These 7 Tech Items Help Me Manage the Chaos of Mom Life

Of all my machines on the right, the Skylight is the one that benefits the whole family. Not only is it beautifully designed, so it looks pretty wherever you display it, but it’s also incredibly easy to set up (a must) and offers a variety of organizational features.

My husband and I have synced our calendars seamlessly so everyone is on the same page regarding work meetings, appointments, kids’ doctor visits, and more. My kids aren’t old enough to take advantage of the Chores feature, but I like that it’s an option for later. What I’m most excited about, though, is the grocery list feature. Do you know how many times I’ve left the house without a paper grocery list? Or how many times I texted my husband, “Please send me a photo of the grocery list“?

Plus, when you’re not using the calendar, the frame functions as a digital photo album and allows my husband and I to upload photos to play back as a slideshow. Needless to say, this is my 3 year old’s favorite feature, and you know what? If it keeps her busy and happy, then we’ve all won.

Now that my 3-year-old is in school and my 8-month-old is in daycare, there are tons of bags to pack, dishes to wash, and breakfasts to make first thing in the morning. If I want to take my daughter to school for the allotted 15 minutes, we have to dance.

That’s where the Baby Brezza came in, like the personal bottle-making assistant that it is. I still breastfeed my son, but I send him to daycare with bottles of formula. I like that the device has three different temperature settings and can fill a bottle up to 10 ounces. The memory function stores the last setting used, which is useful if my husband makes the bottles and not me. While I unload the dishwasher or prepare my son’s day bag (diapers, wipes, bed sheet), I press a button on the Baby Brezza and boom: bottle made. It’s a simple solution, but when time is of the essence, every minute counts.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I didn’t think I needed a Snoo. “People have been sleeping without the aid of automated cradles for millennia!” I would joke about being pretentious without children. A friend told me, “You could sleep 30 minutes to an hour more!” » Unimpressed by his enthusiastic assertions, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Then I had a baby and realized it was a really big deal. As a parent, an extra 30 or 60 minutes of sleep can be downright intoxicating.

The Snoo responds to your baby and will increase its sounds and movements as it gets agitated. These settings are somewhat customizable, however, which is helpful because babies don’t need a one-size-fits-all solution. My daughter responded well to the highest setting, while my son couldn’t stand being rocked on anything above level 2 (he goes up to level 5).

Of course, some babies sleep just fine without the aid of an automated crib. But the Snoo silences and rocks so humans don’t have to. This high-powered smart sleeper is responsible for saving my sanity and helping me get more sleep when starting out with my two kids.

I know what you’re thinking: a blender? Really? But this is no ordinary blender. It cooks too. I no longer need to use multiple pots or blenders (immersion or stand-alone) to prepare my soups. I can use a saucepan, and it’s a blender, and that, my friends, is a game changer for me.

Although I am very careful about what I feed my children, I have never been one to prepare baby food myself. With this blender, however, all I do is throw a bunch of randomly chopped sweet potatoes into a blender, set it and forget it. There is also a grind setting, perfect for making homemade nut butters. Plus, there are settings for making homemade jams, sauces, smoothies, and alternative milks.

A few caveats: It only cooks up to 220 degrees, but I haven’t found that to be a problem. The blender bowl isn’t dishwasher safe, which is normally an inconvenience for busy parents, but there is a heated wash setting to take care of that. Also: just because it cooks doesn’t mean it’s quick. There is an element of patience involved, and as with most blenders, mixing can be a little noisy, so if you have sound-sensitive children like me, this may be a consideration as to when and where where you use it. Overall, though, I found this new addition extremely handy when I need to multitask (which is always the case).

I loved my daughter’s Hatch Rest so much that my husband bought me the adult version, the Restore, after she moved it into her own room. I can customize the tone and brightness of the light, the length of relaxation time, and the volume and sound of sleep, such as white noise or nature. My son also has a Hatch. This means we have three Hatch sound machines in our house, all on the top floor of our house, that sound like an ocean. It’s great.

Not only do our traps ensure we all sleep properly, but we use the one in my daughter’s room to indicate her wake-up time. At 7 a.m., it is programmed to turn green, signaling that she can leave her room. This gives my husband and I plenty of time to wake up, make coffee, and make breakfast (and maybe even read the news!) before we have to put on our parenting hats. When her imagination started to get the better of her and sleeping in the dark was no longer an option, my husband programmed her hatch to the color of her choice, effectively acting as her personalized night light. We can control all of this from the app on our phone, and often we do, like when we need that white noise just one touch stronger.

A video security system is ideal for anyone who wants to keep an eye on their home while they’re away, and we love the peace of mind that comes from knowing that if anything goes wrong, we’ll be notified. However, one of the things I didn’t think I needed was wanting to have eyes on certain parts of my house when I was actually there. Now that we have a baby, there are times when it’s just me and the kids and I’m not always in the same area of ​​the house as my 3 year old. For example, if she’s playing downstairs and I’m feeding the baby upstairs, I like to be able to look at the camera.

It also offers two-way talk if I need to call for her or for my husband. It is easy to install, features a sleek design, and additionally features night vision, as well as monitoring of temperature, humidity, and air quality.

Now that we’ve installed GE Cync smart bulbs in some of our lamps, I feel very sophisticated, and maybe also a little lazy when I dim my lights via an app from the comfort of my couch. I’m a big fan of lighting and believe that 90% of the ambiance inside a home is due to good lighting. The bulbs connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and come in different shapes with the option to choose between a rainbow of colors. Plus, my daughter loves being able to make her room bright pink every night before bed.

But what really impressed me were the smart plugs. These, along with smart bulbs, offer hands-free voice control, allow preset schedules so you can turn devices on or off at a designated time, and offer remote control via the app.