Emmbook for iPhone and iPod Touch

Is your iPod Touch or iPhone such an important part of your life that your friends have joked it might need surgical removal? Or maybe you just like new, techie ways to do things especially when it comes to your kids?

Well then you should check out Baby Book by Emmbook ($4.99), a new application for iPhone & iTouch users available on iTunes that I was asked to test by its developers.  It is a simple yet comprehensive application for tracking your baby’s progress, milestones and more.

In the Diary section, you can input and track your baby’s growth, feedings and even naps & diaper changes in seconds (a little longer if you add notes to an entry)– which can all become a blur in those first months as a parent. This section also enables you to track immunizations, which I think is really helpful especially when you take your new baby to the doctor so often in the first several months. The one feature lacking right now is there is no way to remind you of upcoming visits or needed vaccines; however, the developers are considering it as part of future program enhancements.

For the on-the-go parent, you also can track your child’s “firsts” and “favorites”  and you can add family members to your baby’s book, including their photos, gifts they’ve given and quotes you want to preserve.

You can add photos through your iTunes, sync with your device and then place the pictures where you want them. You can treat your child or friend to a slideshow of all the photos or select a category such as "Firsts & Favorites."

This app is geared for the baby years but I've actually used the "Firsts" for my daughter who is nearly four years old. There are default "firsts" such as smile, laugh, first steps, but you can also add your own. I included her first pony ride and I've used it to record the funny things she says when we're out. It takes me a little getting used to the keyboard entry - I'm not a texting pro - but I often don't seem to have a pen and paper and it's saved me from forgetting what she said at the time.

The only big drawback I found with the current app is that you can't really transfer anything you have in the Emmbook to your computer so you'd have to copy by hand anything you'd want to take from the app and say, put in your regular scrapbook. I'm new to the iPod Touch but with the Classic, the sync with your PC is usually one-way (unless you use some creative approaches).  The good news is the developers say they are exploring the option of sharing notes and photos on the web, which would be wonderful for the parents who use photo-share sites and community sites like Facebook.

Overall, this is a neat program for the gadget-loving parent but any mom or dad can easily use it.