Christmas Wrap Up - what a year it's been!

It's certainly been a big year....2020 has been a tough year for everyone all over the world thanks to our friend 'Rona.

We're feeling very lucky here in Perth, Australia to have (so far, *touch wood*!) got off relatively lightly and to have resumed normal living for the second half of the year. We've really felt for those out there across the world who haven't been as lucky as us. Especially those new parents.

When the pandemic started, we were already well on our way to creating the Walky Talky Baby membership. We had a lot going on in our personal lives though so it wasn't coming along as quickly as we liked. Other things were taking priority.

Once we realised that there were parents out there isolated at home, without easy access to health professionals, child health nurses, mothers group etc, we felt EXTREMELY driven to work our little butts off to get the membership out to you as soon as we possibly could. To have access to all the information you need in the first 2 years of life to support your baby's communication, movement and play development from the comfort of your home. 

SO...despite (at the time) working from home, no child care and a lot of other stresses we won't go into....we decided to rush forward and launch our business baby in the middle of all the craziness! Because what better time to launch a business then in the middle of a global pandemic??

Looking back over the year, we have realised we have achieved A LOT. 

We launched our little social media accounts on facebook and instagram a year ago now and brought you the online Walky Talky Baby Membership in the middle of the year. It's something we have absolutely LOVED sharing with new parents and are so thrilled to be supporting so many lovely parents in the membership, especially those that were isolated at home. 

It's been a lot of hard work putting it all together, but is something we are so passionate about and we are so proud of what our baby has turned out to be!

Launching the Walky Talky Baby membership has given us wonderful purpose and a welcome distraction whilst navigating through the stresses of the year. 

SO whilst we've reflected on this big year and what we've achieved.....we thought about what we've learnt too and BOY has it been a lot.

5 things 2020 has taught us....

1. Good friends are worth their weight in gold

We've been friends for over a decade now, and gone through all sorts of experiences together. Living overseas, travelling, getting married, having kids, losing loved ones. 

We've always shared similar values and philosophies, especially when it comes to our professional life and raising our children, so despite the general rule that you 'should never go into business with a friend', it seemed like a no-brainer for us! We spend so much time together anyway, we may as well turn that into something that can help others too!

Despite our own friendship, we've also learnt this year that we're surrounded by a beautiful group of friends who have supported us every step of the way - throughout launching a business and the other stresses of the year.

To those friends (you know who you are), we thank you from the bottom of our heart 😘

2. When you think you can't do any more....you can!!

Parents are time poor....it goes with the job title. Juggling so many things at once, you sometimes get to a point where you think you can't possibly do any more.

Launching a business in the middle of a pandemic taught us that we were capable of more than we thought! Life was certainly crazy there for a while and we worked all through every nap time and well into the night, but it was WORTH it as the Walky Talky membership is something we are so passionate about. Special thanks to our husbands for supporting us through this crazy time too!!

3. Helping parents feel confident is our WHY

They say when you start a business, you need to be really clear on your vision, your purpose.....WHY you are doing what you do.

We've always been clear on this - to help parents feel confident supporting their baby's communication, movement and play skills. 

Once we started the membership, we knew we had it right. To have our members thank us for the information we've shared, to help them understand why their baby is doing something and to help them feel confident supporting their baby to meet the milestone. We LOVE hearing this and knowing that we're helping so many parents along this journey.

4. 2020 parents are a new breed of RESILIENT!

We always knew that being a parent gives you skills to get through challenging times. Sleepless nights? Baby not feeding? Endless worrying about whether your baby is unwell and what to do?

Parents are capable of so much....and pushing through even when they are so tired and depleted that your pre-child self would have certainly given up.

Throw in a global pandemic, and we've seen a greater kind of resilience than we thought possible. Giving birth alone, losing access to your 'village', limited access to health care appointments....talk about making an already difficult time even more challenging!

And yet we've seen parents rise to the challenge, accept the new normal and carry on. Access information in different ways (hello Walky Talky Baby membership!), join virtual mothers groups and relish the simple times at home with their baby, taking in those precious early years. 

To new parents in 2020.....we salute you!

5. Don't take yourself too seriously

As we've navigated the ins and outs of social media, we've learnt to become more confident talking to the camera to share more information with our community and to share more about our little lives. You all love our simple play ideas that we share! When we started sharing these, we thought 'why would anyone be interested in seeing our little play activities at home?'. But we should have known you'd love it, as they're all SIMPLE. We're not huge fans of big set ups or fancy craft activities, so most of the play we share will be a quick set up and quick clean up too (because who really wants to be spending all that time setting up an activity they might only play with for 2 minutes??).

We've also learnt to be braver and try out new things like instragram reels 🙈.....we may sometimes feel like we're selling our dignity to do this 🤣 but alas, we've learnt to not take ourselves so seriously, and if it helps get the information out to you so you can learn something, we'll give it a go!!

***

So that's a wrap from us for 2020.....we're so thankful for those that have joined along with us this year. Thank you for your support and for making our Walky Talky Baby dream a reality. 

We can't way to bring your more content (bigger and better!) in 2021.

If you'd like more from us as we head into the new year....remember what we have for you:

 ❤️ Walky Talky Baby Membership

Buy it for yourself or a friend! Go into the new year with a wealth of information (all easily accessed online from the comfort of your own home!) about every tiny little milestone, with photos and strategies to support you each step of the way (from newborn stages through to walking and talking) and simple play ideas to use every day to support your baby's development!

❤️ SUPER Blog 10 Tips for Revitalising your playtime!

❤️ FREE Born to Play e-book and 'Play the Week Away' mini course 

❤️ Buy our Tummy Time e-book No Tears Tummy Time

❤️  Join our FREE facebook group Walky Talky Baby Group 

❤️ Join our mailing list to receive more blogs like this!

❤️ Follow our instagram page walkytalky_baby 

We wish all the Walky Talky parents a wonderful Christmas (especially those with baby's first Christmas!) and a wonderful New Year.

We look forward to saying good riddance to 2020 with you and seeing you all for a bigger and better 2021!