I’m a working mother of two young children: one’s 8 months old; the other’s a 3-year-old. My husband also works full-time, and we don’t have family nearby to offer additional support. On some days, it feels as though this is my crowning achievement: managing to feed, clothe, bathe and sustain both persons as well as myself while stringing together coherent sentences and meeting professional deadlines. Before my second child was born I worried, How would I manage life with more than one kid?
Now that I’m in it, I’m still perplexed as to how this happens. Our mornings aren’t total chaos per se, but on most days, I shovel in my breakfast while standing over the kitchen counter and performing at least two other tasks. My daughter is usually running between two rooms, vanquishing monsters with her superpowers, while my son squeals from his activity center and smashes pieces of plastic together like a pro wrestling superfan. It’s not exactly zen. Sometimes I just need an extra hand, and in many cases that helping hand comes in the form of a smart device.
Smart home devices throughout the household are increasingly becoming the norm. A report from market research firm Grand View Research not only found that the smart home market was valued at $79 billion in 2022, but also that it was expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 27% through 2030. That’s 27% more than the previous year, every year, a pace Grand View said will be driven by artificial intelligence and more hands-free experiences.
Delegating is the hallmark of any good leader, so I automate my tech as much as possible, and if there’s something I can control remotely, even better. Here are a few ways I’m using tech products to help manage the household.
Of all my right-hand machinery, the Skylight is the one that benefits the whole family. Not only is it beautifully designed, so it looks nice wherever you display it, it’s also unbelievably easy to set up — a must — and offers a variety of organizational functions.
My husband and I seamlessly synced our calendars so that everyone is on the same page about work meetings, appointments, children’s doctor’s visits and more. My kids aren’t old enough to take advantage of the Chores function, but I love that this is an option for later. What I’m most excited about, however, is the grocery list function. Do you know how many times I’ve left the house without the paper grocery list? Or how often I’ve texted my husband, “Pls send me a pic of the grocery list“?
Plus, when you aren’t using the calendar, the frame functions as a digital photo album, and allows my husband and I to upload pictures to play as a slideshow. It should go without saying that this is my 3-year-old’s favorite feature, and you know what? If it keeps her occupied and makes her happy, then we’ve all won.
Now that my 3-year-old is in school and my 8-month-old is in day care, there are a multitude of bags to pack, dishes to wash and breakfasts to prepare first thing in the morning. If I want to get my daughter to school during the allotted 15-minute drop-off time, we need to boogie.
This is where the Baby Brezza has swooped in like the bottle-making personal assistant she is. I still nurse my son, but I send him to day care 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 stores the last setting used, which is helpful if my husband is the one making the bottles and not me. While I’m unloading the dishwasher or packing my son’s bag for the day (diapers, wipes, crib sheet), I press a button on the Baby Brezza and boom: bottle made. It’s a simple fix, 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 assistance of automated bassinets for millennia!” I’d quip in the key of child-free pretentiousness. A friend said, “You could get an extra 30 minutes to an hour of sleep!” Unimpressed by her enthusiastic claim, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Then I had a baby and realized it’s a really big deal. As a parent, an extra 30 or 60 minutes of sleep can be downright intoxicating.
The Snoo is responsive to your baby and will increase in sound and motion as they fuss. These settings are somewhat customizable, however, which is useful, since babies don’t need a one-size-fits-all solution. My daughter responded swimmingly to the highest setting, whereas my son couldn’t stand to be rocked on anything above Level 2 (it goes up to Level 5).
Sure, some babies sleep just fine without the help of an automated bassinet. But the Snoo does the shushing and the rocking so the humans don’t have to. This high-powered smart sleeper is responsible for saving my sanity and helping me snag extra sleep in the early days with both of my children.
I know what you’re thinking: A blender? Really? But this is no ordinary blender. It cooks, too. I don’t have to use multiple pots or blenders (immersion or stand-alone) to make my soups anymore. I can use one pot, and it’s a blender, and this, my friends, is a game changer for me.
Though I’m very mindful of what I feed my children, I’ve never been a make-your-own-baby-food kind of gal. With this blender, however, all I do is dump a bunch of haphazardly chopped sweet potatoes into a blender, set it, and forget it. There’s also a grind setting, perfect for making homemade nut butters. Additionally, there are settings to make 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 an issue. The blender bowl isn’t dishwasher safe, which is normally a con for busy parents, but there’s a heated wash setting to take care of that. Also: Just because it cooks, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s speedy. There’s an element of patience involved, and as with most blenders, the blending can be a bit loud, so if you have sound-sensitive children like me, this may be a consideration as to when or where you use it. Overall, though, I’ve found this new addition to be extremely convenient when I need to multitask (which is always).
I loved my daughter’s Hatch Rest so much that my husband bought me the grown-up version, the Restore, after we moved her into her own room. I can customize the tone and brightness of the light, the duration of wind-down time, as well as the volume and sleep sound, like white noise or nature. My son has a Hatch, too. This means we have three Hatch sound machines in our home, all on the top floor of our house, which sounds like an ocean. It’s great.
Not only have our Hatches ensured we’re all getting proper shut-eye, we use the one in my daughter’s room to cue her wake-up time. At 7 a.m., it’s programmed to turn green, signaling that it’s OK for her to come out of her room. This gives my husband and I ample time to wake up, make coffee and prepare her breakfast (and maybe even read the news!) before having to put on our parent hats. When her imagination began to get 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 customized night light. We can control all of this from the app on our phone, and often have, like when we need that white noise just a touch louder.
A video security system is great for anyone who wants to keep an eye on their home while they’re away, and we love the peace of mind that comes with knowing that if something goes awry, we’ll be notified. One of the things I didn’t anticipate needing, however, was wanting to have eyeballs on parts of my house when I was actually in the house. Now that we have an infant, 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 downstairs playing and I’m upstairs feeding the baby, I like being able to check the camera.
It also offers two-way talk if I need to call for her or my husband. It was easy to install, has a sleek design and additionally features night vision, as well as temperature, humidity and air-quality monitoring.
Now that we’ve put GE Cync smart bulbs in some of our lamps, I feel very sophisticated, and maybe also a bit lazy when I dim my lights via an app from the comfort of my couch. I’m a big lighting person, and I believe that 90 percent of the mood inside a home is due to the right lighting. The bulbs connect through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and come in a variety of shapes with the option to choose between a rainbow of colors. Plus, my daughter loves that she can turn her room bright pink each night before bed.
What’s really impressed me, however, are the smart plugs. These, as well as the smart bulbs, offer hands-free voice control, allow for preset schedules so you can turn devices on or off at a designated time, and offer remote control through the app.
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A little smart home technology goes a long way
Becoming the mother of two children means I’ve lost additional brain cells. And alas, it didn’t magically grant me the power to be in two places at once. Leaning on technology offers a level of convenience that can’t be beat, and it gives me peace of mind, which is priceless for busy parents.
