It starts simply enough. The kids are going back to school, and you know they’re going to lose their pencils and lunchbags and backpacks, so you put labels on the stuff. Personalized labels look slick, and Web sites like Identikid and Identity Direct offer all kinds: vinyl, iron-on, labels for shoes, pencils, backpacks, markers. You can buy a Colour My World Pack with more than 100 personalized labels, or branch out into the house with a lap desk or bathroom mirror with your child’s name. Land’s End has lots of backpacks and lunch bags that can be personalized, and TeamLogo can make a bicycle plate with your child’s name for $4. Now that you’ve got the kids organized, you are probably feeling the urge to label more things. Get the LetraTag home labelmaker (the video on the site gives you lots of ideas about things to label) for $30 (pictured) or the nice-looking one on Amazon. Now you’re really starting to see clutter everywhere: the kitchen, the closets, the garage. This is where the Chronos personal organizer 4.5 software on Amazon for $95.15 could really help. But is that enough? Do you feel the need to be with others of your own kind? Read organizer blogs, like Virtually Organized (which shows you places to label you never thought of) or Unclutterer, which offers lots of wisdom, like clearing out all those pesky perfume bottles, a picture of the perfect workspace and guidance on uncluttering your brain! Has this search for organization nirvana made you nervous? Call in professionals. The folks from In Pefect Order will fly to your home, stay for a week and make everything in your life totally perfect for $5,500 (not including airfare, lodging and food).

Anyone who pretends not to look at tabloid magazine covers knows that America is very, very interested in babies of celebrities. To feed that insatiable hunger, most every celebrity of childbearing years has had a baby of late. People Magazine’s Web site has found the perfect mixture of star-obsession and shopping with their Celebrity Baby Blog. The Blog features a section on what gear celebs buy for their babies. Because we know there is an instinctive maternal urge to buy your baby something that Nicole Richie’s baby has, we’ve rounded up a few recent items. Laila Ali, of boxing and Dancing With the Stars fame, is expecting a son and has a Mutsy 4 Rider Light stroller ($699) waiting, as well as a Luca Glider for $895, baby shoes by Pediped and a $50 Jelly Baby changing mat by Kuster. Julianna Margulies wheels son Kieran Lindsay in a Bugaboo Cameleon ($900) and uses an $80 Skip Hop Via messenger diaper bag ($79). Actress Gretchen Mol has an 11-month-old son named Ptolemy and he sucks a Gerber soft center pacifier (2 for $3) and rides in a Bugaboo Frog ($759). Singer Sheryl Crow and son Wyatt Steven cruise in Kolcraft Countours Lite stroller ($70, pictured) and the baby wears an eco-T from Tiny Revolution, $25. Celeb-dad Matthew McConaughey strolls tiny Levi in an Orbit Baby’s Orbit infant system ($900) with bassinet ($240). In an amazing double-celebrity, double-baby sighting - Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Apple and David -  were seen walking both with Paltrow’s green Phil and Ted’s Sport double stroller, which costs $510. And, short of Brangelina’s twins, the most ogled child in America has to be Suri Cruise. On a recent outing, she carried Jellycat’s My Little Friend Bunny ($12). Must you have more? The Baby Chic 101 blog keeps tabs on every celeb and their baby buys. (Lisa Marie Presley, expecting twins, just spent more than $18,000 at chic Petit Tresor).

One of the most important purchases new parents make is their baby’s car seat. For newborns, the best bet is an infant car seat, not a convertible (infant-to-toddler) car seat. Infant carseats are specially designed for babies weighing 22 pounds or less; they are rear-facing and come with handles. The seat attaches to a base that is anchored to your car, usually via the LATCH system (LATCH stands for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children”), required of all cars made in the United States after 2002. Best of all, the seats also double as baby carriers, feeding seats and a place for Baby to nap. Baby Trend Silverado Flex-Loc infant car seat has a five-point adjustable harness and an adjustable head support and comes in various color combinations ($89 at Walmart). The seat fits into the Flex-Loc base, which is purchased separately ($37). The Britax companion infant car seat goes the extra mile in protection, with deep side walls and head support designed to protect your infant in side-impact collisions ($210).The Graco SafeSeat is a rear-facing car seat designed to hold a child up to 30 pounds and comes with a stay-in-the-car base (on sale for $99). In the baby products world, Peg Perego is the equivalent of the Mercedes-Benz. Thus, if you can afford it, the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio infant car seat with side-impact protection and a “comfort-dry” pad for those times when the diaper happens to leak is an excellent choice ($250). It works in cars, airplanes and fastens into Peg Perego strollers. For more advice on how to select an infant car seat, read this informative article from BabyCenter. Also, Car-Safety.org contains comprehensive tips on how to keep your children secure in the car.

Universal acclaim is greeting WALL-E, the daring new film from the Pixar animators who brought us Finding Nemo. And as with previous computer-hatched adventures The Incredibles and Cars (see the full collection here), programmers find this fable particularly well suited to video games. In the WALL-E game, which is available on all platforms, kids can go scavenger hunting for health-restoring sunbeams and forgotten cultural artifacts or just fly through space zapping debris. Games are just the tip of the product tie-in iceberg, of course, despite the fact that the movie’s theme is human overconsumption and the ecological damage done by limitless consumer goods: Kids seduced by the E.T.-like robot can buy either elaborate remote-controlled robo-toys or low-tech ones like this robotic arm; they can get themed bedspreads or read bedtime tales from a Little Golden Book. While this glut of goods may serve to cancel out the story’s eco-friendly message, marketers are expert at making adults feel joyless when the kids complain: After all, who could refuse a roomful of tykes wearing these (pictured) low-tech but heartstring-tugging WALL-E masks?

You don’t have to be young and afraid of the dark to appreciate the glow of a nightlight. They help us quietly navigate rooms and hallways when others are sleeping and let us see what’s ahead in empty rooms. Animal-themed lights are great for little ones and we love these Kozy lights small fry teddy bears ($9) because they are multifunctional, serving as stuffed animal and nightlight. Featured in Parents Magazine, these soft friends have tummies that gradually change colors. Twilight turtle’s glow also changes color as he sits on the floor, projecting a complete starry night sky onto the walls and ceiling of a dark room ($34). This multi-award winning nightlight also educates by including eight actual constellations, including The Big Dipper, in its star pattern. Buy it along with a twilight ladybug and get both for $65. We have to recommend Lumilove’s adorable animal nightlights (pictured) for the little ones. These are from the United Kingdom (about $50 each), and they’re soft, with flexible arms and legs, tummies that glow without becoming hot to the touch and are powered by low-energy LEDs. Choose from kitten, puppy, panda, elephant and rabbit designs. For the grown-ups, the selection of nightlights at Rosenberry Rooms will turn you on if you appreciate a “shabby chic” or retro look. These beauties are made to order in fabrics and colors you’ll adore, which means they take a few weeks to arrive. Check out the black western nightlight ($30) and the pink & green stripes with pink pom pom trim nightlight ($36) to get an idea of this company’s range. At Funky Lights, the variety is good and the look folksy. Example: the yellow moon night light ($40), a charming drawing housed in a hand-textured and colored copper frame. Finally, if great paintings are your thing, grab Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” nightlight ($25 from The Porcelain Garden Enlightened Art) or one of the other masterpieces turned into a teeny light.

Parents taking their young children swimming this summer would be well advised to put the kiddos in swimsuits with built-in flotation devices. These are hybrids between a life jacket and a bathing suit, with foam panels sewn inside the chest and sometimes the back. My Pool Pal carries the ultimate in children’s flotation wear: the Aqua Force children’s swimsuit. These suits are heavily padded on the front and back with foam inserts; they look like life vests with shoulder straps and a swim bottom attached. The Coast Guard has approved them as personal flotation devices (PFDs); the suits are available in lime green for boys and hot pink for girls in sizes for children from 30 through 90 pounds ($55). The Waterpals boys flotation suit from Pooltoy is a combined vest and swim short, with foam inserts on the chest to keep your toddler afloat; it comes in small, medium and large for ages 2 to 5 ($30). For girls, the similarly designed My Pool Pal flotation suit ($40) comes in a variety of colors. UV Sungear sells children’s floatsuits with a built-in sun protection factor of UPF 50+. Parents still have to sunscreen their children’s faces, necks, arms and legs, but it’s quicker than having to apply lotion on the kid’s chest and back too ($60). Swim Outlet carries a boy’s two-piece floatsuit ($29). The advantage of choosing this suit is that it’s simpler to use the bathroom; your toddler only has to pull the shorts down, instead of having one of his parents unzip the whole outfit from the back. The Learn to Swim Tube Trainer (pictured) works for both boys and girls. With a small inner tube sewn into a one-piece aqua-colored swimsuit, kids will be bumping into things more often than if they were wearing the more streamlined floaty suits, but it’s adorable ($34) . Although flotation suits are not a substitute for parental supervision, they make your family’s outings to the pool, beach, lake or water park much safer.