Riley Curry and pregnancy news steal the basketball spotlight

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Precious tots and pregnancy news are at the forefront of headlines from the sport of basketball. Not only is Stephen Curry's daughter becoming a household name for being adorable, there's a baby on the way for two WNBA stars!

Riley Curry first made the public say 'aww' with her antics while interrupting her father's press conference. Take a look:

And then there was this recent bit of awesomeness from Steph and his 2-year-old at game one against the Cavaliers:

Good golly, it feels good to see something sweet making news. That guy in the suit behind Steph was outright grinning!

Meanwhile, on the WNBA side of things, news broke Thursday that Glory Johnson-Griner (pictured above) is pregnant! She and wife Brittney Griner (pictured below), who plays for the Phoenix Mercury as a center, are expecting their first child together.

"It has always been a dream of mine to start a family with someone I love," Glory said while sharing the happy news and talking about taking time off. "Being a professional athlete that plays year round, there is never a perfect time to get pregnant without putting my career on hold."

"The entire process, from learning our fertility options, to making the sacrifices necessary nine months before this child is born, is merely preparing me to become a great wife and an even better mother. The hardest part is sitting out this WNBA season, being away from my loving teammates, and not being able to be on the court and play for our devoted fans."

So exciting to know one day we'll get to see these moms getting ready to go out on the court and perhaps sharing a fist-bump moment with their little one as well. I love seeing people, including athletes, being shown as devoted parents as well as excelling in their field.

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Have you ever taken your kids to your work? How did it go?

Photos: Wikimediacommons, PR Photos

 

Is there anything to Jake Gyllenhaal's full moon theory?

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Jake Gyllenhaal has a theory about the moon that many find to be a bit kooky, but I know a few who happen to agree with him.

"I believe deeply in the unconscious," the 34-year-old star told Esquire UK. "That you literally accumulate the molecules of the space that you're in. We're like 90 per cent water, so naturally we are going to be affected by the moon when it's full: if the sea is, why wouldn't we be? That seems scientific to me."

"Seems scientific" doesn't get you too far with a lot of people, but this isn't the first time I've heard what Jake Gyllenhaal is talking about.  My mom, who is an elementary teacher, was actually the first person who introduced me to the idea a full moon means kids are going to be a little crazy.

I didn't notice it too much while I was growing up, but during the years that I taught at preschool I did start to wonder if there is something to it. One mom in particular would often talk about the moon and the weather and make predictions about her son's behavior or how he'd be feeling in the coming days. I was skeptical, but sure enough she could predict when he was going to get a cold pretty darn well -- but then again, it was a preschool. No matter how much you clean there's really no shortage of snot, saliva and germs going about. It could have all been a coincidence.

Our BabyCenter Community members have also been discussing if a full moon has anything to do with behavior and going into labor. One even shared, "My midwife swears by the moon: boys come around new moons and girls near full moons."

Sadly, actual science says there's no truth to the one about more babies being born when there's a full moon. The BabyCenter Experts explain:

Many maternity nurses and moms will swear that there's a surge in births during a full moon, but scientific studies disprove the notion. Statistics show there's no increase in births (or birth defects) during a full moon.

Studies in New York City in the 1950s showed a 1 percent increase in births in the two weeks after a full moon. The same research later found a 1 percent increase in the weeks before and after the full moon. And years later other researchers looked at births in the same area and found a 1 percent increase before the full moon.

So, pretty much anytime other than the full moon?

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Do you find you or your children are influenced that all by a full moon?

Photos: PR Photos

 

Jake Gyllenhaal isn't a dad himself, but he was chosen by two famous friends to be a godparent to their daughter. Do you remember who? Take a look:

Vince Vaughn: "Of course" guns should be allowed in schools

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Vince Vaughn has waded into the great gun debate, and his take on things might be hard for some parents to swallow. In an interview with British GQ, the actor and father of two explains why he believes guns should be in school and gone-free zones should be done away with.

Vince Vaughn on the American right to own a gun: "I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech. It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.

All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds."

On whether guns should be allowed in schools: "Of course. You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do. And we should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won’t rid the world of criminality."

The whole thing makes my stomach turn. As the mother of two elementary-aged boys the topic of school shootings is one I can't ignore, and also one I don't claim to have any great solution for. Still, I lean towards disagreeing with Vince, because it seems to me the answer isn't in arming teachers. Wouldn't it be better if the shooters didn't have access to guns (especially assault weapons) in the first place?

His analogy with forks also just doesn't add up to me, and his statement seemed a bit contradictory. In the beginning Vince says we have the right to bear arms to protect herself from the government -- not intruders, and yet he wants guns in schools to protect kids from someone there to do them harm.

I just can't imagine trying to train teachers to fire back at school shooters, not to mention the logistics of keeping guns locked away  and out of reach of the students themselves but still accessible should an intruder appear. Can  you imagine what would happen if a student somehow got a hold of the passcode or key to the gun safe? What if a high school student bent on destruction overpowered a teacher and got access to it?

I'm completely willing to admit that I don't know what the answer is, but my gut says Vince Vaughn doesn't have it.

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What do you think of Vince Vaughn's stance on guns?

Photo: PR Photos

 

Upgrade? Paul McCartney gives up pot for an evening drink

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Paul McCartney says he has quit smoking marijuana in order to set a good example for his kids, and now relaxes at the end of the day with a drink instead.

The 72-year-old star, who is dad to five children (including Mary, whom he's pictured below with), opened up about his line of thinking by telling the Daily Mirror he cut out the drug "a long time ago."

"I don’t do it anymore," he explained. "Why? The truth is I don’t really want to set [a bad] example to my kids and grandkids. It’s now a parent thing."

It's not as though he's gone completely sober, however.

Paul McCartney went on to share of his history with marijuana and his present-day habits, "Back then I was just some guy around London having a ball, and the kids were little so I’d just try and keep it out of their faces. Instead of smoking a spliff I’ll now have a glass of red wine or a nice margarita. The last time I smoked was a long time ago."

If quitting has been a goal of Paul's I'll congratulate him there, but I'm a little thrown off by the idea trading in pot for booze is much of an upgrade.

Perhaps this is because I live in one of those exceptionally green states (Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012), but I don't see one being all that different from other. If you take out the aspect of weed being illegal, I actually think it's a slightly better choice than alcohol.  For one, pot means taking in way less calories than having a drink, and for two the odds of being hungover the next day greatly diminish.

Now I'm not trying to argue for doing either of these things exactly, because being sober and fully present probably the very best idea, but if you're going to relax a little bit doesn't matter which of these substances it's with?

Weigh in

For the sake of discussion, assume recreational marijuana is legal everywhere. Is alcohol or pot better for a parent to partake in?

Photos: PR Photos

 

A look at what other stars have had to say about their marijuana habits:

Caitlyn Jenner: The story behind Bruce's new name

by

Carolyn Robertson

posted in Celebrities

Bruce Jenner just about managed to break the internet today when he boldly (re)introduced himself to the world as Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.

See Caitlyn's cover shot here!

The stunning photo has everyone talking, but we here at BabyCenter were naturally all about the name. Why Caitlyn?

A source close to the 65-year-old reality star tells PEOPLE that the name Caitlyn "is what he always loved when he thought about this [female] part of his life.... That's been his name since he was a kid. I'm almost sure."

Indeed, the woman at the center of the story admitted in an interview last month that she had decided on a new name, though she wasn't quite ready to share it at the time.

She is now, though. Posing in a corseted bodysuit for VF's jaw-dropping cover, she asks fans and followers to just "Call me Caitlyn."

Included in the resulting explosion of online chatter was the interesting observation that she very clearly did not choose the name Kaitlyn.

"And yes, the ultimate form of shade is not spelling Caitlyn with the requisite family "K." #CallMeCaitlyn," Tweeted author Janet Mock.

A look at BabyCenter's annual baby name ranking shows that while Caitlyn has been on a fairly steady decline in popularity, it has very recently enjoyed a bit of a resurgence among moms here: The name currently sits at number 176, up an impressive 97 spots from where it landed in 2014.

I can't help but wonder if the lovely meaning behind the name hit home for the former Olympian: An Irish/English form of the name Catherine, it's said to mean "pure."

Caitlyn's transition and public debut is of course about much more than a name, but I imagine that decision would feel like a profoundly important one. Having lived a lifetime as Bruce - answering to a moniker that never truly fit and feeling by her own admission "totally empty inside" - it must have been incredibly empowering to finally give a name to the person she felt she truly was.

Of course, today Caitlyn is learning first-hand that when it comes to names, everybody has an opinion.

"I am extremely disappointed in her name choice!" one mama admitted in the BabyCenter Community today. "I was routing for something along the lines of Bronwen or something sophisticated and classic such as Marcella, Katrina, Louisa, Bridgette, Alana, Victoria, Cecilia, Cora, Coral, Sylvia or Willa."

Comment

What do you think of the name Caitlyn?

Other celebrities who have changed their names, albeit for very different reasons!

"Call me Caitlyn:" Bruce Jenner's stunning Vanity Fair cover

by

Carolyn Robertson

posted in Celebrities

Meet Caitlyn Jenner.

One month after Bruce Jenner publicly confirmed that he was transitioning into a woman, the former Olympic decathlete has now bravely introduced herself as Caitlyn on the cover of the June issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, the image is simple and striking: In it the 65-year-old reality star stares directly into the camera, wearing a corseted bodysuit, her brown hair in long, loose waves. "Call me Caitlyn" is the only caption. Short, but it says it all.

While Caitlyn reveals that she hasn't yet had genital surgery, she has several other procedures, including breast implants and a 10-hour facial feminization surgery.

She admits to having a few panic attacks throughout this transition, but says that she has no regrets.

"If I was lying on my deathbed and I had kept this secret and never ever did anything about it, I would be lying there saying, 'You just blew your entire life,'" Caitlyn, who has kids Burt, 36, Cassandra, 34, Brandon, 33, Brody, 31, Kendall, 19, and Kylie, 17 - as well as step-kids Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian - tells Vanity Fair.

"It's not about the fanfare, it's not about people cheering in the stadium, it's not about going down the street and everybody giving you a 'That a boy, Bruce' pat on the back, okay?" she adds. "This is about your life. Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie. Every day he always had a secret, from morning til night. Caitlyn doesn't have any secrets. As soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I'm free."

Caitlyn's children have been vocal in their support of her decision to transition into a woman, and several of them took to Twitter today to congratulate her on her official debut: "We were given this life because you were strong enough to live it!" Khloe wrote. "I couldn't be prouder!!! Caitlyn, You are beautiful!" Kendall Tweeted, "be free now pretty bird."

I'll admit that my jaw dropped when I saw this cover today. My first thought: "Wow, he looks really good!" My second: "No, I mean she... She looks really good!"

I'm 100% supportive of people being true to themselves, but it's a complicated business, isn't it? Just writing this has been tricky, taking care to use the right names and pronouns. This is fairly new terrain for me, as I think it is for many people who have been following Caitlyn's transition from afar.

That's why I think it's so admirable that she's being forthright and open about her journey, though I can only imagine how hard it's been to bare her soul, and now her body. So many people, and I include myself in their numbers, will learn from hearing her story.

As a mother, I can't help but relate it all back to my own children. The world they're growing up in already looks a little bit different than the one in which I was raised, and I think that's a wonderful thing. I want my kids to always be true to themselves, to be happy and secure, to know that the choices they make to achieve that will be accepted and embraced.

This is the story of Caitlyn's journey, but I can't help but feel that in some small way we're all on it with her.

Comment

What do you think of Caitlyn Jenner's VF cover?

Marisa Miller stays on theme with baby two's name pick

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Marisa Miller has officially become the mom of two! The model mom has given birth to her second son, and kept her family's name theme intact. People magazine reports her latest arrival, Grayson Lee Bazyl Guess, was born at 11:23 p.m. on May 29, 8 lbs., 14 oz., and measured 21 inches long.

“My son Grayson is healthy and such a sweet baby. I feel so blessed and excited to see both my boys grow up together,” the 36-year-old beauty said of her newborn baby boy. "I felt very prepared for labor this time around. I was a little anxious as to when it would happen though. Having a toddler at home, you have more to organize to make sure everything is taken care of while you’re gone at the hospital.”

Do you remember what Marisa and husband Griffin Guess named Grayson's 2-year-old big brother? Gavin! More celebrities who've opted for alliterative names:

The woman who recently posed nude for PETA went on to explain Grayson was born in the caul, meaning his face and head were completely enclosed in the amniotic sac, and that influenced the names they chose for him.

“In honor of such a cool thing, we gave him the second middle name Bazyl, which means Kingly,” she shared. “The veiled birth’s meaning is coined as ‘Kings by right,’ so we felt it was a perfect opportunity to make his name reflect a cool story like this."

I wondered if there was an explanation behind Bazyl! It's not one you hear used too often.

We went with family members' names for our boys' middle names, so I guess that's a bit of the theme they have in common, but it's not an overly noticeable one. One family that I am friends with has all flower names for their daughters, which started because the mom happened to have one too. So far there's Violate, Lily, and Camellia. There was a lot of fun discussion going on when she was pregnant with baby three, including suggestions such as Spruce and Aspen if it turned out to be a boy, but it was little Cami who ended up making her way into the world.

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Do your family members' names have any sort of a theme (intentional or not)?

Photos: PR Photos

 

Marisa and more model moms: