Product placement (shameless, gratuitous)

So, a couple of product recommendations from the trenches.

The Baby Name Wizard just came out in a new edition and is hands down the best baby name book I've found. It's associated with the really excellent Name Voyager and Name Mapper, which are fun java applets that allow you to trace a name's popularity over time and geographical space respectively, as well as a consistently thought provoking blog, but this book delivers all on its own. It has actually useful entries, popularity graphs, helpful and surprisingly accurate sibling suggestions, and also really great classifications of names. A look at the "Exotic traditionals", "English" and "Ladies and Gentlemen" sections pretty much produced a complete list of all the names we'd independently considered in the past 10 years as a couple. I would recommend it to everyone wholeheartedly, especially to those expecting a child, or expecting to expect a child. It does not have a stylistic bias, so it should appeal to anyone regardless of whether or not they'd ever in a million years consider naming their son Jolyon. :)

The BOB Revolution stroller is totally awesome. It jogs well and it walks well and I'm a big fan so far. We haven't tried negotiating too many indoor environments but it has gotten in and out of shops (aka the bakery) very well, it has just enough storage space for a diaper bag and a large bag full of pastries and bread. I think it's an excellent all-around stroller for someone who wants to run but who also wants to take their child shopping. It's not particularly compact in folding, but it fits into our trunk (Honda Civic). It was really pricey, but it was an excellent birthday present for me and for Jolyon alike, and I think Stephanie will enjoy it also once she feels up for longer walks.

The Moby Wrap is a good companion to a big workhorse stroller in the child transportation department. It's a bit of work to get it wrapped around, but I have had no problems leaving it on without baby in it in between stints of toting Jolyon about. He seems extremely comfortable in it in the "newborn hold" and we look forward to trying the myriad different positions as he gets older. So far used for stair-heavy walks, but will also be great for doing things around the house with two hands free when we no longer have relatives clamoring to hold Jolyon whenever we need to do things like go have a pee. Other things I love about it - it is one size for everyone, it's free of buckles and it's comfortable in distributing the baby weight.

Circo sleepers are hands down our biggest favorite. Before we discovered them, we bought some Carter sleepers and those are fine in quality except they have embroidered larger motifs that really make the sleepers more visually busy and to me, less consistently appealing. We didn't locate the Circo brand at Target until later, and weren't sure how they would fit, because I hadn't heard reviews of them, so let me tell you that they are totally holding up even better than the Carter ones, and they fit wonderfully. The big strength of the Circo line asthetically is that they are much simpler and in my opinion even cuter, because they let the cuteness of the baby shine without adding labels or cartoons. They also have more rewearability than the ones with sayings emblazoned on the chest (which make me think a bit of those ironic hipster mechanic shirts) - it's not like, "oh look, Snugglesaurus again." Circo did run a wee bit larger than the Carter, which in turn ran larger than the Just One Year store brand version of Carter, but they fit totally reasonably and seem to have above-average quality.

As mentioned previously, snapped sleepers are a much bigger hit with Jolyon than zippered ones. But I have read blog posts from others to the contrary, so ultimately, I think this is one of those things you just need to try for yourself, and probably anew for each baby.

Weleda products smell phenomenal and not too artificial, and that's also true for their baby product line. Big fan of this entire company, maybe because I've imprinted on it since childhood. :) The diaper rash ointment smells great, though we only use it periodically (since you're not supposed to use creams in conjunction with cloth diapers). Only hitch is that it's worth looking at is checking out the ingredients label for nut oils if you have a family history of skin sensitivities and allergies. We're currently waiting on the body wash with Jolyon for that reason, but I am pretty sure that with the next baby we'll just go straight for it as soon as the baby is hairy enough to need shampoo, because it smells about a million times nicer than the Earth's Baby lavendar wash. Other than greasy hair, I think washing a baby with water is FINE and totally adequate.

Burt's Bees baby oil is subtly nice smelling without covering up the baby's uniquely awesome baby smell, and doesn't contain mineral oil, or nut oils, which is a big deal given the family history of skin freakouts and allergies on Stephanie's side. We've been sloshing it around on Jolyon since the first day to prevent meconium from sticking to his bottom, and it's still a fun thing to massage into his butt and tummy and feet and back and arms, especially since he's peeling a bit. If we were using baby powder, which we aren't, we'd be using the Burt's Bees one because it's talc-free and made with cornstarch.

Stephanie has been taking Floradix, an iron supplement with B vitamins that our midwives recommended as being rather more easily absorbed and a good way to fend off postpartum fatigue given Stephanie went into pregnancy with somewhat borderline iron levels. Another German classic! Seems to be working fine and it at least has a fun herbaceous taste that I personally find delicious, again thanks to childhood imprinting. Realistically probably most useful for other anemia-prone vegetarians.

Also, Carlson's Cod Liver Oil with the package-described "Great Lemon Taste!" is actually not bad (we consistently exclaim "Great lemon taste!" when downing our daily teaspoons with only about half-irony) and a good way to make sure that baby gets all of the DHA omega-3 fatty acids his growing brain needs. No fishy burps. (ETA: This is for the gestational mom to be eating during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and not directly for baby to consume, but he totally reaps major benefits. Omega 3 fatty acids are really important for development, and the ones from fish sources seem much more readily utilized by the body than the ones from flaxseed oil.)

Oh, and onesies. Carter's and Miniwear fit well. Gerber hand-me-downs we've gotten have been universally terrible in their fit for our long, skinny baby. Just say no to Gerber unless you have a short, very very wide baby. I have no idea why they are so ubiquitously sold, and I suspect it has to do with the fact that they actually have onesies as a trademark, and everyone else must be relegated to selling in "wiggle-in bodysuits" or somesuch. But, really, resist the urge to think that because they sell Gerber and only Gerber at the craft store and the Fred Meyer and every baby store in existence, and they're the original onesies, that they must be good. They're really not. It's worth hunting down better fitting onesies even if it is a bit more work. I think the most fun option is just getting white ones and then attacking with fabric paint, which also makes a good early labor activity. :) The SpaSilk ones seem like a very good idea but were too short for our tall baby as well.

Miracle Blanket = miraculous. It actually contains Jolyon's flaily arms and legs throughout the night, as the other large rectangle blankets have not. Unwrapping the burrito is thus a bit more work, but it's totally fabulous. Getting one is totally enough if you have lax standards like us. Ours has been getting quite a few grownup food stains from my habit of breakfasting while getting Jolyon down for the last 2-3 hour sleep shift. It will make a trip through the laundry next time a load goes in. :)

Diaper bag: it is so worth spending money on one that you are happy to carry around. I feel like a hot mom and not at all frumpy carrying our Caden Lane hobo, which is also just the right size and has useful compartments. We found it on sale ($96) and it was definitely still a splurge, but totally worth it. I don't think it's for everyone, but I DO think it's important to find a diaper bag that is a reflection of your own personal style, from rugged outdoorsy to hipster to handbag snob. I had no idea there were so many choices out there before looking online, because stores only seem to carry things geared towards children's asthetics, which is odd, because it's the parents who are lugging the thing around for a few years.

Mother Stork's baby book - yeah, so this is a case of way too much money happily spent. We're having a blast with it. We're definitely getting more of these for future children, insane pricetag notwithstanding. We've written about it before but it is really something we enjoy.

Graco SafeSeat - it is enormous. It will hopefully contain our tall baby for longer because of this, and it also decreases the temptation to use it as baby furniture, so I think this is a feature rather than a flaw. I haven't found it too heavy to use in the stroller, but realistically, if you are planning to use the stroller attachment capacity a lot, the smaller Snugride would be lighter and extend until the 6 month period where your child would start riding in the stroller without it.

Books we like: Baby 411 has been really useful in a look-things-up sort of way. Baby Bargains was really helpful in buying things in an informed way, and made us feel better about our Ikea crib choice, which we have been very happy with. Dr Spock's volume on Baby and Child Care has been a reassuring sort of read that reaffirms our laid back parenting style and makes us feel like following our instincts continues to be a very sound plan.

Burp cloths: we kind of overestimated how many we'd need, since our baby is not very spituppy and we're pretty cavalier about using the burp cloth until it's really thoroughly covered in spitup, regardless of whether the cat just sat on it or not. However, it's good to station ones around the house, and they also make good pee-protectors in the event of a boychild. (Washcloths are too small and get easily kicked off.) Buying a pack of Gerber diapers (not prefolds, just big squares of cotton) was a great way to get a lot of big burp cloths on the cheap, and they work even better than the designated burp cloths from Ikea which were also cheap. Burp cloths also work great as a nursing cover when tucked into a bra strap.

Changing pad covers: if you have a boy, you really want at least 4 of them. More would not be inappropriate, either. I have no idea why they're so overpriced in stores and why they don't come in 5-packs like so many other baby items. I think just using towels for changing area would also be fine, or maybe the changing pad fits into a pillowcase, but realistically, boy peeing is such a spectacularly large-radius'd mess that being able to just throw the whole changing surface in the wash is perfect.

ETA: we still have to review diapers, and that's for a reason. But, I can say that I love the trial option at Jillian's drawers, which gives you a variety pack of different cloth diapers that you can use for 21 days and then return, all for a very reasonable fee of $10 and return shipping. So far it's helped us figure out what does and doesn't work for us (and by us, I mean both parents and also the shape of our baby). In doing so, it saved us a ton of money and hassle. I was not at all enthusiastic about cloth diapering, but I do think that pocket diapers like Bumgenius or all-in-one diapers would work for me. Many others emphatically would NOT work for me, even though they sounded fine on paper. I'll post more about my specific adventures in diaperland, but ultimately, I think with cloth diapers mileage varies widely, and fit is incredibly important, so a "try before you buy" program like this one is absolutely critical to making sure you don't spend a lot of upfront money on diapers that don't end up working for you. Be aware that it's not enough diapers to carry you through full-time - I'd estimate it's more than a half-day, but slightly less than a full day's supply, so you will definitely want to have some disposables on hand as well. We signed up pre-due date and they just shipped the kit in advance, and we started using them once Jolyon's umbilical stump fell off and healed a bit.