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Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt

CDC: First Baby after 40 Rate in US more than doubled; DC #1, NY #2

A new Centers for Disease Control survey released today shows that the rate of women waiting until their 40s to have their first child has more than doubled in some states, and has increased overall.
Washington, DC was number one on the list of statewide data of women having their first kid between the ages of 40 and 44 with New York second and Massachusetts third. 
The rate of women having their first child after 40 more than doubled from 1990 to 2012, the CDC said. And in 2012, there were more than 9 times as many first births to women 35 and older than 40 years ago.
The data was compiled from U.S. state birth certificates nationwide, taken from the Natality Data File of the National Vital Statistics System. The analysis includes data on all births occurring in the United States, including maternal and infant demographics, and health characteristics for babies born in the country.
There were differences in race as well with Asian American women showing the biggest increase in delayed first time pregnancy. 
The data shows Asian/Pacific Islanders’ rate of first birth in 2012 was almost double that of the next highest group.  
And Black women too have started waiting longer. Among those 40 to 44, increases in first birth rates rose 171 percent among blacks and 130 percent among whites.
A couple of things to realize about this information: 
1. The US population will decrease overall given that delayed pregnancy comes with some fertility complications for some which also means that women will usually have just one to two children when they start so  late. Depending on your world view that may be a good or bad thing. 
2. It also means that the children of those women may be better off given that women who wait until their 40s are usually more financially stable, educated,  mature and have more resources and support to provide a better life for their children, experts say.

Your thoughts?

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5 celebrities welcoming their 5th baby (How does it Equal 15 parents tho?)

FIVE is the number for this FIFTH day of the work week for some celebrity birth and pregnancy stories around the web involving baby number FIVE. 


But in this era of blended families and separation and divorce so common, there are 15 parents in this story. Read on: 
After welcoming 4 daughters, country singer Zac Brown and his wife Shelly finally welcomed their 5th child, a son, this week on May 5th! The couple are parents to 3-year old Joni Mason, 4 1/2 year old Georgia Slone, 5 1/2 year old Lucy and 7-year old Justice. In 2011, after Joni was born, Brown joked that he planned to keep on trying until he got his boy. I guess Shelly was down for the plan! (smile)
Meanwhile, Bruce Willis and his wife model Emma Heming-Willis welcomed their second child, daugher  Evelyn Penn Willis, also on May 5th they are parents to 2-year old Mabel Ray. And this is Willis’ 5th child as he is dad to 20-year old Tallulah, 20, 22-year old Scout, 22, and 25-year old Rumer with Demi Moore.
[Side note: Demi’s other ex Ashton Kutcher is reportedly expecting his first kid too with fiance Mila Kunis]
Finally, shortly after announcing that she is pregnant with her fifth child, British TV personality and model Katie Price announced to split with her hubby Kieran Hayler who is dad to their 8-month old son together Jett Riviera.  The couple married last January 2013 after dating only a few months. 
This will be Price’s 5th child.  She has three other children with exes Peter Andre and Dwight Yorke: 12-year old Harvey, 12, 8-year old Junior and 6-year old Princess.
Also across the pond, singer Kerry Katonia  of Atomic Kitten welcomed her fifth baby with her beau George Kay Kerry is already a mother to three daughters and one son, to her past husbands Brian McFadden and Mark Croft.
Also, this week Donald Trump Jr.‘s wife Vanessa tweeted that she has FIVE weeks left until she welcomes her 5th child. The Trumps, who have been married for 8 years are parents to 6-year old Kai, 4-year old Donald III,  2-year old Tristan and 15-months old Spencer.
Was our math right? Did you count 15 parents too?

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Leelee Sobieski announces 2nd pregnancy on the runway

We see you Miss “Eyes Wide Shut”!
Actress Leelee Sobieski announced her second pregnancy in high-fashion style: while walking the runway to the Christian Dior “Cruise” runway show on Tuesday, May 6 in New York City. 
The Joy Ride star has a daughter, Louisanna Ray, born in December 2009, with her fashion designer husband Aaron Kimmel.


Congrats!

Summer Travel/Mother’s Day and FertilityBlend Giveaway Winners Announced

Congratulations to 


Yana Ryjova


for being randomly selected to win
the Summer Travel Prize Pack featuring a Stokke MyCarrier Cool carrier, an accessory from Hiho Batik and a new 7.A.M Enfant Roma Diaper Bag
Also
Congratulations to 
 Manda O.
for winning the 

FertilityBlend Forumla
from a contest a couple weeks ago!
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Celebrity Roundup – Lunchtime Links

Here is what’s buzzing about currently pregnant celebrities and celeb parents on various sites that cover them online and across the web today and earlier this week:

Chelsea Clinton showed off her bump while on a stroll this week. (Daily Mail)

Mila Kunis was showing off her growing belly too (E!Online)

Snooki was giving all a peek of her fit bump on her Instagram account. (MTV)

Megan Fox showed off her sons Bodhi and Noah to Ellen DeGeneres.  (CelebrityBabyScoop)

Beyonce is rumored to be pregnant with her second child. (UrbanIslandz)

Pete Wentz ‘s girlfriend was looking super cute on the red carpet. (Wetpaint)

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How to not become “That Mom” who talks incessantly in adult social settings about her kid

Today, a friend who is single (but dating) and who has no kids sent me a text thanking me for not being “that mom.” She said she went to an event when all the women talked about their children for two hours. “I wanted to stab my hand with a fork, ” she wrote in her text! I was flattered and in fact, she was the fourth friend of mine to tell me essentially the same thing but years ago.

What’s The secret?

It  all reminded me of a blog post from 2012 about this very topic and I thought I’d re-share the nexus of it again tonight. Enjoy!

When you are a first time mom, you love your kid and want to share every new discovery, milestone and new curl on your kid’s head with anyone within earshot who would listen, but when you do that all the time and can’t seem to discuss anything else but your kid, you quickly become “that mom.”

Some don’t mind being “that mom” and others simply cannot help it. Over time, friends who don’t have kids will not want to hang with you because they may get frustrated with you gushing about your kid non stop all the time. Talking about your kid(s) is cool occasionally or briefly, but not incessantly.

I didn’t consciously avoid being that mom; I just knew when I was away in an adult setting, I wanted to hear about what’s going on in my friends’ lives too and to share what else besides my kid was new with me. I also quickly realized that not everyone is that interested in my kid as much as I am. You know when people stop listening to you. They get that glazed blank stare look and nod subconsciously while they let you blab on and on and on until they are able to make an excuse to get away from you.

And when you lose your single friends, a scary scary thing will happen. You will start hanging around friends with kids who will spend their time comparing  their children to yours, boasting about their kids’ accomplishments and making you feel bad about not being mom enough. Remember Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” and movie and the scenes when the moms were constantly comparing their kids? Yup, scary huh?

There’s no need to feel guilty, but in fact that is the trap that many women fall in after having children — putting their children and everyone else first ahead of their own needs, even the very important need of being childless and carefree even for one evening. They feel bad for leaving the kid in the first place and then perhaps fill that void by yapping about them all evening.

You have your entire life to worry about your kid.

One thing certainly does happen when you become a parent and I have told this to many friends: you will never ever be able to live your life care-freely without worrying about your children — EVER -that is if you have natural parental instincts (not all parents do). I mean even when your kids are adults and married and living on their own, you will always be concerned for their safety and well being and have some part of your mind on them. It comes with the parenting territory.

But  thinking about your kids doesn’t require you sharing your thoughts about them to others who are around you and just trying to unwind and have a good time in an adult setting with no kids.

Just a word to the wise for moms-to-be as they prepare to embark on this wonderful journey that is called motherhood!

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Grab your tissue and Watch Kevin Durant’s NBA MVP Speech dedicated to his mom (VIDEO/TRANSCRIPT

We interrupt this regularly scheduled pregnancy blog to bring you this touching tear-jerking moment from today’s speech from the newly-announced 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City, Thunder.
After winning the honors for the first time and beating out multi-year winner LeBron James, the dynamic forward gave a teary salute to all those who supported him in his life and basketball career.
But when he got to the part about his mom, *sniff*….can barely type through that part and it’s so fitting given that Mother’s Day in the US is this Sunday. 
“When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate, ” he said. “You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”
Here is the part of the video of the speech when he talks about his mom with the full text of the speech below. (h/t Business Insider) Grab your tissues:

TEXT:
“I don’t think you know what you did. You had my brother when you were 18 years old. Three years later I came out. The odds were stacked against him. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old.
“Everybody told us we weren’t supposed to be here. We moved from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I have is when we moved into our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, and we just all sat in the living room and hugged each other because we thought we made it.
“When something good happens to you, I don’t know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. You woke me up in the middle of the night in the summer times. Making me run up a hill. Making me do push-ups. Screaming at me from the sidelines at my games at eight or nine years old.
“We weren’t supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street, put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”

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5 Nationwide Summer Tech Programs for Kids

You cannot turn on your TV or radio these days without learning more about how increased knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) studies and the basics of coding is essential for American children to compete in the global economy. 

But these days, your kid no longer has to wait to college or even high school for them to start learning about this field and acquiring the skills necessary to compete in them. 

There are various coding, computer and technology camps that are around and have been around for quite some time. The top ones are national and offer local courses nationwide for the convenience of parents and students everywhere. Some include overnight camps for those who live too far away from the nearest camp location.

They offer intensive training camps nationwide that teach children and teens video game design, app development, flash animation, programming and editing and more.

The issue is that many of them are expensive and run from $800 and up w

For those living in the Washington, DC area, the  new award-winning high achieving Start Up Middle School at Howard University has partnered up with area tech companies and is having its own tech and STEM camp, the Startup Middle Summer Institute this summer for a competitive price of just $450 per week. And if you use out the BellytichBlog code “JG” at check out you  should get an additional $150 off that price, which makes it a total steal! Hurry because seats are limeted and the session is filling up fast!

For those of you elsewhere, here is a list of the top 4 Coding and Tech Camps for you to consider. 


2.  iD tech camps has locations nationwide and several programs for kids starting at age 7, including some overnight camps for a few extra hundred dollars. iD claims to be the number one tech camp in North America after 12 summers of teaching teens and kids the skills they need to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Dennis Crowley. With a 6:1 camper to counselor ratio, the camp prides itself on having a “NO CIT” policy, meaning instructors are highly skilled industry professionals, graduate students and senior level undergrads. Camps are set up all over the U.S. and Canada at top-level college and university campuses.

ID offers weeklong summer tech camps for kids ages 7 to 17, and two-weeklong “intensive teen academies” with programs broken down by age and skill level. Different camps offer different programs, but there is no shortage of classes to choose from. Teens looking to learn how to develop Facebook and iPhone apps can do just that at the Stanford and MIT camp locations. At almost all the locations, kids ages 7 to 11 can learn basic programming and how to develop interactive story telling while older kids can learn RPG game design and graphic arts.

3. Since 1982, Emagination Computer Camps have offered day and overnight programs for “Kilobytes” ages 8 to 10, “Megabytes” ages 11 to 13, as well as a program for teens in the 8th grade and up. With five locations on college campuses near Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, the camp offers a wide range of diverse tech programs for every skill level.



Campers participate in three tech workshops each day, learning everything from Photoshop to robotics to computer system configuration.  

4. Digital Media Academy operates out of 10 of the top colleges and universities in the U.S. (Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Brown) and UBC in Canada, offering day and overnight programs for children ages 6 to 18. According to DMA, kids are taught by “award-winning filmmakers and artists, master teachers and certified Apple, Adobe and AutoDesk professionals.” All of the camps are “project based meaning your son or daughter completes a real-world project under the guidance of one of our professionals.” What’s more, there are two sets of staff, one for technical instruction and another set for more traditional camp activities and the overnight program. 

Girls at National Computer Camp

5. Founded in 1977, National Computer Camp has four locations: New York, Atlanta, Connecticut and Ohio. While it looks like their website hasn’t been updated in about 10 years, NCC claims to offer the same courses as its flashier competitors (2D and 3D game design, web design, Android app programming, video production, software apps), as well as offering A+ hardware, software and network+ certification, plus PSAT and SAT Math preparation classes, with a lower price tag to boot.

Like all tech camps, it seems there is time for active recreation as well as a sports and tech program with tennis, soccer and baseball during part of the day.  

photo source

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Surrogate Dad and former American Idol finalist Clay Aiken one step closer to being a Congressman

Celebrity surrogate dad and former American Idol finalist Clay Aiken may be moving from Hollywood to DC soon if he wins a seat on the US House of Representatives representing the 2nd congressional district in North Carolina.
At the close of the polls last night, Aiken was in the lead to top the Democratic primary slot and if wins, would go on to campaign against the Republican incumbent. His margin of lead ahead of the former state Commerce secretary Keith Crisco was less than 400 votes out of about 28,000 cast. 
A couple of years ago, Aiken, who is openly gay, agreed to father a child for a friend Jaymes Foster via traditional means of insemination. He came forward with the story and was featured on the covers of weeklies with his new baby and is reportedly still friends with the mom and in his child’s life for support.

Read more reading

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20 websites to help you prepare and celebrate Kindergarten graduation

It’s that time again for many families with young children: Kindergarten Graduation!!!  In preparation, please check out this lit of 20 blogs becomingananny’s compiled to inspire you and your friends with different ways that you can make your children’s kindergarten graduation an exceptional experience.  These blog entries cover the ceremony, how to make the cap, recipes for some tasty graduation treats and of course some gift ideas.
The Ceremony
If you are wondering what kind of ceremony to have for your kindergartener and his classmates, these five blog posts will help you come up with some ideas.  The kids are young, so their attention span isn’t incredibly long. This makes it’s important to keep the ceremony short and to the point.  Many times the ceremony can be held during the school day so as to not add any additional budgetary concerns by having the event at night and requiring additional staff.
The Cap
One of the cutest things you can make for your child to wear on their graduation day is a cap and gown.  Some schools choose to rent the gowns and some own them.  Many schools skip the gowns altogether, but stick with the cap and tassel.  These five blog articles will give you some ideas on how to create caps for the kids to wear that aren’t very expensive.  You can get a group of parents together and make them for every student.
The Treats
It wouldn’t be a celebration without treats.  For food, think of different yummy kid friendly snacks, such as finger foods.  While you are considering what snacks to make, try to come up with some that look like a diploma or graduation cap so that the snacks can tie into the event.  The next five blog posts will give you some tasty ideas to make for your little graduates.  Remember, these treats don’t have to be difficult or expensive to feed the guests at your kindergarten graduation.
The Gift
The graduation gift can be anything from favor bags for all of the graduates to something special from mom and dad to commemorate the day.  These bloggers have ideas for both options.  Whatever the present, make sure you take plenty of pictures of the big day so that you can create a mini brag book or some scrapbook pages to remember this milestone event.  The next five blog entries can help you figure out what gift you want to give the graduate in your life.
One of the best gifts you can give your child is your time.  These blog entries have given you lots of ideas on how to celebrate this milestone in your child’s life, but even if your school doesn’t opt to do a big ceremony you can make the day special for your graduate just by being there.  Remember, before you know it you will be celebrating your child’s high school graduation, so make sure not to miss a minute of this ride of a lifetime.

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