Crane Drop Shape Cool-Mist Humidifier

Pickle, our 4-5-year-old daughter, gets recurrent croup.  She’s gotten it dozens of times since she turned one, so we’ve sort of done it all.  We’ve stood her in front of the freezer during coughing fits, we’ve stood in a steamy bathroom, we’ve inclined her bed, we’ve done countless rounds of oral steroids and a nebulizer.  All of them have worked in varying degrees to help stem her symptoms after the croup has already started – and it usually starts any time she gets a cold with any sign of a cough.  Per our pediatrician and pulmonologist’s recommendations, we have also utilized a cool-mist humidifier.  We have used it both before symptoms showed up and after the croup has begun in hopes of either preventing or shortening the duration of the illness – studies have shown that cool mist is best for this.

The first time Pickle got croup, we went to Wal-Mart and got the first cool-mist humidifier we saw.  We landed on the Safety 1^st Ultrasonic Humidifier.  Ours is a little older model than this one, it ran about $25:  LINK  We liked that it was ultrasonic, so there was no expensive filter to change – so, even though it was sorta plain and ugly, we figured it was worth it.  It was also pretty quiet, which was nice.  We used it for about a week when we first noticed that it started leaking.  By leaking, I mean it was leaking everywhere from the base, not just some condensation from the spout.  In addition to this electrocution hazard, we also were disturbed that the auto shut-off didn’t work on ours when it ran out of water – I usually would have to get up in the middle of the night to turn it off, rather than risk it overheating.  We continued to use it, but it wasn’t a great solution.

I started doing a lot more research when searching for a new humidifier, as I wanted to get something that would work better and be safer.  I read time and time again about how Crane (www.crane-usa.com) had the best value for their humidifiers.  I was recently lucky enough to get to try out a Crane Drop Shape Humidifier in orchid and white (LINK):

It is adorable, and the pink and white go just perfectly with Pickle’s pink-and-brown bedroom.  However, there are a ton of other colors – prices range from about $40 at retailers like Amazon, Target, and Wal-Mart, up to about $55 for the harder-to-find colors.  They are ultra-sleek and modern, and very appealing to my girly-girl.  However, if you have a wee one who wants something a little more traditionally “cute,” check out their Adorable Animals line of humidifiers for the cutest elephants, monkeys, frogs, and more to ever help your children breathe easier.

As it happened, Pickle just happened to come down with a cold within days of when we got the humidifier.  (Lousy Midwest weather.)  As I mentioned before, her colds almost always evolve into croup.  That weekend, we had birthday parties, soccer practice, meetings, and more – the poor girl just didn’t have the time to be down-and-out with respiratory issues.  

We got the Crane humidifier out, and set it up in her room.  First of all, it looks adorable – a vast improvement over the previous humidifier we had.  Although it’s incredibly simple to set up, I recommend following the directions in order to get the best results from your humidifier.  We set it up about three feet off of the ground in order to get the best circulation of air.  Per the directions, we also adjusted the spray so as not to accumulate water at the base – although we put it on a waterproof surface, we really didn’t need to.  There was no leaking or water accumulation – again, we were well ahead of the Safety 1^st model we’d used previously.  It was quiet as a mouse, and it wasn’t big and oppressive in her room.  

One of my favorite features is that the auto shut-off actually worked – I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night and ninja off the humidifier without waking my daughter.  If I hadn’t read the directions, it might have confused me a little bit that the light remained on to indicate that the unit was still receiving power.  The functioning auto shut-off was another big win for me over the previous humidifier!  

One more thing I’d like to note from the instruction manual and the Crane website – no medications are to be used in the unit.  This includes essential oils, if you’re an “oily” house.  There are hacks on YouTube and blogs on how to add oils to the Crane humidifier, but it is not manufactured for use with them and is strongly discouraged.

So… after all of this, I’m sure you’re wondering if starting the Crane humidifier at the onset of Pickle’s cold kept away from the croup.  Well, take a look at this face from that birthday party I mentioned – could a girl with a restricted airway work a trumpet with this much style?

American Plastic "My Very Own Nursery"

I know I mentioned it before (such as HERE), but Little A is very maternal and can be very girly.  She loves her babies, has about a million of them.  She loves the little high chair she has for them, as well as her little doll car seat.

So, when we were walking through the Wal-Mart toy department a few weeks ago (also known as "the worst place on Earth), we saw this "My Very Own Nursery" by American Plastic for $19.99 (LINK):

I was a little wary at first of buying this just due to the company name.  "American Plastic" does not sound particularly geared towards children, so I was a tiny bit worried about the safety of it. A quick Google on my phone didn't find any recalls or safety issues, and it didn't look like anything could eat a preschooler finger or anything, so we got it.  

The box said some assembly was required.  What that actually means is, "Yeah, I hope you've blocked off about an hour, because this thing comes in about 40 pieces."  And, true to its name, it was entirely plastic, so there were a bunch of those little plastic connectors that you have to bend back and forth to snap the item free of it.  I was doing pretty well at putting this together by myself, until I got to the parts that required a screwdriver, I needed some help holding the two parts together so I could get the screw in there.  At that point, my husband J came in and said, "OH, that's the same company that made A's vanity.  Yeah, that's gonna suck to put together."  He tagged in at that point and did the bulk of it.  It still took about an hour with me helping, but was better than it would have been if just one of us were doing it ourselves.  You first assemble most of the crib, then comes the sink part, and then the high chair thing off to the right in the photo above.  It comes with a little mobile, a sippy cup, plate and silverware, and some powder.

For the most part, it's fairly sturdy.  Even after taking them off twice and putting them back on, the doors are a little jacked.  They're just not quite even and don't close entirely.  It's not a big issue, and it still works really well.

Little A played with this for approximately three hours straight after we built it, went to sleep, and played with it for four hours straight the next morning.  She loves to put her babies to sleep and then direct us to shush all talking so we didn't wake them up.  Most standard dolls and stuffed animals fit in here, so it works well.  She would use all of the play food from her kitchen to make the baby healthy and delicious treats, would use several of her blankies to keep the baby warm, and actually even used a toy cleaning set she had to clean the sink like Mama cleans the "big" bathroom.  

Overall, I'd say this was definitely worth the $20 we paid.  It's not an heirloom piece or anything they'll be keeping for decades - but considering the price of Legos and Barbies these days, it's a pretty inexpensive toy that will keep an itty bitty mama happy for quite a while.  If a giant dog or something sits on this and breaks it, I wouldn't feel like I'd broken the bank or anything if we had to get a new one or something different.  It is a little larger than some toys, so it may not be the most convenient if you are very cramped for space - I'd estimate wildly that it was about three feet wide, 2.5 feet tall.

Don't forget about our giveaway HERE!