Parenting and The End of The World

Mr. Christopher from Corner Stork baby Blog with another crazy list that you all love to get from me.  As crazy as it is to pay someone to take their baby’s photos in the first place, look at how much money was dished out for these celebrity babies;

To start let me make mention of two stars that had babies that did NOT make it into the top 10 even though they are bigger stars than many of these folks below are which is really shocking to me.

12. Sean Preston born to Britney Spears and Kevin Federline is a true shocker that they only got $500K for the babies photos, but once you see the other paychecks in the top 10, you’ll be very surprised. Photo.

11. Kingston born to Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani brought in a paltry $575K. Photo.

And now for the top 10.

10.
Baby’s Name: Maddie Briann Aldridge
Born: June 19, 2008 in Mississippi
Parents: Jamie Lynn Spears and Casey Aldridge
Amount: $1 million from OK! Magazine
Details: Little sister to pop wreck Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears is a star in her own right since she is Zoey in the Disney hit Zoey 101. Surprisingly Disney has stood by their little star amidst all the drama in the Spears lineage and her outbursts to gawkers in airports. They even altered the storylines to the last episodes and sent her off to another country while she had her child. Regardless, Jamie and Casey sold out to OK! Magazine for a reported $1 million dollars (cue the pinky to the corner of your mouth). But it’s still twice as much as her older sister made for her baby.

9.
Baby’s Name: Harlow Winter Kate Madden
Parents: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden
Amount: $1 million from People Magazine
Details: Nicole traded in her “do me” pumps and short skirts to grow up and have a baby with her boyfriend Joel Madden (from Good Charlotte). With her only claim to fame being a party girl, Paris Hilton sidekick and daughter of Top 40 daddy Lionel, she decided that the timing was right to procreate. Lionel paid cash to give the couple a home to call their own as a gift for the baby and People magazine gave them $1 million to take a photo of their offspring. Those 2 baby gifts alone are a pretty good jump start to a baby’s life. Well, anyone’s life actually.

8.
Baby’s Name: Honor Marie Warren
Parents: Jessica Alba & Cash Warren
Amount: $1.5 million from OK! Magazine
Details: Jessica Alba had been toiling over the thought of selling her baby photos, but according to TMZ eventually gave in to OK! magazines $1.5 million dollar offer made to her and husband Cash Warren. Honor’s photos will be her first available anywhere and also includes one other event which could be a birthday, Christmas or any other holiday that the couple chooses in the child’s first year.

7.
Baby’s Name: Max Liron Bratman
Parents: Christina Aguilera & Jordan Bratman
Amount: $1.5 million from People Magazine
Details: Christina did her best to keep her pregnancy a secret like Jennifer Lopez did, but was outed by Paris Hilton at a Los Angeles party where she announced it from the stage. Christina immediately hid her face in embarrassment because that was not the plan. But when has Paris ever stuck to a plan? So the pop star and her beautiful newborn baby appeared on the cover in February of 2008 issue along with a deeper view into the pop princess’s life.

6.
Baby’s Name: Dannielynn Smith
Parents: Anna Nicole Smith & Larry Birkhead
Amount: $2 million from OK! Magazine
Details: Many are still mourning the passing of Anna Nicole Smith, but she left behind one heck of a mess and a custody battle that would be the headline story on both TV and print for months and months to come. When the dust finally settled, Larry Birkhead via a paternity test was finally proven as the father. So he did what any good father would do and cashed in on a $2 million dollar offer from OK! magazine for photos of him and his daughter. Considering that $2 million is chickenfeed for OK!. Compared to the quantity of magazines they sold as a result, they were more than happy to pay for Dannielynn’s college.

5.
Baby’s Name: Pax Thien (post-adoption)
Parents: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Amount: $2 million from People Magazine
Details: Consider that this won’t be the first time you see their name on the list as you read on, but this was the first time they came to the realization that their offspring, even adopted, could bring massive amounts of cash. All of which (here and moving forward) that they would donate to African children’s charities. Pax was adopted by couple Brad and Angie from Vietnam in 2007. They also sold rights to publish the photos to the British magazine Hello! which is the only reason why they took the #5 slot from Dannielynne.

4.
Baby’s Name: Levi Alves McConaughey
Parents: Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves
Amount: $3 million from OK! Magazine
Details: Matthew McConaughey may look a little lite headed, but he saw the dollar signs right out of the gate and hired Todd Shemarya to broker the deal. Todd’s previous work had included Brad and Angie’s $4 million dollar deal. The baby’s photo will be released for all to see very soon, but since the baby was just born on July 7th, the happy parents are probably holding back for a little bit. But considering the parents genes, there isn’t any possibility of an ugly baby. This offer also includes OK!’s option to take a photo of a future special occasion such as a birthday or other holiday event.

3.
Baby’s Name: Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt
Parents: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Amount: $4.1 million from People Magazine
Details: This was the first baby photos for Brad and Angie showcasing their first official offspring that was biologically theirs. Shiloh was their very first as a couple and many in the industry were surprised that the pockets weren’t a little deeper, but just like in the past (and future), all of the proceeds went to charity. Realistically they should be in slot #2 because they also received $3.5 million from the British tabloid called Hello!

2.
Baby’s Names: Max & Emme Anthony
Parents: Jennifer Lopez & Marc Antony
Amount: $6 million from People Magazine
Details: I don’t think it’s any surprise that we should expect an album from the offspring to be on the Top 40 charts somewhere between 15-20 years from now. And a dozen labels waving money in their faces as they step off the karaoke stage. Inheriting pipes from both mommy and daddy, there should be a lot of singing in these kids future. The twins from Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony held the number one most expensive celebrity baby photo slot until Brad and Angie’s stepped onto the scene…

1.
Baby’s Names: Knox Leon & Vivienne Marcheline
Parents: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Amount: $11 million from OK! Magazine
Details: Even though the AP reports that this number is $11 million, some reports have it somewhere between $15-20. Admirably enough, the money will go to a charity in Africa and not into their pockets like they have done in the past. Like they need money. But instead of adding more zeros to their bank account, they decided to use it to help those less fortunate. The issue displaying the baby photos (as of this writing) hasn’t been released yet, but we’re definitely interested to see what an $11 million dollar photo shoot looks like. Just make sure you have a nice baby memory book from Corner Stork Baby Gifts to place these photos into.

Share This With a Friend!
BlinkList, del.icio.us, Digg, Furl, Google, ma.gnolia, Netscape, Newsvine, reddit, Simpy, Spurl, Squidoo

Mr. Christopher quickly signing in and then signing out as I turn over today’s blog post to guest writer and new writer on our team, Karen Sullen. She’s got a perfect fitting style for what i do here and thought you should take a peek…

Embryo Adoptions: A Growing Opportunity by Karen Sullen

For many couples, pregnancy seems to come with little effort. Still there are countless others who have attempted to expand their families naturally for years with no success. Each year is met with frustration and disappointment, as the outlook for once-hopefulcouples grows dim. Traditional adoption and in-vitro fertilization have long been sought as methods to help these couples fulfill their dreams of parenthood. But now, couples have another option to consider–embryo adoption.

What becomes of embryos that are no longer needed? Until recently, once couples were successful in having a child or children through IVF, the embryos would either be donated for medical research, anonymously donated to a waiting family who could not produce viable eggs of their own or destroyed. Realizing that there is life (even if dormant) in those tiny embryos that might never have a chance to reach their fullest potential, an organization called Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Agency has been on the forefront of embryo adoptions to help change that. If fully utilized, embryo adoptions could allow the more than 400,000 frozen eggs that have been harvested from couples during the in-vitro fertilization process to actually be adopted. Charting new territory, this organization has brought the full adoption process to in-vitro fertilization, resulting in a glorious new option for infertile couples.

Many of you might be wondering, “Embryo donations have been around for years, so what’s so different about embryo adoptions?” According to Snowflakes, the process “goes beyond the embryo donation provided by fertility clinics by offering the safeguards and education available in a traditional adoption. A home study is prepared on the adopting family that includes screening and education. The donating family is responsible for selecting a family to raise their genetic child (as opposed to the doctor in a clinic making the selection of a family,) and they will know if a child is born from the adopted embryos. Our program recognizes the importance of counseling all parties involved. Most importantly, we recognize the personhood of embryos, and we treat them as precious pre-born children.” As with traditional adoptions, the donor family must relinquish their right and legal claim to the embryos before transfer and thawing of embryos can be done.

While embryo adoptions maintain the look and feel of traditional adoptions, there are some distinct differences. There are no specific laws regarding the adoption of embryos. Most organizations operate under a broad use of existing adoption laws, which they then apply to the embryos as if they were children (albeit “pre-born” children.) As you would imagine, embryo adoptions are not without their limitations. While only two-thirds of the frozen embryos will survive the thawing stage, the ones that do survive are then implanted into the adoptive mother’s womb just like another other IVF procedure with only a 20-25% success rate. There are other drawbacks as well. First, because multiple embryos are implanted simultaneously, expectant mothers could end up with twins or even triplets. Secondly, there are no guarantees regarding the genetic makeup of the child. A baby cannot be refused or “returned” if it is born with birth defects or other abnormalities. And then there’s always the issue of whether to tell the child of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding its birth. Finally, embryo adoptions can also be more stressful than normal adoptions because implantation does not always result in pregnancy. As with any other IVF procedure, it may take several implants before a baby is conceived.

All that aside, many couples believe that the benefits of embryo adoptions outweigh the risk and the effort. The most obvious benefit is that the adoptive mother has an opportunity to participate in the pregnancy process. Although the child is not “genetically” hers, she can now experience the joys of motherhood, right along with the pains. It’s the experience of a lifetime! The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) at Knoxville’s Baptist Hospital for Women has matched nearly 100 genetic families through its non-profit organization, whose mission is to “protect the lives and dignity of human embryos by promoting, facilitating and educating about embryo donation and adoption.”

This article was brought to you by CornerStorkBabyGifts.com, an online retail company specializing in boutique-quality baby gifts and baby shower favors. We are also dedicated to providing informative articles on pregnancy and prenatal health, infant and baby health, infant and baby safety, parenting skills and strategies, child abuse and other topics of interest to mothers- and fathers-to-be, parents and the public.

Share This Article: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mr. Christopher here from Corner Stork Baby Gifts Baby Blog. I love when I do a story on a breaking tidbit and then something occurs that negates it. Like the Eddie Murphy Tracey Edmonds story where I announced their secret ceremony near Bora Bora and then had to retract the story as they split ways a week later over a pre-nup. Well, it has happened yet again!

I originally covered Nicole Kidman and the story from London’s Paper the Daily Mail that she was pregnant, but that her publicist very quickly made sure to quell that statement as a mere rumor. “She would have 30 kids if all of the pregnancy rumors about her were true”, she said. However, we’ve just learned that Nicole and husband Keith Urban are INDEED having a baby from news released in the U.K. and Australia, their home. The two 40 year olds were reported to be pawing each other at the Australian Open and Nicole was glowing and a pleasant accompanying baby bump.

Nicole already has two adopted children from her marriage with Tom Cruise. There’s 15 year old Isabella and 13 year old Connor. Nicole had 2 miscarriages during their 10 year marriage which may explain the hesitancy to announce a pregnancy when the potential risk is so high for the possibility of another. It’s certainly not news that you want to share with the world. So it appears that they’ve shared the news with their Australian family, but have kept it hush hush with the States.

But Nicole can rest in the solace that we all wish her the best during this pregnancy. We just hope she and her friends throw her an incredible baby shower with the best unique baby gifts including personalized baby blankets and the cutest baby clothes. And of course the best place to get them would be none other than Corner Stork Baby Gifts. Of course.

Share This Article!
Ask | Blinkbits | Blinklist | co.mments | Connotea | del.icio.us | Digg | Fark it! | Furl.net | Google | NewsVine | Ning | RawSugar | Reddit | Spurl | Squidoo | Stumble Upon | Technorati | Windows Live | YahooMyWeb

Mr. Christopher from the Corner Stork Baby Gifts blog. It’s kind of surprising that there are so many parents in the world that have so much trouble adopting children. Because Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt seem to be able to get them like their sitting on a shelf at a grocery store. A report that was just released today that gave them clearance to report that Brad and Angie will adopt an African child and preferably a girl. They will start their search via the orphanages around Easter.

The couple already has 3 adopted children including 6 year old Maddox, 4 year old Pax, and 2 year old Ethiopian born Zahara. And let us not forget their own biological child Shiloh. This also dissipates the rumors that the couple is in turmoil since neither would consider an adoption if there were troubles in their relationship. Her brother was quoted as saying, “Angie and Brad talk about how much they have been taught by their kids. In many respects Angie saved Zahara’s life and there are so many more children whose lives she could save and she talks about that constantly.“

From my perspective, this just seems like she’s collecting children. Obviously I don’t see them behind the scenes with these children, but between both of their careers and their humanitarian efforts, where is the time to manage a family? Especially one that seems to be growing at the rate of one addition every year or two. I admire Angelina’s efforts and out of all of the possible places to throw your unbelievable wealth, this is definitely better than drugs, alcohol and partying. But what are they attempting to achieve here with these constant adoptions that seemingly have no end in sight?

Regardless, it’s a pretty cool thing to do and she certainly puts actions behind her words. Maybe she’ll cut some corners and head over to Corner Stork Baby Gifts to pick up some inexpensive baby clothing. her friends are welcome to come and show their support by browsing Corner Stork’s unique baby gift selection. We can even personalize the gifts assuming the name isn’t some long 50 character exotic froo froo name. We’ll see!

Share This Article
Ask | Blinkbits | Blinklist | Connotea | del.icio.us | Digg | Fark it! | Google | | RawSugar | Reddit | Spurl | Squidoo | Stumble Upon | Technorati | Windows Live | YahooMyWeb

Happy New Year from Mr. Christopher from Corner Stork Baby Blog. Hope you had a great holiday.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to squash a rumor before it starts going. London’s “Daily Mail” tabloid announced that actress Nicole Kidman and hubby Keith Urban were expecting a new addition. And since all of Hollywood is doing it now, the well wishes came in droves. But one of Nicole’s publicists told the Australian newspaper Melbourne Herald Sun that it’s not true at all. If all of the assumptions of her fabled pregnancies were true, “she’d have about 30 kids by now”.

Nicole has 2 adopted children with her ex Tom Cruise, 15 and 12. She’s made it public that she does want to have a family with Keith, but may be a little gun shy since her well publicized miscarriage along with an ectopic pregnancy before that. An ectopic pregnancy is when the fertilized ovum gets implanted in tissue other than the uterine wall.

So not this time folks, but at least we know that it’s coming. And we’ll be prepared to offer up some great baby shower favors, personalized baby gifts and baby onesies from Corner Stork Baby Gifts to shower upon the pregnant to be mommy.

Share This Article!
Ask | Blinkbits | Blinklist | Blogmarks | del.icio.us | Digg | Furl.net | Google | LinkaGoGo | Ma.gnolia | Netscape | Netvouz | NewsVine | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Technorati

Mr. Chris from Corner Stork Baby Gifts with a touching family story that’s yet to be resolved. Ok, I saw this story yesterday on the morning news and thought it would be a passing thing, but obviously, that’s not the case. It appears that Ellen plans to fight if necessary to make this situation right. For those that aren’t aware of what all the hub bub is about, here’s the scoop. Ellen Degeneres adopted a dog from a pet adoption agency called Mutts and Moms. One of those little black curly haired pooches. The agency is very strict about what happens to the animals it adopts out and has some pretty strict rules. One of the rules is that if you decide not to keep the pet, you must bring it back to the agency.

So Ellen brings the dog home, spends thousands of dollars getting its shots updated and having the dog neutered and essentially taking loving care of the pooch. Well the dog is just way too high strung for Ellen’s cats and is basically bouncing off the walls. So Ellen tells the story to her hairdresser and her hairdresser says, “We’ll take the puppy.”. So Ellen gives the puppy to her hairdresser who has a very nice home with a nice big privacy fenced backyard, two loving kids (ages 12 and 13) and that was that. One would think. Mutts and Moms had a heartattack insisting that Ellen had broken the rules of the agreement. Then they demanded to see the home the dog was sent to. Upon arriving at the people’s home days later, the rep from the agency picks up the dog and refuses to let go of the dog until the police arrive. The police arrive and find that the microchip in the dog’s neck still says the dog is registered to the agency, so the cops allow the dog to be taken by the agency even though the dog has been in this family’s home for 2 weeks.

At this point, the family is very upset and man oh man, so is Ellen. Ellen can’t even make it through the taping of her next TV show because she is sobbing and emotionally distraught that the agency has been so cruel (click the photo on the left or here for the video). They were hollering at her and basically telling Ellen how awful she is for breaking the rules. Ellen could barely talk during her show pleading for the agency to give the dog back to the family. The agency simply has ignored her pleas and the website makes no mention of the scenario and has even pulled their telephone numbers to avoid the onslaught brought on by all of this negative publicity.

So here we are two days later and this is still a very big issue around the water cooler. The new breaking news is that the agency has no proof that Ellen actually signed those papers that they have been so animate about. Plus, the only reason why the microchip still had the agencies name on it was because the agency had failed to update the chip. So what now? I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of this story for a long while until this gets resolved. TMZ took a poll and over 95% of the poll takers think the agency should give the dog back. This seems like an obvious problem that could be resolved by simply giving the dog back. The agency is bringing all of the bad press on themselves for dragging their feet. Kudos to them for protecting animals, but bad juju is surely coming their way if they don’t fix this fast.

If you love reading about great entertainment news that relates to babies, parenting and family matters, be sure to check out the new home for this blog at http://blog.cornerstorkbabygifts.com. It will be the same zaniness that thousands of people have grown to love here, but now at a new location.

Ask | Blinklist | del.icio.us | Digg | Furl.net | Google | NewsVine | Reddit | Spurl | Squidoo | Stumble Upon | Technorati | YahooMyWeb

Mr. Chris here from Corner Stork. I’ve always found that naming a child should be something that has some sort of significance. Like naming a child after an ancestor or paying homage to your favorite cartoon character. But the same names appear on the popular baby name list year after year like the Matthew’s, John’s, Amy’s, etc. But even with the mass of popular names, why can I never find my name of the keychain rack?

It could be because the top 10 baby names of 2006, as provided to us by MSN, are full of names that I’ve never even seen before. Even stranger are the intentional misspellings of popular names. So without further ado, here are the top 10 baby boys and top 10 baby girl names of 2006.

Top 10 Baby Girl Names

10. Hailey
9. Abigail
8. Olivia
7. Sophia
6. Kaitlyn
5. Isabella
4. Emily
3. Ava
2. Madison
1. Emma (which was # 1 in 2005 also)

Top 10 Baby Boy Names

10. Logan
9. Joshua
8. Nicholas
7. Noah
6. Jack
5. Matthew
4. Ryan
3. Ethan
2. Jacob
1. Aidan

Surprisingly, the top 3 boy names were the exact same order in 2005. So while we might not be able to find everything pre-stitched for our children’s names, luckily Corner Stork Baby Gifts has an incredible wide selection of unique baby gifts and most of which can be personalized. Personalized baby gifts are a great way to show that you know how to spell that strange name they picked out.

Ahh, when competing entertainers quarrel, it make the rest of us all smile and get giggly inside. It appears that swishy swooner Morrissey had some harsh words to say about Madonna’s adoption. According to us Magazine:

“Looks like Madonna is hung up on the mean comments that moody singer Morrissey recently said about her at a concert.

While performing at a PETA benefit show in Norfolk, Virginia, July 9, he dissed, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she made that African boy she adopted into a coat and wore him for 15 minutes, then threw it away,” presumably blasting the trendy singer for hopping on the Angelina bandwagon by adopting 21-month old David Banda from Malawi last year.

Needless to say, Madonna is very annoyed that anyone can even “conjure up images like that“. But leave it to Mr. Christopher, your twisted Corner Stork gossip finder to take it one step further and suggest that what may be stranger is that she actually entertained the idea and tried to envision it. That is so weird. She actually said, “What kind of a person could even call up such imagery and words?”. Ummm. okay. Well, what kind of person after hearing someone say that would actually try to analyze it? Matter of fact, I’m surprised that it’s got any press at all because it is so incredibly stupid. Was he drunk? He said it at a PETA concert folks. That’s even funnier. Cruelty to animals is one thing, but skinning kids for coats is A-O-K. Everyone knows how stellar of a parent Madonna is, so come on people!

The real circus came afterwards when she asked one of her assistants, “is there a market for African boy coats?”*. Well we can tell you that, NO there is not.

But there is a great market for these incredibly cuddly Baby Bear Faux Fur Cuddle Coat & Booties Gift Sets from Corner Stork Baby Gifts. And if you do plan to make coats out of children, why not hang it up on these gorgeous handmade coat racks! Sweeet.

* The comment with the asterisk is not true. She never said that. but it was very funny.