20+ Blogs with Family Friendly Saint Patrick’s Day Crafts & Ideas

Posted on February 27, 2017

While everyone knows that St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday, it’s unlikely that many know the story behind St. Patrick’s Day.

In a nutshell, a man named Patrick converted a large group of Irish people from Paganism to Christianity and was made a Saint. Now considered the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick used the shamrock as the symbol of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The color green is used because of the rich green hills that are found all over Ireland. You may be wondering how St. Patrick’s Day turned into a day for drinking, and there is a reason for that too. St. Patrick told a bar owner who was cheating his customers by pouring short glasses of liquor that there was a demon in his basement and that the only way to be rid of it was to be generous. After that, St. Patrick said that everyone should celebrate with some of the hard stuff on St. Patrick’s Day. However, the holiday isn’t solely reserved for those of legal drinking age; there are plenty of family-friendly things to do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day too.

Check out these 20+ blog entries to find craft projects to make with the kids, decorations for your home, recipes to make for your family and other activities to do as well.

Crafts

Make these simple crafts with your kids as part of your celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. This often overlooked holiday can be really entertaining if you make a point to celebrate it just like you would other holidays with special crafts, decorations and food. These five blog posts will share some craft projects you can enjoy with your kids.

Decorations

Up your house’s festivity factor this St. Patrick’s Day by decorating in plenty of green and gold. Some of these decorating ideas are appropriate for younger children, while others are better suited for the older kids. Get together as a family and enjoy some creative time together decorating your home.

Meals

All things green are up for grabs on St. Patrick’s Day. What, you don’t think your kids will be excited about spinach and kale and other green leafy food? No problem! Just make regular food green instead and see what the kids think of it. It doesn’t have to be just for dinner, enjoy these five blogs that have breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas.

Desserts

While green is definitely the star color for St. Patrick’s Day, it isn’t all confined to just that color. After all, you can’t forget about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Make some rainbow inspired desserts instead of just green ones this year. For some inspiration check out these five blog posts.

Activities

What kind of things can you do as a family or with the kids for St. Patrick’s Day? Some cities have St. Patty’s Day parades, so you might see if your city is having one. Or you might decide to have a party for the kids in the neighborhood. Take a look at these five blog articles for some ideas on activities that your kids or your family might enjoy.

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Celebrity

Mahershala Ali Won Big with His Daughter’s Birth Before Oscar Win

Posted on February 27, 2017

Before actor Mahershala Ali won his first Oscar for Best Actor in Moonlight, he won big with the birth of his first daughter, Bari Najma Ali.

Ali announced the birth during his Academy Award acceptance speech, “I just wanna thank my wife, who was in her third trimester doing awards season. We just had a daughter four days ago [huge applause from the audience].”

He added, “I just wanna thank her for being such a soldier through this process… and really carrying me through it all. Thank you, I really appreciate it. Peace and blessings.”

Before then, he shared a photo of his wife Amatus Sami-Karim cradling their baby on his Instagram page, captioned with her name, how it is pronounced and a hashtag about the baby’s astrological sign.

“Bari (Bar-ee) Najma Alii ? 2/22/17 #pisces,” he captioned the photo.

Bari (Bar-ee) Najma Ali ?2/22/17 #pisces
A post shared by Mahershala Ali (@mahershalaali) on Feb 24, 2017 at 12:22pm PST

Baby girl escaped being called Oscaria. During a pre-Oscar interview, the actor who also stars in a heavily nominated film, Hidden Figures, joked that if the baby arrived after he won the Oscar he would name her Oscaria if a girl.

Ali made Oscar history as well. He instantly made history as the first Muslim to win the Best Actor award ever. Ali’s film Moonlight took home the Best Film award, albeit after a much talked about controversial and history-making moment. Presenter Warren Beatty was given the duplicate envelope for Best Actress. He opened the envelope and noticed the error and peered inside the envelope looking for another card. Beatty hesitated and did not announce the winner and instead showed the envelope to his co-presenter Faye Dunaway who immediately announced La La Land, which was the movie listed under Emma Stone’s name.

Last night also was historic because the most Black winners won in major categories ever.

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BumpNews

This is why Some Men Experience Pregnancy Symptoms

Posted on February 26, 2017

Yes, men do get pregnancy symptoms when their partners are expecting. Watertown Daily Times’s Armin Brott explains:

Men’s symptoms are often similar to women’s: food cravings, mood swings, weight gain. Other common symptoms are a bit stranger (but plenty of women experience them too), including toothaches, headaches, nosebleeds, cramps (admittedly, pretty weird for a guy) and cysts.

Couvade symptoms in men tend to appear at the same time as their partner starts showing — around four months. They may fade after a month or so, but will often reappear a month or two before the baby is born. For most, symptoms tend to disappear right after the birth.

Why does this happen? No one knows for sure, but there are plenty of theories. The first has to do with the way that men in our society are expected to be the providers and protectors, keeping families safe and easing their pain. Unfortunately, in the case of pregnancy, there’s nothing we can do about our partner’s pain. So our brain decides that the next best thing is for us to share it — especially if we’re feeling guilty about being responsible for the partner’s pain in the first place.

Another theory is that couvade may be a subconscious attempt by the expectant dad to get people to pay some attention to him. Everyone asks him how his partner is doing, but rarely does anyone ask how he’s doing.

Interestingly, there may also be some biological reasons that cause men’s pregnancy symptoms. We’ve all heard of the hormonal roller coaster that women are on during pregnancy.

According to several recent studies, expectant dads’ hormone levels (we all have the same ones, just in different amounts) follow a similar up-and-down pattern as their wives’, rising and falling at the same times. This may explain why most expectant dads find themselves paying more attention to children in the months before their own are born.

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How Olivia Culpo’s Marchesa Water Dress helps Charity

Posted on February 26, 2017

HOLLYWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 26: Actor Olivia Culpo unveils a one-of-a-kind Marchesa for Stella Artois gown featuring beads made from the Stella Artois Limited-Edition Chalices that benefit Water.org during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Actress and former beauty queen Olivia Culpo’s Oscar red carpet dress will help provide clean water to children in the developing world.

How?

The former Miss USA and Miss Universe 2012 teamed up with our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum Georgina Chapman to design the dress made up of a chalice.

“It’s in partnership with Stella Artois and Water.org,” the star of The Other Woman told Ryan Secrest on the red carpet. “Stella Artois created chalices and for one chalice sold, five years of clean drinking water is provided for someone in the developing world. So this dress is actually made out of the chalice pieces, and it’s encouraging people to get involved in the water crisis and buy the chalice.”

And it is a stunning masterpiece. It even flows like water.

“We wanted the dress to represent water itself, so it’s sort of cascading,” she explained. “The crystal represents the water as well. We knew we wanted tears.”

She continued, “They did an amazing job…and it’s fun when you can incorporate good things and charity into fashion!”

Nice!

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Fashion

Trending: How to Work Yellow Into Your Wardrobe, Preginistas!

Posted on February 26, 2017

I’m very happy to see that yellow is a happy trending color . It’s a great hue because it’s sunny, bright and could lighten your mood just by wearing it, I think. The downside of yellow if you are expecting and growing a tiny human inside of you is that bright colors like yellow may have you looking like the sun and you might like that.

Never fret! Be creative and find different ways to mix yellow into your wardrobe. Accessories are the best way to do that. Yellow tinted aviators or lemon framed sunglasses, sunflower yellow tassel earrings, a lemon chiffon patterned tote or a canary yellow scarf.

I like this Mango man Essential Scarf which is great and lightweight and good for warm or cool temps and runs just $15.

You can walk on sunshine with some yellow ballet flats, loafers or tennis shoes too. I like Bass’s Whitney Weejuns Leather Penny Loafer ($77)- Women’s If you can be so bold and work in an environment that allows for creative dress, paint your nails yellow.

I also love the idea of a big bright and sunny yellow tote. It is unexpected and eye catching and will certainly turn heads like Aldo’s tote for just $39.00 which is a steal!

However, you can, go big and bold! Shop these styles:

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News

To Have Twins, Eat More Dairy & Other Mind-Blowing Twin Facts (INFOGRAPHIC)

Posted on February 26, 2017

The US twin birth rate nearly doubled from 2009 to 2014. Interesting, huh?

In honor of all these celebrities expecting twins, we thought we’d get clued in on some surprising and little known twin facts.

This infographic by WebMD gives us 8 unique insights and facts about the phenomenon that is twin pregnancy and birth.

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Celebrity

We Have so Many Bellyitch Bumpwatch Alums to Root For this Oscars Sunday

Posted on February 25, 2017

The Academy Awards will be broadcast tomorrow and three of our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alums are up for awards.

Natalie Portman is up for Best Actress for her role as Jackie Kennedy in the film Jackie

Viola Davis and Nicole Kidman are up for Best Supporting Actress: Davis for her performance in the movie Fences and Kidman as an adoptive mom in Lion.

We can’t root for one. Wishing them all best of luck tomorrow.

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4 Ways to Keep Your Teen Busy This Spring Break

Posted on February 25, 2017

Although this site focuses mainly on trying to conceive couples, pregnant women and first time parents, we do know some of you have teens and step teens to mind.

Spring Break is quickly approaching, but what do you do when you don’t have the time to go anywhere or if you have other commitments that make taking a trip with the family impossible at this time?

The last thing you want is to find your hands full with teenagers who are losing their minds from boredom! Worse yet, how do you make sure they stay out of trouble while you are at work? If these questions are plaguing you, then it may be a good idea to take a look at these 28 blogs that can give you some inspiration for surviving this Spring Break.

Games

Playing games might seem like an activity reserved for younger kids, but what if you have both older and younger kids? There are a wide range of apps available that are perfect for keeping your tweens and teens busy, as well as a variety of board games that teens will love playing. These seven blog posts are full of answers for curing boredom.

Crafts

If your teen or tween likes to get creative, then encouraging her to start a new project over Spring Break might keep her busy for the whole week. You may need to buy some supplies, but that will be money well spent if she can stay creative and busy all Spring break. Find out what types of crafts she likes or show her something that you like. Teach her to sew and challenge her to make her own quilt. The project can be put together with things that remind her of years past, and by the time she graduates it will be a memory quilt she can take to college. If she doesn’t think she’s the crafty type, you could always try something different, like getting her started on Zentangles.

Activities

Finding activities for your teens and tweens to do during Spring Break can be tricky. Many times area businesses will have activities for teens during their week off of school. There might be a public service project that your teen could do to earn extra credit for school or free movies available to watch at the library. Your teenager can probably walk or ride his bike to the local library or YMCA if there are activities there. This could give your teen a chance to get out of the house for a while and do something with friends in a supervised setting.

Short Outings

If you don’t have to work over Spring Break either, then maybe you could get away on a few local outings that are close to home. You can become a tourist in your own city or surrounding area. Many times, you can live in an area for years and never see the sites that make that area famous. Take this time with your family to explore a little. Some of these outings can even be done after work or on the weekends.

Good luck, parents!!

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Bump Watch: Amal Clooney glows in White

Posted on February 24, 2017

Since the first time announcing that they were expecting twins this summer British-Lebanese lawyer Amal Clooney and her Ocean’s Eleven actor husband George Clooney made their first public appearance.

They walked the red carpet at the 42nd edition of the Cesar Ceremony at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on Friday, February 24.

She glowed in a custom-made Atelier Versace dress, which featured a fitted top and ombre train.

Stunning!

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Celebrity

When Expecting, Chic Preginistas Wear Louboutin Flats

Posted on February 24, 2017

A little while ago,Sarah Jessica Parker‘s in the long-running hit HBO show Sex in the City character, Carrie Bradshaw, made Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik the “it” shoes to covet and have.

Since then, we believe Christian Louboutin has taken the crown as the most coveted shoe.

Although, the designer is known more for his red bottom pumps, he also makes other leather goods like wallets, handbags, and clutches and other accessories. And more than just pumps, the brand also sells a good range of ballet slippers.

We mention this because they are perfect for that preginista that loves to stay fashionable and outfitted in the best and most coveted exquisite fashion items. When swollen feet and sciatia make pumps a no-no, enter your Louboutin Ballet slippers to save the day!

Here’s a curated list of our faves from our partners at Shopstyle.

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