What Ms. Rachel Can’t Live Without

I have loved Mister Rogers since I was little and he's a hero of mine. I'm so inspired by how much he cared about children and their families. I even bought the same shoes as him , to literally walk in his shoes or like, follow in his footsteps. If you pour hot coffee or tea inside this mug, his sweater changes. Whenever I see it, I'm like: Okay this is why I'm doing what I'm doing. Plus I love coffee. Without coffee, I can't function.

When I was making this list, I went through a regular day in my head and thought about the things I use all the time. One thing I really enjoy is my tongue scraper. I've tried other ones, but this one does the best job. It gets all the gunk off. I think it has something to do with the metal it's made of. Maybe it's weird, but I just like having a clean tongue.

I will say to my husband, "Aaron, I have a headache," and he'll ask me, "Have you had any water?" Then I'll say, "No, I haven't had water in a few days." It's a real problem. I don't like drinking water, but this water bottle encourages me. It has a straw so you can sip or turn it. I bought one for every employee we have.

Stomp Rockets are a really good way to get children outside and teach them about taking turns. You can say, "She's going to do a stomp, and then it's your turn." Practicing turn-taking and waiting for your turn before preschool is great for children. And if you're playing with them in the park they often attract other kids who want to come play too. They're just super fun.

There's so much you can do with the Nugget couch. We have one in navy blue — I like getting things in dark colors so if they stain you just can't tell. I'll put out Play-Doh or other toys when kids come over for playdates, but the Nugget always steals the show. My son had friends over recently and they were pretending it was a swimming pool and then using it to make forts. It is such a nice product and not just for kids. There is a video of me recording our audiobook where I'm using our Nugget as a sound booth. And when my son Thomas has had a bad dream, I have slept on it, and it was super comfy. We actually have two Nuggets in New York where we have very little space. My mom bought us the second one and my husband was like, "Why did she buy another Nugget? We already have one." Secretly I was like, "Ooh, another Nugget!" And of course we find uses for both of them.

They are my mom uniform. I like how much you can put in the pockets, and there are two pockets on each side. It's like the Mary Poppins purse — you can put so much in them. And when you're chasing kids around, it's just so nice to be in leggings, and they aren't expensive. I have gray, and I bought a few sizes up just to be super comfy. I don't like things too too tight.

I've always liked to wear religious and spiritual jewelry. Things can feel like a rollercoaster, and I have to remind myself to watch the roller coaster and not be on it constantly. Especially with how much feedback I get, that can be difficult if it's hurtful. Having a visual reminder of my faith, and what's important in life and what grounds me, is really beautiful. So I wear one with Thomas's name, or "faith" or "love" or "teacher." I have a lot of them. I had postpartum depression, OCD, and anxiety so I'm really passionate about mental health. Now that I'm six years in, I think I can handle talking about it, and try and do some advocacy around it. It was really long for me, I didn't get back to normalcy for a really long time.

It's so awesome to have had this opportunity to make a Ms. Rachel doll. I just hope that it's comforting for little ones. I felt like Tom Hanks from Big in the design meetings, picking the sayings and the songs. Now I keep one of the dolls on my desk. She actually helps me during the day, because she says to take a deep breath. I always forget to breathe. So whenever any kids' show is like, "Take a deep breath," or when it says that in a book that I'm reading to Thomas, I'll think to myself, Oh my gosh, that felt so good. She also says, "You can do hard things," which is a saying that's really helped me because a lot of things intimidate me. And she says, "You're so loved." I really like kids knowing that, even if they're struggling or they make mistakes, they're always loved. I am so excited to be like Santa with the Ms. Rachel toys. I want to carry them around with me, so when somebody stops me on the street I can be like, "Do you want a doll?"