Some advice for new parents

I've been asked by new parents what is the one gift or baby item that was an absolute must have or Godsend when we had our children. This has always kind of stumped me. K and I were not really gadget people, as in although we love gadgets we just never received any as gifts.

Some moms swear by baby swings. They couldn't have survived without it. Mmm not really a problem for me. We managed just fine without it. Then again, none of my babies ever were colicky and by baby #2, I seemed to work out a pattern with my kids fairly quickly for sleeping. So I didn't miss it even though I gazed at them all the time in the catalogue or felt my heart rate quicken whenever I saw one on sale, I never succumbed to the temptation to buy one.

Bum wipe warmers? While cool in theory. Who wouldn't want those bum wipes to be nice and cosy warm for this late night changes but really it's just an unnecessary extravagance.

Diaper Genies? By the very number of these that grace our local Goodwill store, I know these are pretty much useless. Don't want your house to smell like urine or poop.... take the garbage directly outside. That's what we did. We never had to mess with refills or emptying a pail that fills up surprisingly fast.

Soothers? While each of our children enjoyed theirs for the first few months and I would say that it certainly helped me get through some rough spots, every child is different and not all children take to soothers.

So what is the one item that every parent needs?

The answer came to me today. A Carpet Cleaner. More specifically a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment.

Please note this is not a sponsored post or anything. I am absolutely serious about this. Sure while I was young and naive with my first child, I would never have dreamed of how useful a carpet cleaner would be to me.

Three children later and I realize what an important tool this has been in our house and find it hard to believe we survived so long without it. Especially since the (shudder) summer of spew. You may recall here just how bad that was. Since then we've experienced more of those less joyful aspects of parenting many times. If it were not for our carpet cleaner we surely would be in the process of replacing our carpet and our couch as we speak. As it is we have been able to keep the stench of sour milk and urine at bay and can safely say that our carpet cleaner has been a smart investment.

One small tip though.... make sure you clean your carpet cleaner immediately after using it on vomit etc because if you don't, that water that's still sitting in the hose will spill and cause the most unholy of stenches in your storage room. Not speaking from personally experience mind you ;) and can I just say that the operation of and cleaning of said carpet cleaner is not my province whatsoever.

So new parents... forget the toys, invest well in a carpet cleaner.

In the Mommy Trenches