Our five lifesavers

The baby/parenthood market segment is probably one of the most abused and exploited sectors in the commercial world. Entrepreneurs come up with a plethora of (often times useless) products that clutter the brains of inexperienced parents. Hubby and I (mostly I!) have both become victims of baby shopping sprees, hoping that at some point, we might hit it right.

Here are the top 5 things we've bought so far without regrets:

1. Baby Einstein: Sing and Play CD
"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt! La la la la la la...." This has proven to be our most effective "fussy-fier". I really don't know what makes this stand out from our son Zack's CD collection. He just loves listening to this so much. If we're on the road and he starts getting bored, we'll just play his favorite tracks, and he'll instantaneously change his mood. When we're home and he hears this playing on the boombox, he'll start jumping up and down and squealing in delight. Even grandpa uses this heaven-sent tool to calm him down when we're away.

2. Fisher-Price Soothe & Glow Seahorse
There are very limited choices in toys appropriate from birth. "Mr. Seahorse" is one of them. It really does what its says. It soothes and it glows! It plays some calming music mashed up with bubbly underwater sounds, making the baby's sleeping environment really relaxing. After many months of using this, it has become our mommy-baby language for "it's time for bed!"


3. Precious Moments Plush Prayer Doll
"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, that the angels watch me through the night and keep me in their blessed sight. Amen." Who wouldn't love these cute little dolls? Although these are priced at $42 at Amazon for a pair, we got "Joseph" (the boy doll), which we named after our parish church St. Joseph, for only $7 at Walgreens. Joseph had been Zack's 1st best friend. When Zack was just 2 1/2 months old, he would stare intently at Joseph as he recited the night-night prayer. As he grew up, he would talk to Joseph and would feel really sad when Joseph stopped talking back to him. They had a "brotherly-like" relationship that was really cute!

4. Fisher-Price Deluxe Auto Mirror
Parents who have not faced the "nightmares" of traveling with baby on a rear-facing carseat should consider themselves lucky. Unfortunately for us, we deal with this all the time. Zack gets bored and agitated sitting for a long time and seeing nothing but the cream colored apholstery. In our desperate attempt to make car trips bearable for everybody, we decided to give this mirror a try. It plays endlessly-looping kiddie songs and has blinking lights. The nice part is it comes with a remote control that allows the driver to turn the music and lights on & off anytime (the repeating songs can really get hypnotizing for adults at some point!)

5. Evenflo Exersaucer Smartsteps ABC
OK, so we did not really buy this. It was a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa. Still, it is one of the best baby products we've used ever. It allows us to put Zack down for a short period of time so we can attend to some chores a few, visible feet away. Sometimes, we just sit next to the exersaucer to watch his face light up as he vigorously jumps up and down, hammers the toys with his tiny palms or even chews on anything that is within reach. We've also tried other exersaucer models but so far, this particular one seems to have the smartest design. Unfortunately though, this is only good for a child up to 30", which means we will have to say bye-bye to this wonderland in a few months.