Calling All Moms - You Gotta Help Me

Regarding the Pack N Play.  I actually had two.  The first one was a Graco Model and was nice, folded up and worked great to contain when they are really little as well as a portable crib for sleepovers.  The "systems" now have a bassenet for newborns so they wouldn't have to worry about buying a separate one.  Also the changing station is nice.  We used that a lot so we didn't have to go all the way upstairs to change her if we were in a separate part of the house.  Here is a similar link:

 http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Pack-Playard-Bassinet-Kensly/dp/B001GQ2PLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1260330097&sr=8-1-fkmr3

I also had the jumbo playpen like this one

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Pack-Play-Playard-Quilt/dp/B000056C86/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1260330097&sr=8-2-fkmr0 

When Riley got older the pack n play was too small for her to actually play in.  This one was great.  If I was cleaning, running on the tread mill, or doing anything that I could keep my eye on her 100% she would play in there will all her toys.  This was really great too when we would go to houses that had dogs she wasn't use to or they weren't use to her.  Gave her some freedom but kept her contained.  TBH, her and Charlie sat in there together when we were moving in our house.  They could see what was going on, but we were able to keep them contained.

Other things we loved, the bouncy seat (we would have died without it) and the exersaucer and crib aquarium (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-L6925-Ocean-Wonders-Aquarium/dp/B000NW5RWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1260330682&sr=8-1)

Things I thought were useless:  boppy pillow (I could never get comfortable with it, but some people swear by them), bottle warmer, wiper warmer, fancy bedding set (you aren't supposed to use the bumper anymore, you shouldn't use the quilt, and you have to take down the mobile after a couple of months, so it was pretty much a waste).

Things that were cool and used but could have lived without:  changing table and swing (it wouldn't go faster enough for her)

Regarding the diaper thing:  I wanted to use cloth, but we ended up using disposable - not regretting it at all.

Chuffy

Most modern ones have velcro or poppers 

Well now, that certainly explains why I've had such a hard time finding diaper pins! The little knobby thing on my car seat belt strap came off and the buckle would slide all the way to the bottom (somewhere near the floor behind the seat) every time I unbuckled it. I knew I could fix it by putting a really big sturdy safety pin through the strap, but there weren't any diaper pins in the baby section of CVS, Rite Aid or Wally.  I wound up having to go to Babys 'R Us about 40 miles away to get some. It was OK - I had lunch at a really good Italian restaurant while I was there.

Joyce

Hope no one minds me chiming in

I used (and still occasionally use) cloth diapers for my daughter and they do save a ton of money over time, however initially they cost alot (mine were $21.00/ diaper) . The ones I got for Aistlinn are called Fuzzi Bunz- http://www.fuzzibunz.com/one_size_diaper.php.

I went with them because the snaps on the Fuzzi Bunz make the sizing easier and the outside of the diaper is water proof, and I didn't want anything with velco- it snags on everything and you have to replace them over time and they had good reviews. I have 8 cloth diapers with 8 microfiber liners for them and at night I used a hemp liner as well as a microfiber liner to prevent leaking. I used them all the time when my daughter was littler and now that she is bigger they do tend to soak alot faster so I had to wash several loads of diapers a day. So now I go back and forth between cloth and disposable, because for me its not worth spending more money on extra diapers because we're working on potty training right away.

If they do go with cloth, make sure they have more than eight, its not fun when you forget to wash half of them (I wash four at a time) and your left with a bare bum for the next hour and a half who isn't yet potty trained LOL

 As for items I found very useful when my kids were babies- Glider, bouncy chair, swing, bumbo, lots of sleepers, playmat, exersaucer, sling or backpack, books, baby toys with different textures, colors and patterns to help with development.

 Things I found useless- bottle warmer, breastfeeding pillow, shoes (they grow out of them so fast its a waste of money when they are really little), outfits smaller than 6 months- they grow out of them fast- its harder to change them- sleepers are the way to go until 6 months old imo. and honestly change tables- they work good at first, but after a while we just sort of changed them where ever they were and used more recieving blankets for changing them on than the change table. So for us it was a huge waste of $100.

Thats all I can think of atm