Beyond Baby Monitors: 5 Tech Essentials for New Parents
My twin daughters knew the sound of my camera snapping before they recognized my husband’s voice. At one week old, they would look toward the big black lens whenever they heard the click of my camera. It’s a digital world, even for babies. Arm yourself with these essentials that make life easier and help capture every moment you’ll want to share.
1. Digital storage
Most of us have digital cameras or phones with cameras to capture all of those special moments, but we forget to store safely all our files. So what should you do with all those images? Sign up for a cloud storage service (try Windows Live SkyDrive or DropBox), invest in a good old-fashioned external hard drive, or high capacity flash drive and back-up your photos. You’ll be happy you did when one of your little ones tosses your phone or camera into the toilet.
2. Camcorder
The new Samsung HMX-W300 Pocket Camcorder shoots footage in HD and has a special lens that allows you to record high quality video even in low light so you’ll be able to see your baby’s face behind those birthday candles instead of the grainy images you usually get. Even better, this pocket-sized camcorder is virtually kid-proof. It can be dropped from a height of 6 feet, is sand and dust proof for beach days, and waterproof up to 16.4 feet deep.
3. Hands-free Bluetooth Headset
Having a baby means learning how to do just about everything with one hand while the other arm cradles your bundle of joy. You’ll still want to keep in touch with friends and family, though, so buying a hands-free device will enable you to talk on the phone and change the baby at the same time.
4. Netflix or Audible Subscription
The first few weeks of caring for a newborn is a whirlwind of breastfeeding or making formula, cleaning bottles, changing diapers, endless laundry and microwave frozen food. Everyone except the baby is sleep-deprived. Down time comes in segments of maybe 30 minutes. Netflix.com or Audible.com provide the mindless entertainment you need—television series, movies or audio books—on demand.
5. Start a Blog
There are tons of free blogging services out there. Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are two of the most popular. Your time is limited, so what better way to keep everyone abreast of what your baby is doing this week than with a blog? You’ll have somewhere to upload some of those photos and videos you’ve been taking and you can decide who has access to your blog, so you don’t have to worry about privacy issues.
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Becki Melchione is taking a year off to be with her newborn twins. While her surrogate was carrying her babies, Becki spent too much time researching life with multiples. She writes about overcoming young adult cancer and infertility, and the triumph of finally becoming a mother.
Published: June 5, 2012
