VTech Safe & Sound

This post is part of a compensated campaign with Mom It Forward Blogger Network and Vtech but all my opinions are my own.

Sometimes when it comes to being a mom of two I think, "Gosh I feel like a first time mom all over again!". Please, moms of 2+, tell me I'm not alone in this.

Every child is different, yes that's true. Kendall loved playing in her highchair, James hates it. James has been sleeping through the night since he was two months old, Kendall was 10-11 months before she slept through the night. But also the gadgets that are available changes in the blink of an eye.

When I got pregnant with James I thought, "Meh...I'm good" when it came to all things baby related. And then I looked online and saw so many awesome things that either weren't available when I was pregnant with Kendall or have gotten better in less than three years. It was like I was a first time mom all over again.

One thing that I always wanted but could never bring myself to buy the second time around was a video monitor. When I was pregnant with Kendall I got the motion detection monitors and never thought twice about a video monitor. Then my mother-in-law got a video monitor for her nursery and I was jealous. It was so cool to be able to peak in and watch Kendall do sweet things when she was putting herself to sleep or waking up, things you would never be able to see without a video monitor. And then I added a video monitor to my want list.

James is at the stage now where he's sleeping through the night, yes, but he's also a pro a the "let's throw everything out of our crib and scream about it" stage too. It's fun, really. I'm at the point now where I can't tell if he's crying because he just threw his blankie out or if he's just being a booger so I'd always have to go in to find out. Of course, when he sees me it makes things even harder for him to go back to sleep and pretty much starts the cycle all over again.

The VTech Safe & Sound is a life saver when it comes to this new "game". Now I can just turn on my parent unit, pan around {270 degrees side-to-side and tilts as many as 124 degrees up and down} and see if he's dropped his blankie or pacifier. If he still has both then I don't need to go in and make things worse. This monitor also has a "talk" feature that lets you soothe your baby from your parent device without going into the room. How cool is that?

Every night since Kendall was born I have gone into her room before I go to bed to "check" on her. Every night. Call me a creeper mom but I really just love to see her sweet sleeping face and kiss those edible cheeks just one more time before I shut my eyes. I was doing the same with James but he's a much lighter sleeper and would wake up every time he heard his door creak open. The Vtech Safe & Sound allows me to zoom in, up close, on his sweet sleeping face so I can see him one last time before I go to bed. Who doesn't love watching a sleeping baby? This just took creepy mom status to expert level.

Moms of multiples, this monitor allows you to connect four cameras to one parental unit so you can just switch between all your kiddos rooms with the click of one button. I so wish we had a camera in Kendall's room when we were fighting all those bedtime battles earlier this year. Oh this would have made things so much easier because we could tell her "get back in bed" through the monitor instead of getting up every 2.5 seconds to put her back in bed.

Jimmy was pretty impressed with the monitor too, #winning. Guys like different things when it comes to electronics, especially when they're an electrician. He was sold on the clarity of the screen on the parent unit and the sound in the baby's room when using the "talk" feature from the parent unit.

Ooops gotta go, I can see James waking up now.

What other cool gadgets have come out in the past 3-4 years that I need to know about?  Perhaps for toddlers?

Blueberry Puff Pancake {Recipe}

“This post is part of a compensated campaign with Mom It Forward Blogger Network and Honey Bunches of Oats but all my opinions are my own."

Healthy eating does not have to be boring. It doesn't have to be gross. It doesn't have to be plain. Now that I'm officially on the weight loss train {I am down 5.2lbs this week!!!} I am always looking for fun ways to make low calorie meals. It can be tricky because typically everything that is yummy is usually high in calories. But you can take something as simple as a pancake and make a relatively low calorie breakfast option.

I saw the recipe for a puff pancake a while ago and pinned it to my food board on Pinterest eons ago. I've always wanted to make it so when I was contacted by US Highbush Blueberry Council to create a recipe using their frozen blueberries I knew just what I was going to make.

Ingredients Serves 4

1. 3 tbsp butter
2. 3 egg
3. 3⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
4. 3⁄4 cup milk, heated 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave {I used almond mil for added sweetness}
5. 1 tbsp sugar, plus 1 teaspoon
6. 2 tsp vanilla extract
7. 1 pinch salt
8. 1 pt frozen blueberries
9. 1 tsp sugar
10. 1⁄2 tsp fresh lemon zest
11. 2 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place the butter in a large saute pan and place in the oven to melt.
3. Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the eggs, flour, hot milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt, and blend on medium-high speed until uniform. Cook's Note: If mixing by hand, combine the eggs with the milk until the mixture is light yellow and no longer stringy, about 1 minute. Add the flour, sugar, vanilla, and pinch of salt, and whisk vigorously to remove the lumps, about 30 seconds.
4. Carefully, remove the hot pan from the oven. The butter should be melted. Swirl the butter around the pan to coat completely and then pour the remaining butter into the batter and whisk to blend. Pour the batter into the hot pan and return the pan to the oven. Cook the pancake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pancake is puffed in the center and golden brown along the edges.
5. While the Dutch baby bakes, in a small bowl, combine the fresh blueberries, 1 teaspoon sugar, and lemon zest. Stir to coat and set aside to marinate.
6. Using a spatula, remove the entire Dutch baby from the pan and place on a cooling rack for a few minutes to allow the steam to escape without condensing along the bottom and rendering the pancake soggy. Slice the pancake into wedges on a serving platter or cutting board and sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar through a sieve. Serve with the marinated blueberries.

This delicious little treat was only 259 calories for 1/4 of the recipe {which was a plenty big enough serving size}.  I added some chocolate chips to Kendall's {per her request} and it was a huge hit!  The frozen blueberries were a little bit tart, mixed with the sweetness of the pancake and powdered sugar, it was delicious!  I will definitely be making this again.

Later that day Kendall and I got a little bit goofy with the blueberries and made a fun, kid-friendly snack.  She loved it so much that I ended up making her three different happy faces.

Cute, huh?

And now comes the fun part! Who wants to win $75?  
a Rafflecopter giveaway