This I'm pretty sure about...

My next-door neighbor (who has a daughter Robert's age) and I were discussing things we tell pregnant people now that they should or shouldn't have/do for the baby.  So I started thinking that maybe I should share the things I have learned this year.  I do so in the full recognition that I didn't believe anything that people with kids told me before I had Robert, but this kind of knowledge is so hard won that I (and every other mom) feel compelled to share.  So, here is the first in what may be a regular list of things I'm pretty sure about...

• Crib skirts are totally not worth buying. In fact, the whole bedding set they try to sell you is an enormous waste of money.  You can't use the crib bumpers (no, really, put them down.  they are death-traps.), you can't use the blankets (see above) and the skirt is totally worthless once you lower the crib mattress.  So buy to knit organic cotton sheets at BRU, and spend that $200 on something else.  Like...
• The annoying plastic toys that sing songs are going to be your kid's favorite toys.  Yes, you swore you wouldn't have them, that they are cheap and tacky and you wouldn't look at them sitting in your living room.  That you weren't going to have a bunch of toys that require batteries.  Until you realize that your kid will sit in the car for 2 hours if he has his little LeapFrog Animal Alphabet Discovery Ball.  And then it goes to the top of the list of things you would save in a fire. 
• Rechargeable batteries are the best thing you can give new parents.  For the first 6 months we had 2 recharging stations going at any one time.  
• Nipple confusion is something that men who don't want to get up in the middle of the night to feed babies made up so that new moms have to breastfeed 24/7.  Give the baby a bottle every now and then so he'll be able to go back and forth.  Oh, and a little formula won't kill the kid either.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  

I'm sure there a bunch of other stuff, but hopefully we'll get some new pictures of Robert downloaded so you don't have to listen to me pontificate about parenthood.