OMG, This Popular Sound Machine & Night Light's Upgrade Is Amazing

Every once in a while I'll stumble across a product that makes me wish I'd had it when my toddlers were babies. Lately, that's the Hatch Baby Rest sound machine and night light. It's always looked intriguing, but now the popular product is adding a couple of new features that'll make it even more of a lifesaver for parents.

The Rest+, as the latest version is being called, costs just $80 — but it does the work of five devices. You can control all the awesome features remotely from an app on your phone. The big addition is that it's now an audio monitor, too. Instead of needing one device to listen in on the nursery and another to pump in soothing sounds, you can now fulfill both needs with just one machine. The audio goes two ways, so you can also speak to your child and tell them to go back to sleep if necessary.

The sound feature, a holdover from the original model, lets you choose between soothing lullabies or calming white noises to help your kiddo sleep. You can even increase the volume remotely by pairing it with an Amazon Alexa (this would have been so helpful when I was watching Game of Thrones in my apartment over the past few months, because those dragon sounds definitely carried). Not having to tiptoe into the room and risk waking your little one thanks to a creaky floor board is a big plus.

The other new addition to the latest model is a clock face, so you and your kid can always see what time it is in the nursery. It's also a great way to help your child learn to recognize and read numbers — my daughter demands to see my iPhone every night to check whether it's really 8 o'clock, which she knows is bedtime.

The Rest+ maintains the Time-to-Rise function, too. That genius little feature makes the device change color when it's OK for your child to wake up. If your little ones have a habit of getting up at the crack of dawn, you can teach them that they need to stay in bed until the night light turns green — thereby ensuring yourself a few more minutes (or even hours) of precious sleep.

Last but not least, the Rest+ still functions as a night light, and lets you choose from a rainbow of colors to customize it to your child's taste. Unlike some other night lights, it doesn't get hot, so you never have to work about your little one getting a boo boo from touching it. You can also lock it so they can't change colors on their own.

The Rest+ has a few other super smart upgrades as well, like a rechargeable battery that lets you go cord-free (perfect for traveling or for moving from room to room in your home). This handy little device also won't take up much space on the bedside table, as it's just 4 by 6 inches or so. If you want it to blend in even better with your nursery, you can pick up a cute set of covers available in a variety of designs like the alpaca-centric patterns shown below (a pack of 3 is just $12).

If only my kids were babies.