Thursday, June 28, 2012

REVIEW: The Goodnite Lite (light)

I love to shop.  My husband cringes as he reads these very words, but it is so true.  Oh, its truuuuuuuuue!! 

The good thing about this is, in my shopping and review-reading and Cross-country moving, I have found some pretty nifty stuff.  And I get asked a lot about different products I have!

So, my husbands despair (assuming it is shopping and not these terrible hormonal mood swings I have had for the past 4.5 years?) is your gain-

I have decided to write a few reviews!

.

Is there something you have been wondering about?

A baby gift you need to buy?

A certain kind of blanket/hat/stroller/toy you have been looking for?

Chances are I am at least secretly coveting it, and I might actually HAVE it!

Ask away!

Tonight, I review one of the best things that has ever happened to me:

………………………………………………………………………………………….

DSC_0280

Oh, Joseph.

How I love him!

But,

HE IS A TERRIBLE SLEEPER!

Seriously, oh so terrible! Haha!  I laugh a little bit with exhaustion just thinking about it!  Also because he woke me up four times last night and was up at 5:30! Ha!  And he’s 4.5 years old! HAHAHHAHAHA! (oh dear, I’m becoming hysterical!)

.

You know when you are pregnant with your first child, and everyone says “Stock up on sleep now!  You’re going to need it!”

Well, that is a bunch of HOGWASH! (bringin’ that phrase back, yo!) Hogwash I say!

I slept for days and days and hours and hours when I was pregnant with Joseph, and it has done NOTHING to help me!  It wore off by, oh, about the first night in the hospital!

So, what I would say to first time moms is “You are going to be so tired that you won’t even believe that its possible.  So tired that you will think that you are going to die.  But you won’t.  I promise You won’t!”

But, I digress.

.DSC_0045

There has been only one thing that has helped Joseph sleep at all.

(besides black-out curtains and a box fan)

And it is the Goodnite Lite!

.

Basically, it is this little sunshine light with a clock on the back.  You set the clock (like an alarm clock) with the current time, the time that you want the light to shine like a moon, and the time that you want that little moon to turn into a SUN!

So, for example, my light right now is set to turn into a moon at 8 pm, and to turn into a sun at 6:40 am.

(I would take a picture of what the sun/moon looks like, but Joseph is actually, miraculously, temporarily, sleeping, so I don’t want to risk it!  The website has pictures!)

.

Then, you instruct your child that they have to stay in their bed until the nightlight turns to sun!  At that time, they can come and get you and receive praises and start their day!

If they wake up, however, and it is still MOON, then they need to close their eyes and go back to sleep.  This keeps them from having to get out of bed, walk into your room and ask you if they can get up,  which gets them all cold and perky, and awake!

.

.DSC_0422

Ready for the pro and con list?

.

Cons:

.

- It’s a bit expensive at $35

- If you unplug it, you have to turn off the unit with a switch as well or else the battery will run out quickly.

- It is tricky and time consuming to set the various times.  In fact, Brian doesn’t even know how to do it, meaning that I have to take the time to do it every night…hey! …wait a minute…he’s on to something here!  Do that!  Don’t learn and get your spouse to do it!

.

.

Pros:

.

- IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY. 

- It doesn’t make any sound when it switches from a moon to a sun!  We have checked!  Kids can sleep past it if they need/want/are able to!

- In real life, it doesn’t look nearly as creepy as it does in the pictures online.  It is actually pretty cute!

SLEEP IS PRICELESS!

.

.DSC_0107

Personal-special-Joseph Cons:

- Joseph sometimes lies and comes in to wake us up, casually saying that it has turned to sun when it HASN’T.  The first few times I didn’t catch it, the next few I started checking my own clock and thinking that maybe the Goodnite Lite was broken, NOW, we just know he is lying! 

- He also went through a stage where he was afraid that the nightlight would talk to him.  But, we explained to him the whole you need a brain to talk and nightlights don’t have brains thing, and a few weeks later he was over it!

- Also, lately, he has just been straight disobeying the clock and getting up whenever he wants to.  We are in the process of threatening/punishing/reworking our system.

Or, as Joseph said to me, “What’s my punishment going to be?  If it is REALLY bad then I will obey you!”

Sigh.

.

BUT, if you have a child who is…more “average” (I don’t like the word “normal”, but, ahem)…or one who wants or chooses to obey you, it will be perfect!

.DSC_0142

Overall, this product has saved our lives!  Our it has at least made us rested enough to have 1.5 more kids!

If you enjoy sleep, but have an early riser, buy one!

3 comments:

Kaelie said...

I had heard about these clocks and will look into getting one for V at some point. I too love to shop. Amazon and I are very close friends. You are so tolerant and loving with your boys, they're very lucky! Thankfully with Bannor and Elena I came on the scene late enough (they were 4 and 5 when I let them) that I don't recall any middle of the night wake ups. Of course they're both old enough now to read a clock and mostly obey the rules for fear of consequences (early bed, no video games and grumpy parents).

Unknown said...

I LOVE your advice to new moms. I can't say how many times I've woken up for work after little to no sleep with the ACTUAL thought that I may die from tiredness. Thank you for putting that out there.

Jenners said...

Oh yeah … the sleep thing was the biggest shock for me. It is ungodly and no amount of resting beforehand can make up for the reality.

My son has always been an early riser … and I am decidely NOT. It was a struggle for a long time until he learned how to tell time and finally could entertain himself in his room until the "You can get Mommy now" time. It is brutal and I pray that your third one is a mega-sleeper and that Joseph reaches the "age of reason" soon!