iBlog Friday: The best Aussie bloggers on beach danger, joy after tragedy & surviving separation anxiety

Eva Lewis of The Multitasking Mummy writes about the day she thought her son had drowned in her post The moment I thought my toddler had drowned.

Read the rest of Eva's post here.

Renee Wilson of Mummy, Wife, Me can't believe how her children reacted during their first proper holiday in her post Learner holidaymaker.

Holidays would mean sun, surf, freckles, sandcastles, shells, and cheese and vegemite toasted sandwiches. The days were easy and fun and hold some of the most precious memories of my life.

With our girls now three and one, I have been keen to help them create some beach holiday memories of their own.

Read the rest of Renee's post here.

Meg Hannan of Mumdainty explains the reality of New Year's Eve when you have children in tow, in her post The loudly quiet New Year.

The kids down the road (whose parents had presumably consumed far more vodka than ourselves and were missing in action), set up an alarmingly impressive arsenal of fireworks in the middle of the road and tried to literally bring the neighbourhood into the new year in a blaze of illegal glory. An entire city of police car sirens went off in almost-perfect unison, whizzing around the cracker-filled streets like a super-sized nest of really angry bees, with far too many targets for far too few stings.

Read the rest of Meg's post here.

Lauren Matheson of Create Bake Make can't help but remember how close she came to losing him, on the eve of his second birthday, her 'rainbow baby' in her post My Rainbow.

This weekend, our big boy, our ‘rainbow baby’ turns two.  What I wanted to write about was the journey that led us to his arrival.  The utter devastation we experienced when his big brother was born sleeping and his big sister passed away in my arms.  The anxious journey we then went on during his pregnancy, the countless hospital admissions, scans and tests, each of which seemed to bring more bad news – further complications and bigger hurdles we would have to jump, in the hope of bringing him home.  Then there was the journey we experienced during his six week NICU stay and the challenges we faced bringing a premature baby home.

Read the rest of Lauren's post here.

Erin Patel of Coffee Talk with Erin shares her tips on starting your child in daycare in her post Survival tips for starting daycare...a mother's story.

I remember this walk with Olivia, my eldest when she first started daycare. She was maybe a month or two older than Maggie is now. We had to sing songs on the way to keep her from crying. She would cling to me as I handed her over to the sympathetic teachers upon arrival. The fear which was written all over her little face broke my heart into a million pieces. I would lie awake at night tossing around the idea of pulling her out despite the fact it took me two years on a waitlist to get her in. If I pulled her out, would she miss out on early education entirely? Was I damaging her? Would she ever forgive me for abandoning her?

Read the rest of Erin's post here.

Alisha Forbes of Naughty Natruopath Mum shares her thoughts on where modern parents are really going wrong in her post Get Real.

This time of year, we should bask in the slowing down of business, the kids being around more (yeah, like that’s new for me!

Read the rest of Alisha's post here.

Louise Simmonds of My Midlife Mayhem was ready for her kids to leave the nest but wasn't ready for what happened next, as she explains in her post What to do when teenagers treat home like a hotel.

I remember fondly how my own father used to accuse me of doing the same thing, treating our home like a hotel, when I was about nineteen. I remember how much I hurt him one year when I went out to a party on Christmas Eve, got back to ‘the hotel’ in the wee hours and slept through his perfectly planned Christmas morning – without a smidgen of guilt or compassion.

Read the rest of Louise's post here.

Kellie Turtu of Mama Pyjama is an unapologetic dreamer and explains exactly why the world needs people like her in her post Dreams.

It takes a real solid, committed effort to keep pushing forward.  It’s a daily battle to keep your sub-conscious mind in check.  You know, the one that tells you you’re wasting your time, you’re a dreamer, you haven’t got a hope in hell.   But you know what?  Sarah Ban Breathnach said it best when she said, “The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.  But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.”  So keep fighting the fight, keep rising above the negative voices and keep pushing forward with your pursuit.  Write things down and read them over and over again.  Listen to things that inspire you, take in the daily quotes, focus on what made you start this journey in the first place.

Read the rest of Kellie's post here.

Nami Clarke of Bubba Gum HQ organises a date night, but not with her husband, as she explains in her post Kids, don't try this at home.

Being a girl who loves nothing more than to plan, I set about swiftly to remedy the situation.  It was decided that husband and I needed to have more of (read: anything slightly resembling) a social life and see our friends on a more regular basis, either together or on our own.  Every fortnight we'd have a long-overdue catchup with many of our nearest and dearest who we'd neglected to make time for since kids had come along.

Read the rest of Nami'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.

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.

Watch her latest video clip here.