We must face facts, once you have children, the stuff begins to pile up. Stuff for feeding, stuff for sleeping, stuff to get you from point A to point B and everything in between. There is no end to the things you need for your child. We try to limit the stuff we acquire and now that there are two additional little humans in our lives, we are certainly utilizing the "hand-me-down" method. That being said, I still find myself having quite a bit of clean up at the end of each day and during this time I often contemplate the worthiness of each item and as my kids get older and smarter, the function and/or lack thereof of all their stuff. Not to mention the fact that my house is being cluttered by ugly plastic toys and KID STUFF.

It's been a surprise to me that of all the pieces that we have obtained over the course of the last three years, the most functional and well designed item is our portable mobile. On a whim during one of our jaunts to IKEA for the cheap but "not horrible looking" supplies, my husband picked up this mobile and commented on how simple yet nice it looked. I for one was a skeptic and I blame it squarely on the hormones.

Turns out, this simple yet perfectly designed toy delights both my three year old and my five month old.

Posted by: Nina Kinoti-Metz