Soccer super-star Hope Solo is pregnant—with twins! The former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team goalkeeper recently revealed her baby news (times two) while co-hosting the beIN SPORTS Weekend Winners show.
According to Solo, she and husband former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, will have a boy and a girl. During the announcement, Solo told fans, “Miniature soccer team on the way.”
The couple’s sweet baby news comes months after Solo suffered a miscarriage, also with twins. Last February Solo miscarried what she thought was a single pregnancy. Still in pain a week later, the soccer star went to the doctor only to find out that she had a second, ectopic pregnancy.
In an interview with Elle, Solo said, “The doctor said I was hours from dying. They ended up having to remove my fallopian tube.” Despite the devastating setback Solo and Stevens kept trying, via IVF. Now it looks like the couple’s determination has paid off—and Solo will soon become a true soccer mom.
Don’t judge me, but I recently looked at Brian and confessed, “I’m ignoring them.” I can’t help it, it’s the end of the week for me, too and I just need a break from the countless, seemingly endless string of questions and requests. I truly feel like we are raising good, smart, solidly kind children but I worry about their need for me to intervene in their lives. Brian and I recently heard John Rosemond speak at our school and he assured us that children today are not in any way genetically different from children 50 years ago. If this is true, my 8-year-old daughter is the same, typical third grader that I was in 1982. Thinking back, I was insanely resourceful, especially when it came to bird-dogging my mother.
Here’s the scenario:
“Bon soir, La Cuisine, may I help you?”
“Yes, hello sir. I need to find one of your customers. There’s an issue at home and I need to speak with her.”
“Oui, Madame. Who can I find for you?”
“Her name is Elaine Forstall. She’s tall and thin with straight shoulder-length blonde hair. Tonight, she has on a gold and turquoise peacock print dress, it has a jewel neck and drop waist, three-quarter length ruched sleeves. She’s with her husband, Rick. He has salt-and-pepper hair. He has on a white button down shirt, no tie, and a grey suede sport coat. I think they are dinning with two other couples.”
“Oui Madame. I think I see her. I will get her for you.”
**wait**wait**wait**
“Hello?”
“Mom?”
“Melanie, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering, when are you coming home?”
I had mad skills. With a phone and white pages in hand, I could make just about anything happen. I had the communication skills at 8 to be a CIA operative and yet sometimes my kids get stumped opening a single serving pack of Sweet Tarts. How is this possible? No one taught me how to do this. My mother never sat me down to discuss the finer points of stalking people. I was driven enough and I just did it.
My parents fondly named my skill the ‘Mel-A-Phone’ knowing that they could never go too far without me finding them. They really were never safe. While I don’t condone the idea of constant invasion of parental privacy, I give my 8-year-old self kudos for having the drive to get stuff done.
So, what’s my plan with me own kids? I’ve decided that I am no longer helping. Nope. No more…everyone can tie their own shoes, so please by all means tie them. Everyone can get dressed on their own, I am not needed. Look for it. No one in my house has a weight-lift restriction which means everyone can pick up their own stuff and put it where it belongs. I am not needed for this task. If you can’t open an item on your own, the likelihood is that you don’t really need it. I bet you big bucks that if you were dying of hunger you would figure out a way to get that wrapper open. Look again, look harder, and look one more time. You do not need me.
But you do need me.
Come to me for hugs. Come to me for snuggles. Come to me and ask questions about life and tell me about your day. Come to me when you are scared, happy, lonely, or sad. (Not bored, don’t come to me when you are bored. I cannot help bored.) Come to me with excitement or worry. Lay your fears at my feet and I will always wipe your tears. Come to me to laugh. Ask me to play with you. I will love you ultimately forever. Come to me for encouragement. Come to me for a reminder of the beautiful soul you are and how much you are truly loved.
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Melanie Forstall is a full-time mother, full-time wife, full-time teacher, and never-enough-time blogger at Melanie Forstall: Stories of Life, Love, and Mothering. She holds a doctorate in education and yet those many years of schooling have proved to be utterly useless when it comes to actual mothering.
It’s August and the end of overnight camp is just a few days away. For all those times over the summer you thought your camper would be homesick, the reality is, your child will be coming home absolutely camp sick, the feeling of missing camp so much that it hurts! Your child will miss camp so much that they may even experience extreme campression! Try not to take it personally—summer camp is your child’s summer home where she gained independence, made lifelong friends and became part of a community of her own. Consoling her will be one of your greatest parenting challenges. Here are a few tips to help your child ease back into home life after an amazing summer at camp.
Give Your Child Some Independence. Your child has been away for a few weeks and has been making decisions on her own. When possible, give your child the opportunity to make some more choices at home. Allow your child to practice that newfound independence gained at camp.
Don’t Overbook. From swimming to soccer to archery to hiking, along with special event days and evening activities, your child has been very busy having fun! But having so much fun can be exhausting. Give your child a few days to just relax. Don’t make big plans or sign your child up for another summer program once home. Your child needs to unwind and just be on her own schedule.
Talk About Camp. Your child has been immersed in her camp world and it’s all she has thought of for weeks. Make sure to talk about camp at home and ask questions but while you are dying to know every detail about camp, but don’t push. Allow your child to talk about camp on her own time. Let her tell you what she wants to share.
Make Plans with Camp Friends. Your child has lived with her best friends for weeks and now she is home, miles or states away. Arrange a get together for the fall or winter so your child has something on the calendar to look forward to. Remember to invite everyone in the bunk—leaving a few children out creates hurt feelings and can cause tension for next summer.
Spend Time Together. You’ve missed your child so much, even though you know she was having the time of her life at camp. Once your child relaxes a bit, make some family plans and enjoy the last few weeks of summer together!
Jess Michaels is the Director of Communications for the American Camp Association, NY and NJ, a not for profit organization dedicated to enhancing the summer camp experience. She loves everything summer camp and frequently writes about her favorite topic for various parenting publications, websites and blogs.
John Legend is a superstar celeb, musician, daddy and now he’s, in his own words, “a motor home driver.” Model-mama Chrissy Teigen, Legend and their brood recently took an RV trip and judging by the Instagram video she posted, the drive was more folly than fab.
Teigen talked RV-ing with Travel + Leisure last May, saying, “I am dying to take an RV trip and John knows this too.” She continued, “He says I’ll be over it after like a couple of days, but I think we’ll really have fun with it. I don’t want it to be like glamping. I want an RV, I want food on there we can put together and stop every once in a while at a rest stop. Just to be able to pull up at the Grand Canyon—to see something as miraculous as that.”
It looks like Teigen finally got her RV daydreams to come true, but not exactly in the way she had imagined. The mom to two captioned her IG post, “I had this amazing idea to rent an RV so we could sleep in our friend’s driveway with the kids and not go back and forth to a hotel, lugging all our baby crap. I’ve always wanted to do a cross-country trip but figured just heading upstate would be a good start!” She also added, “These two videos were taken 5 minutes apart.”
If you’re wondering what the difference is (between videos), you need to watch the clips. The first shows Legend sweetly belting his cute kiddo into the car seat. But the second shows a much different story—with the passenger side window completely shattered!
Apparently, nothing in life is free––not even Mother’s Day breakfast! This week Jenna Fischer shared an Instagram post about the special meal her kids served up for the big day and its beyond hilarious.
Fischer, mom and star of The Office, took to social media to share the Mother’s Day breakfast her kids served up in bed. They woke her up and took her order, then delivered her meal. While the gesture was sweet, after the breakfast her kids dished up something else: a bill.
“At the end, they gave me this bill. I’m dying laughing. They said ‘The New York Times is not always free, that’s just for Mother’s Day’,” Fischer explains in the post.
Still, based on the prices Fischer got a bargain compared to some Mother’s Day brunches. The entire meal, including flowers, balloons and even that “free” issue of the New York Times, was just $5.50. The memories from the morning, however, are clearly priceless.
Take a trip back in time to your ’90s self with these retro Steve Madden platform slides, which have returned to stores just in time for summer.
These quintessential Steve Madden sandals were so popular when they were first released in 1999 that chances are you and every woman you know owned a pair. You might even still have them stuffed in a dark corner of your closet, but if not here’s your chance to own a pair of these platform slides once again.
Steve Madden has teamed up with Urban Outfitters to bring back the uber-popular platform slides. The perfect summer shoes are apparently still so popular that they’ve already sold out online in just a few days. Re-released in the original black color, as well as two new modern editions in black with a neon green strap or a completely hot pink pair, all three color selections were selling for $70 at Urban Outfitters. They are currently sold out, but hopefully with such an incredible demand the company will stock more.
In the meantime, if you’re still dying for a Steve Madden platform, the collaboration has also rolled out the flip flop version of the platform made popular by Lizzie MacGuire. The thong platforms are still available in neon orange, black and multi colored for $60.
No matter what it looks like, any Little Free Library is awesome simply for what it is. But some are a little more creatively crafted than others, like this incredible Little Free Library carved out of a 110-year-old tree!
Crafted by Sharalee Armitage Howard, a librarian and artist from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, this Little Free Library is so cozy and inviting you’ll wish you could crawl right into and read inside. The magical mini library was created by carving out a cottonwood tree, but don’t worry the tree was already dying.
“Someone willing to take the time to give new life to a stump would never cut down a healthy tree to do it,” Howard told Bored Panda. “It was dropping HUGE branches for years onto the sidewalk and street (even without windy weather). We were really worried about someone getting hurt. One finally hit our son’s car.”
As Howard points out in her Facebook post showing off the completed library, one of the most incredible features is the dental moulding above the door. If you closely you’ll see that the small tiles are actually mini books complete with classic titles painted on the outside, like Little Women and The Hobbit.
For the uninitiated, the Little Free Library program was founded to create a network of self-built, mini libraries around the globe with purpose of fostering a love of books and reading in all communities.
A new year, a new batch of kids shows and movies coming to Netflix in January 2019! The streaming provider will release several new seasons of its favorite shows, along with two brand new Netflix Originals we are dying to watch in the coming month.
While you may shed a tear over some of the departures, there are plenty of new shows and movies to get excited about. Here are our top kids and family streaming picks for January!
Carmen Sandiego Season 1
Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? The super thief has arrived on Netflix after tons of excitement. The series will follow all her international escapades and thrilling adventures. The spy who put the "Miss" in misdemeanor will steal your remote starting Jan. 18.
Pinky Malinky Season 1
Join Netflix's newest buddies for season one of Pinky Malinky. Pinky was born a hot dog and likes to find the bright side of everything with his pals. Sounds cute! Feast your eyes on this new show starting Jan. 1.
A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 3
The Netflix Original A Series of Unfortunate Events is back with season three! Count Olaf is still going head to head with the Baudelaire orphans as they try to reveal their long lost family secrets. The new season drops on New Year's Day.
Trolls: The Beat Goes On! Season 5
The last scene of season four of Trolls: The Beat Goes On! left us with quite the cliffhanger. Now, the gang is back for a new round of wormholes, snow and a journey to the Fountain of Glitter! The beat continues on Jan. 18.
...And Even More Kids Movies!
Aside from Netflix's lineup of original content, some classic family movies and shows new to the steaming provider are hopping into rotation in the New Year.
In the family and kids genre, dance along to Happy Feet starting Jan. 1. Get ready to do your best Kessel Run with Solo: A Star Wars Story on Jan. 9. Take a trip to Hotel Transylvania: Summer Vacation on Jan. 24. Get ready for plenty of super-heroic adventures with Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp on Jan. 29 and Disney•Pixar's The Incredibles 2 starting Jan. 31.
What's Leaving Netflix in January
Get ready to say goodbye to several kid favorites in January, too, as these titles will blast off on the following dates:
Leaving Jan. 1:
Beethoven's Christmas Adventure
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
The Iron Giant
The Princess Diaries
Leaving Jan. 4:
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
Leaving Jan. 18:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Even as we say goodbye to these titles, with new shows like Carmen Sandiego and Pinky Malinky, the kiddos will have plenty to watch Netflix on those cold winter days. Happy streaming!
The Internet’s the perfect place to share about everyday life, especially on Thanksgiving. Family comes over, everyone enjoys delicious food, and…sometimes #lifehappens and things may not go according to plan. Enjoy these Tweets and photos tagged #Thanksgivingfail from the past few years to prep for what not to do this year.
After thanksgiving dinner everyone said what they're thankful for: I said my husband, my husband said lasagna #THANKSGIVINGFAIL
There may be a perfectly logical explanation for why you can’t whistle underwater in Vermont, but the reason may be lost to time. Read on for some more silly or seriously surprising laws that, while widely ignored, are actually still on the books.
