Hellobee

Capturing moments with Nest Cam

I’m sure Mr. Ice Cream and I aren’t the only parents who have a trove of videos that go something like this:

… (several minutes of uneventful footage) [voice chimes in] well [fill in child’s name] just did the cutest thing … but it doesn’t look like he’s going to do it again … (1 minute later the video cuts out).

That’s why we are so thankful that Nest Cam has been there to capture some of those “hard to capture” moments in M’s life. Nest Cam (formerly Dropcam) has been a great investment and one of our favorite baby gifts. It provides live streaming video/audio, with the added option of allowing you to go back and save a clip if your child did something adorable that you want to save. Here are a few of our favorite moments we’ve captured with Nest Cam:

ONE. Pregnancy Snores. My pregnancy was marked by the some of the best sleep of my life. Throughout the nine months I would incessantly ask Mr. Ice Cream if I had started snoring yet, to which he would always reply, “no, not at all.” And I believed him. Then one night after M was born I ended up falling asleep on the floor by his crib. At this stage, Mr. Ice Cream and I were in the habit of reviewing the Nest Cam footage each morning to see how M slept and to coo over our adorable sleeping baby. This particular morning, I was unnerved by this tremendous sound coming from the video feed. Since I was not in the video frame, it wasn’t until I fast forwarded and saw my head pop up that I realized I was the source of that horrible sound! Obviously Mr. Ice Cream and I immediately burst into laughter. Thanks to Nest Cam the secret’s out – I snored (really loudly) during pregnancy.

TWO. Silly Moments. One of my favorite silly moments is when M was 3 months old and was laying in his crib when all the sudden he let out the biggest fart. The loudness was not the memorable part, it was that his arms and legs simultaneously shot up because he was so startled by his own sound. It was a moment that would have been impossible to anticipate, so we loved that Nest Cam captured it for us. Mr. Ice Cream and I still laugh when we see that clip.

THREE. First time Max soothed himself to sleep. Sleep training was hard (I wrote about it here). I will always remember Mr. Ice Cream and me sitting on the floor outside M’s room huddled over one of our iOS devices watching the video feed, both willing M to go to sleep. We were stressed and exhausted, but the moment M laid down and fell asleep for the first time we sprung up and silently cheered as if winning an unspoken parenting game. The amazing sense of relief we felt that night will always be remembered through that Nest Cam clip.

FOUR. First Steps. It happened on a night when I was working late, which broke my heart, but luckily the moment was caught on Nest Cam. The video captures the excitement as M let’s go of the ottoman and takes three steps towards the TV console after which Mr. Ice Cream erupts into cheers. At the time, we had a feeling that M’s first steps were coming soon and made a point to have our camera nearby. But in reality when a moment like that happens, your instincts are to experience it and celebrate with your child instead of grabbing the camera. That being said, I’m so thankful that Nest Cam was there to save the moment.

FIVE. Saying 1-2-3. Lately M has been in the habit of babbling and playing in his crib for 20 minutes before falling asleep for his nap. The other weekend as we were watching the video monitor, we suddenly heard M say “one…two…three”! Mr. Ice Cream and I immediately rewound the video to confirm what we heard, and there it was “one…two…three.” It might not have been the first time he said those words, but it was the first time we heard them and it was incredible. Mr. Ice Cream and I beamed with pride as we quickly saved the clip and sent it to our parents.