Help a motha out

Mr Lemon and I window-shopped Babies 'R' Us last week. Oh my word. There is aisle after aisle of so much STUFF!!! I think our favorite part was the rocking chair section. We tried many.

It's very intimidating to a brand new mother-to-be. Like me. I asked Mr Lemon a bunch of questions like what kind of stroller did they use with Splenda, do you HAVE to have a baby bassinette, blah blah blah. Of course a lot has changed in the 10 years since he was preparing to have a newborn for the first time, and so there's a lot he doesn't really remember. Except that she loved her bouncy seat. This is not the actual one, but I love me some links.

So I reach out to all my internets:

~What did you have to have?
~What could you have lived without?
~What kind of baby shower presents do you give that are received well by the new mother?
~Do you want my address to send me those presents?
~What kind of presents did you return because you got a million of them?
~What kind of stuff is acceptable to borrow from other parents because there's only a short window of time that you actually can use it before the baby grows out of its use?