Added Note: I have received some emails lately asking where we are registered, what Cole's room will look like, etc.  You can see all of our choices and check my registry at Pottery Barn Kids or Babies R Us.  That's the fun part, right?!!  Enjoy!

NESTING MONTH

Jason has spilled the beans regarding the name we've chosen for our little guy on his new blog - my maiden name is Coleman so we decided to go with Coleman Jason Hall (a little bit of both of us) and call him Cole.  We love it!I told Jason that January was "nesting month" for Cole.  In order to give myself a maternity leave, I have been feverishly working on deadlines and getting ahead in work.  In my mind, I wasn't going to worry about organizing for the baby till January.Well, January is here.Sooner than I expected, to be honest.I still have deadlines to complete and have been feeling a little overwhelmed that we have passed the 6 week mark before my due date and still have quite a bit to do.  But this last weekend after our fabulous neighbors came over to help take down the tree,  I got the organizing adrenaline going full force.  Thank you Jones' for the help with the Christmas decorations and for getting me going on the rest of my list!

We have a finished basement that we only use for Rock Band right now - but I need to move the upstairs guest room down there.  The room I am moving it to was half full of totes from our storage when we were living in our apartment.  Before I put it all into "real" storage in our house I wanted to go through it one more time.  I'm a tosser - and I knew that there would be things I could get rid of.I looked at that pile and thought, "I bet I could do this today" and tackled it.  By the time Jason's aide came to help him that night, I had piles of totes and boxes for him to help me move to their correct locations: charity, trash, long-term storage, etc.  Chadd handled it all in about 30 minutes and I was left with a spic-and-span room ready for the guest bed to be moved into and the peace of mind that the task I had been dreading was finished - and it was only January 3!  Talk about empowering!

QUICK ORGANIZATION TIPS

My key to organizing anything: Try to have containers on hand for the stuff to keep so you can separate and re-store it immediately, labeling your boxes as you go.  But the real secret to success is: have a place for charity items and trash items and add to those piles liberally.  Toss, toss, toss - let it go, get rid of it, quit hanging on.  Between those two piles, I probably got rid of about half of my stuff - and trust me, I had done the same thing about 2 years ago with these same boxes.  Toss, toss, toss!

So, now I have a closet ready for Cole - even though as I neatly placed all of the gear we have received so far in there I wondered what some of it was for.  I think it's safe to say that three months from now I will know what to do with it all but right now,  I'm just trusting all those moms who tell me we'll need it!It's been a great weekend.  I can't bend like I used to and I lose my breath going up and down the stairs but I feel more prepared than ever - ready to focus again on my deadlines without the organizing part hanging over my head.  Whenever this little guy comes - I will at least have our space ready for him.

CHALLENGE: What is a task or chore that you have been putting off but you know will liberate you once you complete?  Are you ready to tackle it?  Take the challenge and just dive in - go for it.  Now is the time to get that thing done!

DOWNLOAD DAY

Since January is "nesting month" for Cole and with some baby showers still to come for us over the next couple of weeks, I thought you might enjoy a quick printout for when you need a card attached to a baby gift.  Just trim and you're ready to go - or you can add your own ribbon or embellishment to give it some dimension.Enjoy!