Baby Preparation wouldn’t be complete without some kind of monitoring would there? Well, we’ve been snowed in for the last few days, and haven’t been able to get to a Babies R Us to get one of the high end video monitors, so we just had to make due with a laptop running YAWCAM software and a cheap Safety 1st audio-only baby monitor that we got for around 15 bucks. So now, whenever I want to look in on him while he’s taking a nap, all I have to do is fire up explorer on whatever PC I am next to, (we have 6 around our household,) and point my firefox to our internal IP address, and Boo-yah:
DIY Baby Monitor
Though, I have to be honest, we will probably upgrade the audio-only one to the one that also monitors movement and alarms if he doesn’t move after 20 continuous seconds. (Then we will just have the other one for when he’s in the pack n play and we’re in the kitchen getting something.) But for right now, 15 bucks and an hour’s worth of time setting it up, (I needed to download and install a couple of different applications before settling on YAWCAM,) we have a system that’s as good, if not better than the 160 dollar system.
Anywho, if you guys would like to have links to the downloads or instructions on how I did this, let me know and I’ll post them.
BTW: unless you want to have the kid with you at all times, (which is unsafe with some activities,) you will need to have a baby monitor. And if you do get one, make sure that you have one that you can hear them from whatever distance the transmitter will be at, and trust me, you will want to look at them, so rather than spending the time running back and forth, get one with video. (Or set up a webcam like I did.)
Until next time!
And, before any of you ask… no, I will not open the firewall and allow outsiders to stream the webcam. (No matter how much the Grandparents plead/beg/blackmail.) This is because it would put my internal network at risk, and that would be a bad thing. Secondly, (and more importantly,) while I theoretically could control who viewed it, however, setting that up would be time consuming, and time is a precious commodity right now. Which means I would be streaming all sorts of images, and I wouldn’t be able to control if a pedophile was watching. Best to err on the side of caution for the time being.