We made a list this week of the few things we want to pick up before this baby arrives. With the first baby the list was quite long, filled with must-haves from all the top lists. With baby number two, our parents and a few friends purchased us a little something, and with baby number three we’ve spent almost nothing. As the stores are full of 30-week pregnant women finishing up their registries, I’ll offer our take on the a few of the things that were worth every penny and used all three babes. More importantly I’ll say why they worked for us. Next week I’ll take note of those things that just weren’t for us.

Crib and pack ‘n play: I’ve seen people put the crib on their list of useless items. Not the case for us! We’ve kept all the babes in our bedroom until they were sleeping through the night (8-10 weeks for us). The pack ‘n play served our purposes just fine and was clutch for numerous trips to grandparents, friends, hotels, and even outside. Co-sleeping works for many. I nursed at night but didn’t have space for baby in bed. I found I (and possibly baby) get better rest when baby is a few feet away in the crib. The crib also has kept each of our kids safe and comfy in their rooms until beyond age two, and I imagine this will be the same for baby three.

I am very excited and wish I’d known about it with the other babes. It’s small enough to go right by the couch, chair, or our bed (and comes with secure attachments). It also has a short, secure drop down side that I hope will ease the transitions for me as a c-section mama in those first weeks. With two older kids, I also appreciate the “mini” size and wheels that allow me to safely move her to a quiet space in our house with ease for nap time.

Swing: The rock ‘n play and other gadgets are also on the market now but we pulled out our trusty old Graco swing from 2011 that only swings in one direction for all three babies. It’s an oldie and a goodie for a reason in this house and includes a vibrating bouncer with the click of a button. Hubby loves to swing the babe manually (it also swings itself with motor) and as baby grows, the seat can be less reclined to offer a great view of the room. If I had an extra $150 perhaps I would prefer a model that didn’t have the classic swing style where my sons could possibly catch their arms but this is unlikely and was not an issue up to this point.

Cloth diapers: Two cloth diapers of ours have worn out but the rest (in a moderately large stash of 60) made it from previous babes to this last one. We use disposables sometimes but, especially those exclusively breastfed six months, enjoy the ease of washing cloth. We even invested in some smaller diapers (either size small/one or newborns that fit to 15 pounds) and used them plenty even on our babes born nine and ten pounds at birth.

Carriers: We used a wrap for those first few months and look forward to using it again to keep our sanity especially in the evening hours as the house bustles with dinner and bedtime routines. After much research I chose a CatBird pikkolo soft structured carrier in 2011 and it will see us through baby three. Once babe had head stable we came to prefer the structured carrier for all carrying.

Changing table: A lot of people will say it’s not necessary and that may be the case for you too. You can change a baby anywhere really (and you probably will!). We like the changing table because it offers storage for cloth diapers and baby things. It also is at a great height for daddy whose injury-prone back can’t just plop on the floor with little effort.  We still use it in spite of not really having a babe in diapers to change toddler’s clothes. It also stores two toy bins on the bottom shelf. The only thing I may have preferred over the changing table would be a dresser that could also serve as a changing table space. We already had a dresser and did not have the money to invest in this more expensive piece of furniture, so the changing table has served us well for multiple children.

Simple monitor: Also not necessary, especially as we live in a home about 1000 square feet. I liked the monitor though because it allowed me to pick up on early cues of a waking baby instead of waiting until baby was yelling or crying loudly for me. We bought the most basic monitor as the bells and whistles of video and other perks were unnecessary for our purposes.

Nursing support pillow: I invested in a new pillow this third time around as the two previous babes flattened our previous pillow out a bit. This one also has an additional inch or two of height and support. I found the nursing pillow critical in those first few months with a c-section. As I am taller, I also found myself hunched over midnight hour after midnight hour without it. Once we hit 3ish months I found I could sit more relaxed to nurse without it, but the pillow was crutch to our nursing success in those early months.

Annie is a mom of two boys, ages two and three. She enjoys the finer things in life, like compression socks and a full night’s rest.