What I've Learned: Get a DVR

If you enjoy TV and you don't already have one, get a DVR just before your baby is set to arrive. The DVR allowed us to focus on what was important (our new baby!), without sacrificing one of major sources of entertainment and relaxation, which is important with the stress of a new baby.

My husband and I follow several shows. TV and movies are a big part of what we do for fun (we kick ass at Scene It). We would have managed without our shows, but would have been a little sad about it.

Setting the DVR to record a whole series was very useful for us since Natalie was set to arrive right when shows were starting up. We just told it to record, and we didn't have to worry about if we would miss a week's worth of shows because of the birth. We didn't have to remember what day of the week it was and what time what show was starting and now playing at. The DVR just recorded it when a new episode played. That is not something we could have done nearly as easily with a VCR and tapes.

The DVR also made life very easy because we could watch a show whenever we had the time. If we wanted to watch Lost on Saturday afternoon, we could. Too tired to stay up for Mad Men? We could watch it at a more reasonable time the next night. If we got a few weeks behind on a show we didn't love as much, it was fine because the DVR saves them in a convenient and organized fashion. We never could have pulled this off with our rickety VCR. And, while we sometimes could find episodes of shows on line, the DVR made certain that what we wanted was there when we wanted. No time was wasted finding shows or downloading.

The DVR was also awesome because in the first couple months when Natalie didn't have a bed time and didn't sleep more than three hours at a time, we could start watching a show and pause and rewind it as necessary if she woke up. We could also do this with LIVE, UNRECORDED shows. So, for example, Mike is watching the Celtics and Natalie wakes up, he could pause, run upstairs and get her, and restart. Or, we're watching Mad Men with its sometimes maddeningly quiet dialog, and Natalie starts crying, we can rewind the live TV.

Now that Natalie's sleep is more predictable, we have our evenings pretty free, but after we are ready to actually sit down to watch something, we only have a couple of hours. So, the function that is most useful to us now is being able to fast forward through all the commercials. We can start a show 15 minutes late (like House for example which we are going to start watching as soon as I get downstairs), and we still finish it on time. This allows us to fit more things into our evenings. I will say that sometimes I miss commercials because I like the oppertunity to get up to go to the bathroom or get a snack, and I do like to read during them.