Lots and lots of muslins. Fabulously simple, you can never have enough.

Grobags - no more worrying about blankets.

Simple pouch slings - not the ones that look like rucksack, but just pieces of sewn cotton. Very handy for carrying both twins at the same time. Unfortunately I can't remember the make at the moment, but I can ask Holly if anyone wants a specific recommendation.

For ourselves - a Tivo. Back when PVRs were relatively rare, this was a sanity-saver; we didn't want to have to manually record everything, but when we had to pop upstairs to comfort our eldest at unpredictable times, being able to pause whatever we were watching was bliss. We've moved on from Tivo itself, but the whole PVR concept is still fab. We're now addicted to subtitles, admittedly.

Teething Tablets

The Bumbo it works great for when they can't sit up on their own but want to see what is going on and then it doubles as a high chair if you buy the $12 tray! We used that as his high chair for more than 6 months. Space saver and cheaper!!

For the baby himself, good quality diapers.

For my wife, a Boppy nursing pillow. That thing has been the single most useful item we bought, period.

Snug as a Bug baby travel wraps - great alternative to a traditional blanket and fantastic for moving about from car to pram without unwrapping.

Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me baby wrap - when you have a wriggly baby, these wraps are fantastic at keeping them swaddled and are a breeze to use

Travel system capsule/bassinette/stroller - the capsule was a godsend for us, enabling us to move our little one from car to pram without waking her. We have the Strider DLX, which the new version now includes a toddler seat - Strider Plus

A comfortable car seat. We took a hand me down for our first seat and compared to the new seat we tied our daughter to a board. Car trips got lots easier once we got her a nicer seat.

Wubbanub pacifiers. The specialty shop at our hospital sold them, and they do wonders. The attached stuffed animal helps hold (but not force) the pacifier in the baby's mouth, and gives them a huge target to grasp at when they start using their hands too.

A baby sling. Carrying my babies (one at a time of course) with it is wonderful!

The best thing we ever got wasn't used until our baby was 2 months old, but Fisher Price's Ocean Wonders Aquarium has been a lifesaver in getting our baby to love being in his crib.

We have been sleep-training him to fall asleep for naps and bedtime on his own, and he is able to do this watching the fish, bubbles and serene lights while at the same time listening to soothing music (there are many great choices). You can also turn the lights and movement off and keep the music on, or vice-versa.

He also loves looking at his aquarium in the morning. When he first gets up, I put it on for him as he is waking up. Not only does this buy me 15 more minutes in bed, but he loves to coo and talk to his fish in the morning.

My sister's daughter also loved this aquarium. My sister would often hear her 2-year old awaken in the early morning, push it on herself, then fall back to sleep!

It's 50 bucks, but well worth the money.

We bought a La-Z-Boy rocker which has been amazing. The model we have can recline till it is almost flat. I found it very helpful to doze in either while feeding our baby or when he couldn't settle down without extra help. Also, when the inevitable colds come, it's sometimes easier to sleep slightly elevated in the rocker instead of the bed.