This is the second Mother’s Day I’ve celebrated as a mom, and the first Supermom column I’ve written in almost a year. Those two things are not unrelated.

There are a lot of things I’ve wanted to write about in the last year, and hopefully some of them roll back around to relevance so that I can, but one thing that I learned in my first year as a mom is that your time suddenly becomes a much more tangibly precious commodity. If you want to maintain a balance between, say, being a mom, holding down a full time job, and freelance writing, the thing that takes the biggest hit is your consumption of pop culture- comics, video games, movies. Heck, I didn’t even get to see Black Panther until the week before Infinity War came out. (I haven’t been spoiled yet, so let’s hope that holds out for the two+ more weeks it will take for me to line up a babysitter…)

That being said, there are some really fun things about being a nerd mom. Here are the best nerd mom things that I have found/have happened to me in the last year:

  1. This onesie that is essentially baby cosplay

While the weather’s warm, you may end up going with the “diaper and nothing else” look because hey, wiping the kid down is a lot easier than doing laundry for an extra three to five outfits a day, depending on how many diaper blowouts you encounter/how much blackberry goop and and sweet potato stains bother you. Once autumn rolls around though, clothes are non-optional in most parts of the country. So you might as well use that as an excuse to dress them up like your favorite cartoon character. (Target used to have a great selection of onesies that served this purpose too, but they seem to have migrated to eBay…)

  1. Good Night Groot/Bedtime for Batman

I love reading to my kiddo, and he’s a fan too. It’s been really fun to introduce him to Marvel and DC through these books. Board books are pretty necessary to our lives right now since he wants to turn all the pages by himself, and luckily both of these have board book versions. He’s also a huge fan of the Baby Loves Science and the Science for Babies series. We’ve read Rocket Science for Babies upwards of ten times… this week…

  1. SvahaUSA

Not gonna lie, after six months or so of buying awesome rocketship and dinosaur onesies, I had some major pattern envy. Modcloth of course has awesome dresses, and more and more places are carrying interesting designs, but Svaha, created by two women who used to work for ThinkGeek, is the first place I’ve felt confident in shopping for things online and actually receiving something that fits well. AND. All of the dresses have pockets.

  1. Hohokum

My kid does not have a big attention span unless Elmo or Big Bird is involved. So I was really gratified that an artsy puzzle game I bought on a whim a few years ago seemed to hold his attention! Hohokum has chill music, bright and colorful graphics, and is highly interactive, so every once in a while we spend an afternoon hanging out- I play and he watches. I’m always on the lookout for similar games now!

  1. This Sesame Street video:

Enough said.

  1. The Steven Universe Soundtrack

We started watching Steven Universe with our son when he was still too small to really care about what was on TV. But, it was colorful and he liked the music and it stopped him from crying. When they released the soundtrack, long car trips suddenly became bearable! What we didn’t anticipate was how much of an addiction it would be. Hello, trying to explain “Giant Woman” to grandmother-in-law on the drive home from Thanksgiving dinner! Now if we could only get some decent/widely available/age appropriate toys, we’d be all set.

  1. Snapchat filters

It’s weird how much kids like Snapchat filters. Even when my kid is a second away from a meltdown, I can occupy him for about half an hour with Snapchat.

  1.  Storybots

I love the music, I love the science, and I hate that there are only six episodes. If you’re really sick of Paw Patrol and your kid is just a little young for Bill Nye, Storybots is perfect. (There’s also apps apparently, but they’re only for Apple devices and I’m Android for life #sorrynotsorry)

  1. Finding people to go through things with me.

It can be really frustrating to go through new parent stuff alone, so most people will instinctively seek out support networks, whether online or IRL. It can be difficult at times for nerdy types to find people that simultaneously understand the frustrations of sleep training, your unbounded excitement that they’re actively marketing superheroes and Star Wars to girls now, the unreasonable amount of knowledge you have on FNaF lore, and your anxiety about breastfeeding.

Whether you find these people by joining a Meetup group, posting on a subreddit, or just by following somebody who gets you on Instagram, here’s to you and the people in your life who support your mom-ing enable your nerdery.

Happy Mother’s Day everybody!