DADDY: Uh, honey...bad news. The video camera's out of juice, we don't have any film for the 35 millimeter, and the digital camera seems to have disappeared.

At this point, our fearless Daddy diffuses the situation by retrieving his disposable camera from his "Daddy's Survival Kit" and snaps a few shots of little Johnny's first smile.

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We would also like to share with you the wonderful, inspirational story behind this wonderful kit for dads!

Daddy's Survival Kit Story

Daddy's Survival Kit traces its roots to Christmas 2002. My wife and I (who were expecting our second child) were having trouble coming up with a gift for her brother. His wife was expecting their first child and he was in full baby-preparation mode. We wanted to get him something that would be for him, but useful when his baby was born. As December was winding down and with my back against the wall, I came up with an idea to put a gift pack together for him.

The first thing I bought was a manly-diaper bag. Fathers just don’t want to be cruising around town with a pink-diaper bag. The bag I found was small with dark colors and could carry everything the baby would need when out with Daddy (for me, that includes a couple of diapers, a change of clothes, some wipes and a bottle).

The next thing I bought him was a giant coffee mug. During my first few months with a new baby, I learned that the caffeine contained in a large coffee mug could help me keep up with the odd hours the baby kept.

An address book was next. When the baby is first born, it is customary for the father to inform everyone of the new arrival. In my case, I thought I had all the numbers I needed stored on my cell phone. Unfortunately, I didn’t pack the charger. So, my list of phone numbers was gone. I wished I had had an address book with everyone’s number. While my problem, may not face every father, it's still a good idea for Daddy to have a hard copy of everyone's number.

The next thing was a shirt for Daddy and Baby. Sure, a t-shirt doesn’t help in the day-to-day management of an infant, but it does show a father’s pride in being Daddy. My mother-in-law gave me a “Cool Daddy” t-shirt when my first daughter was born. I wore that thing until it had holes in it. I also bought an “I love my Daddy” shirt for my daughter. Much to my wife’s dismay, I put that shirt on her every time I dressed her and it was clean. I wanted to show-off an infant’s pride in her father.

The last thing I put in the bag for my brother-in-law was a disposable camera. I have to admit, I definitely had too many cameras for my own good when my daughter was born. I had digital, professional, and video…but, some of the best pictures in those early months came from a left-over disposable camera we had laying around the house. Whenever my daughter did something cute, I just grabbed that camera and shot. To get the other cameras would have required: finding them, loading them and making sure they had batteries ready-to-go. I know some people are better organized than me, but I still think you can’t go wrong with a disposable camera.

So I put the bag together and gave it to my brother-in-law. Now, here I am selling the bag online along with other gifts. -Michael Weber, the Big Daddy