Celebrity

Look who Popped: 3rd-time Mom-to-be Ivanka Trump shows off her baby Bump

Posted on February 13, 2016

Look who has popped?

Third time mom-to-be Ivanka Trump recently shared a photo of her baby bump on her Instagram account.

“I crashed a shoot taking place in our office this week for our new apparel collection and my team snapped me walking past the set,” she captioned a photo. “Wow, has this bump popped!”

Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are parents to 2-year old Joseph and 4-year old Arabella.

The business mogul also recently shared an endearing photo of herself with the kids in bed. Sweet!

And as we reported earlier, the fashion designer is still stumping for her dad and spoke at an event in New Hampshire last weekend.

So is 2nd-time mom-to-be Chelsea Clinton who is acting as a surrogate to her mom’s campaign.

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What Candy Should You and the Kids Avoid This Valentine’s Day (INFOGRAPHIC)

Posted on February 13, 2016

Valentine’s Day is perfect for getting sweets and goodies, but parents and families have to be mindful of all the extra sugar that is loaded inside Valentine’s Day treats.

Because the day’s goodies are typically loaded with calories and sugar, AquaBall, the only no sugar, no calorie children’s drink on the market put together an infographic (below) showing which Valentine’s Day treats will make the day sweet for your little sweetheart and which ones you should avoid.

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Tips

9 Last Minute DIY Valentine’s Day Gifts Under $50

Posted on February 13, 2016

Still scrambling for what to give your sweetheart today for Valentine’s Day?!

Don’t panic! I racked my brain and came up with five last minute ideas that you can pull off today and at a cost of less than $50 total!

And the other great things that they should take less than one hour to prep for presentation if you are focused on the task and get going!

Model with Angela Roi The Morning Plum Cross Body Bag

Thank me later! Get busy!

Here they are to choose from:

one

Plan a Romantic Casual Pizza Dinner and Movie Date Night In

Commitment Time: 1/2 hour to 45 minutes

Cost: $25-$30

Step 1: Pick up phone and order a Papa John’s heart pizza

Step 2: On the way to pick it up or while you wait for delivery, head to the local liquor store or grocers and pick up a bottle of wine and/or order or pick up take out Chinese for two and some flowers for the table.

Step 3: Order a movie or two on DVR or from Netflix or Redbox and have a romantic casual dinner in.

Two:

Have Your Love Star in a Social Media meme

Commitment Time: 10 minutes

Cost: $0

Step 1: Pull up the WHO DO YOU XO? website.

Step 2: Add a photo, add big bold x & o’s with a description of the person and post in social media. Very cute! It is the brainchild of Robert Appelblatt and Tim Crean, who came up with the idea after updating and completely revolutionizing the old tic-tac-toe game by creating TIC STAC TOE.

three

Present a Personalized Photo Wall

Commitment Time: 20 minutes to 45 minutes

Cost: $10-$25

Step 1: Use the CVS Facebook Order function to order photos of you and your honey from Facebook and pick up the prints the same day. There is even a mobile App which makes the process 2x faster!

Step 2: While you’re there to pick up your pics, grab some tape.

Step 3: Pick a blank wall in the bedroom or living room and arrange the photos in the shape of a heart above your bed.

Step 4: Have movies and/or take out nearby and make it a movie night.

four

Send Personalized Balloons.

Valentines-Day-Balloon-Tattoos-7-550x367

Commitment Time: 20-45 minutes

Cost: $10-25

Supplies:

Balloon Time Helium Tank
Mylar heart balloons
Ribbon
InkJet tattoo paper
Printable Valentine’s Day messages
Damp paper towel or rag

Step 1: Print out the messages from the website here on the tattoo paper and adhere the clear liner on top according to the instructions on the package.

Step 2: Trim each message as close to the letters as possible

Step 3: Peel off the clear liner from one of the messages and lay it face down on top of the balloon, wherever you would like it. NOTE: We recommend not putting your letters within three inches of the edge of the balloon, to ensure they are legible once inflated.

Step 4: Use a damp paper towel to moisten the tattoo paper completely and then peel it away, leaving the tattoo behind. Repeat as desired.

Step 5: Inflate the balloon(s) with helium and tie with ribbon.

five

Have A Romantic Indoor Picnic

Commitment Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour

Cost: up to $50

Step 1: Order Take out

Step 2: Pick up cupcakes at local bakery, wine and scented candles

Step 3: Arrange a blanket with all items on the floor in the basement or living room

six

Capture Your Relationship in a Personalized Photo Book

Commitment Time: 20 minutes to 45 minutes

Cost: $10-$25

Step 1: Go to the CVS Photobook order page to order photos of you and your honey from social media or your hard drive. Use Coupon code: Save30 to get 30% off today and pick up the prints the same day. There is even a mobile App which makes the process 2x faster!

Step 2: While you’re there to pick up a bag, tissue paper, a card and candy.

Step 3: Arrange book, candy and card in bag and present over dinner!

seven

Present a Personalized Digital Video

Commitment Time: 20 minutes to 45 minutes

Cost: $0

Step 1: Go to SoundCloud and pick a Valentine Mix to download, depending on the genre of music you or your sweetheart likes.

Step 2: Upload a video on your smartphone app (I like MixBit )

Step 3: Pick your fave videos and photos from your phone’s photo album or social media accounts, then upload and use the valentine mix as the background.

Step 4: Give your phone with the finished project to your sweetheart to look at it and put the headphones over their ears so they can focus on that and not other distractions of TV, social media alerts, other people around etc

Eight

Make Homemade Cookies for partner With Dietary Restrictions

For your sweetheart who has dietary restrictions like lactose intolerance, or is vegan, why not make these yummy Kick-Ass Carrot Cookies, featured in a new book, Dr. Koufman’s Acid Reflux Diet: With 111 All New Recipes Including Vegan & Gluten-Free? Dr. Jamie Koufman collaborated with Chef Philip Gelb for this recipe, perfect for Vegans.

Makes 3 dozen cookies | 65 calories per cookie

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup white flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup maple syrup

½ cup grapeseed oil

1 cup grated carrot

½ cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In one bowl, combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the syrup and oil.
Add the carrots and dried cherries to the wet mixture and mix well.
Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and gently combine. Do NOT overmix, or the cookies will be rubbery.
Drop 1-teaspoon portions of the mixture on a grapeseed-oiled baking sheet, 2 inches apart. (These cookies only bake well if they are small.)
Bake for 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook, as they burn easily.

Notes: For the picky eaters in your home, sneak a little carrot into their diet with this amazing cookie recipe. For a fun variation, dried cherries can be replaced by currants, raisins, dried blueberries, or dried cranberries, or a combination. – Chef Philip

Nine

Gift a Plush Gift that Gives Back to the Community

Give a gift and do good.

If you live near a Kohl‘s department store, you can pick up a Leo Lionni soft toy or other gift that are part of the Kohl’s Cares collection for just $5 each, and let your honey know that 100% of the net proceeds will benefit children’s health initiatives nationwide. The collection is available at Kohls.com now through early April.

Books and accessories featured in the Kohl’s Cares collection this spring include:

Frederick book and mouse soft toy
A Color of His Own book and chameleon soft toy
It’s Mine! Book and frog soft toy
Cornelius book and crocodile soft toy
Swimmy book
Tote bag
101 Kids Activities book

Good luck lovers and friends!

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Here is your 2016 Valentine’s Day Date Inspiration Style Book

Posted on February 12, 2016

Seraphine Valentine Dress

If you are looking for an outfit to put together for Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 14 , here are a few looks we plucked from out Style page on Pinterest and from recent posts for you to consider!

Get some inspiration and have fun tomorrow!

This Valentine’s day if you are pregnant and heading out to lunch or dinner with your honey, here are a few inspirations for spicing up your look and for getting festive for the day of love! HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY love muffins!

1. You can go with a large faux or natural red flower in the hair like singer Monica…

2. Red Nails can get your partner feeling hot for you…

red nail polish

3. A red scarf wrapped as a winter layer or part of your outfit as worn by Nicole Richie can set it off…

And here are some outfit ideas:

red scarf

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Celebrity

Rumor Control: Draya Michele Clears Up Paternity of her 11-Year Old Son

Posted on February 12, 2016

Today is clear up the rumors Friday and our subject is second-time mom-to-be Draya Michele who VH1‘s Basketball Wives who is finally sharing who her son’s dad is.

We and many other media outlets have incorrectly stated that her son’s father is NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas, but it is not.

Draya took to Instagram this week to clarify the falsehood:

Here is Draya ….. At 17 years old I got pregnant by a man who became incarcerated for 10 when I was 7 months pregnant. With help from my mom, I was able to survive. Now, judging by how under-developed and young I was, besides living in a very small city in PA….. There’s no way in 2002 I got pregnant by some athlete. If I had, there’s not a chance in fucking hell I would have wasted 7 years of my life working “in the club” because clearly child support would be on fleek. I have never received A DIME of child support in my life and that’s ok. I have also NEVER attempted to say anyone other than who my son is named after (yes he’s a junior) was the father. My son’s father lives in pa and makes an honest living being a barber. This shit is completely embarrassing to me and my family. And I intend on putting this to final rest. I’m pissed that I had to take time from remodeling my office in my brand new 4000 square foot warehouse to even address this. But I’ve been quiet too long. I’ve also let people tell “my story” on tv too many times. I’ll speak my truths….. You speak your own and keep whatever momentum going by doing that. God bless. Leave the kids out of it for heaven’s sake. #seemybabyseat #boxdye #walmart
A photo posted by Draya Michele (@drayamichele) on Feb 10, 2016 at 3:23pm PST

Draya Michele (real name Andraya Michele Howard) is the longest sitting cast member from reality TV show and today owns a clothing and swim suit label.

“At 17 years old I got pregnant by a man who became incarcerated for 10 when I was 7 months pregnant. With help from my mom, I was able to survive,” she captioned a photo of herself at 17-years old with her son in a car seat nearby. “Judging by how under-developed and young I was, besides living in a very small city in PA….. There’s no way in 2002 I got pregnant by some athlete. If I had, there’s not a chance in f——h— I would have wasted 7 years of my life working ‘in the club’ because clearly child support would be on fleek.”

She also made everyone aware that her son’s father does not support her at all.

“I have never received A DIME of child support in my life and that’s ok,” she explained. “I have also NEVER attempted to say anyone other than who my son is named after (yes he’s a junior) was the father. My son’s father lives in pa and makes an honest living being a barber. This s— is completely embarrassing to me and my family.”

Arenas himself spoke to the rumors last year when he told his Instagram followers, “Draya’s son was at least four years old when I met her and we were [cool] friends.”

Draya Michele is expecting her second child, a son, with NFL star Orlando Scandrick.

h/t Black Celeb Kids

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Had the Baby Before the Wedding? Here are 4 Ways to Still have that Fairytale Wedding on a Budget

Posted on February 12, 2016

The fairytale wedding that you’ve dreamed of since childhood may be the most magical day of your life. But weddings come with a hefty price tag. The average cost of a wedding in 2014 was more than $31,000, according to nearly 16,000 brides and grooms surveyed by The Knot. The venue alone can cost upwards of $14,000, and the average wedding dress is around $1,357. Don’t forget these numbers exclude the required engagement ring and honeymoon.

If your savings account falls short of your wedding budget, here are four ideas to financially supplement your wedding funds.

Use Your Mobile Phone to Save

One of the top wedding trends for 2014 is using smartphones to wedding plan, such as researching venues and wedding dresses. Couples can also use their smartphones as a wedding tool for saving. Download Unsplurge, an app designed to help you save with visuals and a community aspect.

Enter “wedding” into the app as the event you want to save for, along with an amount and photo. You can even break down “wedding” into smaller goals, such as dress, venue, photographer and florist. Then using visualizations, the app tracks your progress and keeps you on target to reach your goal. The Town, a section of the app where you can see what other people are saving for, can also help motivate you to reach your financial wedding goals.

Become an Independent Business Owner

Earn extra income by joining the direct selling industry as an independent business owner selling products you’re passionate about. Amway provides the opportunity for you to start your own business and work on the side with flexibility and convenience. This means you can still work full time and wedding plan while growing your business in between. Also, as your business and network grows, you’ll strengthen your investment with higher earning potential. Continue your business even after you’re married to help support other major expenses such as buying a house or starting a family.

Get Crafty & DIY

DIY wedding projects can help you stay within budget — and the extra savings do add up. Not only does a DIY approach give your wedding details a personalized touch, but craft projects also provide bonding opportunities with friends and family. Grab a couple bottles of wine, meet up with friends and create the following items:

Ceremony decor: Avoid expensive speciality arrangements and adorn your ceremony with vases full of locally grown flowers or candle centerpieces to create a romantic ambiance. Popsugar.com also offers 53 stylish DIY wedding ideas, from a farmer’s market bouquet to a glitter star garland.
Favors: Homemade baked sweet treats, such as chocolate bark or heart-shaped cookies, wrapped in a colorful box or cute bags are an affordable, charming wedding favor. Other creative low-cost ideas inspired by Better Homes & Gardens include s’mores kits, recipe cards in brown bags with fresh herbs or custom tea blends in small glass containers with brewing instructions.
Invitations and Save-the-Dates: Wedding invitations cost nearly $430 on average. Create stylish invitations for less with a printable DIY wedding invitation kit. Brides Magazine suggests making DIY thank you cards with a three-tiered wedding-cake shape using three layers of patterned washi tape and black pen to draw the stand.

Raise Money for the Honeymoon

As part of the wedding planning process, couples register for wedding gift items like kitchenware, appliances, home accessories and more. But what about registering for a trip to the Caribbean?

Honeyfund is a free online wedding registry, crowdfunding site and fundraising platform where wedding guests can help you afford the honeymoon of your dreams. With Honeyfund, the perfect honeymoon destination is possible across the globe, from the coasts of Greece to the untouched beauty of New Zealand.

Once your registry is set up, tools are available to share it. Friends and family can easily send payment gifts both on and offline to congratulate you and celebrate your marriage.

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Parenting

Beat the Bedtime Battles With These 6 Tricks

Posted on February 11, 2016

After the end of a long day, the last thing any parent wants to do is fight with their child over bedtime. But for many families, bedtime is a daily source of stress and anxiety that climaxes with a full blown war. The parents want nothing more than their child to go to bed, and the child wants nothing more than to stay awake. While in many cases, the child wins and ends up falling asleep in his parents’ arms, in their bed, or even on the floor, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Consider these 6 ways parents can win the bedtime battle once and for all.

Have a consistent bedtime routine. Have you ever noticed that a young child loves to read the same books over and over again? Children love repetition and love anticipating what comes next. The same is true with bedtime. Kids find comfort in consistent routines. When a solid bedtime routine is established, it builds feelings of comfort, safety and security in the child. Each evening, start your bedtime routine after dinner. Give your child a bath and follow it up with a quiet activity, like reading a book, together. When it’s time to put your child to bed, give him a hug and a kiss before tucking him in. The more consistent your bedtime routine is, the less pushback you’ll get from your child.
Set the mood of the room for sleep. Have you ever noticed that babies can be lulled to sleep by the sound of a vacuum cleaner? The white noise a vacuum creates is soothing and drowns out other sounds. Young children, especially babies, tend to sleep better with white noise in their midst. Whether it’s a fan or a white noise machine, having white background noise helps kids fall and stay asleep. Having the room dark and the temperature set between 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit can also boost a child’s sleep quality and amount.
Establish healthy sleep habits. While it can be tempting to rock your baby to sleep, don’t. Instead, put your baby to sleep when she’s drowsy, eyelids heavy, but still awake. Doing so allows her to learn to fall asleep on her own. Many parents allow their older children to fall asleep watching television in bed. When kids watch television right before bed, they have a harder time falling and staying asleep. Helping your child establish healthy sleep habits will ensure he gets enough good, quality sleep.
Keep kids well rested during the day. Many parents stop allowing their children to nap because they believe that if they nap during the day, they won’t sleep at night. The reality is that overtired children are much harder to put to bed at night. Depriving your child of needed daytime sleep will typically make nighttime sleep worse, not better.
Avoid stimulating activities before bed. After work, some parents enjoy nothing more than roughhousing and wrestling with their children. When active playtime happens right before bed, children can get wound up and calming them down becomes problematic. For nighttime family fun, consider playing a quiet board game or reading a book.
Be sure that everyone is on the page. Whether it’s mom, dad or the nanny putting the children to bed, everyone should follow the same routine. If mom’s ready to sleep train the baby and dad keeps going in the room and picking the baby up, the baby gets mixed messages. Children put up less of a battle when the bedtime routine and expectations are kept consistent.

Good Luck!

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Celebrity

Second Time Mom-to-Be Kelly Clarkson Landed a Children’s Book Deal

Posted on February 11, 2016

Congratulations to Kelly Clarkson on scoring a children’s book deal.

The chart topping singer/songwriter will release her first picture book, “River Rose and the Magical Lullaby” this October by HarperCollins Children’s Books.

She announced the news on Twitter with a video promo about the book.

I’m officially a children’s book author! River Rose and the Magical Lullaby comes out this October! #NewProject https://t.co/qSAmmYr3ik
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) February 9, 2016

The story was originally written as an original lullaby the second-time-mom-to-be wrote for her first child, daughter River. In the tale, a little girl visits the zoo and enjoyed her time there so much that she has a tough time falling asleep later.

The inspiration from the book came from the American Idol champ’s own adventures with her kid. The “Breakaway” singer welcomed her first child with husband Brandon Blackstock in June 2014.

photo: AP for File

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Parenting

Dads Doing their Daughter’s Hair is a Trending Thing

Posted on February 11, 2016

Daddy doing daughter’s hair is a trending thing in social and traditional media…and now with Patene’s Super Bowl ads, in advertising.

Pantene tapped into the recent viral obsession of dads doing their daughters hair when it showed a series of ads featuring NFL players doing (or trying to do) the hair of their daughters. It was part of the hair products company’s “Strong is Beautiful” campaign and was super cute!

I recall back in the fall of 2014 there was this stay-at-home dad who shared a photo of himself doing one daughter’s while attachment parent carrying his infant daughter in a front sling. He got a mix of positive and hate messages reacting to a viral photo of himself doing one daughter’s hair while attachment parenting carrying another on his chest. The negative comments prompted the dad, Doyin Richards, to pen a piece in the Good Dads Project, “I Have a Dream: That People Will View a Picture Like This and Not Think It’s a Big Deal.”

Well it is more and more common nowadays.

Last October, there was much buzz surrounding a Florida dad’s hair styling salon for single dads.

Earlier in the Summer, there was press coverage of Denver dads taking a hair styling class to teach them how to style their daughters’ hair. For $55 for a one hour session, a dad was allowed to bring as many daughters as he wanted to the class.

Since, there have been a bunch of hair salons that have started offering hair styling classes for dads. Nice!

Here are the Pantene spots

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Celebrity

30 Celebrity Moms We’ve Profiled Who Have Since Split with their Kid’s Dad

Posted on February 10, 2016

Breakups happen! When it comes to several of the celebrity women we have ‘bump watched’ over the course of the 8 years of this blog’s existence, they’re not interested in sticking it out for the baby when the relationship heads south.

And thus, not only is BellytichBlog an institution that chronicles celebrity births, it also is a memoriam, of sorts, to relationships that once were. A significant number of pregnancies we’ve bumpwatched from pregnancy through birth were part of unions that have since dissolved.

The most recent is Idris Elba and his make up artist Naiyana Garth who reportedly just broke up. The couple welcomed their first child together in April 2014.

And the breakups aren’t always pretty.

Just this week, songstress and model Ciara filed a $15 Million defamation lawsuit in response to comments her ex hip hop artist Future has said about her in the media, traditional and social media.

Last week, Amber Rose found herself caught in the middle of a Twitter beef between Kim Kardashian‘s husband Kanye West and her ex Wiz Khalifa. West mentioned Rose and Wiz’s son Sebastian and Rose had to go off on him, revealing some intimate deets about their sex life when they were together, obviously to embarrass him and teach him a lesson about dragging her into his social media fights.

“I wouldn’t have said anything if it was just between him and Wiz,” Rose said on theAllegedly podcast. “That’s two grown men hashing it out. That’s their business. I would have kept it cute and just minded my business, but you don’t bring in my baby. That’s so corny.”

She and Kim posted the same “usie” on their respective social media accounts to signal the truce.

Here is a list of 30 of our past featured women who have since parted ways with their respective significant other who they procreated a child with.

Last Summer was a big heartbreak time with the breakups of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge, Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick, Charlize Theron and Sean Penn and Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton.

Some celebs have broken up before the baby was even born: Christina Milian, Kelis, Heidi Klum and January Jones and many more split with their respective partners before they even gave birth.

Or shortly thereafter…. A couple of year ago, Ciara, Eva Marcille (nee Pigford) and Amber Rose split with their partners before each of their babies turned 6 months old. A few years ago, Selma Blair and her ex Jason Bleick split up 14 months after welcoming their first child together.

No matter what happens, most children grow up in wonderfully co-parenting situations and survive and thrive!

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Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt

Supplies:

Use Your Mobile Phone to Save

Become an Independent Business Owner

Get Crafty & DIY

Raise Money for the Honeymoon