The apps we love

Matilda doesn't really spend much time in front of the TV, she probably has only really 'watched' TV a handful of times in her life.

Sure, of a morning the TV is on in the background and if there is a music act on she will sit up and bop along to it, but otherwise its the very rare (and only recently) ABC for kids show that she has seen.

But she does have a few favourite apps. Well it is the technological age after all.

They are all educational (well they aren't games anyway) and frankly they can be great fun. So I thought I would share our top apps with you.

Matilda's favourite would have to be a three way tie between Willbee the Bumblebee, Dear Zoo and The Wonky Donkey so I will chat about those first :)

All of these books can be read to you or you can read along yourself. The two books by Craig Smith also have a song version which are the current favourites in our place at the moment. For the older kids there are also some games and other activities in each of these.

Willbee the Bumblebee

 
Matilda just loves Willbee, she bounces around and shakes her maracas as the story unfolds. It's a great little story about a bumblebee working in the garden until his jersey comes unravelled. It's then up to the other animals, Monica the butterfly and Spider Steve (who reads the Women's Weekly!) to help him out. It's a great story, catchy song (probably too catchy) and the environmental message in there makes me a happy mum.

I definitely recommend this one :)

Dear Zoo

Dear Zoo is a great story and the app is so much fun. It comes with plenty of sound effects and is simple enough to let the little ones start to experience the touch screen. Don't get me wrong Matilda isn't left alone with the iPad to read this story, but she can now get the animals out of their crates and make them make their sounds.

We add in a few extra words on the snake story (the snake is too scary for Nanna) as I don't believe in bringing Matilda up to be afraid of any animal, but otherwise this one is definitely a huge favourite in our house.

 The Wonkey Donkey

Ah the Wonky Donkey, it's a toss up who loves this one more - Matilda's Aunty (she's a teacher), Matilda or Matilda's Dad (cause it makes fart noises..!)

This one is by the same guy who does Willbee and its just as great. Actually, this is the original but for now Willbee is slightly ahead in the favourite race.

Again you can have this one read to you, sung to you or you can read along yourself so plenty of choices there. The song is the current favourite in our place and there is a lot of bopping along as the story unfolds.

It's also good for a giggle as Wonky gets more and more interesting and traditionally unattractive but then turns out 'quite good looking' - gives Mum and Dad a laugh anyway!

Baby Karaoke

This is another lifesaver. Matilda loves the songs and its great for that much needed quick distraction. It would be great if all the songs on the Raising Children Network site were available, but its a free app so these five are great!

Baby's Music Box

I am going to apologise for introducing you to this one straight up. Sorry.

Its annoying, like really annoying but... it instantly calms a screaming baby so, well, it's also handy.

We don't use this one so much any more but as a small bubba Matilda loved it. If she was ever a little distressed we would pop it on and the soothing (lets be clear - soothing for a wee baby not for you) sounds of this app would help nine times out of ten.

Thank goodness we don't have to use it much any more!

ABC for Kids

I am pretty sure every parent has discovered this one - but just in case you haven't its got a handy little selection of songs and videos for that urgently needed short distraction. We like Elmo's videos at the moment, particularly the one where he makes Baby Bear sing for his porridge. Again, this one is a little too catchy and I find myself singing it hours later!

Warning: anyone one with a Mummy-crush on Mr Laga'aia - this will not help matters. Take it from someone who knows ;)

The Wonder Weeks

 
This is one for the Mummies and Daddies out there. This app is a great summary of the information in the invaluable Wonder Weeks book. I cannot believe none of the mainstream education (that I experienced anyway) talked about these wonder weeks. We hear so much about the growth spurts at 10 days, three weeks, six weeks, three months & six months but in my experience these wonder weeks are much more obvious and amazing!

Do yourself a favour and get this app and sign up for the the reminder emails on the website. If you can find the time to read, get the book as well. You will learn so much about your little one!

The Wonder Weeks is even available as a chapter by chapter eBook so if your little one has passed some of the milestones you don't have to buy the whole book. I love that!

The last leap of the Wonder Weeks is not until 17 months, so even parents of older bubs can get some use out of this one.

There are a couple of other books Matilda quite enjoys but is a little young to truly appreciate them just yet. Having said that she does enjoy them, and I can see them being favourites in the future so here's a quick list of them:

• Mademoiselle Daisy's New Friends
• Scott's Submarine
• Scott's Polar Trip

So that's it for the moment, there are a few others we have tried and found that they aren't so great or that they are a little advanced for Matilda at this point, but these ones are definitely the ones on high rotation at our place at the moment.

I hope if you give them a try, you like them as much as we do. And if you have any favourites I would love to hear them!


NEWS FLASH: The Wonder Weeks website has a Christmas Giveaway happening at the moment -you can download the first chapters of the eBook for free on their website, nice!

Christmas is so different on this side of parenthood

I love Christmas - always have, always will. Every year I make Matilda's Dad pop on the Christmas carols to put up the Christmas tree. I love wrapping the presents and seeing them under the tree and I love giving them out during the season :)

Most of all I love the family time. Christmas for me is all about family. I grew up in a big family (so big I still have to draw a family tree for Matilda's Dad on occasion) so Christmas was all about Mum, Dad and my sister and all of our grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, heaps of cousins and other adopted 'family members' all getting together for a massive lunch, games and presents and then doing it all over again at dinner with the other side of the family.

As we got older it was more and more about the family, the silly games of cricket or footy on the oval during the day and long nights of 'panic' or whatever the board game of the year was that year. It was about catching Christmas beetles and spitting cherry seeds over the fence late into the night.

As an adult I still love these get-togethers. Its a chance to see everyone, or almost everyone, in the same place at least once that year. It's a chance to swap old stories and laugh til we have tears running down our faces (usually thanks to the same accident prone and very funny Uncle) and its the one day a year where we can stuff ourselves silly and no one cares. Not one little bit.

But this year, well this year its different.

All of those things still matter but there is an extra touch of magic in the air.

I knew it would be different with Matilda here, but as she was so young I wasn't convinced we would see a difference just yet - not so. Matilda herself loves the lights, the trees and the decorations. Not  just at home but when we are out and about as well.

Her favourite words, besides Dadda and nanna, are wow, look and that, which is lucky as we hear lots of them as we get out and about.

But it's the difference it has made to Matilda's Dad that I have really noticed.

See, my husband hates shopping centres. He also hates crowds. Christmas time in a shopping centre is therefore his version of hell. So imagine my surprise when he suggested a trip to the shops... on a day when Target had a sale... to get more Christmas decorations... whhaatt??

Then further surprises as he is itching to put up the tree and play the carols - usually its a reluctant husband helping out with this every year.

The difference? Yup its his little girls first Christmas.

And its not just us. Yes, the rest of the family are all very excited too - but so are the neighbours! Yes, that's right the neighbours. We come home the other day to find that one of the neighbours has decorated one of our boundary trees with lights in the form of 'Matti' (which is what he calls Matilda!).

Is that not the best thing ever!

Well, this is where I was going to hand over to Matilda's Dad - he was planing to tell you in his own words how he feels about Christmas, but he is waaay too busy and we will be waiting til next Christmas for that, so instead here are a few pics of Matilda and her Daddy decorating the tree for Matilda's first Christmas :)

Merry Christmas everyone, we hope its your best one yet xoxo

I love my holiday husband

I love my holiday husband.

That's not to say I don't love him all year round, but I particularly love the husband I get when we go on holidays, the one that emerges when we really relax and get away from it all.

You see we've just come back from three glorious weeks away, lost in the wilds of one of our favourite destinations, Tasmania. And it was awesome. 

The holiday itself was great, we got to do and see some amazing things and Matilda has been to some of the most precious places in the world.

But as usual the best bit was family.

My husband commutes, like so many of the people that live here on the Coast, so its a very long day for him. Alarm goes off at what I would call stupid o'clock, he walks out the door not long after - around 5.30am and walks back in the door just after six each night.

The working day is a fairly standard one, but the extra three or so hours of travel, and six different trains a day make it quite a challenge.

During the winter months this means there is often very little sunshine to be had as it is dark when he leaves and again when he returns.

Since the addition of Matilda into our little family our nights can be, as many can imagine, a little hectic. Bath time is Daddy time as that is one of the few precious moments they can stop and hang out together on a weekday. But by the time the Matilda's dinner, bath, story and bedtime are complete, not to mention squeezing in our dinner and making lunches for the next day we often flop onto the lounge for a quick cuppa and catch up before crawling into bed exhausted and ready to do it all over again tomorrow.

This, as you can well imagine, can be exhausting for everyone involved.

So when we get away from it all the real, fun loving version of my husband emerges. And its great!

While we were away we danced like idiots in our friends kitchen while Matilda and the dogs watched on, we sang our way though a thousand daggy songs, we laughed and stayed up way too late, we went on picnics and spent the days exploring the amazing places Tassie has to offer and we had the best time.

So, that's why I love my holiday husband.

For all of those interested in our Tassie trip, I will post a little more on that another day - in the meantime I am going to share a few of my favourite Daddy / daughter pics form our trip, just because I can :)

 

My advice for new mums a year on

I love to share what I have learnt with others but I am also weary of being the know-it-all new mum who bombards everyone with her opinion. I suppose that's one of the reasons this blog exists - I can give as much advice as I like and only those who want it read it.

Recently one of my fav mummy bloggers, Latte Mum, has been talking about her first year as a mum and what advice she would give herself if she could go back before her bubba was born. It got me thinking, what advice would I give myself if I could go back in time?

So, after some time considering this same question to I came up with my top three pieces of advice for new, or any really, mums.

Actually it's really only one piece of advice, but we'll call it three for now ;)

1. Trust your instincts. Above everything else.
Honestly this is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your baby. No one knows how to parent your baby better than you do, no one.

Sure, take advice form others, listen to the great and not-so-great hints and tips from other mums, aunts and uncles, Nanna's, pops, friends and complete strangers, but only take on those that feel right to you. Trust that you know what is best for your family.

Don't get me wrong, it will be hard at times but it is always worth it.

2. It's ok to change your mind (as long as you are doing #1)
I found that I went into this parenting thing with quite a few preconceived ideas that I never considered there was an alternative to (starting on pureed foods for example). But then as I travelled along I discovered that there indeed was alternatives and often they suited me much more than the original idea.

So I changed my tact and that was ok. Actually it was better than ok, it was perfect because it was right for my family and I was following my instincts.

Don't get bogged down in how you thought it would happen, if it doesn't feel right or if its not working, try something different. You never know, it might just be perfect for you :)

3. Find your 'parenting rock star' (for the times you doubt #1)
Its all well and good to say trust your instincts but some days that is really, really hard. On those days you need a few things, good friends - often other Mums who think like you do and a parenting expert to back you up!

Mine, as many will know, is Pinky McKay. When I am struggling to find what works for me or when the 100th person that day has questioned the way I am doing things (or given me that wonderful unsolicited advice I have talked about before...) I turn to Pinky. She doesn't always agree with me, don't get me wrong, but in general her parenting philosophy suits mine and that makes me feel better.

There are also a few facebook pages I am a member of that do this as well. The Natural Parent Magazine and Natural Parenting tips are great ones.
 
So there it is - my collective wisdom eleven months down the track. I hope it helps and I wonder what I will be writing this time next year when Matilda is almost two (yikes!)?

Have a great night xoxo