some good gadgets

There are so many, many baby items out there! All new moms know the feeling of looking up the Babies R Us *absolutely must have* list, only to immediately be skeptical about the 6,000 items on it (as you should be). Then comes the desperate plea on facebook, "ok moms, what do I really need?" It's a tricky thing though, because all babies are different. I personally would have put a baby swing & exersaucer on a "maybe" list, only to find that these were probably 2 of my most used items with both of my kids. But then, some kids scream at the sight of a swing. :)

We are very blessed to live in a day of having so many conveniences available to us. I couldn't even count the number of times when I've been out and an older lady has said to me, "wow, I wish I had *that* when my kids were little"!

Here's 2 of my newest favorite gadgets.

Not ~ can't live without ~ but most definitely handy!

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The Boon company was generous enough to do a give-a-way for my Momtourage group a couple months ago and also sent me this handy little spoon to try for myself.

By the way, are their products fun or what?!

(I also have one of their fluid sippy cups.) And how much would I like to have some of their Groovy ModWare (customizable plates and dipping bowls) for a little boy that likes to dip in everything from ranch to raspberry vinigrette to tomato-basil hummus. :)

So you just screw off the white spoon part, put baby food in the handle and then it squirts thru a tiny hole into the spoon. It's advertised for "on the go", but I have been using it at home almost every day (though it's definitely amazing for taking with you as well!) Maybe because I have a baby girl who starts squawking every time the spoon is empty, =) but it sure is handy. AND seems to be a little bit less messy for little fingers that like to "help".

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The next gadget was purchased out of sheer desperation (and sleep deprivation). =)

Of course, you know by the price, that the company is well aware of that. :)

Graham went through a really rough sleep period when we moved into our new house. The child that has been sleeping 12+ hours a night for over 2 years was suddenly wandering into our room at 11pm, 1am, 3am, & 5am....... AGH! This went on for about 2 weeks (hence my desperation.)

I had heard about the Good Nite Light from others and had even recommended it to friends. But when I went to purchase, it seemed that there was several issues that people didn't like about it. (Though it definitely works for some people!) A lot of people were suggesting this Teach Me Time clock as a better alternative. Again, a little pricey, however because this can be used a clock & alarm clock indefinitely, we decided it was worth it. You set the clock for it to light up at a set time. It first lights up yellow and then turns green. Some people use it as a nightlite and it's yellow all night and then when it turns green, kids know they can get up. Graham doesn't use a nightlight, so we have it set to come on (yellow) at 6:45 and then he knows he can sit in bed and read books. At 7:15 it changes to green and he knows that he can get out of bed. It's worked really great. The sleeping thru the night worked itself out, but I think it's such a great concept for little ones when they wake up in the morning, since they don't know whether it's 5am or 7am! Especially with the bright summer sun, no matter how hard you try to cover those windows. =)

I'm also thinking when the time comes that he drops his afternoon nap (hopefully not any time soon of course!), that it will be handy for helping him track having quiet time in his room.

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So.........there you go. 2 things that I'm enjoying. 

Do you have any handy gadget that are streamlining your life these days?