I’m about to become a new dad. I guess I should say a “fresh” dad, because I’m already a dad, but I’m becoming a new dad, for the third time. And man has technology changed. In my searches over the past few months I’ve found 3 things that I’ve fallen in love with, so I wanted to share them with you, sorted in order of cost, since I need some kind of organization.

Skip Hop Duo Diaper Backpack

This bag has everything I love. It has a little D-ring for toys or pacifier to clip onto. It has a little phone compartment if your murse is full (and no, it’s not one of the old phone compartments on older diaper bags that only fits a flip phone, you know what I’m talking about), and it fits a 15″ laptop.

It also has all of the stuff you expect a diaper bag to have, multiple compartments, a little padded changing pad, side bottle pockets, and a grab handle. It also has stroller straps, like to hang it on a stroller, which I’ve found to be very handy. Way better than trying to hook the straps over the handles in an awkward way where they eventually slide down toward the front and close the top of the stroller over your kid, or slide off toward the bag and smash your little toesies.

Cost:

$65 on skiphop.com

$52 on Amazon.com

Samsung SmartCam HD Plus

Well, see, this is technically a “security” camera, but it works great as a baby monitor because you can do everything you can with a baby monitor, and when the baby’s all growns up growns up growns up you can switch to using it as an IP security camera. Or you can set it up in the living room and watch all the weird junk your dog does while you’re away.

This camera comes with a memory card so you can record video or capture stills. It has great motion detection capabilities. In the setup screen you can actually choose an area of the room you want to monitor by drawing an area with your finger. That way if you only want to record yourself going into the fridge for your midnight sardine and salami sandwich instead of you walking into the kitchen you can select the area around the fridge. How does it do it? I don’t know.

You can also prerecord little messages to play, like, “shhhhhh, tome for night-night”, or, “go to sleep”, or, “DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE”.

See more specs on the Samsung site.

$98 on Amazon

Diono Radian RXT

I looked at and tried to sit in a bunch of car seats. Yes, I’m that guy in stores pulling down the floor samples and trying to mess with them, sit in them, take them apart, fold them up, all that. And the Diono Radian RXT was one of the best I found. They were good enough to send me a sample seat and I installed it right away.

Features I like:

• It looks bad-ass.
• It folds pretty much flat and can be worn as a backpack if you’re traveling and need to bring it on an airplane.
• See that little flap in the front? It covers the invention for the easiest way I’ve ever encountered to tighten/loosen the restraints on your kid. There’s a strap in there you pull to tighten and a lever that you lift to loosen. Boom, that’s it. No cranks to twist, no buttons to push.
• Cupholder that can go on either side.
• Fits 3 wide across most cars/vans.

Cost:

$299 on diono.com

$255 on Amazon

If you have any gear you love let me know, I’ll add it to the list and I’ll up the number.