Lotus Everywhere Crib: Puts "travel" back in travel crib

I'm always amazed to see the vast improvements in baby gear even since my littlest one, only two, was a baby, which gives me hope that they will one day be able to manufacture sleep for us parents. Ha. Until then, I'll just take little advances, like what the folks at Guava Family have done to the travel crib. The new Guava Family Lotus Everywhere crib has a sleek, compact design, and what's really special: a handy convertible carrying bag that you can turn into a backpack. As a mom of four, I can appreciate having two extra hands, especially when I'm on the road. It's definitely easy to set up, with just a couple of pops for the side rails and dropping the mattress in and attaching it with velcro. I admit that I'm a little iffy on the white mattress, though, especially since it sits on the floor with only the mesh bottom in between, but since I never actually used my travel crib without a sheet, it's no biggie. Plus you can wash the safe, non-toxic cover and clean the mattress, so the color should be nothing to deter you from the crib's versatility. I do like how you can either place your baby in over the top, or unzip the side mesh panel and put them in that way, which is handy for grandparents, or tall people (like me) who don't love breaking their back to get a sleeping baby in and out of the crib. Plus, it can work as a little play fort for your older toddler who likes to hang out inside but wants to be able to get out on his own too.But even if you're using it for toddlers, keep in mind it's really designed as a travel crib. So while it's compact, it's definitely sturdy--something my rough 2-year old can attest to after giving it a hard-core trial run. I will say it took me a little longer than I'd have liked to take it down. Even though there are directions and arrows on the actual cover, it was unclear to me that the buttons on the rails were on the underside, which I finally figured out after pulling back the cover. But my guess is once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to pack it away pretty quickly. -Kristen You can purchase the Guava Family Lotus travel crib on their website.