Show Us Your Life- Baby Gear

I love the "show us your life" series on Kelly's Korner blog. This week it's "baby gear" week. Here are my likes and dislikes:

Likes:

One of my favorite pieces of baby gear is my Oi.Oi giraffe print diaper bag. It's the first purchase I made when we were matched and I still carry it today because it's almost purse like.

I wouldn't go without our Diaper.Genie. It keeps the stank (that's a grosser form of 'stink') out of our nursery. The only downside are the expensive refills.

In that same vein, our wipe warmer is a must have. I didn't register for one and didn't think we needed it, but we received it at our shower and I love it. Freezing cold wipe? Not on my son's tushie. I understand many think it isn't necessary and, it's not, I just like it.

I just love love LOVED our Graco Metro.lite travel system. We used it all the time and still use the stroller.

There is a chance I might not have survived newborn-hood without our swing. Declan took many (probably too many) naps in it.
Another piece of baby gear we got a lot of use out of was the Baby.Einstein play mat. Speaking of naps, Declan took many a nap on this mat. He had a little dog that we hung from the left side and he batted at it until he drifted off. As he got older (3+ months) he played with the toys more and napped less on it. Still, great money spent.
I still want to bust out the exersaucer from time to time (Decs would have nothing to do with it now). I was actually able to take a shower every once and awhile with the help of this little gem. We put him in it very early (when his neck was strong enough) and it retired a couple months ago.
Early on, this crib soother worked like magic. Now, Declan prefers to beat it with his pacifier until we come get him out of his crib. It's been out of batteries for months but it was good baby gear to have for awhile.

For us, Dr.Brown bottles really helped Declan's sensitive little tummy. They are a pain with many parts so if they didn't work so well for us we wouldn't mess with them. The Munch.kin formula dispensers are cheap and really great.

Other honorable mentions: the Moby. wrap (love love), digital baby monitor, those cheapy sanitizer bags for nipples and pacis, sleep sacks (perfect for cold Nebraska winters), stretchy cotton blankets for swaddling (life saver). Also we still use our boppy today.

With toddlerhood we have some new faves. My friend told me about this little mat that suction cups to the table at restaurants. It has a little "moat" on it to catch flying food and it easily rolls up and doesn't take too much diaper bag space.

I love our Grac.o high chair. You can wash the trays (there are 2!) in the dishwasher and it's easy to wipe down the seat. It also gets used a lot for me to get ready for the day. I put books and toys on the tray and he plays while I do what I need to do.

We've gone through many a sippy cup but the best for us are the Nuby. ones. He chugs from them. :)

Now for the dislikes:

The bumbo. Declan hated it. He sat in it like 3 times and I sold it on craigs.list a bit back.

The bouncer. Declan was not a fan of his cute little bouncer. I was told most newborns love them. My newborn did NOT. ;)
Also we weren't pack.n.play people. It's at grandma and grandpa's house permanently. Declan always slept in his room so we never had him in our room in it. Not a waste a money, but not really a "must have".

That's it for dislikes- we did a pretty good job with our purchases I guess! ;) What can't you live without? What do you hate?!