Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I Can See You!

My greatest worry and concern when I first got myself a maid was Aydein's safety. Will she look after Aydein asthough he was her own son? Will she be patient and nice to him while I am away? Can I trust her not to lay a single finger on my son inappropriately when I am not around?

I've been hearing loads of funny stories and watched so many videos on maids cruelty to toddlers/babies that I can't help but to shudder at the thought of it happening to Aydein.

However, it has been a year now, and alhamdulillah, we're blessed to have a maid such as her. I can tell that she really loves Aydein as though he was her own.

Bibik feeding Aydein his dinner.

I can tell from the way she plays with Aydein, entertains Aydein, makes Aydein laughs, pats Aydein to sleep and how she always starts with a "Bismillah" everytime she picks Aydein up or puts him down -- she really does handle Aydein with care. In fact, everyone that comes to my house and sees how she handles Aydein would agree that she really is fond of my one and only. :)

Caak? Chubby Aydein at 4 months. :)

And to her credits, aside from the last episode that I had with her, she has really shown improvement when it comes to being honest. I still try not to ask her too much though, just to save myself from any heartaches, but so far, so good. :)

However, just for safety measure, my husband and I decided to install a livecam in my house anyways -- not to actually spy on her, but rather to have an idea of what really is happening in the house while we are not around, once in a while. After all, it is a good idea to check in the house every now and then.

Therefore, once Aien the Handyman successfully set up the whole thing, the first thing we did when we reached the office was; hopped on the net and watched my maid and Aydein live from the office (with a few of our colleagues)!

And what we saw, brought smiles to our face. :)

Bibik entertaining Aydein with Barney as soon as he got up from sleep.

Bibik playing with Aydein once she bathed him and dressed him in a fresh daytime wear.

Aydein having his afternoon nap.

Some of my friends asked me how we did it, and it is rather easy, actually. If you find it time consuming to scout around for a good CCTV, then webcam would do the trick! All you need is an Internet connection, webcam and a laptop/computer.

All set? Then, follow these 5 easy steps!

1) Plug in your webcam.
2) Register a channel with UStream.
3) Click on Broadcast Now button.
4) Wait for the system to automatically detect your webcam.
5) Done! You're Live!

Easy, isn't it? Now there is no reason for you to worry anymore and oh, you are also going to find yourself smiling crazily infront of your screen and going "awwww" everytime your baby pops into picture too! :D

Also, the best thing about livecam is that, you can watch it live, anywhere you are as long as you have the access to the Internet. And thanks to the smart phones that we have today, our baby can be monitored with just a few touch screens away! ;)

18 comments:

RuZaNNa said...

ahhhhh.. mesti lega hati tgk kan?
Anyway, the setup sounds easy.. cuma does UStream store these videos? or u can only see things live.. whatever before that you can't review..

And another thing, means your laptop kena on the whole day la kan? where do u hid the camera?

ehh banyak pulak soalan aku.. heheh..

Nadine said...

Alhamdulillah, untung you dpt maid camtu. Maid ni mmg pakai nasib kan, ade org dpt good maid skali je, ade tu kena tukar few times br jumpa yg serasi. Hopefully it stays until her last service with ur family, insyaAllah, I doakan :)

Hihihi..soklan Anne yg last tu pun I curious nak tau. U pakai built in cammie at ur lappie eh?

btw, bestnyer boleh tgk Aydein bila2. hilang sket rindu kan? Plus, mesti u dpt lihat telatah comel dia spontaneously. Aloh, aloh..bestnya. Jeles I!:)

RieNa said...

wahhh..syoknya bleh tgk anak sepanjang hari!

tiqah jgn ralit tgk Aydein sampai takleh fokus buat kerja pulak! hahahaha

hm, terpikir something, kalau 1 hari nanti bibik kena balik indon, sure Aydein will miss her badly...

mommaholicSURI said...

Aww.. This is very very good Thara.
Terror betul Aien pasang. 2 Thumbs up!! :)

Alhamdulillah, i suka dengar your maid, and Anne maid too, both are good. I pray if one day i ade maid, i akan dapat yang baik-baik macam u all jugak.

i couldn't deny that, everytime i'm thinking of hiring a maid, the first q on my head mesti, what if depan i je dia baik, tapi belakang, Oman will not be in good hands. Owh!!! Tapi bila dah ada teknik2 macam u buat, i think it really can redakan kerisauan.

Apa pun, macam my mil cakap.. if kita layan maid macam family kita, Insya Allah, maid kita akan balas yang baik-baik dekat kita. Aamin. :)

Kot-kotla x lama lagi i pasang CCTV jugak, kot x berjaya buat macam you broadcasted from office tu, i nak kidnap u and ur hubby leh? hihi

Thara said...

anne :
yeap, lega gila. now i trust that aydein is in good hands, insyaallah :) im not sure about the storing, but aien ckp ada functionality to record the live streaming lah kalau nak record. kitorang pon still new with this thing. belom habes explore lagi :P if u do plan to use this service, nanti lemme know ok!

oh my laptop has a built-in camera so yes, we have to switch it on the whole day :)

nadine :
thanks nadine, very nice of u :)

and yes, it's a built-in camera laptop. and betol, terubat sket rindu bila dpt tgk aydein (and hear his voice) during the streaming! the best thing is, should anything happen, i can drive back home asap because it's a LIVE thing! :D install lah satu! ;)

k riena :
sronok! k riena pon bole sronok jugak. install lah satu! ;)

tu lah, kadang2 ralit jugak lah. selalu kena buat2 tak nampak window tu. kalau tak, memang dok sebok tengok je aydein dgn telatah dia tu. sampai budak2 office lain pon sebok layan skali! :P

tu lah. misti aydein sedeh. tiqah pon sedeh skali kot :( shes been very helpful to us! silap2 sket tu biasalah kan. :)

nuurill :
yes very good indeed! no more tears! eh silap, no more fears! :D

betol you. kalau ada benda ni, mmg insyaallah akan buat u rasa bertambah tenang + confident utk amik maid. nak nak lagi benda ni live kan. so mcm i ckp dkt nadine, kalau lah pape jadik at that time (mintak simpang), kita bole pecut gonzales ke rumah kan! the beauty of livecam! :D

and apa yang ur MIL ckp tu, betol u. unlike some people, i tak penah treat dia mcm "maid". more like a family. i always make sure shes comfortable at all times, just like a family member. :)

about nak kidnap tu, bole je u. pastu lepas dah kidnap, sebelum nak release balik tu, nak rasa u punye masakan dulu ok! ngeee :D

Anonymous said...

fuyyo..glemer maid masuk blog//hehehe//cayalah

mommynadia said...

Syukur dear..I was waiting for ur entry about this..
n after tgk ur maid...I mcm sedih kejap tau..sb she so sweet..
I wish to have a maid mcm u jgak in future..;)

and with the gadget..at least we can avoid benda 2 tak elok n plus..boley tgk Aydein kat office all the time...

neway good job dear!!

Nina @ BabyBoon said...

good call, sister!

this is the one thing i always recommend my friends with new maids. sgt penting to have cctv! and now u have a cheaper option too! hats-off to u guys lah!

Thara said...

cery :
hehe tu lah. maid skarang jgn main main! :P

nadia :
aww u have a very kind heart! thanks babe. tu lah, i pon bersyukur sgt apa yang i nampak dlm livecam masa tu. sejuk je hati tgk dia tak bosan melayan aydein :)

now everybody can get a maid without worrying now that ive introduced this cost effective way to monitor your baby while at work! ;)

babybooned :
hehe thanks, kak nina! i pon dah lama nak pasang camera in my house pasal risau apa lah yang dok jadik dkt umah tu while im away kan. tapi nak install CCTV, mahal la pulak. so when aien found this other alternative, i whoopped with joy! :P thanks again kak nina :)

worryfather said...

Hi Thara,

I think there is one problem.
Is it that the whole world can see your home and baby?

Is it your webcam not on today?

Thara said...

worryfather :

good question. yes, the whole world can see the maid & baby if they drop by our channel and the channel is set to be for Public viewing. however, the good thing is, u can also set the channel to be Private by putting a password-encrypted channel as explained in the excerpt taken in it's official website below :

"If the stream you're trying to watch asks for a password, it is because the broadcaster set their stream to be private. Only the broadcaster will be able to give you access; Ustream cannot provide passwords to protected streams."

cool, isn't it? ;)

worryfather said...

Cool.. :)

think you should set it to private.

Kunaz said...

waaahh gamba maid msk blog finally. nk kene ltak gamba maid kunaz gak ni kt blog. haha! n tsgt lah cool mende alah ni. thara, let say internet connection ttibe disconnect kn, kre xley tgk la ek? n ur maid tau x u psg mende ni? n yes, marilah kte sama2 bsyukur dpt maid yg bagus =)

Thara said...

kunaz :
yeah, it will be disconnected. but according to my husband, dia ckp there is a way for you to reconnect it back remotely. pakai a software named LogMeIn ke apa tah. it will allow u to reconnect your connection remotely. cool kan! ;)

Farah said...

kenape kalau nak hentam mesti pakai anon...takleh ke pakai nama sendiri?

hahaha anyway aku terlambat baca entry ni..syukur cek ko dah sampai...cek aku yang seciput tu tak sampai2 lagi.

Thara said...

Farah :
umm sorry, im afraid i dont get what ure trying to say. are u sure ure getting to the right person?

ijannina said...

wow what a great suggestion. alhamdulilah everything is okay with your maid. All my sisters punya maid sumer tak boley harap. I will suggest the webcam thingy to them. Alhamdulilah ashman pun happy dok kat his taska. Glad I found a good one. Maybe sebab yg nie budak tak ramai, 8 orang je.

Thara said...

ijannina :
thanks for dropping by :) yes, im very blessed indeed, alhamdulillah. tapi, however nice the maids may be, sometimes, kita kena monitor derang jugak once in a while. u know, just in case :) but glad to know ashman's doing great in his taska! yes, kalau taska tak ramai budak, mmg lagi senang nak monitor. more attention kan! :)