What We Like (28 weeks, 1 day)

This weekend we went to this baby expo event....basically you pay an entrance fee to have a horde of people try to entice you into buying things you probably don't need. The lure is the unlikely hope of winning the gift basket or raffle at each booth. Despite the crass commercialism veiled as an education event, we had a nice Sunday afternoon of family time. We even saw the kind proprietor of karmababy.com where Aaron bought his sling (that you have seen so often on this blog). Apparently, a couple of her customers told her that they were referred by a "man with a brown sling". Yessir, that's the Sprout Daddy. She also said that she remembered Zeke because he made a loud bodily function noise while we were there. (If any of you go to get a sling, please tell them that Aaron referred you...if we continue to refer people, we will get a kick-back!)

I further stoked my carrier craze by buying another one that will let me carry Zeke on my back. We are now up to a total of four carriers: Aaron's sling, the Bjorn, a ring sling that I never got the hang of using and now the Ergo. This is becoming an addiction.

After all seeing all those thousands of things one might need as a parent, I thought I would share the results of a recent conversation of ours about the baby gear that we have appreciated the most as new parents. Now, that we are well experienced parents, here's what we have really depended on (in no particular order and discounting obvious needs like diapers and carseat):

* Gumdrop pacifier
* Sling
* 42 x 42 blanket for swaddling for good sleeping
* Ocean Sounds CD for any sleeping
* Medela Pump in Style breast pump
* Nursing pillows (My Brest Friend at first and then the Boppy)
* Mobiles (particularly the wind-up one on the co-sleeper with bears)
* Co-sleeper (for sleeping, changing, baby corral)
* Swing at first and now the exersaucer
* A good camera! (I wish we would have gotten it sooner)