Scott's Hall of Fame: Our favorite things

When I first found out I was expecting, I couldn't WAIT to register.
I spent literally hours online, scrolling through baby gear and reading reviews.

Items of interest generally fell into one of three categories:
a) absolute essentials
b) those things I thought would be fairly useful but could probably live without if needed
c) super cute stuff that served no function other than to make my son look even more adorable (as if that were possible.)

Now, six months in, I realize much of this was guesswork. There were many items I was sure would be critical in those early weeks/months that turned out to be completely useless.
We got dozens upon dozens of adorable baby outfits -- many of which Scott never wore because he was just too little. My mom had to go to the store and purchase preemie clothes for him, and all those cute onesies and jumpers went straight to the storage shed. I also stocked up on a nursing pillow, a very expensive breast pump and a slew of Dr. Brown's bottles, only to discover that I wasn't producing much milk and Scott much preferred the Playtex brand of bottle for his formula.

But there are those items that have turned out to be utter lifesavers. The "oh-my-God-I-would-never-have-made-it-this-long-were-it-not-for-xxx" items. In most cases, they've earned such a distinctive place of honor simply because they've kept Scott happy, quiet, and/or asleep.

This list of golden items, I've learned, is different for every parent, because every kid is different. But for us, it includes:

The portable bouncer/rocker chair.
Scott lived in this thing for the first two months of his young -- and what will surely be fruitful -- life. He didn't like sleeping in his bassinet, and he was too little for his crib, so we used the chair. We slept on the couch so he could rest undisturbed in it. The chair moved from room to room, it went with us to other people's houses...it got us through those first few sleep deprived weeks.
Scott won't sleep in it anymore, but he still loves sitting in it and playing with the toys. And anytime you can find something in "baby world" that last six months or more, you know its golden.

Almost every picture of Scott from his first months of life has this chair as a backdrop.

Hmm. A perfect place for a cat nap.

Months later and still enjoying the chair. We have to strap him in it now; otherwise he'd wriggle out.

Our Dr. Brown's Bottle Warmer.
I know, I know, a lot of people think its totally unnecessary. But Scott still isn't sleeping through the night with great regularity, and there's nothing better than knowing you can have a warm bottle of milk in less than four minutes -- especially if your kid wakes up hungry at 3 a..m.

The Baby Bjorn.
When Scott was tiny, he hit his fussy period without fail, every night around 5:30 or 6 p.m.. I couldn't rock him to sleep. I couldn't feed him. I couldn't walk with him and calm his down. But many a night, I put him in the Baby Bjorn and made a fool of myself grooving and rocking out to Dancing with the Stars, and for 20 or 30 precious minutes, I had a super content baby.

(Side note: I quickly discovered that Tank didn't much care for the waltz, but was a big fan of the Samba and the Cha-Cha. Jennifer Grey's routine to "Mercy" was DVR'd and replayed multiple times.)

Unfortunately, Scott weighs too much for me to carry him around in the Bjorn now, but Jim totes him all over the house and straps him to his chest while he does yard work. And Scott just chillaxes in it the whole time.

And that brings us to the biggie. It is our Holy Grail of baby items:

The Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Swing.

Literally, I wish this thing came in infant, toddler, and school-aged styles, because I know Scott is going to outgrow it soon, and I think the kid would seriously take it off to college if he could.

He naps in it, he plays in it, he catches an extra hour of sleep or two in the morning in it. He loves the rocking motion, the flashing lights and the moving crustaceans.

And we love that he loves it as much as he does.