Day 193: Video Monitor

Today's gratitude item is totally a first world luxury: my video monitor.

Six years ago when I was pregnant with my oldest and working on the inevitable Target baby registry, I heard strong opinions from both sides of the monitor opinion aisle. "We love our monitor! You have to get one!" And "Is your house so big that you can't hear your baby cry?"

In the end (or beginning, I guess!) we ended up receiving a Summer Infant Video monitor as a shower gift and I've been so grateful for it many times over the years, and grateful for replacement rechargeable batteries when I thought our beloved monitor was dead and gone!

Yes, I can hear my babies cry from almost everywhere in our house, but the monitor is useful for other things, too. Instead of rushing in when I heard the one-year-old this morning I watched him mess around in his bed, chatting with his stuffed animals and being generally adorable before starting his daily reign of terror.

I've been able to see if a fussy baby really needs me, or if he just needs a few minutes to chill himself out. I've seen legs stuck in cribs (yes, at one point we had two cribs in the same room), and a toddler hurling toys at a cribbed baby when I thought they were both napping. Most importantly, I've stopped myself from rescuing/interrupting a restless babe who actually is sleeping.

We've probably most enjoyed our monitor when using it to spy on little boys playing "in secret" in their room. All in all, I'm really lad we have this thing! The newer models of the same brand in the same price range don't seem as good to me, so I'll keep hoping this thing lasts us well into everyone's childhood years!

Comments

I Am A Blogger: CWBN 2017 Recap

The last weekend in March I had the great pleasure of attending a real life blogging conference! Like a real blogger! Cathedral of St. Paul Jacqui , Anna and Susanna hosted the Catholic Women's Blogging Network Twin Cities get together at a stunning Summit Avenue mansion in St. Paul. Thirty-some wonderful Catholic women from the Twin Cities, the Midwest, and even Maryland joined up to talk blogging and really just to support each other and build each other up. My friend Monica encouraged me to go, and I signed up on a bit of a whim, figuring that if I paid for registration I'd be more inclined to go. If I didn't have a mutual friend link to one of the organizers, and if a couple of my most favoritest bloggers hadn't been speakers, I'd probably have chickened out. In response to my evident nerves on the way, my husband wisely mused, "Well, if you're going to walk into a group of people you don't know, this is probably the best group yo

Hey! Remember me?

Hey! I'm still here! I haven't given up on ye olde blog just yet, but I haven't had much to write about. I've been spending most of my time reading, mothering, household-running, reading, watching Instagram stories, and house hunting. Whew. Summer is flying by at breakneck speeds and I can barely keep up. I've read more books already than I did last year, which I think is saying a lot because I read more books last year than any year since I became a mother. I didn't set a number goal, but I did list out 10 or 15 that I wanted to get to. I've finished most, including the Harry Potters, but not all. It's a good reading year! Right now I'm reading one by a woman who gave up the Internet for a year. Insert scared emoji face. House hunting will likely be a whole separate post...someday. I have a few other posts in the rusty old brain, so we'll see if they come to fruition. I just didn't want you to forget about me!

Overwhelmed by Information

We are experiencing crazy nice weather for North Dakota February. Today it was in the 40s so I took the kids out to play. We were out about 75 minutes. It wasn't many minutes into watching them shovel, throw ice chunks, and wander around that I got a little bored. I purposely left my phone upstairs (SO NOBLE, RIGHT?) but I found myself wishing I'd have brought my book. Then it struck me that I have information flowing into my brain almost constantly, and that I actually needed some time to wander around with no phone, no book, no radio, etc. I love reading, so much so that I'll read darn near anything. Kindergarten newsletter? Check. Junk mail? Sure. Random article shared on Facebook that I know will make my blood boil? Probably, if I'm bored enough. If I'm not reading, I'm usually listening. The radio or TV is on in the background, or I automatically throw on a podcast or audiobook if I have any amount of alone time for a walk or a drive. There is informati

With Praise and Thanksgiving

Search This Blog