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iBlog Friday - Our weekly roundup of Aussie Bloggers

At iVillage we’re passionate about supporting Australian bloggers. That’s why we’ve created iBlog Friday.

It's a chance for bloggers introduce their favourite post of the week to iVillage readers and for our community to read what Aussie writers are up to.

Here are the bloggers who have sent their submissions this week. Happy reading and have a great Easter long weekend.

Michaela Fox of Not Another Slippery Dip writes about the mixed messages we receive in trying to parent our children

"Finding it confusing how to mother? It’s no surprise. There is no shortage of parenting books and articles telling us how we should raise our children. Every week a study is released that offers new parenting insights but often this information is confusing and contradictory. It’s no wonder some mothers feel anxious about their parenting abilities. There are so many mixed messages. Here’s some of the advice that I find confusing:"

You can read the rest of Michaela's post here

Allison Drew Foster of notforblokes writes about the Australian swimming controvery and her own daughter's swimming "career"

"Swimming Australia  tell me there are approximately 50,000 registered competitive swimmers in Australia in 2013.

Of those 50,000, a total of 45 were chosen to represent their country at the London  Olympic games(47 if you count the two open water swimmers).

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Which means on average less than 0.09 % of competitive swimmers will actually end up competing at an Olympic games.

And presumably, competing at the Olympic games is what drives most of these swimmers."

Read more of Alison's post here

Alisha Forbes of Naughty Naturopath Mum writes about the signs pointing her in the direction she's meant to be going….

"Since my move to Brisbane which was only 4 weeks ago, so many signs and events keep pointing me in the direction I’m supposed to be going.  Sometimes I fight these pointers and sometimes I ignore them.  I have realised this is at my own peril.

You see, the old adage of ‘fighting the current or floating with it’ has never made more sense or been so clear.  I am the type of person to instinctively try and control my life, the people in it and my environment…..yes, it is futile and silly as I have no control, BUT I do have my signs.  For someone like me who has to constantly re-learn the art of letting go and going with the flow, my anchor for want of a better word, yes that word does not work here….my life buoy (that’s better), are the symbols and signs left for me by the universe to keep steering me right"

Read the rest of Alisha's post here

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Laura Gordon of Poo, Spew and Superglue writes about when the easy baby becomes the hard one

"My cruisy, cuddly baby boy is growing up. Just a little every day until one day you look at him and you think, you are just not that little baby any more. You remember what the wild child was doing at his age and how much older he seemed then. With the first one, you are desperate for all of those milestones, not for the sense of achievement, but just to know what the next stage will be like. But with the second you try and keep them babies for as long as you can."

Read the rest of Laura's post here

The talented team at The Food Dept celebrated their first birthday with an amazing recipe for a cake you are going to want to bake

This fabulous cake has a little history for us. It all started with Anne Marie's mother Toni who made it for one of her five children's birthdays'. It was so popular amongst the Cummins family that Anne Marie made it for her Sydney hairdresser, Renya Xydis to try. Now Renya's family adore the cake and place regular orders for the cake, for their parties and birthday celebrations. Whenever Anne Marie makes this cake, it is quickly eaten (followed by lots of ooh's and ahh's) and then people ask for the recipe. So when it came to deciding on the perfect 1st birthday cake for the food dept, there was no contest, but to make this indulgent, creamy layer cake. In Anne Marie's word's "It's a show stopper cake!" Bon apetit!

Get the recipe here

Keri Arkell of Awesomely Unprepared writes about the music that accompanies every stage of our lives and the songs that really capture the essence of parenthood

"I think every moment of a person’s life needs a soundtrack that reflects what’s happening at that time. I seriously love the idea that life is a movie (not so much a nice, tidy Hollywood film…maybe more of an artsy foreign film with subtitles that you can’t keep up with and a plot that doesn’t seem to make any sense until the end). I listened to Nirvana, Silverchair, Rage Against the Machine and Hole when I was young and angst filled in the 90s."

You can read the rest of Keri's post here

Nicola Garcia of The Yogic Housewife writes about how to get your mama mojo back

"We are pushing ourselves up one hell of a hill.

Not only are our expectations of ourselves greater but we have Mummy bloggers (apologies) and pinners crafting and baking and photographing all these beautiful meals, outings and fun times that our kids ARE NOT HAVING.

AAAGH.

Better get out the baking gear or my children will be traumatized.

Better learn to sew or what the hell are people going to think of my store bought kids costumes.

Better make some funny home-made present that the kids “helped” with or else I will be deemed “Bad” Mother.

Let’s chill."

You can read the rest of Nicola's post here

Janine Fitzpatrick of Shambolic Living writes the most beautiful letter to her daughter. Get tissues before proceeding

"Dear Hippie Child

It’s very late at night but I’m still up because the school has given me homework and I’m in trouble because I haven’t got it done.

They wrote to us asking us to write a letter for you to receive on camp telling you why we love you, your best attributes and what we hope for your future.

They have already rung asking where it is and I promised to have it to them today (oops missed the extended deadline). So here I am in the middle of the night trying to finish my assessment task – like mother like daughter."

You can read the rest of Janine's letter here

Luisa Munoz of The Motherhood Herald writes about 50 Shades of anxiety - ie motherhood

"The worst thing about parenting, for me, is not when I have to change the most horrid of nappies, or the tantrums. It's when I have to parent when my judgement is shrouded with anxiety and sleep deprivation. My mood is shady, my patience runs thins and I am not good company at all.

Usually, with paid work, if it you ever felt at breaking point, you might call in sick, go in for half a day. I can't do that, we don't have that luxury as parents, we carry on, try our best to bite our lips and not let anger come out, hold back our tears, so not to worry our kids. We break everyone of our bones inside and deal with the pain and anxiety so not to impose ANY bad thing on our kids. To make sure we don't fail them."

You can read the rest of Luisa's post here

Kelly Burch of Dog Rose Healing gives 5 steps to attracting what you desire

I’ve had another epiphany (they come thick and fast here) but for me to explain you’ll need some background.

I am a HUGE fan of Silvia Hartmann’s Project Sanctuary. I use it regularly personally and also professionally with clients. I tell my kids bedtime stories with it, I seek answers with it, I gain understanding with it, I find peaceful places with it. It works wonderful magic in my life. In a nutshell, it is a visual experience which impacts upon the energy body.. and beyond.

You can read the rest of Kelly's post here

Louisa Simmonds of Midlife Mayhem writes about the Ikea experience... one that we can ALL relate to

"The words ‘flat-packed’ and ‘self-assembly’ instill almost as much fear as the word ‘foreplay’ in grown men, yet twenty-five years after my first Ikea purchase for our very first flat in Wimbledon, I am still buying Ikea furniture.

Apparently, an increase in earnings and overall improvement in lifestyle has failed to increase our spending when it comes to furniture in the same way that it has with any new Apple technology. (The new IWatch is most likely winging its way to our house as I write)."

You can read the rest of Louisa's post here

Jo Hartley of Wanna Be a Yummy Mummie writes about the friends we love to hate on Facebook

"As an avid user of Facebook I am the first to admit that its merits far outweigh its cons for me. Living on the other side of the world from family means that with the advent of this type of social media I can easily keep everyone updated as to the growth of Mr T and his latest adventures. Yes, I am one of THOSE mums…there are pictures of Mr T doing every kind of activity that is totally of no interest whatsoever to anyone else other than family. And I am totally aware of this and totally understand. No one else really cares that today Mr T had ANOTHER ice-cream, went to the zoo or posed for another photo that, in reality, doesn’t really look all that dissimilar to the other 100 from last week – albeit that he is just in a different outfit and at a different beach?"

You can read the rest of Jo's post here

Merrill Brassil of Listen Sookie writes about moving forward from body shame

"My sugar setback on the weekend really got me down but it also got me thinking. Thinking about why it affected me so much mentally and why I felt such shame. I am fairly talented at being really hard on myself and it's not an easy habit to unlearn. I also know that sadly, some people around me would have been happy that I had experienced a setback. I guess some people don't handle change well and when you've been someone's chubby, sugar mad friend for a while, the changing of habits isn't welcomed. Or maybe it's just because I've not had a lot of success with getting healthy that people just expect me to fail?"

You can read the rest of Merrill's post here

PS: If you're a blogger and you want to appear in our next iBlog Friday roundup please send the link to your blog to us at info@themotherish.com

We will be posting all the blogs we receive in a round up every Friday morning so make sure we get your blog by Thursday at 12 noon.

We will be publishing our favourite blog next week and that blogger will win 6 shades of  Revlon's new ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick.

 
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