These 7 tech items help me manage the chaos of mom life

Of all my right-wing machines, the Skylight is the one that benefits the entire family. Not only is it beautifully designed so it will look great wherever you place it, it’s also incredibly easy to set up – a must – and offers a variety of organizational features.

My husband and I have our calendars seamlessly synced so everyone is on the same page about work meetings, appointments, pediatrician visits, and more. My kids aren’t old enough to use the chores feature yet, but I love that this is an option for later. What excites me the most, however, is the shopping list function. Do you know how many times I’ve left the house without the paper shopping list? Or how many times I texted my husband, “Please send me a picture of the shopping list“?

When not using the calendar, the frame also functions as a digital photo album, allowing my husband and I to upload images to play as a slideshow. It goes without saying that this is my 3 year old’s favorite feature, and guess what? If it keeps them busy and happy, we all win.

Now that my 3-year-old is in school and my 8-month-old is in daycare, there are a multitude of bags to pack, dishes to wash, and breakfasts to prepare first thing in the morning. If I want to take my daughter to school during the allotted 15-minute drop-off time, we have to dance.

Here Baby Brezza has shown up like the personal assistant she is when making bottles. I still breastfeed my son, but I send him to daycare with bottles of formula. I love that the device has three different temperature settings and can fill a bottle up to 10 ounces. The memory function saves the last used setting, which is helpful when my husband makes the bottles and not me. While I’m unloading the dishwasher or packing my son’s bag for the day (diapers, wipes, sheets), 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. “Humans have been sleeping without the aid of automated bassinets for thousands of years!” I would quip in the tone of child-free pretension. A friend said, “You could sleep between 30 minutes and an hour longer!” I was unimpressed by her enthusiastic claim and didn’t think it was a big deal. Then I had a baby and realized it was a really big deal. As a parent, 30 or 60 minutes of extra sleep can be downright exhilarating.

The Snoo responds to your baby and amplifies sounds and movements when they move. However, these settings are somewhat customizable, which is useful because babies don’t need a one-size-fits-all solution. My daughter responded excellently to the highest level, while my son couldn’t stand being rocked at anything above level 2 (it goes up to level 5).

Sure, some babies sleep just fine without the help of an automatic bassinet. But the Snoo does the silencing and rocking so people don’t have to do that. This powerful smart sleeper is responsible for saving my sanity and helping me get more sleep in the first few days with my two children.

I know what you’re thinking: A blender? Really? But this is no ordinary blender. It also cooks. I no longer have to use multiple pots or mixers (immersion or stand mixer) to make my soups. I can use a pot and it’s a blender and that, my friends, changes the game for me.

Although I’m very careful about what I feed my children, I’ve never been the type to make my own baby food. However, with this blender, all I have to 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. There are also options for making homemade jams, sauces, smoothies and alternative milks.

A few caveats: It only cooks up to 220 degrees, but I haven’t found this to be a problem. The blender bowl is not dishwasher safe, which is usually a downside for busy parents, but there is a heated rinse function. Also, just because it cooks doesn’t necessarily mean it’s quick. This requires a certain amount of patience, and as with most mixers, mixing can be a bit noisy. So if you have noise-sensitive children like me, this may be something to consider when and where you use the blender. Overall, though, I find 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 we moved her into her own room. I can adjust the tone and brightness of the light, the length of the relaxation time, as well as the volume and sleep sounds such as white noise or nature sounds. 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 sounds like an ocean. It’s great.

Not only do our hatches ensure we can all get a good night’s sleep, we also use the hatches in my daughter’s room to tell her the time to wake up. At 7am it is programmed to turn green, signaling that it is okay for her to leave her room. This gives my husband and I plenty of time to wake up, make coffee, and prepare breakfast for her (and maybe even read the news!) before we have to put on our parenting hats. When her imagination got the best 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 custom night light. We can control all of this through the app on our phone, and we often have that when we need the white noise just one touch louder.

A video security system is ideal for anyone who wants to keep an eye on their home while away from home, and we love the peace of mind that comes with knowing we’ll be notified if something goes wrong. However, one of the things I didn’t expect I would need was the desire to keep an eye on parts of my house when I was actually in the house. Now that we have a toddler, 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 three-year-old. For example, when she’s playing downstairs and I’m upstairs feeding the baby, I enjoy being able to look into the camera.

It also allows for two-way communication if I need to call her or my husband. It was easy to install, has a sleek design, and also features night vision and temperature, humidity, and air quality monitoring.

After installing GE Cync smart bulbs in some of our lamps, I feel very sophisticated and maybe a little lazy dimming my lights via an app from the comfort of my couch. I’m a huge lighting expert and believe that 90 percent of the mood in a home comes from the right lighting. The bulbs connect via WiFi or Bluetooth and come in a variety of shapes, with the option to choose between a rainbow of colors. My daughter also loves that she can color her room bright pink every night before bed.

However, what really impressed me are the smart plugs. These, as well as smart bulbs, offer hands-free voice control, allow for preset schedules so you can turn devices on or off at a specific time, and offer remote control via the app.