Last fall, Angelina Jolie tried to adopt a baby boy named Gleb from a Russian orphanage. Apparently this angered Russian Nationalists and the adoption fell through. At the time, referring to Gleb she said, "I was going to adopt this other child in Russia, but it didn't work out, so I may adopt another in about six months." True to her word, she recently adopted a 5-month-old Ethiopian baby girl who was orphaned due to the death of both her parents from AIDS. So what happened to Gleb? Evidently he is now 16-months-old and still residing at the same Russian orphanage.

The July 4th issue of Newsweek Magazine's International Edition says that, "The Russian government has become embroiled in a bitter argument over adoptions by foreigners. As the discussion drags on, the number of adoptions is falling." In fact Russian adoptions have fallen two thirds from last year. They also reported that "Yekaterina Lakhova, the head of the Duma's Women, Family and Youth Affairs Committee, called foreign adoptions 'trafficking' and demanded that all foreign adoptions be banned."

There are over 260,000 Russian orphans, including Gleb, caught in this bureaucratic war while waiting to be adopted, and according to The Moscow News, "there is no great demand among Russian families to adopt." Doesn't seem right does it?

Kathryn Berrisford an Embryologist at a fertility clinic in England also suffered from infertility; she had four miscarriages in 18 months. Her boss Dr George Ndukwe, clinical director of Nottingham's CARE fertility clinic, suggested immune therapy to help her not only conceive a child, but also carry the baby to term. He said, "it was heartbreaking to watch Mrs Berrisford helping so many couples while suffering the trauma of losing four babies."

Because she and her husband carried similar antigens in their blood, "her body was not producing the blocking antibodies to provide a protective blanket around the embryo and prevent the baby from being rejected."

Two weeks ago, she gave birth to her first child that she and her husband Joss named Mae. She said, "It was like a miracle because when you have really thought that you can't have a child of your own and to be in despair about it, to actually then get it is amazing." She added, "Mae is the best thing that ever happened to me."

Christine and Matthew Rowe first had identical twin girls and are now the parents of identical triplet boys — all without fertility drugs. Doctors say that the chances of this happening naturally are 1-in-15 million.

Two years ago Lexxie and Haylee were born and recently their baby brothers Nicholas, Tyler and Jacob were born. "I'm actually feeling really good," said Christine Rowe, "I don't think the adrenaline has worn off yet from having the babies. So I'm holding in there." Her husband, however, added "We're done," and she agreed.

On May 14, 11-year-old Katie Brownell pitched a perfect game while playing Little League baseball for the Dodgers in upstate New York. Not only did she pitch a perfect game, all 18 outs in the game were strike-outs and none of the batters even reached a full count — she struck out every single batter she faced. Wow.

Yesterday, her number 3 Dodgers jersey was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY. "We're honored to be receiving Katie's jersey," said Jeff Idelson, vice president of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. "Katie's accomplishment helps to further illustrate that you don't have to be a male to be a team leader in baseball."

Chris Downs, media relations manager of Little League Baseball and Softball, said that girls have been playing Little League since 1974, and "As we've been able to review the records, we think she's the only girl to throw a perfect game." Congratulations Katie.

Today my 2.5 year old son Jack and I were eating lunch at our favorite restaurant when out of nowhere a really old man leaned across the table and put something down in front of Jack, and said, "This is for his college fund." He had placed a half dollar coin in front of Jack. Wow. We said thanks, but he had already walked off to the register. Jack was thrilled "money!" I scooped him up and we went and caught the man in line and Jack and I thanked him again. A few minutes later another man walked by and said Jack was adorable and very well behaved. Can you see why this is Jack's favorite restaurant?

Live8 Insider just posted this picture of Gywneth Paltrow and Apple watching the Coldplay set in London. The lead singer from Coldplay, Chris Martin, is Apple's daddy.

Apple is wearing a cute pair of noise reducing headphones that seem to fit her perfectly. I did a search on several search engines to find these headphones for my son and I can't find them. (The last time we took a plane trip, we sat right next to the engines.)

Anyone have any idea where to buy them?

Jack and Brian this Spring

We are almost in the middle of 2005 and so far no babies have been born in Florida with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. This is the first time since the AIDS epidemic started 20 years ago that Florida has gone this far into the year without recording a case of mother-to-baby transmission of HIV. Health Secretary John Agwunobi said this shows that more pregnant women are getting tested for HIV and that antiretroviral drugs used during pregnancy and childbirth are working.

The CDC doesn't have current figures on nationwide mother-to-baby transmission of HIV but a spokesperson said that in 2000 the figure was down 80% from its peak in the 1990's.

"Everybody who deals with pediatric HIV or HIV in general is very excited about this," said Dr. Catherine Lamprecht, pediatric medical director of the Hug-Me Program at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, which treats children and adults with AIDS. I am really excited about this as well. I worked at Arnold Palmer in the '90s as a pediatric nurse and it was heartbreaking working with pediatric HIV babies and kids.

In yesterday's New York Post there was a short paragraph mentioning that Laurie Berkner was going to perform on the "Today" show. The Post says she'll be performing on June 29th, but I am on her mailing list and they say it's June 27th at 8:30am - so double check if you plan to go. One thing I didn't know until I read the Post's blurb was that she is starring in a new Noggin series this fall.

A not so quick series of Google searches lead me to a Viacom press release from early April. Noggin is premiering a new show called "Jack's Big Music Show" this fall and each of the 13 episodes will feature a music video performance by Laurie. The show will be hosted by a puppet named Jack and will showcase his musical friends who hang out at his tree house.

"Jack's is something we've wanted to make for years...it's like TRL for preschoolers," said Amy Friedman, Senior Vice President, Development/Creative Director, Nickelodeon Digital Television. "We are proud that Noggin will be the new homebase for these outstanding recording artists and their smart, warm and silly songs that both kids and parents adore."

In May, four month pregnant Monique Mitchell was held in contempt of court and jailed for three days after she called in sick to jury duty. The 21-year-old was taken from her home to jail while still in her nightgown. On Monday, Cook County Circuit Judge Preston Bowie apologized to the woman and dismissed the contempt charge. He further stated that he should have summoned her to a hearing to see if she was truly in contempt of court before jailing her. Ironically, the case Mitchell was to be a jurist on was declared a mistrial.