What a wonderful time we live in! Technology has rendered the post-it note obsolete and most of our "to do" lists are now displayed on screen at the touch of a finger. We’ve got the world at our fingertips and we can access any information we could ever dream of needing if we know how to get it. There are so many excellent apps out there that were specifically designed to make our lives as moms easier.

If you’ve ever been to a restaurant with a preschooler, you know how necessary it is to have things to entertain your child. But you also know that there can only be so much magic in the diaper bag. The next time your little one just isn’t satisfied with a crayon anymore, give Peekaboo Barn a try.

This app allows preschoolers to guess the animals that are behind the closed barn doors by identifying their sound. The name of each animal is presented along with voice narration that helps the child connect letters with words and the words with animals.  This app brings peace and learning in a way that would make Old McDonald proud. 

Toddler Cards is another educational app worth looking into. It covers a multitude of subjects in English, Spanish or even your own voice.

Another great app for those panicked moments in the grocery store line is Cardstar. This app eliminates stuffed wallet syndrome and allows you to confidently display your club card instead of frantically digging through your purse to find it so you can take advantage of the “buy one get one free” deal on Pop Tarts.  You can store all of your cards in this app including gym memberships and library cards. How much cooler are you going to feel scanning your iphone instead of the plastic thing hanging off of your key ring?

For those of us who value reading, but also encounter days that are too busy to dedicate a lot of time to it, let me introduce you to The Little Red Hen. This animated and narrated app reads the story to your child. Another fun feature is that the app allows for page flips by sliding your finger across the screen. 

For moms who automatically jump to the conclusion that their little one has picked up a flesh eating organism when in reality he just has a case of poison ivy, let me calm your nerves with Symptom MD.  This app searches specifically for child related ailments and lets you search by the affected body part. It will lead you through a series of yes or no questions and guide you to a logical diagnosis. It will separate emergency critical care situations and at home care conditions giving you detailed information on how to treat the affliction.

For moms of infants, there is an app called Babylog that allows you to enter details about your baby’s daily care. You can track eating and sleeping habits and log in milestones. This app allows you to track information throughout the day, transfer it to e-mail and get spreadsheets. The app will also compute weekly reports and pattern recognition for you.

Remember the old days when we had baby monitors that would sometimes pick up the conversation happening in your neighbor’s house?  Well, there’s an app for that, too. Babyphone is a baby monitor built right into the iphone. Its microphone detects changes in frequency and dials a pre-entered phone number when it senses that baby is stirring. It also has a longer range than most baby monitors.

All of us can benefit from the useful apps available to help make our lives easier. I can’t think of a better way to get help than through a gadget that most of us have with us all the time.