Natalie Portman compares self to whale

Just as Natalie Portman waxes about how unflustered she is about gaining pregnancy weight, at the Golden Globes (side note: did you see her Victor & Rolf gown? AH-MAZING), she says: “I hope I’ll get to lie in bed and eat popcorn and watch TV for the rest of it,” she laughs. “Not always be out in public looking like a whale, but it’s all nice energy that everyone is showing.”

Nat? You were setting such a good example!

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.

Maternity clothes: keep or castaway?

For those of you that have been following BBP for awhile, you already know that much of my passion for pregnancy aside from all of my ranting about 'fat' and bodies is maternity fashion. I can't get enough of it and I love to follow the trends. Nevertheless, while it may appear that women are overwhelmed with choice now when it comes to choosing what to wear, when I was writing my PhD thesis back in 2006, there was almost no academic work being done on the topic. So I'd like to think that I'm a bit of a pioneer ;-) ANYWAY, one of the more fascintating things that I realised was that as I talked to pregnant women I became more interested in was what women did with their pregnancy clothing once they were no longer pregnant. Were the clothes given to a pregnant friend? To a second hand shop? Thrown in the bin? For many of the women in my study, even though they hated a lot of the clothing that they had to wear (maternity jeans are never perfect no matter how expensive or designer they are...), several women said they were hesitant to just get rid of them even if they were not planning on having another baby any time soon or ever. This article by Kate Haas for Salon is excellent because it reminded me so much of some of the themes that came up in my research about maternity clothing when it comes to the circulation of pregnancy clothes between women (mothers and daughters but also girlfriends) and the emotional significance of clothing during pregnancy but also more generally (for example, wedding dresses). Haas recounts having her mother offer up her old maternity clothes and not being interested in them given their preponderance of horrible patterns, ugly buttons and generally unflattering shapes. She doesn't want to wear them but at the same time realises why her mother kept them for so long.

Did you inherit maternity clothes from your mother? Your girlfriends? Did you keep your clothes or did you pass them on? If you kept some of your pregnancy clothes which items did you keep?

Possibly another book mums don't need...

As I have been re-visiting my hometown of Chicago for the last few weeks, I find myself gravitating to my favourite bookstores, the majority of which are now overrun with Alison Sweeney's new tome, The Mommy Diet. Sweeney, host of the The Biggest Loser (US) claims that this book reflects her new found sensitivities surrounding pregnancy weight gain and the pressures to lose baby weight quickly. While I am usually all for positive reading material for new mums when it comes to body image, there are several things that bother me about this book. Firstly, Sweeney (in spite of what are probably good intentions) is inextricably linked with a television show that puts ordinary but very obese individuals through the paces to lose extraordinary amounts of weight in a short period of time. While she acknowledges that this environment led to her own anxiety about losing weight postpartum, I still think that it is difficult for other mums who are inevitably going to read this book to separate her from the context from which she has become famous. Secondly, while Sweeney reiterates that the book is meant to be a book for 'healthy' pregnant and post-pregnant bodies, I find it bizarre that a book that is meant to be about 'health' or mindful eating/exercise has the word 'diet' in the title. Call me crazy, but I think most of us have pretty explicit pictures of what 'diet' means and it usual brings to mind pictures of restrictive eating and lots of exercise in order to lose weight which I think seems to contravene what Sweeney is intending to do with the book. The book is a month-to-month guide to weight loss which, to me, isn't much different than any of the three million other books on the market that purport to be 'different' and all about 'health' when really they are just diet books in disguise. I think the whole premise of the book is hypocritical. Although Sweeney says that she didn't lose her baby weight quickly, nevertheless, she lost it and I think she would be lying if she suggested she didn't have lots of support to do so.

Has anyone out there actually bought the book or have you seen it? What do you think of it?

Portman pounded with pregnancy questions

As all eyes around the world have fixated on Natalie Portman for her dual roles as ballerina in Black Swan and mum-to-be, Portman has been asked endlessly about what she is eating, how she feels about pregnancy and whether she is worried about gaining weight after allegedly losing 20lbs for her role in the movie. I laughed to myself, however, when I read today that Portman is planning to step out of the spotlight after the birth. I wish her the best of luck with that. If the first few months of her pregnancy are any indication and considering that she has four movies coming out in 2011, the chances of Portman having a little privacy are slim to none. She is being a good sport about the interest in her life:

“It’s very positive interactions, I have to say,” Natalie told MTV News of the public knowing about her pregnancy. “The weird thing is … people knowing something that is so private but, I mean, you get used to that. It’s just wild to walk down the street and have a complete stranger be like, ‘Congratulations!’ It’s so nice, but it’s a new experience to have people know that much about your most private things. [But] it’s all good.”

Let's hope so.

BBP resolves to have head no longer in sand

Geez..has it been this long? A new year and a renewed commitment to blogging as my new years resolution. For those of you who have been wondering where I have been, well, I've been traveling around the world on a much needed holiday after a wild and wonderful year of research and teaching.

I have returned to the world of pregnancy to relish in the thought of supermodel Miranda Kerr pushing out a 10lb baby, Kate Hudson carrying the love child of a rockstar, Natalie Portman announcing her pregnancy in the midst of her publicity tour for Black Swan in which she plays a ballerina gone mad and Kelly Preston and John Travolta presenting their new son Benjamin to the world via the most relevant news source, People magazine.

When it comes to parenthood, what are your resolutions for 2011?

TMN Gear Contest

TMN Network Gear Design Contest!! Exciting things coming for 2011, one of the first things will be our gear sale, but first we need an outstanding design by none other than one of our own mommies, who else??

Are you creative? Have a great saying or play on words? Share your ideas with us and your design could be chosen to grace the gear for all 100+ sites in The Mommies Network. E-mail your submission by Jan. 31st to branding@themommiesnetwork.org