mom-friendly tech: beam me up, scotty

I remember as a kid being so excited when our family owned our first television. I was about 6 years old. (Ok, pause. This is not a reflection of my age people… just a by-product of the fact that I spent the first few years of my life on a hippy commune and a sailboat. So that means no wise-cracks please!) But yeah, that first television…

It was black-and-white with big round dials (think early 80s) and after much finagling my dad was able to get the Oregon Public Broadcasting channel coming through loud and clear. (Come to think of it, it was probably just loud.... and not so clear.) I vividly remember getting to watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Ah, the wonders of modern technology!

Flash forward 26 years. I now live in Australia, separated from my family by the vast Pacific Ocean, and yet I’m only a Skype call away from seeing and hearing my loved ones in near life-size, real-time video calling technology.

Oh how I love being connected!

Skype has to be one of the greatest inventions of all time. As hard as it is to know that my kids and their grandparents (GiGi & Gramps) live on opposite ends of the planet, I’m so thankful that they can grow up knowing each other through more than once-a-year visits and birthday cards.

And the best part about Skype? The picture is even clearer than that first television set my dad brought home. Amazing. Oh yeah, and the other best part? It’s free. That’s $1800 more free than a trans-Pacific plane ticket.

The only thing better is when we’ll be able to beam up a hologram image over the internet and have GiGi siting in our living room with us. Jetsons watch out…

mom-friendly tech: muddled mommy needs help

When Levi was first born, trying to remember the details of when he last ate, for how long, which boob had been out... well, it all just felt completely overwhelming. Add to that, trying to recall when he last slept... and woke up… Let’s just say I was completely confused.

To make matters even more complicated, when your bub is first born the doc says to keep track of how many wees and poos they have in a day so you’ll know if the feeding is going well and your milk supply is on track.

Because I was also trying to keep tabs of when I last had what pain reliever (as I recovered from my C-Section), it was all just too much information for this muddled mommy brain to hold and process.

I tried writing it all down in a notebook, but that was hard to keep up for whatever reason, and I kept forgetting things and getting more frustrated trying to “back-log” things. As I sat there aggravated one afternoon thinking that there must be a better way... my eyes wandered to my husband’s iPhone.

Now, you have to understand that he uses that phone for everything you can imagine – not just the basics like calls, texts, and emails – but also things like storing recipes, doing conversions, tracking weather patterns, and playing bowling. (Several times I’ve heard those pins being knocked over from behind the locked bathroom door... I’ve finally discovered why he takes so long in the loo: he’s bowling! Or fishing or playing golf... But, I digress. Focus Mommy!)

Ok, so I was looking at his phone and I thought, if my husband can use that thing as a leveller when he’s installing shelves (yeah, there’s actually an ap for that!) then surely I could use it for something as practical as tracking my baby’s essentials.

I don’t have an iPhone (yes, I covet), but I do have an iTouch, which I love (more about mommy’s little friend the iTouch in another post). So I searched and found a free ap that did the trick: EatSleepLite

It tracks when you feed, for how long, which breast you feed from (and/or what order), when naps and sleeps start and end, and when and how many diapers you change (and what kind – wet or dirty or both). You can look at your results daily or filter it to get summaries of just one category. It was everything I needed, and it was much more fun (and quick) than trying to log things in a notebook. Perfect.

Although I’ve got the hang of things now and don’t use it anymore, it was so helpful to me during my first 8 weeks of learning how to care for bubsy (while my muddled mommy brain slowly cleared up a little... a very little).

So, for all those new mommies of newborns out there, if you have an iPhone or an iTouch, check it out! You’ll love it!