Strollerderby : mother

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 29th

Whit Honea — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Mike Tyson's 4-Year-Old Daughter Dies

Madonna Dishes on A-Rod and Kate Hudson

Confirmed - Gisele is Pregnant With Tom Brady's Baby!

Nicole Richie, Dad Lionel & Daughter Harlow (PHOTOS)

Sneak Peek! Jon & Kate Plus 8 Season Premiere

Kelly Rutherford, Lies and Videotape

Amy Mickelson's Breast Cancer Battle

Michelle Williams and Daughter Matilda Support Their Local Coffee House

Angelina Jolie: Madonna Adopts For Fame

Jon & Kate - Who Are The Kids Happier With? (Photos)

Slumdog Kids Finally Get A Home!

Brian Grazer's Prenup Still Makes Wife Rich

Mom Arrested for Having 555 Pound Son

Brett Singer — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT

This story is not to be confused with the one Madeline brought us, about the 550 pound woman who gave birth recently.

14-year-old Alexander Deundray Draper of South Carolina had been on the run with his mother, Jerri Althea Gray. Gray had been told by a family court judge to turn her son over to the state because they determined that he "was of the weight where it was decided by medical authorities that he needed treatment that was not being provided for by his mother."

That weight is 555 pounds.

According to CNN, the mother did not appear in court as ordered, "and has concealed the child."

It's one thing to be a little on the chunky side. But when your child is this heavy, clearly some enabling is going on. Barring some bizarre medical condition I'm unaware of, it doesn't seem possible for someone to reach 555 pounds at any age, much less 14, without a diet of nothing but unhealthy food. Hopefully everyone involved in this case will get the help that they need.

Source: CNN

550-Pound Woman Gives Birth

Baby Asleep On Dad's Head

Hit Her Cat, She'll Hit Your Kid

Morning News - Mike Tyson's Daughter Injured

Dad Charges Daughter With Grand Theft Auto

OctoMom's Kid - Bite Mark And Black Eye

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 22nd

Whit Honea — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Gosselins are Good for a Gander

Katie Holmes Sets a Bad Example For Suri

Mormon Marie Osmond Supports Her Gay Daughter!

Stars Come Out For American Idol Finale: Brad Garrett and Kids Max and Hope

Barbara Walters To Interview John Edwards' Mistress Rielle Hunter!?

Bristol Palin and Son Tripp Cover People

Angelina Catches Brad and Jen Aniston Together!

Kate Gosselin Blogs Her Troubles Away

Matt Damon: Bourne to Be a Dad

Pregnant Lauren London & Lil Wayne Will Raise Baby Together!!!

Kelly Clarkson Looks Like She's Pregnant!

Caption This, Julia Roberts (or Don't)

Hey Look! Mom Is On The Net!

Brett Singer — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

In various outlets (OK, mostly just VH1) people express their nostalgia for the 90's.

But music and movies aren't the only thing from the Whatever Decade (I just made that up) to get all misty-eyed about. There's also the commercials. Like this one.

It's not clear what is being advertised. But one thing's for sure -- these moms know all about technology!

You have to hang in there until the end of the video, when some random long-haired guy arrives. Just trust me on this one.

Source: Buzzfeed Via Everything Is Terrible (Or maybe it's the other way around. I get confused by all this WWW Dot Com Stuff.)

A Really Graphic Homebirth

We're Not Judging You, Pinky Swear

Did This Woman Commit Suicide Because She Couldn't Breastfeed?

10 Year Old Burned By Tanning Bed

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 15th

Whit Honea — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Tom Cruise Pressuring Katie For Another Baby?

Dirk Nowitzki's Fiance Arrested?

Comedian Wanda Sykes & Wife Alex Welcome Twins!

Jada Pinkett Smith a Lesbian?

Julie Bowen Welcomes Twin Boys

Mary Stuart Masterson Has Reason to Smile!

Manny Ramirez Busted!

Chyler Leigh Welcomes Daughter Anniston

Sean Penn Still Dating Natalie Portman, Robin is Pissed!

Kate Gosselin's Heartbreak: Jon & I May Separate

Look, Look, It's Another Octomom Story

Jon Gosselin Shelled Out Big Bucks To Buy Mistress Presents

When Mommy Becomes Mom

JeanneSager — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:04:00 GMT

I never thought I'd be that sappy kind of mother. You know the type. She buries her face in old onesies when she finds them at the bottom of the closet and doesn't come up coughing from the scent of mold growing on super-old spit-up stains.

OK, I'm NOT that kind of mother.

But I am the kind who hates being called "Mom." I prefer "Mommy," thank you very much.

I just realized it recently, when my three- (almost four-) year-old stopped, looked at me and said "Moooom" in a voice that sounded almost teenaged. No, I decided, Mom is not for me. At least not yet.

As long as she is still saying "Mommy," we are pre-pre-menstraul, pre-pull that skirt down so it covers SOMETHING and pre- Lady, you may have been on earth for several decades, but you know nothing about life.

My colleague Madeline laid out the Mom, Mommy, Mama, Mother and all their male alternatives discussion last week, but I realized there isn't just one in most families. If yours is anything like mine, you went through at least two names for your parents, maybe three or four.

I'm still on the first name, and I'd like it to last a good bit longer. Call it a little girl desperate to grow up and a mommy desperately trying to hold on to time.

Image: Amazon

Classic Mother Songs For Mother's Day

Brett Singer — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:00:00 GMT

There are lots of songs about moms, some with "mother" in the title. "Mother" by Pink Floyd, for example. But that song isn't really about mom.

However, "M-O-T-H-E-R", written by Theodore Morse and Howard Johnson in 1915, certainly is.

M is for the million things she gave me.
O means only that she’s growing old.
T is for the tears were shed to save me.
H is for her heart of purest gold.
E is for her eyes, with love light shining.
R means right, and right she’ll always be.

And what about the Charles Coleman classic from 1914, "Your Mother Is Your Best Friend After All"? ("When your days are dark and drear-y / Moth-er does not grow wea-ry...")

Unless you have a fondness for early 20th Century tunage, or happen to be very, very old, you probably aren't familiar with these musical portraits of momhood. Lucas Gonze, an accomplished musician and computer programmer, wants to change that by transcribing and recording these songs so that current and future generations can enjoy and play them.

Lucas posts both music that he discovers as well as his own renditions of public domain work on his site SoupGreens.com. A few months ago I noticed that he was working on a series of "mother songs", and Mother's Day seemed like the perfect time to share them with you. Here is an interview I did with Lucas via email, followed by links to the music, all of which can be downloaded, legally, for free.

Q: Why did you decide to do mother songs?
A: Mother songs are a lost genre sitting right under our noses. I had no idea they even existed, but there's a ton of them. And they're a cool idea because they go in the opposite direction of things like gangster rap and death metal. What could be less derivative than songs about how you should pay more attention to your mother? This genre is so over the top shameless about sentimentality that it's practically clawing at you, which is so out of style that it's original.
And I like the way that the primal emotional charge of motherhood draws you into a song. It's dynamic.
Also, I almost never do anything good for mother's day. So I'm hoping to not have to hear about how my brother, who is a total ass kisser, is a better son than me. Once in a while I'll send flowers via the internet but usually I just call my mom at the last minute, right at the end of the day when my guilt is bad enough that I have to do *something* or hear about it for the rest of the year.

Q: Why are you using old songs in the public domain?
A: I go back all the way to historical songs because copyright on compositions more recent than 1920 basically never expires, and doing a cover of a song under copyright means you owe seven cents every time somebody downloads it.

Q: Where do you find the tunes?
A: I learn them from early recordings or sheet music. In this case I transcribed a 1929 hillbilly recording and cross referenced it against a 1904 wax cylinder and an 1893 lyric sheet.

Q: Where do you find the sheet music or (gulp) wax cylinders?
A: It's a scavenger hunt all over the internet. In this case the cylinder was on archive.org, the lyric sheet was in a library folklore collection for researchers, and the 1929 recording was on a commercial CD.

Links:
Three mother songs on SoupGreens, via the Internet Archive:

Your mother wants you home, lad, by Robert Price (recorded on 78 RPM)
Snyder, does your mother know you're out? (1899, Performed by: George P. Watson, recorded on wax cylinder)
Blind Willie Johnson-Mother's Children Have A Hard Time (December 3, 1927, recorded on 78 RPM)

Another mom song can be found here: I’m Taking Care Of Mother (While Daddy’s Gone Away) by The Light Crust Dough Boys

Here is Lucas performing "A Widow’s Plea For Her Son" from 1893.

Lucas also links to a big page of mother songs at ParlorSongs.org.

This is just a small sample, of course. If you have any mother songs that you love, old or new, let us know in the comments.

And I almost forgot -- Happy Mother's Day!

Image: ParlorSongs.org

Hey Look! Mom Is On The Net!

Happy Mother's Day Cute Shots

Kitchenista: The Mother's Day Breakfast I Really Want

The Chubbiest Cheeks You Will Ever See

7 Mother's Day Gift Pitfalls

Nine Year Olds Performing Journey Song

10 Year Old Author Alec Greven Is Back

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 8th

Whit Honea — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Julia Roberts Shows Her Bikini Bod & Tattoo In Honor Of Her Kids (PHOTOS)

Jon & Kate - Jon Is Cheating -It's Been Confirmed - Photos

Elizabeth Edwards Has "No Idea" If John's The Baby Daddy

Jon Gosselin Tells EW Exclusively "I Did NOT Cheat!"

I'm Following You, Nicole Richie

Pregnant Heidi Klum Naked on Ellen - Video

Mary Stuart Masterson Has Reason to Smile!

'Idol' Winner David Cook Announces his Brother's Passing at 5K Race (VIDEO)

Matthew Fox Prepares to get UnLost with Family

Jenny McCarthy To Get Her Own Talk Show?

Ed Burns and Christy Turlington Are Not Selfish

Kate Gosselin To Address Rumors About Jon?

Are You Mom, Mommy or Mother?

Madeline Holler — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:28:00 GMT

Long story, but I was reading an email from Ann Coulter the other day. In it, she was mourning the death of her mom, whom she referred to as "Mother." She also brought up her dad, or as she put it, "Father." Of course I thought, "Sure, that sounds about right." This hate-mongering, sexist xenophobe with obvious attachment issues had to have been raised in an emotionally cold home, one in which the parents were referred to in the distancing and overly formal monikers: Mother and Father.

Ahhh, but my colleagues here corrected me. More than one of us at Strollerderby calls the parentals "Mother" or "Father." There's also a prevalent Mother and Daddy combo, which, we all figured, comes from somewhere in the South.

So now I'm wondering what other people call their moms and dads. And what our kids call us.

In my white-bread Midwestern upbringing, most friends used "Mom" and "Dad," except those who spoke a language besides English at home -- and even some of them went with Mom and Dad anyway.

My own kids call me "Mom" or "Mommy" (or when they're getting all snuggly/manipulative "Mama") and their father "Daddy" (though lately the 8-year-old has been employing the oh, so mature version "Dad.")

What do you call your parents? What do your kids call you? Did you tell them what to call you or did it just happen? There's nothing sadder than a mother trying to get her kids to call their father "Papa," but they'll only use "Dad." Has it happened to you?

How to Pick the Perfect Name for Siblings

Can We Talk About the Word "Panties"?

Photo: theodoresworld.com

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 1st

Whit Honea — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Details Revealed About SJP Twins: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Is Her Surrogate!

Rosie O'Donnell's Marital Spat Gets Twittered By Neighbor

BREAKING: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Expecting Twins!

Gavin Rossdale Had A Secret Romance?

Portraits of the Artists as Young Men - Before They Were Famous

Wolverine Goes to Disneyland

Sarah Jessica Parker - Baby Bump On Display

Patton Oswalt Welcomes a Baby Girl

Brangelina Started Because Jennifer Aniston Is A Secret Lesbian?

Jennifer Aniston Adopting A Boy!

Iowa Mulling Same Sex Birth Certificates?

JeanneSager — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:32:00 GMT

Same sex marriage is finally legal in Iowa, so what's next? Recognizing their right to parent as same sex partners.

Iowa is debating whether to strike the traditional "Mother" and "Father" listings on children's birth certificates so same sex couples can simply be parents.

Currently, Iowa law states that the woman who gives birth to a child is listed on the certificate as "mother." If she's married, the law states her husband is to be listed as father. So what if a mother is married . . . to another mother?

Other states have faced this battle - and nothing has been rectified. Massachusetts parents still face the "mother" and "father" lines on birth certificates, and town clerks have been told the "X" out the inappropriate gender title rather than having official forms printed up. Those parents say they've encountered trouble obtaining passports and other official documents for their kids because the birth certificates look doctored. Even parents who have more legal-looking certificates - including same sex adoptive couples who both appear as mother or father on their kids' birth certificates, encounter a hiccup at the federal level. As one lesbian mom explained, "The feds don't care if you're two moms or two dads, but the application still says father and mother."

So it's a Pyrrhic victory; the feds OK the passport, but force a mom to become a dad or vice versa.

If Iowa can make this leap, it may well be as large a coup as the passage of the same sex marriage act. Not only will gays and lesbians be afforded the right to marry who they please but to finally name their spouses as parents of their kids - without an adoption process and without requiring a gendered title that does not fit.

Come on Iowa!

Boy Calls 911 to Report a Missing Mother

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

A six-year-old boy displayed far more common sense than his mother after he woke up in the middle of the night and discovered that his mom was gone. After wandering through the house looking for her, he went out to the garage and saw that her car was missing. That’s when he called 911.

When deputies arrived at around 2 a.m., the scared boy was standing in the garage with his four-year-old sister. Their mother, 23-year-old Megan Rene Hester, returned home soon thereafter, having been away from the house for at least half an hour. She told police that she had simply run to the convenience store to buy gasoline while her kids were sleeping.

Because her house was clean and her children appeared to be healthy, police did not file charges against the woman. They notified the State Attorney’s office and child welfare workers of the situation, leaving it up to these parties to take action if they felt it was necessary to do so.

I’m certainly glad that a traumatic situation for these young kids was not made worse by having to watch their mother get arrested, but I do hope child welfare agents take this case seriously. If the boy hadn’t remained so calm and resourceful, this could have been a far worse situation for everyone involved.

Do you think the mother should have been charged with child endangerment?

Photo: Smart Kids Publishing

Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 24th

Whit Honea — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

David Beckham's Victoria Tattoo Is Misspelled

David Kellerman -CFO Of Freddie Mac Commits Suicide

Photos Don't Lie: Angelina & Brad Did THIS

In Which Tom Cruise and John Travolta Will Ruin Movies for Our Children and Our Children's Children

Geri Halliwell Reveals Her Dark Past

Guess the Baby Bump!

Celebrity Guess Who: Name the Mom Edition

CBS' Julie Chen Pregnant!

Octomom Nadya Suleman is Ready to Add to The Family, AAACK!

Madonna's Ex-Chef: She's A Self-Centered Mother

Mom, That Cuts! No, Really

JeanneSager — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:26:00 GMT

Here's a way to guarantee your kids will only say I love you from the other side of bulletproof glass: pull a butcher knife on them.

It's what a Florida mom booked on child abuse charges is said to have done.

Natasha Brinkley's kids came home from a friend's house exhausted, and not up to answering her questions. She supposedly threatened to leave, saying no one loved Mommy, and got angry that the kids wouldn't respond that they DID love her. That's when the kids' dad says she started screaming and cursing, and he told the kids to leave the room. He alleges Brinkley threw a small glass table at the kids as they left the room, and when they turned to comfort her, she pulled out the butcher knife.

Clearly this is a problem parent (at least one who needs to steer clear of sharp objects), but have you ever gotten to the point where you felt like your kids were taking you for granted, and all it would take to clear it up was a "hey, Mommy, I love you"? I try to hold firm on punishments for my daughter, but I've got to tell you, I melt at an "I love you."

Image: Amazon

Save Your Money: Don't Get Mom a Card

JeanneSager — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:27:00 GMT

I was hardly surprised to hear spending for Mother's Day is expected to be way down this year. Hellllo, it's called a recession.

But I've got to tell you, news that eighty-five percent of Americans will still be cashing in on a card leaves me kind of disappointed in humanity. Because if you REALLY want to save money on us this year, you can skip the card.

The folks at Hallmark and Bouton's have done a bang up job of convincing us we need them (hence the derisively-dubbed "Hallmark holidays"), but do any of us NEED an extra piece of cardstock to sit in that growing pile of mail on the corner table?

But it's the sentiment inside, you say? Yup, a card tells someone you cared enough to go out and spend $4.99 on a picture of two polar bears kissing. The polar bears are cute, but the real "sentiment" comes through in the fact that someone sent one, right? So why not just send an old-fashioned letter, on plain white ruled paper? You don't have to say much. Maybe a "Hey ma, I love you," or a "Thanks for being my mommy." If you want to wax poetic, be my guest, but you won't have to loop your letters around a big goofy sparkly heart on plain old notebook paper.

Since I already sound like the grinch who stole Mother's Day, I'm not exactly crying over the news that electronics purchases for Mom are expected to dip by twenty-nine percent this year. Nothing says "I love you" like getting Mom a cell phone . . . which she now has to pay for montly. And clothing purchases are dipping by twelve percent? Goodie, no more freaky appliqued sweaters that little kids insist Mom is going to love.

Sure, it's the thought that counts, but I've got tell you, I'm still a sucker for the little handprints and the hand-picked daisies. I'd rather they save their money for something they want - and that he save it for groceries.

What about you, Moms, think Mother's Day should still be getting top billing this year?

Image: NBC

Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 17th

Whit Honea — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Pete Wentz Posts Photos Of Baby Bronx's Nursery

I was Right - Heidi Klum is Pregnant

THIS Photo Is Why Joel Madden Loves Nicole Richie!

Controversy City Continues: Levi Johnston Dishes More About Palins

Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady and 'Their Son' On the Beach

There Is a God: Leaked Nude Pictures of Hugh Jackman! (PHOTOS)

Farrah Fawcett Near Death?

Suspect Arrested in Killing of 8-Year-Old Sandra Cantu

Hugh Laurie Says "My Children are Perfect"

Mel Gibson's Wife Files For Divorce (PHOTOS)

Tragedy Strikes Katie Holmes and Family

Jamie Foxx Trashes Miley Cyrus On His Radio Show

Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 10th

Whit Honea — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Uncle Jimmy Fallon Uses Twitter to Fight Slight

Jon & Kate Plus 8 - Was Jon Given A Sports Car For Another Season?

Tennis Pro Lindsay Davenport Hoping for a Tomboy

Gwyneth Paltrow: Shampoo Is Harming Our Kids

Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady and 'Their Son' On the Beach

Pete Wentz Plays With Strippers, Sends Ashlee Home With Bronx

Spike Jonze Has Potty Training On The Brain: Everyone Poops Video

Sarah Michelle Gellar is Pregnant

Update: Jon & Kate Gosselin Talk About Their Marriage Rumors!

Controversy City Continues: Levi Johnston Dishes More About Palins

Octomom - I'll Never Take Government Assistance, Oops I Lied!

Nicole and Joel's Spur of the Moment Wedding Ruined by Zac Efron's Family - Video!

Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 3rd

Whit Honea — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Tori Spelling's Weight Drops To 98 LBS (PHOTOS)

Exclusive - Jon & Kate Plus 8 to Battle Nadya Suleman and the Octuplets on Dancing With the Stars

Jenny McCarthy Weighed 200 Pounds?

Jennifer Garner Needs To Take Care Of Herself

First Photo of Octomom With Six of Her Octuplets

Carson Daly Strolls with Son

Alison Sweeney's Post-Baby Body

American Idol's Alexis Grace Comes Home to Daughter

What Did David Spade Do On American Idol? (VIDEO)

Anna Nicole Smith's Father Blames Howard Stern

When a Mother Goes Bald

JeanneSager — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:01:00 GMT

I've spent the last month and a half knocking down doors trying to convince a lot of broke people to give me money so I could shave my head.

Even in a bad economy, I hit my small goal of $1,000 raised for the St. Baldrick's Foundation - so you can all laugh at my very bald head.

Ready for it?

Yes, that's me, bald. My head got stuck on my pillow Saturday night, and I can officially clean out from under my nails just by rubbing my fingers across my scalp, but it was worth it.

I'm a hero for kids with cancer. Everyone who shaved their heads during this St. Baldrick's season is a hero. So is everyone who pulled out their wallets and gave - whether it was $1 or $1,00.

In many ways, the smaller amounts meant all that much more - because they came from people I knew were struggling this year. As one fellow shavee told me at a firehouse last week where twenty firemen came together like a true band of brothers and shaved their heads - "people still believe in a good cause."

I walked down the line among men who get out of bed in the middle of the night to rush out in their turnout gear and run into burning buildings, men who are used to ragging on the reporter just because they can, and they were shy, quiet. "Anything for the kids," they admitted. I nodded. "No, anything," one man said, looking me straight in the eye.

Most of us will do anything for their kids. But kids overall? I have to shave my head every year - not because my daughter has cancer (thank goodness) - but because I can't look a sick child in the eyes and not see my daughter standing there. I can't hear the story of a child stricken with a leptomenengial tumor at three and not think, Oh my God, my daughter is only three. I can't turn off the mother in me when I hear about children's cancer.

There are hundreds of other charities - worthy charities - but I'm a parent. So I pick this one. And every year, for as long as I'm still growing hair, I'll give it up, hoping that some day, one day, that $2, $25, $100 I talked out of someone, will change another parent's world.

Want to donate on someone's head? Check out the St. Baldrick's Foundation website and see if anyone you know shaved their head this year.

What You Look Like After Triplets

JeanneSager — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:01:00 GMT

This mom is BRAVE. And totally awesome.

A mom allowed herself to be photographed throughout the weeks of her pregnancy with triplets. Then she jumped forward to three months after delivery and struck the same pose - shirt pulled up to just below the boobs and everything hanging out.

Wow. The stretch marks are scary, but honestly, they're what to be expected for normal women who get stretchmarks (because, I'm sorry, but I have some intense loathing going on for you "Oh, I didn't get a mark" women - I fart in your general direction) and one carrying three babies at that. But look at that tummy tone! Go mama!

I love these kinds of pictures, honestly, because they remind me that my tummy will never be toned again . . . and that's OK. I don't need to look like Angelina, and my husband doesn't think I need to look like Angelina.

Because the picture at the very end of the long series of triplet pics says it all - it's the three "sweet peas" (her words) she got out of it all. Yeah, totally worth it.

Click here to see the entire series.

Image: ShapeofaMother

Best of FameCrawler - Week of March 20th

Whit Honea — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Natasha Richardson - The Sad Story

Katie Holmes is Pregnant!

Remembering Natasha Richardson (Photos)

Watchmen's Patrick Wilson and Wife Expecting Second Child

Update: Natasha Richardson Declared Brain Dead and Taken Off Life Support

Natasha Richardson: One Last Faint Hope?

Octomom- Welcome To The Neighborhood, Now Get Out

Jade Goody's Obituary Already Published?

Natasha Richardson Funeral, Celebrities React To Her Death

Is Martin Lawrence Dead?

Natasha Richardson Dead

The New Pregnancy Test: Your Dog

JeanneSager — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:34:00 GMT

So you missed the sore boobs and the growing tummy? Maybe forgot about that missing period?

If nothing else, your dog getting awfully chummy all of a sudden might clue you in - you're pregnant.

There's been no scientific proof that dogs can sniff out a pregnancy - just a ton of circumstantial evidence. Take Peter Huoppi, who just wrote a column over at The Day about his pooch Remy's transformation to "Velcro dog," attached very suddenly to his wife, Jen. Three weeks after Remy couldn't keep the paws off of her, Jen found out she was pregnant. Or the series of mothers talking about this subject last month at Cafe Mom - they've got pups with pregnancy-sensing powers, or so they say.

Besides the heightened sense of smell that could be picking up on hormonal changes, dogs can pick up on emotional changes. Most animal trainers say the dogs will sense a pregnancy and the protective side kicks into overdrive.

So if your dog has taken to sticking his snout anywhere YOU are, maybe it's time to pick up one of those little pee-on-the-stick jobs and see if he's trying to tell you something.

Image: This Normal Life

Mom Found Guilty of Trespassing After Jumping on Speeding School Bus

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:31:00 GMT

A Raeford, North Carolina, mother says she feels relieved after receiving a guilty verdict in connection with her actions in January, when she boarded a school bus she says was speeding through a residential neighborhood. Mindy Brumfiel says the bus appeared to be traveling more than 40 miles an hour in a 15 mile per hour zone, and so when it stopped, she got on. After the bus driver asked her to get off, she said she wouldn't until she got her own daughter off -- then proceded to call the driver and idiot and tell him he was speeding. The driver, a substitute bus driver and school custodian, had apparently taken a wrong turn and come back into the neighborhood he'd just left, drawing the attention of mothers who had just seen their children board.

Brumfiel says she had no idea it was trespassing to get on the bus -- she assumed they were public property -- but says she feels no particular remorse. “I can be guilty. That’s fine. The whole reason I’m here is because I was on the bus. I’m guilty for being a mom.”

Apparently the trespassing provision exists because some parents do get onto school buses with bad intentions -- the article mentions a mother having boarded a bus with a gun, and another parent getting on to attack a student. Still, Brumfiel's actions don't seem out of line to me. What would you do, if you saw a speeding school bus with your child on it?

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Two Wombs, Two Babies: Mom Delivers Twins

JeanneSager — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:18:00 GMT

I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Like finding out you have two uteruses (uteri actually) and getting pregnant with twins - one child per uterus. Oh, and best of all? Giving birth to two healthy little girls.

Michigan mom Sarah Reinfelder has uterus didelphys - a rare condition in which the two tubes in a female fetus don't join to create one larger, hollow organ. They remain two distinct parts of the body - uteri.

The condition isn't dangerous, and many women go on to have children, but twins from uterus didelphys are rare, which makes Reinfelder's daughters extra special. So far, only three cases have been reported in the entire world.

The larger twin developed in Reinfelder's larger uterus, weighing in at four pounds, fifteen ounces. Her sister was a full pound smaller. The girls were delivered via a C-section, approximately seven weeks prematurely. The babies are expected to be released from the hospital in three to four weeks. Reinfelder and husband Shane have an elder child - 10-month-old William at home. They were shocked to find out she was pregnant with the twins - especially because she was on the birth control pill at the time.

"I was like okay, and then they did the ultrasound and said, 'Guess what? You're pregnant twice!' and that's when I almost wet my pants," Sarah told her local TV news station.

Can you really blame her?

Image: Upper Michigan Source

Via Jezebel

North Dakota Passes Law Establishing "Personhood" at Conception

Mom Takes Bat to Sex Offender Who Talked to Her Kid

JeanneSager — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:35:00 GMT

I'm going to you-know-where in a hand basket.

Because I feel a teensy bit bad for a mom who took a bat and beat the bejesus out of a sex offender she found chatting up her kid - and will now be facing three months in jail.

Tammy Gibson showed up at William Baldwin's trailer with a baseball bat when she recognized him on fliers around her neighborhood as the man who had been talking to her ten-year-old daughter in a park the previous summer. At seven-foot three-inches tall, there was no mistaking Baldwin was the guy on the "a sex offender has moved to town" posters. Convicted last week and sentenced to three months in jail, Gibson said she's do it again.

A level three registered sex offender in Washington, Baldwin has been convicted twice of child molestation - both on little girls. He was on parole for forcing a five-year-old girl to touch his penis when he reoffended, luring another five-year-old into a backyard doghouse and touching her vagina.

Working against Gibson, of course, is the fact that Baldwin didn't actually touch her daughter. And the fact that she got violent (hello, what happened to just plain old calling the cops?). Nor did she react immediately - it was almost a full year later when she showed up at his house - after he'd moved to town and the fliers were posted by police to meet the sex offender notification laws of the state.

On the other hand, this only highlights what scares most parents about sex offenders. They can be anyone, including the guy randomly talking to your kid in a park one day. I'm not the mom who sits in a park, staring around to catch out the potential sex offender, but I will admit to feeling a little creeped out by knowing there's a registered sex offender living down the street from my local library - one who showed up during an event for kids that I had planned to bring my daughter to.

I'm pretty non-violent; preferring to leave these thigs in the hands of police. But there's still that teensy part of me that says good - a guy who touches little kids is pond scum (lower than pond scum?).

Does that make me a bad person? Or just human?

Image: ABC News