Real Housewife reveals all

I must admit that Real Housewives of Atlanta has been my guilty pleasure and the reason I watch the damn show is because I can't get enough of Kim Zolciak with her big hair and bad singing. Anyhow, to get you up to speed, Kim dropped Big Poppa and is now with a new man, football player Kroy Biermann. She's 6 months pregnant and of course, because Kim doesn't do anything small, she has posed for this week's edition of Life & Style in lingerie. Among other things, Kim says she's eating more than she has in her previous pregnancies and that she feels 'more in touch with her body now', whatever that means.

Blossom preaches on parenting

Oh, you know it's a good day when you get to talk about Blossom (aka Mayim Bialik) in a post. As quite possibly one of the foremost fashion influences in my life when I was 13, Bialik (now with a PhD in neuroscience, 2 kids, a revived acting career and voice of 'attachement parenting') has a new role as 'mommy blogger' (gag!) for Today (US), the breakfast 'news' (who are they kidding) show.

In her first post, Bialik has managed to press a few buttons with her writing about a typical day in her life as a parent. Now, whilst Bialik has been something of a postergirl for attachment parenting and natural childbirth, in this post she claims that she isn't in to labels and just does what feels right to her (even though she has referred to herself as living in an attachment parenting household before). Fair enough.

According to the actress, "This is not some fandangled new Hollywood trend. We parent the way people have parented for hundreds of thousands of years. So hang on to your hats and prepare for a view into my household."

What annoys me, however, is that following her abhorrence for being labelled, she then provides a laundry list of several things that she and her husband do regularly as part of their parenting (for example, co-sleeping, extending breastfeeding, baby wearing, 'gentle disipline'). Now, if she doesn't want to refer to these actions as 'attachment parenting', I'm not sure what else you would categorise them as. Instead of discussing why she thinks what she does works best for her family, there is a tone of self-righteousness in her descriptions.

For example, "Natural birth is not something to “try for” and feel bad you couldn’t do. Our country needs to step up to the plate in educating women about the benefits of natural birth, and we need to help women actually do it – not just hear about it." Okay, well if she is trying to say that women shouldn't feel badly about themselves if they are not able to have a natural birth, it doesn't make sense then to append that with a statement implying that women should be having natural births because they are better.

If Bialik is aware of all of the stereotypes of attachement parents (" I know what you’re thinking: AP parents are self-righteous, privileged, over-psychoanalyzed martyrs who (especially if they are celebrities) pretend to have the time, energy, patience and abundant love to be with their kids all the time without giving them any limits, boundaries or sense of independence.") then perhaps she should change people's minds about AP, live up to the label and be proud of it, rather than playing in to those very same stereotypes in her mightier-than-thou attitude to parenthood and, out of fear, refusing to identify with a community of parents who practice what you preach.

Nicole Kidman has new baby

In a surprise to the world, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban revealed that they have welcomed the arrival of their new daughter, Faith Margaret through a surrogate in the US. While surrogacy is a fairly standard procedure among couples in the US and abroad, Kidman and Urban have sparked controversy by referring to their surrogate by the technical term, 'gestational carrier'.

"It all sounds like terms from a lawyer-drafted contract -- ghastly," one person tweeted.

That Kidman and Urban most likely paid the surrogate is also the source of debate. While the couple say that they went to the US for the surrogacy because they can fly under the radar more easily as a celebrity couple, it is well known that surrogacy for payment over basic costs is illegal in Australia.

I would guess that Nicole Kidman using the technical term because it helps her to distance herself and her new baby from the birth mother: She clearly wants to be known as the 'mother', whereas the surrogate is just the womb.

Miranda Kerr: first photo

How gorgeous is Miranda Kerr and her new bub? Miranda recently posted this beautiful photo on her blog that she is enjoying motherhood and that her natural birth was no cake walk.

"On the 6th of January I gave birth to our beautiful little son Flynn. He weighed 9lb 12 ounces (a very healthy and big baby boy). I gave birth to him naturally; without any pain medication and it was a long, arduous and difficult labour, but Orlando was with me the whole time supporting and guiding me through it. I could not have done it without him."

I love that she has chosen to be honest and say that natural birth is beautiful but it's not easy....AND she's showing the world that she is breastfeeding!

Gwyneth Paltrow needs dose of reality

Once again Gwyneth Paltrow confirms just how out of touch with reality she really is. In response to a GOOP reader's query about combining a successful career with motherhood, Paltrow's answer is simple: a $2,300 coffeemaker, a personal trainer, and an assistant.

Jessica Alba loves...and then hates...the ways she looks post-baby

Jessica Alba has revealed to GQ that she loves her post-baby body: “My breasts are saggy, I’ve got cellulite, my hips are bigger, but I love it.” In the same breath, however, she then says “Every actress out there is more beautiful than me. All better looking than me. I’ve seen them without makeup, so I know.”

*Sigh*

Bethenny Frankel: the ultimate post-baby 'skinny girl'

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt: 'gender bending' debacle

This is outrageous. We have definitely gone to the bad place if it is now appropriate 1) to make 3 year old children the subject of tabloids and 2) to attack 3 year old children publicly who have no means of understanding or responding to the things that are being written about them. If anything we should all be applauding Shiloh for her desire to look different than most girls her age (*cough* *cough* Suri Cruise).

"Shiloh is pushing the boundaries of a tomboy look and crossing over to cross-dresser territory," Alana Kelen, senior fashion stylist at VH1, tells Life & Style. Celebrity stylist Gili Rashal-Niv agrees. "I get that times are tough but does Angie really need to have Shiloh sharing clothes with her brothers? Hopefully we won't be seeing Maddox in one of Shiloh's dresses any time soon."

Cross-dressing? Are you f-ing kidding me?! What pisses me off even more is that Angelina is being blamed for her wardrobe. Anyone with a 3 year old knows, children are more than capable of choosing their own clothes at that age and most parents also know that it is almost impossible to force a 3 year old child to wear something that they don't want to wear.

Life and Style you should be bloody ashamed of yourselves.

Kendra does Ok! (again), debuts post-baby bod

Okay so I have a few things to say:

1) Surprise, surprise. Kendra is on the cover of Ok! again. I think she must be on contract with them.

2) ALLEGEDLY, she's lost 25lbs in 8 wks (that is, she gave birth 8 WEEKS AGO) after gaining 55lbs during her pregnancy AND having a caesarean.

How has she done it?

Kendra says she’s doing “45 minutes of hardcore training and weightlifting” followed by running and walking on a treadmill until she’s tired.

How has she really done it?
Crash dieting and ridiculous eating regimens (or perhaps by eating regimens I should say not-eating regimens). Everyone knows that you're supposed to wait about 6 wks post-caesar before exercising, which she clearly hasn't done. And hello? What about breastfeeding? If in fact, she is breastfeeding, losing that much weight so quickly can't be good.

Is anyone else sick of this? FOR REALS. I haven't even had a flipping baby and already I'm feeling the pressure.

Duggars need to invest in the Pill

So this week in People, the Duggars are back and talking about the 'emotional' birth of their 19th child (as I type this, my heart stops for a minute...NINETEENTH CHILD! O.M.G.). Born at just 25 weeks, this latest addition, Josie, was so premature she now is suffering from a cascade of health problems.

What kills me is that in spite of the fact that this little baby has been teetering on the brink of death and considering Michelle herself suffered from preeclampsia in this pregnancy, the Duggars are still going on about how Josie isn't necessarily going to be their last child. According to People:

"[The Duggars] remain committed to their belief that "each child is a gift from God" and are open to having more. Michelle knows how their position is likely to be viewed, particularly following Josie's arrival. "When I say we would love more children, we open ourselves up for attack," she admits.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Aside from the fact that having 19 children is insane (I'm sorry, it is. End of story). All of the stories written about her bang on about her being a 'miracle baby' yet no one has even bother to question the mental health of a couple who would potentially risk the life of another child in this way. I mean how selfish can you be? And while all of us are reeling and even a little giddy with the prospect of the Duggars becoming parents to a 20th, no one seems to even care about the fact that Baby Josie is barely hanging on to life in a bad way.

19 children = EPIC FAIL.

Tips for young players

Gisele Bundchen: if you're out there, read this.

Seriously, you've been a mum for 5 minutes. Just because your birth was 'painless' and you supposedly didn't gain any weight during your pregnancy and your baby is a 'little angel' doesn't mean you have to be so smug. We know you're a supermodel, you have shiny hair and you get paid to put your clothes on (and ironically, more often to take them off).

Motherhood is not a competition.

Kourtney Kardashian: Motherhood is totally hard

For someone who is famous only for having a marginally famous father, Kourtney Kardashian has sure been making the tabloid rounds blabbing about how much she loves being pregnant.

"I'm totally excited to gain weight, and I'm embracing it," she tells Life & Style. "I run around naked all day at home! I like that my body is changing. It's a beautiful thing." I suppose that I should be happy that Kourt is 'embracing' her preggo bod but nothing about her seems particularly genuine and it seems like this baby is more of a publicity grab than anything.

This is my favourite part of the article:

"Scott (her partner) and I have been going to different parenting classes," Kourtney tells Life & Style. "They made me nervous at first, putting all kinds of information into my head, but they're helpful. They're a fun thing for Scott and me to do together."

God forbid information gets into your pretty little head, Kourt.

Jenna Jameson is not just a porn star.

You have been warned. Oh and she wants you to know that she's not just a porn star.

Bec Hewitt bounces back

Bec Hewitt (wife of Lleyton Hewitt, tennis player) is upheld as the best in body after baby in the last issue of Ok! Australia . What enrages me the most about the article is not necessarily that some editor deemed Bec Hewitt, quite possibly the most uninteresting 'celebrity' ever, but that the magazine suggests that Bec has 'bounce back secrets' which upon reading said 'secrets' are really just weight loss as a consequence of being a busy mother of two children. In fact, when I was reading the article, it made me think of Miranda in SATC in the episode in season 6 where she fits back into her 'skinny jeans'. When the other gals ask her how she did it, she says that she had a baby and no longer had any time to eat. While Ok! seems to pitch Bec's eating/exercise as some kind of 'regimen', in fact, what Bec has done to lose her baby weight is eat healthfully and exercise moderately when she has the time and from appearances, it seems that she is fairly fully occupied with her children. She note that she has some kind of fancy trainer. Whether this admission (or perhaps lack thereof) plays right into the fancy of celebrity motherhood as easy and worry-free is up for debate but what also got me thinking was that her husband's role was pretty much non-existent in her quest to reclaim her body. She mentioned that her brother looked after the kids when she wanted to exercise but the the affective work of caregiving was primarily her own. Mr. Tennis rarely got a mention.

Friday news you can use

I have my finger on the pulse so you don't have to:

Katherine Heigl has a new baby girl she adopted from Korea

Nicole Richie has been spotted kicking around Bev Hills minus her new little bird, looking remarkably svelte just one week post-birth

Jenna Elfman is pregnant with her second in real life and on her show.

Halle Berry is allegedly covering up her second bump...

Danger: Exploding thighs!

Heidi Klum opens up to Page Six about her pregnant body, saying the last month is the worst:

"The last month is unbelievable, how rapidly your stomach goes. It's huge. The thighs, the butt -- everything explodes in the end."

"It's bizarre. Just as it's a miracle that you can grow a human being in your belly, it's a miracle that your body goes back to normal again," she says. "I don't think you ever get back to exactly the way you were, but you do get close. And I'm happy with that. Especially when you see your kid for the first time."

And of course, Heidi isn't worried about regaining her pre-baby body.

The (Pregnant) Body Issue

To raise awareness for National Body Image Week, stars of all sizes celebrate their beautiful bodies by posing in their smalls for the latest issue of Who (on newsstands today), including former TV personality Toni Pearen, now 5.5 months pregnant.

"I've had all-day sickness and all-night sickness but when I get over all the difficulties it is an absolute miracle," Pearen says.

Nice to see pregnancy featured but perhaps a more realistic view would have been more progressive or would speak to the importance of body image on a deeper level. It kind of annoys me that we are supposed to feel really happy that magazines take the time to feature bodies of 'all shapes and sizes' but in reality, these are still celebrity bodies and Pearen is totally glammed up. I mean, seriously, Pearen admits she doesn't wake up in the morning feeling fantastic so it seems kind of strange to position her a la Demi Moore as though pregnancy hasn't changed the way she thinks about her body. And why does she have to be practically naked to be proud of being pregnant? How much do you want to bet she spent the last few weeks agonising over the photo shoot, ensuring her bump looked perfect? And how much photoshopping went into the final result?

ANNOYING.

Milla J shows off her post-baby bod for Maxim

Hello, Milla.

Twenty months on from giving birth to her first daughter, Ever Gabo, Milla J is stripping off for this month's issue of Maxim. According to the model/actress:

"Look, I do Vogue, OK? I'm not doing this [photo spread] to advertise a designer; I had a little girl recently, and I'm doing this to show my post-baby body!"

"Lingerie and a sheet were all I needed," she goes on. "I know it's all about my body. I want to give readers exactly what they want, and they want to see me."

Um, okay. I'm glad she has a healthy ego.....

Anyway, if you remember Milla gained 70lbs during her pregnancy so the transformation is pretty unbelievable.

Angie's milk bar creepily immortalised

Straight from the man who brought you a sculpture of Britney Spears sprawled out on a rug on all fours giving birth to Sean Preston while holding a lion's head and Suri Cruises' bronzed baby poop, New York-based artist Daniel Edwards has decided to commemorate Angelina Jolie's tandem feeding in bronze based on her W magazine breastfeeding cover from last year.

The piece is called 'Landmark for Breastfeeding' and is meant to sit on a park bench. Edwards has depicted one of the babies to be of African descent in light of Brangelina's adoption efforts and humanitarian work.

"Hopefully, my sculpture inspires an increase of wetnurses to assist women who have concerns about mastitis, or passing HIV to their infant," he says of his vision for the creation.

Very deep. *rolls eyes*

Jenna Jameson: back in the buff

Porn queen Jenna Jameson is reclaiming the naked crown 4 months on from birthing her twins. On the same day that she shot this ad for PETA, she was also shooting a new spread for Playboy. She credits her strict vegetarian diet , “healthy” relationship and paddle-boarding for her quick bounce back. Yowza.