Meet our new robot baby, bObsweep

Have you ever looked around your house and thought "I wonder if a robot would be able to get around that"? No? Well, then you probably don't have a robot baby in the house like we do.

Meet Bob, AKA bObsweep PetHair, the newest member of the family.
We've been robot-proofing over the last few days and I can now say that a robot would easily be able to navigate around our living areas without any problem at all. Before becoming a mom I honestly never thought I would have a robotic vacuum – I mean, really, how hard is it to run a vacuum by yourself? I'm all for outsourcing whatever I can, but do you really need that chore automated?

I'm here to tell you, yes, I definitely need that automated. You see, vacuuming has slowly been slipping down the list of chores since baby arrived. Sometimes it would be 2 weeks before I would look around at our wool rug and realize how bad it looked. Our awesome thick wool rug is super soft and cozy, but the bad part is that the wool fibers lift up in between vacuuming sessions, making it look like we have a short-haired dog in the house that sheds like crazy.

And, keep in mind that my baby is crawling around on that same rug, picking up all the wool fibers and carting them to the hardwoods, which inevitably are covered with Cheerios and whatever else the older kids get out for her. For me, vacuuming really needs to be done once a day, sometimes more.

But, there seemed like there was never a good time to vacuum. The only time I have to myself these days is a short afternoon nap, during which time baby is sleeping right next to that wool rug, and that obviously isn't ideal. So, now I don't need to stress about it anymore because I can simply set the bObsweep to start vacuuming whenever I head up to bed and then come down every morning to a freshly vacuumed house and a fully charged robot sitting in his base.

It's a beautiful thing, and I am seriously in love with Bob. While he's busy learning our house and how not to get stuck under the ottoman, I'm just enjoying what it must feel like to have a vacuuming fairy that visits every night while I sleep and automatically puts himself to bed {I know, right?}.

And, if I need to have that fairy vacuum mid-day thanks to one of my little darlings? I can set Bob to run by utilizing the large interactive LCD screen or the handy remote. The kids prefer Bob to work his magic during the day, because it means they get to cheer him on while he works. Baby, in particular, is a huge fan of Bob and she likes to call him and motion to him to follow her, all unaware that I am controlling him from afar with his handy remote control. Let me tell you, it's great clean fun.

In many ways Bob reminds me of a child, in that he has his own ways of doing things and doesn't follow a clear path from A to B when he's cleaning. Admittedly, the control freak in me has a hard time watching Bob work and not shout "you missed a spot", but as long as I can tear myself away from micro managing, he always figures it out on his own in the end.

And, the final result is always perfection, so what does it matter that his methods are different than mine? Perhaps my favorite feature of Bob's is that he's teaching me a thing or two about appreciating the job well done and not focusing on the step by step.