Celebrity

There were tons of Celeb Baby Bumps at BET’s ‘About the Business’ Premiere

Posted on February 29, 2016

Last week, the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network launched a new reality TV (docuseries) about a tight-knit group of women in the elite world of urban Hollywood at a party in tinsel town. The show is called About the Business and it stars a Bellyitch alum Eva Marcille and current mom-to-be Crystal Renay (real name Crystal Williams), who recently tied the knot with her R&B beau Ne-Yo (real name: Shaffer Chimere Smith)

The show features the women getting on their daily grind by day and by night balancing career family and their African American celebrity circles, a release from the network states. Two other reality TV moms-to-be attended: Draya Michele of VH1‘s Love and Basketball and Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood castmember Masika Kalysha

It looked like it was a bump-filled event! Nick Cannon and Ne-Yo will cameo on the show.

I thought this video of all of us beautiful women is so cute! ???? #mommytobe #AboutTheBusinessBET
A video posted by @tmz_symphony on Feb 25, 2016 at 2:34pm PST

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50 Leap Year Freebies & Deals including 10 just for ‘Leap Year Babies’

Posted on February 29, 2016

There are 187,000 leap year babies currently living the United States and since their birthdays only come around once every four years, several brands and companies use the opportunity to celebrate these special babies by offering them freebies!

Others have jumped on the wagon and extended offers to the rest of us, who equally are happy to get one extra day in February because, ‘why not’?

Here are 10 freebies just for Leap Year babies and 40 deals for the rest of us.

1. Benny’s Chop House (Chicago): Guests with Leap Day birthdays receive a complimentary 8 oz. filet mignon on 2/29/2016, for parties of 2 or more.

2. Great American Cookies –Leap year babies get a free cookie cake to celebrate your birthday if you have an ID to prove you were born on February 29.

3. Holsteins -Guests with Leap Day birthdays receive a free Birthday Cake Bamboozled Milkshake and a Classic Burger with proof of ID on 2/29/2016.

4. Houlihan’s:All customers with Leap Day birthdays can have one free entree on Monday, Feb. 29, and that’s only the start. Leap Day babies are welcomed to 28 additional free entrees–one per visit–over the following 30-day period, for a possible total of 29 free entrees. Bring photo ID with proof of DOB.

5. Olive Garden –If your birthday is Feb. 29, use the linked coupon for four free “Dolcini” desserts, valid for dine-in orders at Olive Garden restaurants from Feb. 29 to March 6.

McAlister’s Deli: Show an ID proving that you’re a Leap Baby born on February 29 and you’ll get a free cookie on Monday.

7. Hard Rock Cafe: Is giving away a free meal for anyone celebrating their birthday.

8. Pizza Hut: Anyone who shows a valid government-issued photo ID proving they were born on Leap Day will get a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut. The deal is for carryout only.

9. The Plaza Hotel (New York): Guests with Leap Day birthdays can receive a special $229 package, rate only valid for 2/29/2016.

10. Villa Italian Kitchen: Guests with Leap Day birthdays receive a complimentary slice of pizza at participating locations on 2/29/2016.

OUR PICK FOR THE BEST DEALS For the REST OF US ON LEAP YEAR DAY!

1. Verizon: Coupon code VZWDEAL will save you up to $50 off select smartphones through Feb. 29. New device payment is required and upgrades are excluded.

2. Frontier Airlines: $29 flights to select cities. Must book by 2/26, 2/29 or 3/2

3. Caribou Coffee: Buy one beverage and get the second for just 29 cents on Leap Day.

4. Chick-fil-A– Check with your local Chick-fil-A, but we’ve caught wind that some locations are offering free chicken sandwiches if you stop by 29 minutes past the hour all day on February 29.

5. Legal Sea Food: Get two one-pound lobsters (and two sides) for $29. (Typically, a one-pound lobster at the restaurant costs $25.95.)

6. Dell Refurbished Computers: Take $600 off servers of $2000 or more with code SERVER$600 through Feb. 29.

7. Aeropostale: Extra 29% off your order with code LEAP29.

8. Airport Express Get 20% off shared-ride shuttle services.

9. Betsey Johnson: Take 29% off your order with coupon code LEAP and have it shipped to you for free. Some exclusions apply.

10. Urban Outfitters: Shop a selection of products priced at $29 or less.

THE OTHER GREAT LEAP YEAR DEALS

11. CheapOAir: Use code GETAWAYS30 to save up to $30 on Getaway Vacations through Feb. 29.

12. Destination Hotels: Make reservations on Feb. 29 to receive 29% (or more) off room rates in the weeks ahead, and/or $29 daily credits at this group’s hotels, which include locations in Snowmass, Colorado, San Francisco, and New Orleans.

13. Marriott Stanton South Beach: On Feb. 29 use the code ADP when making reservations to get 29% off rates for stays between March 3 and May 31.

14. Travelocity: Get $29 off a $229 hotel with the code LEAP29 and $129 off a $1229 hotel + flight deal with the code LEAP129.

15. Arby’s: The fast food chain is offering a special vegetarian menu all day.

16. Carrabba’s Italian Grill: Get any small plate for $2.29 with every $10 spent with this coupon. Or you could receive 20% off your check with this coupon.

17. Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More: Get a free Leap Year 2016 t-shirt at any of the retailers participating locations on Feb. 29 — no purchase required.

18. Columbia Sportswear: Save 30% on select sale items with code COLSALE30, ends 2/29/2016.

19. Dog Haus: Free patty upgrade from a single to a double on all burgers on February 29! A $2.49 value.

20. Honeybaked Ham: Free or discounted sandwich on 2/29/2016.

21. Hungry Howie’s: Get a large, one-topping pizza for 29 cents with the purchase of a large pizza with one or more toppings at its regular price, Feb. 29 and March 1.

22. Krispy Kreme: On Monday, February 29, 2016, buy a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts and get a second dozen for $2.99.

23. Margaritas Mexican Restaurants: The Fried Ice Cream Dessert (normally $6.49) and the Leap Year Margarita (normally $7.99) are both $2.29.

24. Noodles & Company: Save $4 off a $10 purchase with code LEAPTHELINE on 2/29/2016 when you order online.

25. Olive Garden: Receive four free Dolcini desserts with coupon offer, valid from 2/29/2016-3/6/2016.

26. Starbucks: $29 Off Orders $100 on 2/29/2016.

27. Tropical Smoothie Café: Loyalty program members can get a a Classic Smoothie for $2.29, instead of its regular price of around $4.49, at its 465 locations.

28. Dollar General: Use code FEBSAVE to get $5 off orders of $50 or more through Feb. 29.

29. Folica: Use code LEAPYEAR16 to get 25% off Solia, Theorie, Nth Degree and AbsoluteHeat products or 30% off Sedu products through Feb. 29.

30. Foot Locker: Use code LKS16F3L to save 15% on purchases of $70 or more through Feb. 29.

31. The Greene Turtle Chow down on 29-cent wings all day on February 29.

32. Golfsmith: Take $20 off orders of $125 or more with code 86PUB022 through Feb. 29.

33. Lands’ End: This coupon will save you 20% off regularly priced swim merchandise at all Sears locations through Feb. 29.

34. Lane Bryant: Save $35 off your online purchases of $150 or more, plus free shipping, through Feb. 29 with coupon code FEBDRTLB.

35. Lids: Enjoy free shipping on orders of $50 or more through Feb. 29. No coupon code required.

36. MOO: Get 15% off greeting cards with code 7C2W8B through Leap Day for new customers only.

37. OneHanesPlace: Save $10 off purchases of $50 or more through Feb. 29 with this printable coupon or follow this link to have the discount automatically applied to your online order.

38. OshKosh B’gosh: Save 25% off orders of $40 or more with code CARU2F29 and 15 percent off site wide with code CARU2F19 through Feb. 29.

39. Target: $5 gift card with an online movie pre-order of Mockingjay Part 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or The Peanuts Movie from Target.com/preorder through Monday 2/29/2016.

40. Urban Outfitters: Shop a selection of products priced at $29 or less.

http://www.clarkhoward.com/

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All the 2016 Oscars Red Carpet fashion We Loved

Posted on February 29, 2016

Sunday night’s 88th Academy Awards‘ red carpet didn’t disappoint. I loved loved the dresses tonight worn on all of the blog’s Bellyitch Bumpwatch alums at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California! Here are my faves and why they rocked:

Oh my!! Olivia Wilde, a presenter tonight, killed in this white Valentino Haute Couture Grecian-style gown! Gorg! I loved the crown braid which matched the regal look and the choker was quite stylish, fitting and trendy with her Roger Vivier clutch and Neil Lane jewels.

Another winning look! Charlize Theron, another presenter and former Best Actress Oscar winner, sizzled in this crimson Dior dress with a plunging neckline and long train. Loved that Neil Lane forefinger ring and her other jewels. She had Jimmy Choos on her feet.

Kerry Washington, who presented tonight, looked hawt, haute, hot in this sexy Versace dress with a fitted leather bodice and a deep slit. She accented her look with Harry Winston jewels.

Past Oscar winner and 2016 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee for her role in Steve Jobs Kate Winslet brought her A-game in this strapless black Ralph Lauren gown. She set off her look with Nirav Modi jewels and Christian Louboutin heels.

Jennifer Garner went with black too but in this off the shoulder sequined and satin Versace with a Salvator Ferragamo clutch (not pictured. she accented her look with Rene Caovilla shoes and Neil Lane jewels. She also presented.

I adored mom-to-be Chrissy Teigen‘s nude with rose embellishment overlay Marchesa gown with a delicate train. It hugged the Tv host & model’s new curves perfectly. Teigen is also wearing Lorraine Schwartz jewels, Stuart Weitzman heels and carrying an elegant wine colored Swarovski clutch.

I thought past Oscar winner and tonight’s presenter Reese Witherspoon looked quite elegant in her strapless eggplant colored Oscar de la Renta dress accentuated with sparkling jewels from Tiffany’s and Jimmy Choo shoes which you can’t see in this photo.

Finally, Emily Blunt‘s blush elegant Prada dress was feminine and soft. The actress went with Niwaka jewels, Sophia Webster heels and a box clutch by Judith Leiber.

My couple fave was Pharrell Williams, who presented tonight, and is seen above his wife Helen Lascichanh who looked dapper as he. I saw people take some jabs at him but I’m digging the singer songwriter and former Oscar nominee’s hair. Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde and John Legend and Teigen were pretty hawt too!

photos:Getty

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News

Adoption Agencies are Looking for Volunteers to Cuddle with Newborns

Posted on February 28, 2016

Sign us up for this one!

Adoption agencies all across America are recruiting volunteers to cuddle and spend time with newborns.

ABC News reported that the agencies need temporary caregivers to nurture and care for newborn babies that are waiting to be adopted. Volunteers must be willing to cuddle, hug, and love the babies during their first few weeks of life.

The research is indisputable that body contact, warmth, love and affection are crucial for the first few days and weeks of a newborn’s life and development. One of the reasons of high infant mortality in developing nations is the lack of attention and body-to-body connection in understaffed and ill-equipped orphanages.

If you are interested in the job, search here for your local agency and see if there is a need you can fill.

Interim Care Provider, Lewis, relaxing with baby. #InterimCare
Posted by Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children on Tuesday, February 2, 2016

h/t ABC

photo: Shutterstock

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Fashion

We’ve got 20 Easter Nail Designs for You

Posted on February 28, 2016

Bellyitch Rewind

Pastels are hot this Spring and if you are so bold and daring this Easter, consider polishing your fingernails and toesies in designs that symbolize the Easter season. Adorable chicks, cute bunnies, and colorful Easter eggs and designs! The Sky is the limit. We’ve curated some of our favorite designs that you can either DIY with some polishes or take to your favorite nail tech or salon to recreate Easter magic on your fingertips.

Enjoy and tag us back with your look on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook!

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Celebrity

Say What Now? ‘Claudia Salinger’ from ‘Party of Five’ is Going to have a Baby!

Posted on February 28, 2016

I just came from dinner tonight with the family celebrating my kid getting into the two private Catholic schools he applied to and when our table as ready , the waitress called out “Party of Five!” It immediately took me back to the Salingers and that great TV drama of the same title from the 1990s.

I get home and start scrolling through my media feed and guess who is expecting her first child?

Little “Claudia Salinger”!!!

Well, really it is actress Lacey Chabert, who was also brilliant as “Gretchen Wieners” in Mean Girls and has done several other TV, Movie & video game voice-over roles since then.

The petite star tweeted out an adorable photo of her pooch wearing a t-shirt that read“My mom is having a baby & all I get is this silly shirt.”

Chabert captioned the photo, ” “Kitty doesn’t seem as excited as we are about this…I’m pregnant!!!! My husband and I are thrilled & so thankful.”

Kitty doesn’t seem as excited as we are about this…I’m pregnant!!!! My husband and I are thrilled & so thankful ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5IYnEFBd5f
— Lacey Chabert (@IamLaceyChabert) February 27, 2016

So adorable! Chabert and her husband David Nehdar wed in LA in 2013 and this is their first kid

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News

Olympics: Things get Real as CDC Tells Pregnant Athletes to Skip It

Posted on February 27, 2016

In a travel advisory Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated that pregnant women consider not going to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games or to the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil.

The agency issued the travel advisory along with its first report about infection with the mosquito-borne Zika virus in pregnant U.S. women. While the illness caused by the Zika virus is usually mild, the Brazilian outbreak has been especially concerning because of its link to a sharp rise in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by brain abnormalities and an unusually small head.

“We know Zika and microcephaly are associated, although we do not yet have definitive proof that Zika infection alone is the cause of microcephaly,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said at a press briefing, adding that “the evidence for this is getting stronger by the day.”

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Parenting

4 YEARS & Over 100 FAB Bellyitch Instagram Posts You Missed — Join Us!

Posted on February 27, 2016

Today, I got an alert that someone had liked several old pics on our Bellyitch Blog Instagram page. Those pics had me reminiscing on all the great topics and celebrity pregnancies we have covered in close to 8 years of this site’s existence. Even though we’ve only been on Instagram since 2012, a couple years after the social media app even launched, we’ve used it to share with audiences on that site all the fun and informative issues we were discussing in the blog.

I noticed too that even though the account has over 3,000 followers, it could have tons more given how long it has existed…and even though it has a great following of pregnant, new and veteran parents, very few of them show us love with “likes” on our photos. I use hashtags to draw the attention of various folks who monitor certain topics on IG at times.

So this is my plea to you to take a look at all our fab IG posts and consider following us on IG so you can get alerts of posts you may have missed, especially if IG is your social media platform you spend most of your free time on. Also, when you see one of our posts, I ask that you hit like! That means a lot to us and know that we are serving up just the right content for our audience and viewers!

Begging is not overrated and as the 90s group TLC sang, “I ‘aint to proud to beg.” tee hee I curated over 100 posts I screen grabbed for you to take a look at and if you see a topic you missed, do a search for it right here too! Thanks for being loyal reader all these years! I really appreciate each and every one of you! <3

CLICK ANY PHOTO TO BE TAKEN TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE OR BE TAKEN TO THE SLIDE SHOW

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My Tips On How to Get Good Quality Brand-Names Kids Clothes on the Cheap

Posted on February 27, 2016

It’s not that clothes that cost more are necessarily better. There are certain less expensive brands that are made of quality material and are well structured, manufactured and would last through several washes.

However, for the most part, it has been my experience that clothes that I spent an extra penny for traditionally have had a longer shelf life. Part of the higher price is because the material the clothes are made of are better and therefore they are more durable. Some people believe that since kids grow so fast, especially in their early years, there is no value to really spending much on their clothing.

I make the case for why this is not necessarily so.

The hems in cheaper clothes start to unravel faster and sometimes after one wash or one rough and tumble play at preschool. They are not double stitched and therefore cannot stand the test of time.
The color in cheaper clothes do not always remain true even when you use color-stay detergents created to help color in clothing last longer through several washings.
The cheaper clothes sometimes pill and start to look old after just one wash. Then clothes you purchased for school, or nice outings out get shifted to the play clothes drawer quickly when you go for the cheap stuff.

Many of these issues go away by spending a few extra bucks for a mid-range to upper range brand. You don’t have to go from one extreme to the next and spend a killing on couture labels either. Mid-level price point brands like GAP, A Children’s Place, Hanna Andersson and Gymboree make clothes that cost more than the brands you’ll find at Wal-Mart, KMart, Sears, JCPenny and Target.

However, you get your money back in not having to go back to purchase new clothes after a few months to replace the tattered, old-looking, color-washed out ones you purchased trying to save money and go with the cheap stuff. If money is an issue.

Establish a wish list on Amazon.com or some other site and refer God Parents, grandparents and friends who have no children and perhaps more disposable income to it and encourage them to purchase these items in sizes well beyond the size your child is currently wearing.
Shop at discount stores that sell designer brands for a fraction of the original cost like Ross, Loehmann’s, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory and Marshall’s. You can rack up on quality brand named clothes at these stores.
Go to the wealthier areas of your town and shop the Thrift stores, Goodwill and consignment shops near there for deals on quality clothes for pennies on the dollar. Many times, you can find clothes with the tags still on that were given away when a kid outgrew the clothes.

Overall, be creative. There are ways to get better quality and longer lasting clothes that may be economically a better deal anyway than sticking with the cheap stuff.

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News

So Scientists Can now Build Sperm in a Lab…that Creates an Offspring!

Posted on February 26, 2016

Scientists have figured out how to create sperm from stem cells to produce a healthy offspring.

A study published in the journal Cell Press summarized the work of researchers who were able to genetically engineer functioning mice sperm cells from stem cells. These sperm cells were injected into egg cells and produced fertile offspring.

“Reproducing germ cell development in vitro has remained a central goal in both reproductive biology and reproductive medicine,”Nanjing Medical University researcher Jiahao Sha said about the study he worked on . “We established a robust, stepwise approach that recapitulates the formation of functional sperm-like cells in a dish. We think that it holds tremendous promise for treating male infertility.”

Until now, researchers have struggled to create useful sperm and egg cells in the lab – especially as certain gold-standard criteria have to be checked in the process. These include showing a normal number of chromosomes and organisation within the cells, as well as a correct nuclear DNA content.

Men who suffer from fertility when their sperm cells cells fail to divide in the testes. Stem cells, however, can divide normally when cultured.

Even though this research may not necessarily translate to humans, scientists may be able to recreate the results from this research in humans, and if they do, they will be able to use stem cells from infertile men to create fully functional offspring. Then these cultured stem cells when divided outside the body can be combined with an egg to make an embryo.

“If proven to be safe and effective in humans, our platform could potentially generate fully functional sperm for artificial insemination or in vitro fertilisation techniques,” said Sha. “Because currently available treatments do not work for many couples, we hope that our approach could substantially improve success rates for male infertility.”

This could be a game changer for men struggling to have children.

h/t IB Times

photo: Getty

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February 2016