BuzzSugar

Box Office: Gran Torino Drives Off With the Money

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:00:20 PST

Recently, Clint Eastwood's movies (whether he's behind the camera or in front of it) are often critical hits but that doesn't necessarily translate into immediate box office success - until now!

Eastwood's latest movie, Gran Torino, debuted this weekend in the top spot, earning a whopping $29 million! It seems fitting that a movie that is rumored to be Eastwood's swan song is also his "best nationwide opening of all time, both as an actor and director." If you're gonna go out, go out on top!

In second place came Bride Wars which defied expectations with $21.5 million after a brutal week of being panned by critics. The horror flick The Unborn followed behind the brides in the third spot. Marley and Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button rounded out the top five respectively.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The Rise of the Fetus Party: Why Midwives Are Concerned

Natasha Dantzig — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:37:53 PST

What the fetus! For many expectant parents, routine ultrasounds are one of the things looked forward to most throughout the pregnancy process, offering an incredible glimpse at the eagerly anticipated bundle of joy within. The last couple of years have seen an increase in both the use and popularity of 4D ultrasounds, which provide an almost eerily realistic image of the baby-to-be.

Though parents are understandably delighted by these scans - OMG he has your nose! - creating one more photographic keepsake is not their intended use, which is to monitor the baby's development and ensure that everything looks good medically. Yet the use of these scans has taken a quick departure from their medical origins, with "fetus parties" - where parents-to-be invite friends and family to gaze upon the 3D and 4D scans - becoming more and more commonplace.

While everyone can appreciate why expectant parents are so excited to show off and share these lifelike images of their unborn baby with family and friends, not everyone in the medical community thinks it's such a great idea. In a column for the BBC, Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive at The Royal College of Midwives, discusses her concern about the growing popularity of "fetus parties": "I think the worrying trend towards the commercialization of pregnancy and trend in 'fetus parties' can add to the burden, and can increase the expectation for mothers, which midwives then have to deal with.”

Did you have a fetus party?

Facebook Removes Unborn Baby's Profile; Fair or Not?

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:31:44 PDT

How young is too young for a Facebook profile? Mark Zuckerberg and company have gone on the offensive, removing profiles of Facebookers younger than 13, and that hard and fast rule also seems to apply to tongue-in-cheek sites for unborn babies.

Ellie and Matt Greene of Texas learned this the hard way when the page they set up for their unborn tot was serendipitously removed after the Facebook powers that be noticed its existence. Well into their third trimester, they started the page to update friends and family about their upcoming arrival. Within days, their status updates (along the lines of "I'm doing somersaults") were followed by more than 250 people, all interacting with tot in utero. Then, the page mysteriously disappeared. Was Facebook right to remove it?

The Name Game: Which Names Were More Popular in 2011

Rebecca M Gruber — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:32:12 PST

One of the biggest joys and most stressful parts of pregnancy is choosing your unborn child's name. Parents-to-be stress that they won't please family members with their choice, that they'll pick a name that 10 other kids answer to on the playground, or that they'll just grow tired of it in the future. Name trends may come and go, but each year two names - one boy's and one girl's - rise to the top. BabyCenter recently unveiled the most popular names of 2011. Take this quiz to see if you know names landed on the list!

Take the Quiz

Lil Links: Does This Anti-Co-Sleeping Campaign Go Too Far?

LilSugar — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:32:33 PST

An anti-co-sleeping campaign is angering many moms! - The Stir
5 ways to eat healthy when pregnant - Celebrity Baby Blog
Pete Wentz is living a double life - Celebrity Baby Scoop
13 tips for saving money on prescription drugs - Health
How to reduce your unborn baby's radiation risk - FitPregnancy
Fun ways to teach tots about recycling - Parenting
Useful, stylish, and fab baby products - The Bump
Doctors make the case for circumcision - Momformation
More hospitals are banning elective C-sections - Yahoo! Shine
A first tool box for kids that know a screwdriver from a wrench - Cool Mom Picks

A Diaper Cake For Fashionable Friend

Rebecca M Gruber — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:12:43 PDT

Hey good lookin'! When one of the most fashionable people in the office is due to welcome a baby, it's not easy to come up with a gift that will wow the crowd. I recently found myself in that predicament as our own pregnant FabSugar editor approached her due date. While I would have loved to shower her unborn son with a closet like Skyler Berman's, I decided to keep things a bit lower key for our office party. The LilSugar team has a tradition of creating show-stopping diaper cakes for our colleagues' parties, and I carried it through with a stylish cake topped off with the one thing every Vogue-reading mama loves: shoes! See how I made our party's centerpiece, which took less than an hour!

Beyoncé's Fabulous Pregnancy Style

Anna Monette Roberts — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:00:48 PDT

Pregnant or not, Beyoncé isn't a muumuu girl, and her unborn babe isn't keeping her from wearing short skirts, sequins, and platform pumps. See how Beyoncé is working her bump and showing off her gorgeous toned legs. She recently revealed that she's due in February, so that means she's in her second trimester. Click through to see her latest looks, from the most recent to back when she first announced her pregnancy.

Lil Links: Moms Don't Only Breastfeed to Benefit Their Babies

LilSugar — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:32:27 PDT

6 totally selfish reasons to breastfeed - The Stir
More false alarms, uncertain benefits seen with annual mammograms - Health
Courtney Love wishes she had been a better mother - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Mariska Hargitay is still in shock about her son's adoption - Celebrity Baby Blog
Advice for moms battling depression during pregnancy - FitPregnancy
Bumper pads have no place in the crib - Parenting
Can cell phones harm your unborn baby? - The Bump
Why's everyone picking on IVF these days? - Momformation
10 awesome cartoon role models - Babble
6 great Halloween party themes? - Yahoo! Shine

Yogurt and Pregnancy: Two Opposing Studies Have Expectant Mamas Scratching Their Heads

Rebecca M Gruber — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:11:41 PDT

That tub of yogurt sitting in your refrigerator has become quite the target of controversy if you're pregnant. Just last week, researchers at the Institute of Public Health in Oslo announced that eating milk and yogurt with "good" bacteria - probiotics - during pregnancy can reduce the chances of developing preeclampsia. According to the study, the tasty treat reduced the risk by 20 percent.

Now researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have linked the prenatal consumption of low-fat yogurt once a day with an increased risk of their children developing asthma and hay fever. Their study suggests that low-fat dairy yogurt doesn't contain the fatty acids unborn babies need to prevent allergies.

Conflicting studies are nothing new, but two out right on top of each other may make moms-to-be wonder whether they should be eating yogurt at all!

Don't Inhale! The Truth About Secondhand Smoke

LilSugar — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:45:55 PDT

It's a given (hopefully) that pregnant women and kids don't light up. There's been enough consciousness raising about the dangers associated with cigarette smoking that if an adult decides to smoke - while knowing all the risks - that's their business. Or is it? The harmful effects of secondhand smoke on children and expectant mamas are pretty unsettling. Test your knowledge on what secondhand smoke really does to an unborn baby, and how it affects tots.

Take the Quiz