iBlog Friday: Gifts come in all shapes and sizes - presents, perspective, parenting breakthroughs...

Welcome to our final iBlog Friday for 2013. iBlog Friday is our weekly roundup of Aussie bloggers. Send us your favourite post to info@themotherish.com by midday each Thursday for your chance to win fabulous prizes. This week our bloggers take us through all the highlights and lowlights of their parenting adventure this past week, including presents, perspective and parenting breakthroughs.

Andrew Wright of Andrew G Writes explains why he doesn’t mind that he doesn’t have sons in his post I wish I had a dollar.

I am convinced that everyone has an ‘I wish I had a dollar for every time…’. Mine is: I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me either, ‘Are you gonna try again, for a boy?’ or ‘Don’t you sometimes wish you had a boy?’

You see, we have three daughters. We have three fantastic, funny, entertaining and brilliantly intelligent girls. They are each unique and I wouldn’t trade any one of them for a boy if it would save the world from being blown up by an alien spacecraft. Why would I? I love the family we have.

Read the rest of Andrew’s post here.

Caylie Jeffery of Distractions of a Busy Mother writes powerfully about domestic violence over the holidays in her post Underneath the Christmas Tree.

She lies in the shadows of the tree, amongst shiny packages choked with coloured ribbons – secret parcels promising fleeting happiness for the two angels who lie still in their beds, waiting in frightened silence for her to kiss them goodnight, to make everything better again.

Read the rest of Caylie's post here.

Sam Stone of A Life on Venus shares her dream come true in her post #MyFirst...Fulfilled Wish.

When I was a wee little lady I am sure I had many wishes. Wishes for friends, barbies, long summer days, reciprocated love, etc, etc. However, now that I am a bit older than a wee little lady I have no recollection of these wishes.

Trying to remember my first fulfilled wish and my mind instantly thinks of our little miss. I wished so much for a family, to hear the pitter patter of little feet in my house.

Read the rest of Sam's post here.

Gauri Maini of GauriMaini.com discusses potential gifts with her grown son in her post Christmas.

Earlier this week, we were dropping off my son for cricket. He is 23. Why are we dropping him off you may ask? Well, he has just moved out of home into a very nice apartment in North Sydney, so he can sleep in and get to work on time… Apparently though, our life is still meant to revolve around him. “Like, you left your car in Copacabana? How silly!!” Says my daughter, who had to pick him up from Wahroonga Station because he was coming home on Saturday. “You know I have cricket on Sunday” says my son. The fact that he said to us that he won’t come home on the weekend because we were busy setting up our home in Copacabana is kinda irrelevant. Right?

So anyhow. I asked him “What are you getting me for Christmas?”

Read the rest of Gauri's post here.

Susan Taylor of One Woman Circus reveals what she thinks is the best thing about having kids in her post Unconditional love? Future slave? No, the best thing about having kids is this.

Having children of your own is awesome, no doubt about it. Challenging, exhausting, expensive and mind baffling - but yes, still awesome. There are lots of things you could list as the best parts about being a mum or dad (everything from sweet little hugs and kisses down to the assurance there will be someone around in years to come to wipe your bum when you check in to the geriatric nut factory), but I think the best part about having children is this:

Read the rest of Susan's post here.

Joanna Lamb of Joanna Writes Here tells us how she keeps her sanity at Christmas time in her post Surviving Christmas.

It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Unfortunately for some people, Christmas can also be the most stressful and busy time of the year. The children are on a permanent sugar high, hubby is glued to the couch drinking beer and watching the cricket, and you feel like you’re chained to the kitchen with your judgemental mother-in-law breathing down your neck. But don’t panic just yet - there are ways to ensure that you get the most enjoyment out of this Christmas, and make it out the other side with (most of) your sanity intact.

Read the rest of Joanna's post here.

Lauren Matheson of CreateBakeMake looks back at 2013 and tries to sum it all up in one word in her post My Words.

I have heard quite a few people discussing what their ‘word’ or ‘words’ for 2014 will be, and I have also been trying to think about my own.  I’ve also been thinking a lot about a word which best sums up my year, and I’m going to go with - surviving.

It was surviving through the often conflicting roles of being a Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter and Friend…. not to mention, just being me.

Read the rest of Lauren's post here.

Eva Lewis of The Multitasking Mummy explains exactly how she'll make sure she won't raise a spoiled child in her post How I will not raise a spoiled child.

Read the rest of Eva's post here.

Meg Hannan of Mumdainty writes her own letter to Santa in her post All I want for Christmas is Queue.

Greetings Santa,

I know it's been a long time since I last penned a letter to the North Pole, and I'm far too old to be putting in requests for my Christmas stocking, but I have a few things on my mind that I would like to share with you. As you know, I popped in to your local headquarters the other day to see you for the first time in nearly twenty years (shhh, please don't repeat that too loudly) to chew the proverbial fat, and to introduce you to my little girl on the eve of her first silly season.

Read the rest of Meg's post here.

Bec Bowyer of Seeing the Lighter Side of Parenting emerges from that place parents go when more than one child is sick at the same time in her post Two sick kids and a sick mum.

I have fond memories of being a little bit sick when I was younger. I would stay home from school, boot up the clunky PC in the corner of the lounge room, follow the MS-Dos prompts and play Civilisation (you remember it, the one where you got to build aqueducts, granaries and World Wonders, accumulate ridiculous masses of wealth and obliterate other civilisations with your militia and tanks: very civilised it was). I’m pretty sure I was self-sufficient, quiet and vaguely tragic in my mildly fevered moping.

Read the rest of Bec's post here.

Jane Alexander of Little Miss Mummy introduces us to the concept of 'midget mayhem' in her post A day in the life of Midget Mayhem - Part 1.

To continue my tradition of providing light-hearted entertainment on Fridays, I thought I’d recount, purely for your amusement, a day in my life.  Unfortunately, when I started writing this post it became clear that I’d need a whole book to cover 24 hours, so instead I’m breaking this post into 2 parts.

For those of you who already think that I’m absolutely stark raving bonkers for having 3 kids – this will simply confirm your opinion.  For those of you with the impression that “the more, the merrier” when it comes to kids- this will cure you of your false impressions.  For those without kids, reading this will be the most effective form of contraception that you’ll ever need.

Read the rest of Jane's post here.

Are you are mummy blogger? We want to meet you. Send us your favourite post each week by midday on Thursday at info@ivillage.com. We’ll showcase your work and you could even win publication and a fab prize. This week you'll win our fabulous Tina Arena pack which includes her latest album Reset and her new book Now I Can Dance.

Our next iBlog Friday post will be published on Friday 10 January with submissions due by midday on Thursday 9 January.

Honest and intimate, funny and frank, Now I Can Dance is the long-awaited memoir from the very special, much-loved singer, songwriter and pop diva, Tina Arena. Now I Can Dance is an uplifting story of love, family, laughter, determination and - of course - song.

Find more details about Australia's favourite female artist at her website.