Duggars-related stories
Duggar's First Grandchild Will be a Girl
The answer came to them not by ultrasound but baked into a cake created by "Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro. Josh and Anna -- who both felt they were expecting a boy -- cut into the beautiful custom-made creation holding their breath to find out if the cake would be pink or blue. Anna let out a delighted squeal when the cake revealed they were expecting a daughter.
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The Duggars Give Advice, Mr. Rogers Visits a Monkey, and More - Links We Love
A sock subscription for Father's Day?. Image: sxc.hu
Koko the "talking" gorilla gets a visit from her TV idol, Mr. Rogers. Oh how you are missed, Fred Rogers. -- Boing Boing
Possibly the most stylish way ever to get through your to-do list. -- Cool Mom Picks
If you're following along on Twitter, then you've already heard the news. Heather Armstrong -- aka Dooce, aka world's most famous parenting blogger -- welcomed baby number two over the weekend. -- CafeMom
Throwing your teen a party this summer? Keep them busy with a wild goose chase of a scavenger hunt. MomLogic has some ideas.
A 14-year-old boy claims he was hit by a pea-sized meteorite as it fell to Earth. The meteorite is real, but is his story? -- LiveScience
What's worse than opening up a pair of socks on Father's Day? How about a sock subscription? That is, unless, your dad really loves socks. -- Strollerderby
"American Idol" alum Bo Rice and his wife Caroline are expecting baby number three. " 'American Idol' has a new winner each year -- seems things are the same in our house," Rice tells People magazine. -- Celebrity Baby Blog
Last day off school surprise -- a backpack stuffed with artwork. Keep your favorites, then use the rest to make personalized notebooks. -- AlphaMom
Kelly Ripa's Washing Machine, Bear Grylls's Houseboat Baby and More - Links We Love
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Kelly Ripa has an new, eco-friendly washing machine named after her, and you could win it! Find out how. -- RoleMommy
The Duggars are expecting their first grandbaby, while mom Michelle admits she'd like another baby, too. Learn more about the Quiverfull movement and why procreating is so important to this famous family. -- MomLogic
Moms crave adult interaction ... think you could be addicted to the Internet? Here are some reasons why it's the new playground for parents and how to get help. -- CafeMom
And on that same note: Email, texting, social networking -- our lives are becoming increasingly virtual. But is life online as satisfying as the real thing? What do you think? -- Divine Caroline
Are you going the old-fashioned route and waiting to find out the sex of your baby? Here are some old wives' tales to keep you guessing while you wait. -- Parenting
Is your teen planning on a summer job to earn some extra cash? Then break this to them gently: Due to the recession, teens are going to have a harder time than ever finding a job. -- Motherlode
Bear Grylls on his latest adventure, helping his wife deliver their son, Huckleberry Edward, on their houseboat: "Girls are so great in a big crisis. I've seen it in the mountains, too. Men are all great when it's quite comfy and there's lots of bravado, but when the sh-t really hits the fan, it's the women who often come through." -- Celebrity Baby Blog
Breastfeeding gets easier, but a lot of moms have a bumpy start. Here's 10 things one mom wished she would have known going in. -- AlphaMom
The Only Child Myth
Whether you have one child or eight, there is always somebody ready to pass judgment on your family-planning choices. Parents who choose to have a house full of kids are often blamed for contributing to overpopulation and accused of treating older siblings like unpaid nannies for the younger children. How could they possibly give all those children the love and attention they deserve?In families with just one child, however, the criticism is just the opposite and often aimed at the kids themselves. Back in the late 1800's, psychologist Stanley Hall referred to being an only child as "a disease in itself" and for many, that prejudice remains. "Onlies," who who are the beneficiaries of their parent's undivided time and attention, must surely be spoiled and will no doubt grow up believing the world revolves around them.
Thanks to Jon and Kate and the Duggars, we've all gotten a glimpse at what goes on in large families. But what about only-child families? The old stereotypes persist and there is no reality show out there to shed some light on the subject.
Michelle Duggar, Nursery Decorating Tips, and Bad Babysitters - Links We Love
So your baby is turning one, or maybe two. Do you throw them a big, blowout neighborhood party, or is it smarter to keep their celebration small and simple? It's a smackdown! Which side are you on? -- StrollerderbyThe Duggars can't get enough of having babies, and we just can't get enough of the Duggars. See what mom Michelle Duggar has to say about big family life and their new book The Duggars: 20 and Counting! -- LilSugar
Decorating your first nursery is once-in-a-lifetime fun. Before you start, get some tips from celebrity designer (and new dad!) Kenneth Brown. -- CafeMom
Giving up a binky is a big, big step in a toddler's world. Minimize tears and tantrums with these five tips for saying goodbye to the pacifier for good. -- AlphaMom
Batman: The Dark Knight actress Maggie Gyllenhaal might be a movie star, but she's also a pretty cool mom. Read her thoughts on raising daughter Ramona in the city, and why you won't catch her handing out parenting advice. -- Babble
Getting a weird feeling that something isn't right between your baby and her sitter? Here are seven signs of a bad babysitter and advice on how to find good childcare. -- BabyCenter
You've heard The Twelve Days of Christmas, right? Here's a slightly different version: The Nine Months of Pregnancy! Funny! -- His Boys Can Swim
It's never too early to start making Valentine cards; your kids will love making, and handing out, these cute DIY versions to their friends. -- Cool Mom Picks
And Baby Makes 20! Duggars Welcome New Daughter
Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar arrived on Thursday, just in time for a big family Christmas. She weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long, and was born via C-section. Father Jim Bob described baby Jordyn-Grace as "The ultimate Christmas gift from God. She's just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters."
The Duggar's ten sons and eight daughters range in age from 20 to just-arrived. Their oldest son, Joshua, recently married, so they can count a daughter-in-law in there, too. ParentDish recently had the opportunity to talk with them about how they manage all those kids. "Our goal as parents is to keep up with their hearts, not just their actions. They know they have a safe place to share their joys, failures and dreams," Michelle told us.
Duggar Family Album
The Duggar family before the latest arrival, Jordyn-Grace Makiya, born on December 18, 2008, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces. The other kids are Joshua John-David, Jana, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jeremiah, Jedidiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah and Jennifer (the newborn seen here.)
Beth Hall, AP
The Duggars in Times Square -- ain't it a miracle how the family gets through the streets of New York City without losing anyone. The reactions from people who encountered the Duggars on the street? As shown on their TLC series, most say the same thing: "17 kids? Wow."
Courtesy Duggar Family
All the kids play piano and violin and the girls play harp. According to the Duggar's site, "At 9:00AM, the older children help their buddies with their studies in phonics, math, violin & piano (J-O-Y- Jesus first, Others second, & Yourself last!). Then the older children start their music & individual studies - math, English, spelling & typing."
Courtesy Duggar Family
Josh Duggar, 20, the eldest sibling, married Florida native Anna Keller in September 2008. The two met at a home-schoolers' conference in 2006, said People.com. Josh Duggar said it was love at first sight and he spent the next two years courting Keller. "Dating means you're shopping around," he told the paper. "A courtship is the path toward marriage."
Courtesy Duggar Family
The Duggars on a shoot outside their 7,000 square foot home (completed in 2006) in Tontitown, Ark. Say cheese.
Courtesy Duggar Family
This was 42-year-old Michelle's 15th pregnancy (the family includes two sets of twins, Jana and John-David, and Jedidiah and Jeremiah) and her second C-section. The family are followers of an evangelical Christian movement called Quiverful, which teaches that children are a gift from God and that every child should be welcomed and loved.
Are they done having children? Father Jim Bob says no. "We both would love to have more," he said.
Duggar Family - How They Do It
Love & sex, Celeb parenting, In the news
"We try to be creative and different, and that can add a spark to the relationship," said Michelle Duggar, who is in fact expecting her next addition on New Year's Day. Michelle and her husband Jim Bob are shooting the second season of "The Duggar Family: 17 and Counting." ParentDish caught up with the couple on a rare afternoon off.
Reality TV Moms
Meet the Reality Matriarchs
AP | Getty Images | FilmMagic | Getty Images
Michelle Duggar
Beth Hall, AP
Amy Roloff
Thos Robinson, Getty Images
Kate Gosselin
Amy Sussman, Getty Images
Denise Richards
Jason LaVeris, FilmMagic
NeNe Leakes
Bravo
Tori Spelling
Chris Polk, FilmMagic
TK
Animal Planet
Renee Wilson
Appeared on "The Biggest Loser" with daughter Michelle Aguilar. Renee, 47, lost 45 pounds in seven weeks. "She was the quintessential yo-yo dieter," Michelle, 27, told "Prevention."
Trae Patton, NBC Photo
Justine Simmons
Paul Warner, Getty Images
They wouldn't talk about the new baby girl's name (Hint: It starts with the letter J, is the result of a family vote and, no, they won't say.) But they are ready to share the secrets to their success as a family and as a couple. How do they, ya know, keep the home fire burning?
"The spark stays because we purpose to keep that spark," said Michelle.
"We want to please the other one," said Jim Bob.
That includes all the hidden love notes Jim Bob leaves for Michelle in her makeup bag and the daily morning cup of coffee or cocoa she serves him. Jim Bob complimented Michelle. "Her soft voice and sweet spirit melts my heart. And she looks really cute when she's pregnant."
Good thing, because Michelle has been pregnant for some 135 months over 24 years of marriage. "Things get busy and exhausting when providing for a family," said Michelle. "Having sex when I'm pregnant, I'm a little more tired." When Jim Bob and Michelle hear that a pastor in Texas recently challenged the marrieds in his congregation to have sex daily, they're genuinely tickled.
"Good advice," laughed Jim Bob.
The Duggars are expecting a(nother) girl!
Pregnancy & birth, Celeb parenting
On Mother's Day, Michelle Duggar surprised her family with what has probably become a not totally unexpected announcement: She was pregnant, and her 18th child was due on New Year's Day. The family recently visited with the Today show and revealed that their latest addition will be a girl. That makes things a little more equal at home; once this baby is born, the family will have 10 boys and 8 girls.But welcoming a new sister isn't the only change going on in the Duggar household. Eldest son Joshua, 20, recently married his home-school group sweetheart, Anna. The two will be setting up house near the Duggars in Arkansas. Does Anna embrace the Duggar's "we'll welcome as many children as we're blessed with" lifestyle? Is this the beginning of The Duggars: The Sequel? Or will the young couple show a little more reproductive restraint?
As for Michelle, she's not closing the door on motherhood just yet. "We would love more," she told the Today show. "We really believe each child is a gift from God. We would love to receive more gifts if the Lord sees fit. I guess we'll just wait and see." What that means is, watch for another "surprise" announcement next fall or winter, I think!
Duggars to get reality show
Love & sex, Pregnancy & birth, Siblings, Bump watch, Life & style, That's entertainment
Move over "John & Kate Plus 8." You ain't got nothin' on the Duggar family. For those of you unfamiliar with the Duggars (as I was), they're a family of nineteen, seventeen of which are the children. And now, according to reports, they're being given their own television show.
Like it or not the world has yet to see the last of reality television. The Duggars are to get their own stint in the world of reality showing what it's like not only to have seventeen kids (do I need a reality show to imagine what that's like?) but also what it's like to travel the talk show circuit and bathe in the limelight of stardom through (constant) procreation.
What's more, the show will follow the family as they grow--that's right, Mom Michelle is expecting another child! That will make enough for two baseball teams. What could we learn from the Duggars? I'm not really sure, but the Discovery Channel will give us the opportunity to find out. Will you watch the show, or are you too wrapped up in your own kids to try to watch someone else manage ALL of theirs?
I'm sorry, but dang--that is a LOT of kids!
Baby number 18 for Canadian mom
Newborns, Pregnancy & birth, Weird but true
While Michelle Duggar is only just working on number eighteen, a woman in British Columbia, Canada has already dropped her eighteenth kid. The forty-four-year-old Romanian immigrant gave birth to daughter Abigail, weighing a healthy seven pounds, twelve ounces. She joins her nine sisters and eight brothers ranging in age from twenty months to twenty-three years.Livia Ionce and her husband Alexandru emigrated from Romania in 1990 and now live in the Western Canadian province. "We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop the life," said Alexandru.
Apparently, this latest addition to the team makes Mrs. Ionce the most prolific mother in British Columbia in the last twenty years. And, she's got the Duggars beat -- that's certainly an accomplishment.
Michelle Duggar pregnant AGAIN!
Siblings, Life & style, In the news, Playground bureau
Apparently the Duggar clan hasn't quite filled that quiver! Michelle Duggar, matriarch of the popular Discovery Channel program "The Duggars" and mother to seventeen children managed to surprise the entire lot live on the Today Show when she announced that once again she is expecting.
Age difference essential to having lots of babies
OK guys -- if you want to be like the Duggars, or that guy who's fathered 78 children, here's the key: get with a younger woman.
I'm totally serious. Australian researchers have discovered that the optimum age difference between partners (if the goal is to produce the most children as possible) is 6 years -- with the man older than the woman. It's always been generally accepted that this is the underlying reason for many men's attraction to younger women, but the recent study is the first to prove it actually means something in terms of number of children.
But it's not just men that have their eyes on younger partners. In addition, the study found that women who split from their boyfriend or spouse during their child-bearing years will also opt for a younger man the second time around (or at least one younger than their previous beau).
Just something to keep in mind when you're asking yourself if you've found "the one." If you're interested in having lots of kids, age might be more than just a number.
90 year old dad wants more kids
Pregnancy & birth, Fun & activities, Media
The Duggars might be closing in on quantity, but the quiver-filling couple is unlikely to ever match the reproductive longevity of Nanu Ram Jogi. The Indian farmer just fathered what he guesses to be his 21st child..........at the ripe old age of 90.
It's understandable how Jogi could have lost track of the number of his offspring. He married his first wife in 1942 and the babies just started rolling in. His estimates he has twelve sons, nine daughters and at least twenty grandchildren.
The article doesn't make it clear if Jogi is a polygamist or just a charming and never-lonely-for-long widower, but his children have come from four different wives, the last one being a former daughter-in-law! After the death of her husband (Jogi's eldest son) the patriarch took her into the fold rather than sending her back to her relatives as is customary. Since 1997 she contributed seven more children to the household, including the latest baby, daughter Girija Rajkumari.
Nanu attributes his large family and good health to a diet mainly comprised of the meat from animals he hunts himself. He's also not quite ready to stop adding to his brood just yet.
"I want to have more children. I can survive another few decades and want to have children till I am 100. Then maybe it will be time to stop."
Man, my husband was done with babies when he was less than half this guy's age! But since he's still on his first wife, I won't make a fuss....
Catherine Zeta-Jones: "two kids is enough"
Now this makes sense to me. No offense to our many readers who have multiple children, or the Duggars, but -- at least as far as I can tell -- large families, though loving, fantastic and wonderful, inevitably drive parents insane, right?
Maybe you think that's nonsense, but Catherine Zeta-Jones agrees with me. While some celebrity couples seem intent of filling out their families with half the world's orphaned children, the actress and her husband Michael Douglas won't be following suit. They already have a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old, and -- according to Zeta-Jones -- life is just too busy to add anymore.
Like many parents (myself included), it's not that she wouldn't enjoy having additional children, but logistically it isn't possible.
That said, if she really wanted to have more kids, you'd think -- of all people -- that a world-famous actress would be able to find the time and money (and additional household staff) to do it.
Is having a large family a crime against the earth? (quick: somebody arrest the Duggars, and no conjugal visits!)
The Optimum Population Trust (OPT) said a lower birth rate in the countries of the developed world would seriously help cut carbon dioxide emissions and help eliminate the nearly 750 tons of carbon dioxide that the average Briton, for example, will create over the course of his or her lifetime. With developed nations like Britain the the United States using a shockingly disproportionate amount of energy and creating and equally shocking disproportionate amount of waste, this certainly makes sense (and considering the legally-mandated one-child policy in energy-hungry China, it isn't even that big of a sacrifice.
Still, something tells me the OPT is not going to convince any advocates of the Quiverfull movement or the Duggars that they should cease and desist their exponential baby-making activities.
