Valentine’s Day Gifts for the Expectant Mom

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, this is the perfect opportunity to show the mom to be in your life some love! Just a kind card or letter to let them know you are thinking about them is great, but a personalized gift is a great way to support a lady who may be experiencing lots of aches and pains.

One gift idea that’s great for any mom to be is a relaxation basket. Simply purchase a good size basket and then fill it with all her favorite goodies. Perhaps fill it with her favorite bubble bath, sweet smelling lotion and super soft socks. Pick out a new book or a favorite magazine and her favorite candy treat to place in as well. If she is not much of a reader, choose a DVD and maybe some popcorn and a soda.

If a gift certificate is in your budget, you might include a spa day. Many spas offer maternity massages and this is a great gift for an expecting mother over fifteen weeks.

If a gift certificate is not in the budget, opt for making your own coupon book filled with free foot massages or a “duty free” night so she can relax in her own tub while you pick up the slack.

The key to any of these gifts is personalization. Choose items that you know she enjoys and that will help her to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Another sweet idea is to give a gift to the mom from the new baby. Maybe include a sonogram picture on a card and include the caption “You are “heads down” the best Mommy around” Love, Baby’s name. Maybe include a small basket of goodies that are from the baby such as some snacks she has been craving since being pregnant or a children’s book about a mommy and baby with a personal inscription on the inside.

Whatever gifts you decide on, this mom to be is sure to feel the love and enjoy her Valentine’s Day!

By Gillian Eberhart of mybabyclothes.com.  You will soon be enjoying shopping for those sweet baby clothes, adorable tutus and stylish little baby hats for those first pictures that will be taken of your new bundle of joy.

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20 Common Myths about Pregnancy

Forming a new human being is the most complicated thing a person can do without really having to think about it. But that doesn’t mean women don’t fret over it.


So three Californian OB/GYNs — tired of getting called at 3 a.m. by frantic pregnant women who had woken up to find themselves sleeping on their backs or who had eaten raw meat and wanted to get their stomachs pumped (yes, those are two real examples) — decided to write a book: The Mommy Docs Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy and Birth.




Drs. Yvonne Bohn, Allison Hill and Alane Park also host a TV show called “Deliver Me” on Discovery, and they’ve all gestated children — which gives them at least one advantage over Dr. Spock. We asked them to deconstruct the most common myths about pregnancy, some of which are propagated in extremely popular and well-regarded pregnancy books.


Myth #1: Cocoa butter prevents stretch marks. False. In fact using cocoa butter makes women’s skin more sensitive, and some women have allergic reactions to it. Dr. Park treated one woman who came in with bright pink circles on her breasts. She couldn’t figure out why, until the patient copped to using cocoa butter to try to keep her breasts perky.


Myth #2: You can’t fly during your first or last trimester. Nope. False again. You can fly whenever you want. Some airlines won’t let you on the plane in your last trimester, but that has more to do with fears that you’ll go into labor and force the plane to land or spoil the upholstery.


Myth #3: You can’t pet your cat during pregnancy. False. However, you shouldn’t change your cat’s litter box during pregnancy because of the risk of toxoplasmosis from the dookies. And also, because, dammit, you’re growing a human being, and do you have to everything?


Myth #5: You can’t eat sushi. False. Sushi is permissible except for mackerel, shark, tilefish and swordfish. And don’t eat too much tuna — no more than 12. oz (about two maki, or rolls) per week.

Myth #6: No hot dogs either? False. Hot dogs are also fine to eat, as long as they’re well-cooked.

Myth #7: Pregnant women should keep away from polished furniture. So false. Dr. Bohn once treated a woman who was nervous about sitting on her couch, because of the furniture polish fumes. Sheesh.

Myth #8: Dying your hair is harmful for Baby. Wrong again. False. (Damn, I fell for that one too.)
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Bump Watch: Molly Sims bumps it up on the red carpet

Molly Sims shared this photo of herself looking radiant on the red carpet of the January 14th Art of Elysium  charity gala, writing on her blog that she wasn't sure she'd be able to pull off such a bright orange.

"But getting dressed up is already that much harder when you’ve got a little bun in the oven, so I decided to trust in the power of Marchesa (which you all know I do since they designed my wedding dress) and go for it!" she wrote. "I’d say it worked, wouldn’t you? I just adored the flowy fabric and draping, the beaded embroidery at the shoulders and the baby bump-accommodating empire waist."

I love the draping. On her website, Sims shows readers how to modify that feel, look and color in other styles. Nice that she's taking control of her pregnancy and melding her modeling and fashion know how with it. 

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10 Ways to Consolidate Kids' Clothing Needs

Isn’t it amazing how our kids keep growing and growing?  It’s often hard to keep up with their clothing needs.  There are often so many sales and so many cute items that it’s truly hard not to over buy.  You know the kids are going to get three to six months of use out of these clothes so why buy them more than they really need.  Plus, in this economy we all need to find ways to save a buck where we can.  Check out 10 ways to condense your kids clothing needs.

1. Take inventory: Go through the clothes that you already have for your child and see which items fit and which items don’t.  Take the items that they have out grown to a resale shop or donate them to a worthy cause.
2. Assess how your child dresses: Don’t buy a bunch of dresses if you have a tomboy who doesn’t like to wear dresses.  This may seem like common sense, but for some reason people love to buy pretty dresses and then they hang in the closet with the tags on them.  Or they are worn once for that special occasion and that’s it.
3. Buy separates: Instead of buying a bunch of dresses you need to buy separates so that you can mix and match tops and skirts.  You can also wear the tops with jeans or other pants.  A dress is one outfit, but if you buy three skirts and three tops that can be mixed and matched then you can get nine outfits out of those items.
4. Buy basic colors: When buying pants or skirts think about buying basic colors, black, blue and brown. Those will go with a lot of different things you may already own.  The more combinations that you can make the better off you will be.
5. Don’t buy outfits: Stores are great about putting together outfits, like pink and green striped leggings with a matching pink and green top.  This is a one trick pony.  You might be able to wear the top with jeans, but otherwise you can wear the pants with that one top and that’s it.  Plus it’s such a bold color choice that you don’t want to repeat it in the same week.

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New mom Viola Davis wins SAG Best Actress award

Viola Davis on the red carpet to Screen Actor's Guild Awards 2012

Congratulations to a Bellyitch Posh Mom Style Icon contender Viola Davis on her Best Actress in a leading role WIN last night at the Screen Actor's Guild awards for her role in last year's The Help. Davis and her husband recently adopted a child.

Her co-star Octavia Spencer won for best supporting actress which follows her win in that category of the Golden Globes.  The movie's entire cast won for best film ensemble which is the equivalent to Best Movie in the Academy Awards.

Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis in The

I feel I should go actually go watch  The Help now. I was so conflicted after learning that the women who Davis and Spencer portray did not give permission to author Kathryn Stockett to chronicle their lives in her best selling book then capitalize on their stories in a film; and over the fact the film played into the typical story of blacks being "rescued"; AND that the women were playing the roles as mammies, nannies and caregivers which was stereotypical and expected in early years of film, yet is still today one of limited acting opportunities for black actresses even in this millennium. *sigh*

So far many of the black women who have won top Academy Award honors have portrayed an abusive alcoholic dysfunctional mom (Mo'nique in Precious), an emotionally scarred and damaged woman who subjects herself to an animalistic sex scene with the character that executed her husband (Halle Berry in Monster's Ball); and a sassy, head-rolling, loud diva whose ego contributes to her downfall (Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls).

We're on a roll as far as winning BIG for playing not so positive characters. One day one may win playing a strong, mainly positive, empowering force in a gutsy and convincing biopic or something. Here's hoping!

But all that to say CONGRATULATIONS Viola and Octavia!!

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New members only online boutique is eBay meets pregnancy & infant couture boutique; Sign up now for 90% off

There is an extraordinary new baby couture private sale online boutique in the market and its name is KEEKOO! What separates this one from the rest is the deals are even more outrageously low!  Keekoo will offer pregnancy up to new born items on the most fabulous maternity, beauty, nursing, gifts, accessories and newborn basics like playpens, nursery furniture, car seats, strollers, baby monitors, books and more  for up to 90% off. 

I got a chance to peep some of the goodies that will be up for grabs and seriously got giddy! Tee hee!

Keekoo will offer live events for 24 to 72 hours for members only until the items run out. I'm thinking it will be like the last few hours of an eBay auction meets a designer sample sale meets a pregnancy and baby boutique.

While the site stocks up merchandise and sales to dazzle users, it's accepting members. Right now, new users get $10 off their first order and $10 credit for each member they convince to sign up.

Simply CLICK HERE to sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP!

Sales go live in March so start saving up your pennies so you can take advantage of the most available when it all goes down.

See you on the other side!!

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Bellyitch Trending Topics & Visiting Nations This week

Top 10 trending topics this week:

1. Kyla Pratt
2.  Lauren London
3.  Jennifer Aniston Pregnant
4.  Beyonce After Baby
5.  Octomom
6.  Babysitter
7.  Pregnant Belly
8.  Chris Ivery
9.  Jennifer Freeman
10.  Tia Mowry baby

Top visiting nations this week

And just for fun, here are the countries where our readers came from this week:

United States 31,031

United Kingdom 4,019

Canada 2,655

Australia 1,487

Germany 1,109

India 793

Russia 682

France 510

Philippines 353

Netherlands 317

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