Monday, May 14, 2012

monitor addiction

When prepping for the babies, one of the hardest decisions for us was which monitor to get.  Like all things baby, the options are myriad.  Over the years, D and I have come to generally agree on what is valuable to our little family and how much to spend.  Generally.  The one thing that I wanted to spend on for the babies, but he doubted the value of was a video monitor.  They are insanely more expensive than audio monitors.  So much so, that it's really hard to decide to splurge on that.  Both of our cribs together (and then some) were cheaper than the difference between a decent video monitor and a decent audio monitor.  So, his hesitation was warranted.  Plus, we're in the more laid back, let them cry a few minutes and see if they really need something, it'll make them stronger camp.  We didn't think that our style of parenting required the ability to constantly monitor their every move.

I must have heard or read somewhere something about using a video monitor to check on whether your kid is crying because he woke up (or, SHE, as was the case for us most of the time) or because his leg is stuck in the crib slats.  And not getting out of bed unnecessarily seemed pretty valuable to me.  Whatever the reason, I had in my head that we NEEDED a video monitor.  I guess I'm lazier than D because that wasn't a particularly convincing argument for him.

In any case, as I continued to expand beyond what seemed humanly possible, we knew this purchase was something we needed to get before the arrival of the babies.  We're not sure why D eventually gave in (although it's probably because I didn't give any signs that I would), but we finally decided to get the Summer Infant BabyTouch™ Digital Video Monitor.

I'll admit I have checked a handful of times to see if they were still breathing when things seemed a little too quiet.  But, for the most part, we use the video function for our own entertainment.  And we are grateful to the US military every day for developing infrared technology.  This thing is incredible for its ability to show us our kiddos in the pitchest of blackness.  Pretty much every night before going to bed, we click on the monitor, gaze adoringly at our little ones, and go to sleep with an image of them resting peacefully in their cribs.  On one of those nights, as we enjoyed a particularly sweet moment of spying on our kids, D leaned over and admit that no matter how much the video monitor cost, it was worth it.  





Perhaps we're just products of the age and crave instant information and connect with others through technology, but whatever the reason, we've become a little addicted to our video monitor.  But look at those guys...who wouldn't be?!

No comments: