I Think I'm In Love...With a Baby Monitor

When Aaron and I got married, we received several very nice gifts. I remember opening the gift boxes and wrapping paper and getting downright giddy at the sight of a new silverware set or kitchen towels.

Pre-marriage, I never, ever, saw myself getting excited over household goods. To the pre-married me, a spoon was a spoon: whether it was plastic or silver, it got the job done. But somewhere in the wedding planning, I picked up the domestic gene that made me jump for joy at the sight of a new set of bed sheets.

The same has been true of baby gadgets, too. At my shower, I was so excited to get all of the interesting little gizmos and doo-dads to make raising a child easier. Which is why when I got a new baby monitor to try out a few weeks ago, I found myself in that same giddy state I was at my baby shower.

We already had a monitor, but I was generally unhappy with it. When we put it on our registry, it was listed as one of the best, and it was by a brand we trusted (rhymes with "kiss'er twice"). But for all the hype on that monitor, it proved to be a real pain. First, the static is nearly unbearable. We had to learn to sleep with the hiss of static in order to hear Cordy if she woke up at night. And switching channels (it only has two channels) didn't help, because the other channel was great at picking up the cordless phone conversations of our neighbors.

However, that old monitor is now going to find itself a new home, for I now have a monitor I love. The Philips Babycare digital monitor simply rocks. When I first opened it, I'll admit I was a little scared of all the menu options and buttons, but I can now say it is simple to operate, and works far better than our old monitor.

The best advantage - no static!! I swear, no static! It has several channels to choose from, and automatically searches and finds the best channel for you. If another device in the area starts using the same frequency, it changes to an unused one right away. No effort is required on your part to find a channel that no one else in the area is using.

Another advantage is you can control the sensitivity of the microphone. If, like me, you don't want to hear every sigh loud and clear, you can turn the sensitivity down so it only picks up the important stuff, like your child yelling, "Mommy, mommy, mommy! Out!" Going along with that, the volume control is also very easy to use, and gives the option of turning the sound off and using only the sound indicator lights instead.

For those with infants, the Babycare digital monitor features several lullabies that you can select to play from the parent handset, along with a nightlight you can turn on and off with the handset. The sensor also tells you the temperature in the baby's room, and allows you to set temp. limits, sounding an alarm if the room temperature gets too hot or cold.

The parent handset is battery operated and rechargable, leaving you the option to keep it docked in the recharging cradle or carry it with you. And finally, if you're traveling and need to bring your monitor with you, they even provide a carrying case to pack it all in.

My only complaint with the Philips Babycare digital monitor is that only one parent handset is included. I would have preferred two, so I could keep one docked upstairs in our bedroom, and the other downstairs. Still, I would rather carry the handset around in the evening than try to sleep with all the static from our former monitor.

Sleeping without the static and mystery noises waking me up has sold me on this baby monitor. To see more about this monitor, along with the technical specifications, click here.