Saturday, February 6, 2010

The one about organizing

Not surprisingly, I am thoroughly enjoying all of the planning and organizing that comes with having a baby. Organizing is an escape for me. People who aren't naturally inclined towards organization don't understand that organizing HELPS ME ENJOY THINGS MORE. I know that sounds crazy, but if I can plan for an event, I'm more excited when the event arrives. And, I'm not at all sad when the event is over because there's always something else to plan next.

Prior to our wedding, a coworker shared with me that she went through post-wedding depression after her wedding. She was so sad that the build up and the positive anxiety about the wedding was over.

I'm not THAT kind of planner. Although planning helps me enjoy things more, ultimately, it's simply a means to an end. I was looking forward to our wedding, but I was more excited about the marriage. Those who know our story know that I wouldn't be happy with just one night with Hubs (wedding): I wanted EVERY night with him (marriage).

Planning is planning to me. It doesn't matter if it's a big event (wedding, baby, house warming party) or an everyday occurrence (cleaning out the garage, laundry, dishes), I plan it out.

Because there are so many things to consider with a baby, I have no less than 3-4 different baby related projects going on. To keep track of them all, I've got my organizing gear.


This is the stack of my gear. My laptop is on the bottom and is covered with books, notebooks, and to-do lists. The green book on top is my daily planner. This is something I've had since pre-pregnancy and it's doing double-duty now that it also serves as the master planner!



Baby Bargains. This is the first baby book I purchased. My sister-in-love recommended it and boy am I glad she did! It's a planners dream. It gives great tips and tricks on how to find the best baby gear (for example, why not get a gently used high chair at a garage sale and then power wash it at the local car wash to make sure it's in tip top shape?). The authors have also reviewed many, many baby related items (baby stores, registries, furniture makers, etc) and given honest (non-compensated) reviews based on their own experiences plus feedback they've seen online or received directly from Baby Bargains customers.



This is an organizing book I purchased. It has some helpful info, but I haven't really gotten that into it yet. It does have a brief list of things to do each month which has been helpful. To be honest, it was an impulse buy. Had I spent more time evaluating it, I probably would have put the $17 it cost towards a Starbucks Strawberries'n'cream frapucinno something else.


This composition book is pretty small and I keep it in my purse so I can write down ideas I have or things to add to the to-do list. I use this along with the notebook shown below (which is bigger so I tend not to carry it with me very often).


This is my main to-do notebook. It has sturdy binder rings so its held up well to all of my abuse over the years. I LOVE this notebook mostly because I also used it while planning for our wedding. How cool is that? Two major life events contained in the same notebook?


This is a planner that my friend, Sara, just gave me the other day. She's 28 weeks preggers and received it in the mail recently. Obviously, she's not going to use a 40 week notebook when she's over halfway through her pregnancy so she graciously gave it to me! Thanks Sara! I browsed through it the other day and it has good info, especially in regards to items to register for (and how many of each to put on the registry). I have a feeling it's going to be a nice addition to my organizing profile.


Finally, this is the MASTER planner. It is a FiveStar flexible notebook. Again, it's very sturdy so it can endure those "toss it in the backseat of the car" moments that happen daily every-so-often. It contains several plastic zip pockets where I can store coupons, loyal customer punch cards, pens, magazine cut outs (ideas), and more. The first section is a red notebook where I (again) list items we need to do. I'm still working through what to-do items will be kept where (there are some things to-do around the house, then there are things to-do just in the nursery, then there are things to register for, etc). Lots of to-do lists... I'm in Heaven.


So, that's the start of my organizing. Poor Hubs had no idea what he was in for :) But, he's adjusting very well.

Oh yea, and my next post will probably be about our first two OB visits (which contains the story about the only time I've cried during pregnancy).

P.S. Even though we're not finding out whether Bubs is a boy or a girl, I'm going to put a poll on the side bar for you to vote on what YOU think Bubs is.

Until then, love to you all!

7 comments:

  1. Loved loved Baby Bargains. Glad you got it.

    I also used the 40 weeks organizer and really loved it. My advice is write down with real specificity what people got you. I tried to take pics of Griffin in the stuff people got him but sometimes I just wrote "clothes" thinking I'd remember. I didn't :)

    Have you seen Business of Being Born yet? I'm looking forward to a post on that.

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  2. Great books and lists and such! I love it all!

    Thank you for starting this blog....

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  3. I'm so very very excited for you (and Craig too). I can totally relate to the post wedding planning blues, but being married is great. I love me some Jessica blogs. Keep it up!

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  4. Jess, can I suggest keeping a diary too. Even if you don't show it to him/her until the little joy is older. The one thing that I wish I had was something that talked about my childhood and pre-childhood. What was going on in my parents lives, what was the things besides me that was important to them. A life history. My mom tells stories about her boys and often there are stories I've never heard before, because she just remembered them.

    Maybe your child wont find that interesting, but at least it will be there for them.

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  5. So, what does your poor psychology hubs think of your over-organization?? There was no structure in your childhood??? LOL!!

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  6. I did not organize anything so it is really fun to hear you talk about it.

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  7. After reading this I first thought you were a little crazy but then started thinking about it and I kept a blog, 4 preggo journals & a personal journal for myself. I see that Bob recommended you keep a diary for the baby to eventually read one day. I don't ever want Violet to read mine, let alone anyone else. Its a great place to put all the stuff that you really need to get off your chest and don't want to tell your husband because he will think you're a crazy lunatic. :) So, I have a nice version and a crazy b**ch version. Vi can read the other journals though.

    Anyway, I'm glad to see you're stepping it up and taking on the challenge of documenting all these special moments. You will thank yourself so much for it later.

    Also, keep track of the really silly things too. I know a lot of off the wall things happened while I was pregnant and I've since forgotten them. I'm very sad about it. I have actually read through some of my notes and cant for the life of me remember things happening. So, keep up with it. Good Luck! <3

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