Gone are the days of working out at the gym, earbuds in, focusing on my form, the weights, how long I’ve been resting between sets. Now? I’m the queen of the living room workout and it’s usually timed perfectly for Baby T’s nap time. Big brother is usually ‘working out’ with me, or I might set him up with his Lego or coloring books. Needless to say, the days of long workouts are gone, too!
What has made working out at nap time easier for me is my collaboration with Levana, who sent me an Ovia Video Baby Monitor for review, as well as compensation, to see what I could get done while Baby T is sleeping safely. (All opinions are my own.)
Most of all, what I’ve enjoyed about having the Ovia monitor is I don’t have to think about what’s going on in the nursery while I work out, or write, or do chores (and yes, those are written in order of importance, ha ha). I know once the baby is awake and ready for me to come get him, I’ll hear him immediately. There are no more frozen, was-that-the-baby-or-a-noise-outside panicked moments. I just get more done, knowing I have the monitor right there.
3 Things That Surprised Me About the Ovia Video Baby Monitor
- It’s actually stylish! It looks sleek and modern and it’s also small enough that it’s pretty inconspicuous in the nursery.
- You can not only see and hear what’s going on in the nursery, you can also press the microphone button to speak or sing to baby to soothe him if he wakes. When your kids share a room, like ours, this feature has an unintended bonus to it. We give Roman a time out in his room for a few minutes when he’s acting up. He’s supposed to sit in there quietly and come out when he’s decided he’s ready to say sorry and play nice. Usually he doesn’t want to come out when I go to get him, leading me to suspect he’s having more fun in there than he could with me watching. The day I set up the Ovia, Roman was given a time out and you can imagine his disbelief when he suddenly heard me telling him to stop jumping on the bed.
- Your co-parent doesn’t have to guess at what’s taking you so long. When I’m putting Baby T down at night, Fran can check in on us via the hand-held monitor (since there’s night vision built in to the camera without the red light you often see on baby monitors), so he can tell if it’s going to be a while. Likewise, if he’s in there putting the baby down, I can watch on the monitor and know if I need to bust in there for some emergency nursing action. We never need to weigh up whether it’s worth cracking the door open to check in, risking waking the baby.
Features of the Ovia Video Baby Monitor
- Easy to set up, with touch panel controls, it works right out of the box.
- Invisible night vision LED’s – this is a great feature. I spend much of the day trying to stop Roman from shining his Darth Vader red flashlight into Tanner’s face, so the idea of a shining red light in their bedroom was not something I wanted. I love that it’s invisible!
- There’s an included SD card, so you can save photos or video and upload them to the computer – I haven’t tried this feature yet, but once Baby T starts talking and standing, I’m sure there will be some adorable videos being emailed to the grandparents.
- 24-hour battery life when the monitor is in ‘PEEP mode’ (i.e. it only wakes up when baby makes a sound). 8 hour life when you have the monitor on the whole time.
- ClearVu Digital Wireless Technology means the feed cannot be hacked, so you don’t need to worry about anyone other that you seeing your baby sleeping.
- Talk-to-baby two-way communication.
- The pan/tilt/zoom camera is totally silent, so you can really get a good view of your 4-year-old jumping on the bed before you surprise him with the two-way capability.
Not only can I workout while Baby T is sleeping, I also planned and photographed the workout for this post while he was having a nap – I told you I get more done with the Ovia. 😉
You can enter to win one of your own Levana Ovia Video Baby Monitors! Levana is hosting a giveaway of three Ovia monitors (the giveaway lives across all participating blogs, ten blogs in total). Click the Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post to enter.
Just in case you don’t win, you can also buy it here:
Now on to the workout I promised!
Sshh! The Baby is Sleeping Living Room Workout
Try this workout as an AMRAP – you can pick your time limit based on what you can get done! There are six exercises, so do as many reps as possible for one minute each. Two sets will be about a 15 minute workout (based on short rests between each set), three sets will be about 20 minutes and if you want to get ambitious with your time, you could even get up to four or five sets!
Stand Up Squats are the perfect exercise for a mama. Not only is your body learning the movement pattern of a perfect squat form, you’re also perfecting a move you will use over and over again. How many times in a day do you have to get up from your seat with baby in your arms, requiring a hands-free stand up?
Now your hips are warmed up from the Stand-Up Squats, you can move onto Lunges. Lunge forward with one leg, then press into the foot of the lunging leg to push yourself back to a standing position. Do all your reps on one side, then switch to the other side.
The Bentover Row is easily executed if you have a resistance band – if you don’t, you can do this same move with a dumbbell, or anything heavy with a handle. I’ve increased the intensity of this exercise here by rowing while balanced on one leg.
Change up your basic squat by starting in a sumo position (wide stance with toes pointing out), then coming up into a side kick at the top. Do all your reps on one side before switching.
Down to the floor for a forearm plank. Try to work your way up to a one-minute plank – if you’re not there yet, try three 20-second planks with short breaks, or two 30-second planks.
Finish the workout with Bird Dog Crunches. From an all-fours position, draw one elbow and the opposite knee in to your belly. Slowly extend your arm and leg, keeping your spine neutral in the extended position. Do all your reps on one side, then switch.
Thanks to Levana for providing me with an Ovia Video Baby Monitor so I could worry less, do more. Let me know if you try this workout (and how many sets you get done!). Now go ahead and enter the giveaway on Rafflecopter below. Good luck!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Levana. The opinions and text are all mine.
