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A ‘welcome to the world party’ for your little bub! By Holly Brunnbauer  The moment you share the arrival of your new baby with the world (via Facebook of course), all of your family and friends will be squealing with delight to meet them. Any mother who has gone through this before will recall how overwhelming and sometimes darn annoying it is to have a revolving door of visitors in the hospital and at home. This is exactly why a sip and see event is what you need. Ummm…ok but what the heck is a sip and see? It is basically a birth after-party where you set a date and time for close friends and family to come over and meet the baby all at once. Obviously as the name implies, drinks are provided for sipping and the baby is passed around for seeing. In this post I will share with you the down-low on how to host a sip and see and lots of extra tips to help make it easier for you.  Who do I invite? As with any event you host, the guest list is completely up to you. Unlike a baby...

  Caroline McMahon is the Director of Carolines Angels Pty Ltd in Perth, Western Australia. Caroline is a Baby Sleep Specialist, Registered Nurse & Midwife and has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nursing   I was reading an article written in the Sydney Morning Herald, "Mothers with postnatal mental illness need all the help we can give them." and was moved at how severe Hoa Pham’s symptoms were after she gave birth to her first baby.  Hoa is well educated, a Psychologist, and author.  Mental illness does not discriminate who it affects after the birth of a child, with higher incidences after a woman’s first child.  Hoa was lucky enough to have insight into her feelings to recognise that she needed help and needed it fast.

  January 2013 my period was late….Oh oh. I wasn't expecting that…. 3 months later I realised I was doing this alone - definitely never thought I'd be in that position. I could have fallen in a heap and cried my lonely self to sleep every night, I no longer had a partner I had no family close by but I did have this special little human growing inside of me. We were already close, I could already tell this little guy was something so special. So I picked myself up and fell madly in love with the new man in my life - Gym. I guess this new love was my medicine. I'm not even sure where to start with just how much exercise helped me through my pregnancy mentally it saved me but there were so many more benefits. Physically I only put on 13kg which is within the healthy range, I didn't get the extreme tiredness that all my other non-exercising friends seemed to be having; no swelling, no morning sickness, no back pain - I actually felt really good! I didn't even take one s...

Motherhood hits with full force and those first few months pass in a blur.  One day you open your wardrobe to look for something to wear that isn’t your pyjamas, tracksuit or hubby’s old t-shirts. The HORROR awakens.  You have no idea how to dress for this new life…. Today I want to show you how to dress like you are totally in control of your life even if you’re a total hot mess.  Nobody will have any clue that you A) You haven’t showered, B) You barely leave the house C) Your main social interaction comes from Netflix and Facebook.   Ready for my simple two step formula??? STEP ONE: Take a pair of jeans (I still love skinny but feel free to add a flare if that works for you) and a simple top.  I love a loose fitting top because I am still holding on to some serious mum gut (which I believe is here to stay) but if your tummy is in top condition you could tighten things up in the top department.   Now this is where most people stop. Yes, you are d...

Would you be surprised to know that there is one known activity that can vastly improve your child’s cognitive capacity? Not only that, but also develop the mastery of languages, help to create memory systems, positively affect emotional state and helps with complex problem solving, as well as provide the potential for a healthier brain as it ages? And what if that activity was found by scientists to be beneficial at any time of life but most beneficial before the age of 7? Dr Anita Collins, from Melbourne University, in her inspirational TED talk, confirms that, remarkably, scientists have found that activity to be music! Researcher Dr Shiela Woodward has established that children have musical memory and the ability to hear us speaking from as early as 22 weeks in-utero. Dr Anita Collins worked with neuroscientists using MRI scans to show that when we speak, the left side of the brain lights up and when we do mathematics, the right side is stimulated. Amazingly, when we listen to musi...