. I doubt my family will want to buy me diapers and absorbent pads for my bras � they�ll want to buy more �fun� stuff for the baby than that. So I think I can get some of that stuff in the coming weeks without worrying too much about it.

I just want to feel a little more prepared. And since I�m not really mentally or emotionally prepared to have this baby, I might as well be environmentally prepared!

I think this week is going to be more relaxed than last week. (It has to, or I�ll never make it to the weekend!)

One of the things that Blue gave me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago was a �mother-to-be day at the spa.� That�s a massage and facial, a manicure and pedicure � plus lunch and lounging around. I�ll have to avoid the steam, sauna and whirlpool (dammit) but other than that, it�s pamper-me city.

I was thinking about waiting until sometime in November to use the gift certificate. I�ll be hitting the spa in a few weeks with my mom and sister (baby shower), and I thought it might be smart to wait until after that, when I�m even bigger and more uncomfortable, to go for the relaxing day.

I told Blue the plan and he really encouraged me to use it now. �Go on Friday. Take the day off. You�re stressed, you�re not sleeping well, you could use it now!�

So I�m thinking of screwing my �save it for a rainy day� mentality and splurge this week.