At the moment Willow is sleeping in our bedroom every night and will continue to do so until she starts sleeping through the night.  It makes life much much easier to have her in our room when she is waking up to nurse, but when she moves to her own bedroom it is very important to me that I am still able to see and hear her just like when she was beside me.  And so I needed to find a video monitor that would fit my needs which is how I came across The First Years Home & Away Portable Digital Video Monitor.  Since Willow sleeps in our room for now I decided to set the monitor up in Alleigh and Kaelyn’s bedroom to try it out.

There are so many features on the Home & Away Portable Digital Video Monitor that make it very different from other available monitors.

And so I will start with talking about the nursery camera unit which I currently have set up on top of the book case in the girls bedroom, but I love that you also have the option of hanging it on the wall.  Once I begin using the camera in Willow’s room I will most likely hang it on the wall above her crib.  The camera also has a night light option which can be turned on remotely from the parent unit.

The parent unit has a large 3.5 inch screen and has a remarkably clear picture.  When the lights are on in the room with the nursery camera unit the image on the parent unit will be in color and when the lights are off it immediately turns to night vision which is in a gray scale.  The parent unit can either be used plugged into an electrical outlet or unplugged with the included rechargeable battery.  As I already mentioned you can remotely turn on the night light from the parent unit.  You can also set up as many as 4 cameras in your home and then can scan through them using one parent unit – which means I am highly considering getting a second camera so that I can have one in Willow’s nursery and the girls bedroom.  You can also zoom in and pan around the video feed if you need to get a closer look at your little one.  I also really like that there is a clock display in the top right corner of the parent unit.  It’s nice in the middle of the night when I wake up to see the girls and know what time it is in just a simple glance.  And my favorite feature has to be the ability to 2-way talk through the units.  For so long with baby monitors you only had the ability to hear the baby, but not talk back to them and The First Years has changed that.  Since Alleigh and Kaelyn’s bedroom is upstairs this feature is especially awesome because I can use it to ask them to come downstairs when they are playing.  They also like getting right up in the camera and yelling for me when they need something since they know I can reply back to them, hehe.

However, I think this feature will be especially useful when Willow is in her nursery because I will be able to soothe her without actually going in the nursery when a few simple words or “shushhhhing” is all she needs.

Now for the feature that I had never seen on a baby monitor before – the ability to use your computer as the parent unit!  The Home & Away Portable Digital Video Monitor comes with Baby Viewer software that once installed on your computer you can use to see what your little one is up to and has all the great feature of the parent unit.  Not only that but you can also use it to take still pictures and video by clicking the camera or video icons.

Plus you can use Skype to access your monitor from anywhere in the world to see, hear, and talk to your little ones.  In fact I was able to see Alleigh and Kaelyn from my smart phone – so awesome!  This feature would be great for parents who have to travel a lot for business or to share with grandparents that don’t live near by.  I do want to mention that you will need an operating system of Windows XP (SP2 or higher), Windows Vista, or Windows 7 to utilize these features.

This monitor has an extended range of 650 feet so even if you have a rather large house you should still be able to maintain a crisp clear image of your little one.  I am even able to take our monitor outside and it still works perfectly.  And so if you are in search of a baby monitor that does it all plus more I highly suggest checking out The First Years Home & Away Portable Digital Video Monitor.  Plus the price is super reasonable at $189.99!

And guess what?  One lucky Happenings of the Harper Household reader will win their very own Home & Away Portable Digital Video Monitor.  To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below.  Good luck!

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