PAPA

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Reveal Baby Josie
January 31, 2010 (Sunday)

Credit: Joe Pugliese

It's 19 kids ... and counting their blessings.

Seven weeks after baby Josie's surprise early arrival, her relieved parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are talking to PEOPLE about the tiny micropreemie, who is taking breast milk through a tube and weighs 2 lbs. 3 oz.

Born at 25 weeks to Jim Bob and Michelle, of the hit TLC reality series changing its name this week to 19 Kids and Counting, little Josie Brooklyn was a mere 1 lb. 6 oz. when she arrived Dec. 10, after Michelle was diagnosed with preeclampsia.

"Years ago, a baby this small wouldn't have lived an hour," says Jim Bob, 44. "We are so grateful for the ability to help her."

He and Michelle, 43, have moved 17 of their other kids (their oldest Josh, 21, and his wife, Anna, 21, have a baby girl and live on their own) to Little Rock, Ark. from their home in Tontitown, Ark., to be closer to Josie, who remains in intensive care at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

"It's a miracle she's doing so well," says Jim Bob. Agrees Michelle: "It is incredible what the doctors and nurses can do to save the life of this little person."

It has been an up and down saga of survival for tiny Josie. "Doctors tell us, 'never trust a preemie,' because you can't know what is going to happen," says Jim Bob. "It is a very day-to-day thing. It is the hardest thing we've ever been through."

Josie's difficult birth has brought the family closer together, say Jim Bob and Michelle, and they continue to be grateful for every moment they have with their new daughter.

"We don't know if there is going to be another big hill to go up," she says. "We are grateful for the wonderful days when she has been good. We know at any moment, things could change."

Josie's arrival will be showcased in 19 Kids and Counting: Special Duggar Delivery, airing Jan. 31 on TLC, and a new season of their show will debut in February. Source

Melamine milk products found in China
January 25, 2010 (Monday)

Melamine-tainted milk products have been pulled from convenience store shelves in southern China more than a year after hundreds of thousands of children were sickened in a massive milk safety scandal, a government spokeswoman said Monday.

Frozen milk products and cartons of milk dating from early 2009 were taken off the shelves after health inspectors tested them and found them positive for the toxic chemical melamine, said Ling Hu, a Guizhou provincial government spokeswoman.

Tainted products from three companies, Shandong Zibo Lusaier Dairy, Liaoning Tieling Wuzhou Food and Laoting Kaida Refrigeration were found in more than a dozen convenience stores around the province, Ling said.

Laoting Kaida Refrigeration was among companies named in the original melamine scandal in 2008, when six children died and 300,000 were sickened after drinking baby formula contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer.

Investigators found that melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure, had been added to watered-down milk to fool inspectors testing for protein.

Dozens of officials, dairy executives and farmers were punished.

Since the scandal broke, China vowed to implement stricter safety measures and step up inspections on the dairy industry.

Ling said health officials have continued to crack down on distributors who sell melamine-tainted milk to stores, but some distributors, wrongly assuming that the government has scaled back its crackdown, continue to sell it.

Ling said the provincial health bureau was checking to see why the products were not pulled from the shelves earlier. Calls to the Guizhou health bureau ran unanswered Monday.

Ling said distributors who had been arrested for selling the tainted milk had likely led authorities to the convenience stores where the product was found.

She had no other details and said the investigation was still under way.

The case was the latest showing how difficult it has been for the government to police the industry.

Earlier this month, government officials said the Shanghai Panda Dairy Co. had been under a secret investigation for nearly a year before announcing they had been producing melamine-tainted milk. Source

More than half a million babies born last year
January 22, 2010 (Friday)

Malaysia welcome the birth of 516,645 babies last year, an increase of 3.9 per cent or 20,231 from 2008.

Selangor continued to record the highest birth rate with 80,110 babies, followed by Sabah (60,190) and Johor (58,597), according to statistics compiled by the National Registration Department.

In 2008, Selangor was ahead with 76,932 births, Johor 58,517 and Sabah 51,773.

A total of 129,922 deaths were reported last year compared with 123,335 in 2008, which is an increase of 5.1 per cent or 6,587.

Selangor also recorded the highest number of death at 16,494, followed by Johor (15,749) and Perak (15,467).

According to a report by the Department of Statistics in its website, Malaysia's population in 2007 was 27.17 million and increased to 27.73 million in 2008 and was expected to increase to 28.31 million last year.

Since the past few years, those in the 15 to 64 age category made up 63 per cent of the country's population, below 15 years (32 per cent) and the remaining were those above 65 years old.

A lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Marshitah Mohd Radzi, when contacted, said Malaysia had been having a healthy birth rate for the past 10 years.

She said that based on the National Population Policy 1985, Malaysia's population was expected to grow to 70 million people in 2100.

"The growing family size will result in higher expenditure for the family. So, a positive growth in population will be achieved when the elements on family size and income grow in tandem," she said.

She said the birth rate in the urban and rural areas should also be uniform.

According to demographic analysis, Marshitah said the family size of the Chinese in Malaysia was the smallest, followed by Indian.

The Malays still had a big family, she added.

A population and family census is expected to be conducted again this year. Source

Beyoncé Wants a Baby – Someday
January 19, 2010 (Tuesday)

Before a baby, what Beyoncé really wants is some R & R.

"I definitely want to have a child, but I know from my nephew it's a lot," Knowles tells Allure magazine for its February issue of starting a family with husband Jay-Z. "I hope that those things will just happen naturally. I still haven't had time to relax."

Who can relax when you're popping out hit songs and maintaining a voluptuous figure?

"I always say, 'I don't want to lose my curves.' I like firm curves," Knowles, 28, says. "You can never do enough squats, you can never do enough sit-ups. I like for women to look feminine."

Feminine? How about Bootylicious? The singer/actress can't seem to shake the word coined in the Destiny's Child song of the same name. It's even been added to the Oxford Dictionary.

"I still can't believe it! It's hilarious," Knowles says. "I actually wish it was another word that I created. I wish it didn't have 'booty' in it." Source

Meet Kourtney Kardashian's Adorable Son, Mason!
January 17, 2010 (Sunday)

Credit: Albert Michael/startraksphoto.com

She and beau Scott Disick welcomed Mason Dash Disick Dec. 14 at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. The baby boy weighed in at 7 lbs., 6 oz., and measured 19.5 inches. Source

Shop Tots
January 17, 2010 (Sunday)

Credit: GSI Media

Angelina Jolie takes daughters Shiloh and Zahara to pick up some groceries at Whole Foods Market in Sherman Oaks. Source

Matthew McConaughey, Camila Alves Welcome Daughter Vida
January 07, 2010 (Thursday)

Debbie VanStory/IPHOTO

It's a girl for Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves!

Daughter Vida Alves McConaughey arrived Sunday, Jan. 3 at 12:13 a.m., Matthew announced on his Web site. She weighed in at 7 lbs., 7 oz and joins big brother Levi, 18 months.

" 'Vida' is Portuguese for 'life' and that's what God gave us this morning," the actor blogged. "Camila's recovering wonderfully and we are both truly honored to welcome this little lady into our family. Thanks for all of your well wishes and prayers along the way, another blessed day, we give thanks."

McConaughey, 40, and Alves, 26, announced the pregnancy in June, blogging, "We pulled off the greatest miracle in the world one more time. Camila and I are expecting our second child, bringing more life into the world, making more to live for. The future looks bright as the family grows."

The couple, who began dating in 2006, chose not to find out the sex of the baby prior to delivery, just as they did with Levi. McConaughey encouraged fans to guess, however.

"Not sure if it’s a boy or girl but we have our instincts," he wrote. "What are you thinking?"

Wonder if their instincts proved correct. Source

California board accuses octuplet doctor of negligence
January 05, 2010 (Tuesday)

The California Medical Board is accusing a fertility doctor of negligence and violating professional guidelines in the case of a woman who conceived octuplets.

The state licensing body said Monday that Beverly Hills fertility doctor Michael Kamrava acted beyond the reasonable judgment of a treating physician by repeatedly providing fertility treatment to a woman identified only by her initials "N.S" in the documents.

Nadya Suleman previously identified Kamrava as her doctor. The documents say his patient became pregnant with octuplets.

Suleman gave birth to the world's longest living set of octuplets on Jan. 26, 2008. She already had six other children.

No hearing date has been set on the medical board case.Source

Surprise bundles of joy for couples
January 02, 2010 (Saturday)

Early delivery: Noorbaizura and her baby girl at the Seberang Jaya Hospital.

The stork arrived early for a couple in Butterworth, who greeted New Year’s Day with their bundle of joy.

Laboratory technician Mohd Yusoff Hashim, 34, and his wife Noorbaizura Rosidi, 25, had been told by doctors to expect a baby boy on Jan 8.

However, Noorbaizura went into early labour at 3pm on New Year’s eve and delivered a 2.53kg baby girl by Caesarean just after midnight at the Seberang Jaya Hospital.

“I’m grateful anyway for having a daughter. She is our first child after four years of marriage,” said Mohd Yusoff, who confessed to having bought everything in blue to prepare for their baby’s arrival after being told to expect a boy from two ultrasound results.

“Now, we don’t have any clothes for a baby girl,” he said.

It was also an early delivery for clerk Shahmizan Shaikh Kassim and his wife Noorazila Muhiddin, both 25, who celebrated the birth of their baby girl Aryssa Myazarra at the KPJ Penang Specialist Hospi-tal in Bandar Perda at 12.12am.

Shahmizan said Aryssa’s birth was takdir (fated) because she had been due only on Jan 12.

She is the second grandchild in the family to be born on New Year’s day as Aryssa’s cousin Muhammad Shahrein Danish was born on Jan 1, 2007. Read more

2010 FIFA World Cup Year
January 01, 2010 (Friday)