Smart Phones - December 27, 2011

Just before Thanksgiving dinner last month, Lincoln fell asleep and we put him down for a nap in the bedroom that James and I use (thanks McKayla!) when we stay at Oma and Opa's.  We were enjoying dinner when Tyler came back from the bathroom (which is near our room) and told me that he could hear Lincoln crying.  So I ran to rescue my poor baby.  There was no way to hear him over the noise of 10 adults and 7 kids in the dining room.  I had no idea how long he'd been crying (he hadn't been asleep for very long, so I wasn't anticipating him to be awake yet) and I was so sad, thinking that he'd been crying for me and I didn't hear him.

During our Christmas visit, I didn't want a repeat.  I looked for a baby monitor application in my phone.  And I found one!  I could leave my cell phone in the room with Lincoln and it would monitor the decibal level in the room.  When it got noisy enough, the phone would send a text message or make a phone call to a designated number. 

I got to set the sensitivity level - if I set it too low, it would go off because kids were playing loudly just outside the door or go off when I clicked the door shut.  That was a bit of trial and error, but the app has a 'test' mode so I could play with the sensitivity level and see what might work.  I set it up to text James' phone when Lincoln woke up from his naps and that worked out perfect.  As long as James had his phone with him.

Another feature of the app is that you can set up your phone to take a picture when the monitor goes off.  I thought that would be fun, so I'd prop the phone fairly close to Lincoln's head with the camera pointed toward him.  And it took a picture every time the monitor went off.  It resets after 30 seconds, so if we were downstairs and it took a minute to get to Lincoln, James might get 2 or 3 text messages and it would take that many pictures.

Here's a sample of the pictures...
Trial and error on setting up the camera in a good position for pictures.  I want a little tripod or something to get better pictures!

I love this picture.  I came in to get Lincoln and was talking to him before I picked him up.  The monitor went off because I wasn't whispering and the phone took this picture of Linc smiling at me.

Lincoln is still partially swaddled for sleeping.  I think it is warmer and he's less likely to startle as I'm laying him down.  Here he's trying to get his arms free.

This picture (and the next) make me so sad!  We were downstairs while Lincoln napped and he was revved up crying pretty hard by the time I got to him.  Poor kid!

The camera is a bit delayed behind the trigger, so Lincoln must've cried a bit and was just waving his arm around when the photo was taken.  Such a good boy!

I do need to figure out how to prop the camera up and get a better angle on his cute face.  But now our trip to Idaho is over and I won't need this app for a few months.

Isn't technology amazing!