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!