These are a Few of my Favourite Things...

Here's a serious post (for once). I've compiled a basic list of stuff I've tried for those of you who aren't yet parents (or who are buying for those who are not yet parents) 'cause it's a crazy, confusing jungle of products out there that all claim to be the best possible choice for everyone's baby. I don't claim to be an expert, just someone who learned what works for me while slogging through as best I could.

Bottles
Dr. Brown's The Clear Winner - easy to use, baby likes them and they seem to reduce gas as advertised
Born Free Not bad. Easy to use and I have no problem recommending them
Avent Hate them. They tend to create a lot of bubbles if you are mixing formula in them (= gassy baby), they leak, and the nipples don't seem to appeal to many babies I know.

Diapers
Cloth Not in this lifetime. They invented disposables for very good reason, in my opinion. Ewwwww.
Huggies Ditto. They suck. Hard to use for first time parents and everyone who changed Brynn while we tried these suckers out felt that they lack clear signals to help newbies tell if the baby needs changing.
Pampers I love these and so does Scott. The Swaddlers are our faves and happily, we just found a size that will fit our little Bug until she hits 22 pounds. I especially liked that the newborn sized Swaddlers have a yellow line that turns blue when wet. It made life easier for everyone while we learned Brynn's cues (ie. which cry is "I'm wet, you idiot, change me" as opposed to "I'm hungry, you idiot, feed me" or "I'm tired, you idiot, shut up and let me sleep.")

Strollers
Uppababy and Bob are my two faves for their maneuverability and convenience factors. I can one hand steer either of these two (I only have an Uppababy but I've tried a Bob) and they are easy to steer over just about any kind of terrain. Bob has an advantage on rough ground but since you can't fully recline a Bob to accommodate a newborn, I decided the Uppababy was the way for us to go.
One drawback? The sunshade on the Bob and Uppababy are not part of the stroller per se and they aren't as convenient to use as one I recently used while borrowing a friend's Graco. My advice is to talk to as many friends as possible and be prepared to spend at least a couple of days shopping to make sure you get the most bang for your buck (who wants to spend the $$ to buy a stroller only to realize it isn't right for you later on?)
Another drawback? The ones I like are NOT cheap. Remember though, you get what you pay for and I can say with 100% certainty that I would not regret spending that extra money on either the Uppababy or the Bob since it is something I'll be using for years.

Clothing
I recommend checking out places like Superstore (their Joe line for kids is awesome and very affordable) as well as Winners. Gap now has something called "Sprize" which negates the need to wait for sales. You go in, buy whatever you want, and once those items go on sale, they refund the difference to you on a card you can use to go to back to the Gap to buy whatever else you might need for your growing baby (or your shrinkin' self, for that matter).

Don't be afraid to pre-buy. I just recently bought winter stuff on a massive discount for Brynn that will fit her when she's 1 and 2. I have soft under bed storage bags that I'm using to store this stuff and it'll save me loads of cash in the future.

Don't overbuy. ie: don't go crazy on baby clothes. You'll probably be given tonnes of the stuff and at the rate babies grow, you'll be lucky if your child wears each "oh so cute" outfit more than once or twice before growing out of it, especially in the early months when weight gain and growth are on overdrive. You can always go out and buy more if you need it but more than likely it won't be a major issue.

So that's the skinny on a few of my favourite things. Of course, since I'm known to have a strong opinion about just about everything, you can expect more of these lists in future.