Child Rearing in the 21st Century

It may surprise some of you (if not most of you) to know that, even though Eva and I are both pretty divalicious, we didn't have all of the fancy gadgets that are available these days for her when she was a baby. 

List of things we did have:
- awesome Medela breast pump
- boppy pillow for nursing and to help Eva learn to sit up
- diaper genie to hold stinky diapers
- jumper chair thingy for Eva to stand and spin around in
- high chair
- car seat
- bottles
- pacifier
- stroller
- crib
(note: I'd count the last 6 of those items as essential for every baby so we really had 4 "extra" items)

List of available baby items that we did not have:
- swing or papasan (note: we did have one, the normal back and forth kind but it stopped working 2 weeks after Eva was born and we never used it again)
- humidifier
- wipe warmer
- co-sleeper
- baby gate (note: again, we had these, but they were used to keep the dog in the hallway, never to keep Eva contained)
- mobile for her crib
- fancy schmancy thermometer that you simply touch to the baby's head and it gives you a reading
- sling or wrap to carry Eva in
- monitor (yup, you read that correctly, we didn't have a monitor. Eva was close enough to be heard without one until she was... well... she still is!)

It looks like we're 10 to 10 for things we had versus things we didn't have.  So why am I telling you this?  Because babies do not need half of the crap that the marketing companies try to tell us they need.  They need somewhere to sleep, something to eat out of (boob or bottle), something to keep warm and something to help them travel safely.  Everything else is, in my opinion, just fluff.  Save your money and precious floor space; the less crap you have, the more your baby will enjoy the #1 thing in their lives- you.