About This Episode

We bring Moms together for the ultimate delivery debate! Natural birth verses a cesarean section also known as a C-section. Some moms-to-be are able to choose their birthing method, some don’t have an option. To ensure a fair and balanced discussion we have Moms who have had vaginal births and moms who have had c-sections to share their birthing experiences with us!

Be sure to share your birthing experiences in our comments section below!

About Our Moms

Taiia Smart Young is the Executive Editor of Juicy magazine. If she isn’t interviewing celebs like Kelly Rowland, Jada Pinkett Smith, Melanie Fiona, The-Dream and Chris Rock, she’s busy being a Mom to her 12 year old son, Shateek. Taiia delivered her son naturally

Chrisandra Wells is a Mom of four. Her children’s ages range from an 11 year old, 8 year old and 4 year old twins. As a Mom Chrisandra is always busy but fully of energy. She is also a freelance plus size model, hair model and makeup artist and is currently pursuing her dreams in fashion.

Karen Sanchez is Mom to two girls, and wife for the past 15 years. She is currently a freelance talent manager in TV production and she also has her own blog.

About Karyn Parsons

Apega/WENN.com

Read any blog, check any fashion site and you will almost always see someone say, “If I could just rock the Halle ____.”

Well, get ready because there is a chance you may be able to get a piece of Halle Berry in your closet.

According to EURweb, the actress will soon be coming out with her own shoe line. Berry will be working with Germain retailer Deichmann Shoes to release some shoes in line with what the Cover Girl would rock on her feet.

The line, “5th Avenue by Halle Berry” are described as being fashionable yet comfortable shoes bound to fit the lifestyles of all women (soccer moms, working moms, corporate women, fashion savvy women, etc…).

Halle, being a fashionable, busy and working mom, knows that there are often two things really important to women: their hair their shoes.

“Women have always loved shoes. It’s like if your hair is not right and your shoes are not right, the woman is not right. If both of them are right, you’re pretty much OK”

5th Avenue by Halle Berry will consist of 40 limited edition designs and will starting being available by the end of the month.

Another upside? The shoes will start at $60. Now, we don’t know what those shoes will look like but with only 40 pairs, the prices likely won’t get too far out of hand if you see a pair you like.

The possible down side? The shoes are only being released in the UK. There’s been no word from Deichmann Shoes as to whether or not they’ll be available to order online and ship to the United States.  If not, I guess we’ll just be looking at pictures online.

Good for Halle. This sounds like it was possibly something really fun for her to do!

Would you buy a pair if you saw some you liked?

Courtesy of MissMotley Photography

Children, aren’t they awesome?  You see them playing and running around, all carefree, and occasionally you’ll see a stressed out parent running behind them trying to keep that child in line.  You might forget about that parent once they leave your sight, but when you have friends that have children it’s a little harder to forget.

Though you love your friend and her child you might get a little annoyed by her interrupting your vent session while she starts gushing about how cute her child is while he/she eats.  Or you might not understand why she’s so stressed out about the type of diapers she buys.  Now, for the sake or arguing, let’s say that said mother is an attentive, but not obsessive, caring and loyal mother.  Not the ones where you second guess about calling DCFS on her.  The woman is trying her best.

For these women, no matter how close you are to a person and how you two like to keep it real with each other, saying these things could bring you into a real life “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong” fiasco:

Caption: funkadelicsquared.blogspot.com

Whenever women congregate, the conversation may easily turn toward endless tales of “no-good men.” You know, the liars, cheats and heart breakers. Chances are, you’ve dated, been in love with, or even married a man before realizing he was of the “no-good” variety, without considering how he got that way.

Society’s unspoken secret is that parents influence your habits, tendencies and relationships, for better or worse. No one’s perfect, including mom and dad. The most many can hope for is that your parent’s imperfections balance each other out so neither screws you up too much.

Far too many boys in black communities are being raised by single mothers, which throws the whole balancing act off. It also puts all the child-rearing on moms shoulders. Many of the lessons children learn from parents are informal and so subtle that you can teach plenty of bad lessons without even trying.

Fast forward a couple decades and your sweet little boy is the grown man women love to complain about. Clearly, grown people are responsible for their own actions, but it’s a lot harder to make better decisions when you’ve been weaned on no-good habits since birth.

Parenting is a challenging job, with far too few displays of recognition or positive guidance. But no one wants to raise a child who causes heartbreak and suffering to others.

If you can identify with any of the following, stop, think about your goals for your child, then take action.

Source: theGrio.com

From theGrio.com

Children. Family. Friends. Errands. Work. Church. Dinner. Karate lessons. Bake sales…

Moms routinely juggle long lists of to-dos from all facets of their lives, except the most important: themselves. Moms will drive their kids, and even other people’s kids, to regular pediatrician appointments. They take sick relatives to the emergency room late at night. They will visit sick friends in the hospital. But, doing the same for themselves seems impossible.

The important question is, how will everyone manage when mom is too sick to take care of them?

Squeezing more time into a jam-packed day takes an act akin to a miracle. And, taking time away from other responsibilities may feel selfish. But, it’s actually — in many ways — a selfless move for Mom and the people she cares for.

Mom should take one or two days at a set time each year (the month of May sounds like a great idea!) and line up appointments to keep herself healthy.

Here’s theGrio’s head-to-toe guide of what to check:

Find out how to better take care of yourself with these tips from theGrio.com. 

More on Madame Noire!

• “Would We Still Back Barack Obama if He Were Married to a White Woman?”
• “Messy: Terrell Owens Confronts Baby Mommas on Dr. Phil”
• “Check Ya Vocals: 7 Songs That Would’ve Sounded Better If Someone Else Sang Them”
• “2012 Met Costume Institute Gala: Beyoncé, Rihanna & More Show Out On The Red Carpet”
• You Can Do Better: Your Standards Are Too Low If You Accept These 6 Things
• “How Far Can Swag Take You? An Analysis of the Rick Ross Appeal”
• “Phil Mushnick (And Those Who Agree With Him), Tell Us Why You’re Really Mad at Jay-Z”

Moms have always been the epitome of resourcefulness. If they have a problem with their child, somehow they have always been able to find a way to solve it and with the growth of the Internet and social media, mom ideas have become unstoppable.

“Someone will say they’re having a problem and they can’t find a seamstress, and someone else will say, ‘I have someone who helped me,’ ” Tamara Monosoff said to The New York Times. She created her invention, a device to stop children from unspooling toilet paper, eight years ago before the internet made sharing ideas so easy.

“It’s instantaneous, whereas for me, I was looking in the Yellow Pages.”

To save moms from going through the same difficulty she had in trying to figure out how to market her product, with virtually no resources to help her, Monosoff founded Mom Invented.

She has 6,000 Twitter followers and a website community of almost 20,000 mothers. Her company works to help “mompreneurs” by licensing and selling products under the Mom Invented brand.

“Whether they have a business background or not, they have their whole life experience to bring to the table,” Monosoff said. “That’s what I love. They’re not constrained by business jargon or business concepts. They’re like, ‘I’m making this thing; how do I sell it?’”

Monosoff is not alone in making big moves on the mommy front. Heather Allard created the Swaddleaze and the Blankeaze, two products she thought of when her baby daughter kept wiggling out of her swaddling blanket while she slept. Her inventions are little wearable baby blankets that keep the child in place.

At first, it seemed like her invention was a waste of time and money. In total she spent about $50,000 to market her product. But when she sold the rights to the product for six figures in 2008, things began to look up. Later on in the year, she founded Mogul Mom, an advice website for business driven moms.

For moms today with a solution to a common mommy problem, the sky is the limit and the answers to marketing products are only a click away.

About This Episode

Every busy mom knows that managing relationships with friends can be a lot of work, for both yourself, and your family. In this episode of Mommy-In-Chief, we talk to Ronnie Tyler of BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com for tips on managing successful play dates. Plus, writer and lifestyle expert, Suzanne Rust shows us creative gift-wrapping techniques.

Want More Mommy In Chief? Watch these episodes:

Season 2

• Episode 1: Are You A Good Enough Mother?
• Episode 2: New Motherhood and Balancing A Bust Work Life
• Episode 3: How to Decorate an Eco-Friendly Baby Nursery
• Episode 4: Foodie, Nicole Friday on Kids and Career
• Episode 5: Melissa Beck, From Hollywood to Stay At Home Mom
• Episode 6: Single Mom in The City
• Episode 7: Mommy Mogul and Marketing Wiz Monique Jackson at Home With Her Boys 
• Episode 8: Beauty Maven Jodie Patterson Talks Four-Day Work Week for Moms 
• Episode 9: Tonya Lewis Lee on Motherhood and the Importance of Women’s Health

Season 1

• Episode 1: Back 2 School
• Episode 2: Happy Halloween
• Episode 3: Socially Responsible Kids
• Episode 4: Money Talks
• Episode 5: Keeping Families Healthy
• Episode 6: Thanksgiving Madness
• Episode 7: Highlights and Best Moments
• Episode 8: Stylish Moms
• Episode 9: Best Apps for Moms
• Episode 10: Socialite Kids
• Episode 11: Hair Talk with AfroBella
• Episode 12: Happy New Year!

By Charlotte Young

It’s no secret that being a mom and a professional woman is a hard task and we give a round of applause to all those hardworking mamas. As the year wraps up, workingmother.com provides us with the most powerful moms of 2011. To make the list, women must have at least one child who is 18 year old or younger, live in the US and be changing the game in their field.

Where would the list be without Michelle Obama? Workingmother.com lists her as the most powerful mom in Washington. The first lady is mother to Malia, 13 and Sasha, 10. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard, Obama is a role model for moms around the nation. In her position she has committed herself to decrease childhood obesity and launched the “Let’s Move” campaign.

The most powerful mom in science, technology, engineering and math is none other than Ursula Burns. This hardworking sister is the chairman and CEO of Xerox. Burns has two children, Malcom, 21, and Melissa 17. Burns has worked at Xerox from the bottom up, starting as an intern in 1980. In 2009, she became the first African American woman CEO to lead a S&P 100 Company and the first woman to succeed another woman as a S&P company head. Burns groundbreaking work doesn’t stop with her color or gender. In 2010, she increased Xerox’s profits by 25 percent and closed the company’s biggest deal by leading its acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion. Raised by a single mother in a New York housing project, Burns went on to earn a Mechanical Engineering degree at New York University and a Masters of Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.

Also on the list are Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis, co-founders of Gilt Groupe and the most powerful mom entrepreneurs. Both are new moms to one year old sons. The Harvard educated duo took the online shopping market by storm with the launch of Gilt Groupe in 2007. Gilt Groupe features “flash” sales, clothing and accessories for women, men and children at a limited time discounted rate.  With their innovative idea, Maybank and Wilkis have created a $1 billion company.

TV journalist Ann Curry is listed as the most powerful TV journalist mom. With two children, McKenzie, 18, and Walker, 16, Curry has maintained her position as co-anchor of The Today Show on NBC. Beginning in 1991, she is the show’s longest serving new anchor.

Tina Fey is listed as the most powerful mom in Pop Culture. The actress/comedian/writer/producer is mom to six-year-old Alice and four-month-old Penelope. Known for her roles on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, Fey has won seven Emmys, three Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

We always knew the show Toddlers & Tiaras was a hot, stinkin’ mess, mostly because of the parents who did the absolute most to have their babies win. Remember the little girl dressed as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman? Mess, I say!

Well this crazy show with its VERY crazy pageant parents and kiddies we feel sorry for, had its season premiere last night on TLC, and of course it has people talking. A mother of two, Katie, professed that she had her kids for the sake of getting them into these pageants. Not because she really wanted to just have kids, but because she could parade them around in sequin delights! And while she had a little girl, five-year-old Riley, and a son, six-year-old Bob, she gets both of them involved, dressing Bob in fake eyelashes and teaching him to walk and twirl and also how to give big, “fierce smiles.” The whole family love them some drag queens, attend drag shows on the regular, and are huge fans of RuPaul.

“We take a lot of our inspiration from RuPaul. He’s our favorite queen.”

I love me some RuPaul’s Drag Race as much as the next person, but that’s really crazy.

And let’s not forget the fact that she said she has taken little Riley to Applebees and had her dancing and singing the song “Pokerface” on top of the bar. But it’s all good, because she didn’t get dollars throw at her, right? That’s what momma Katie says: “It’s not like people threw dollars at her or anything. She’s not a stripper.”

I need these mothers to really get a hobby and let these children focus on school and just being kids. I didn’t know what a drag queen was into I was in junior high! They’re a little too grown already. Doing the most? Oh, indeed! (*in my Omar voice*) Check out the video of the family below from last night’s episode below, courtesy of E!.

Well, alright. Thoughts?

More on Madame Noire!

Somebody Lied To You: People Who Swear They Can Sing But Really Can’t

Kelly Rowland’s Hair Masterpieces and Messes Over the Years Risky

Behavior: 6/10 Americans Didn’t Use Protection First Time They Had Sex

Ask a Very Smart Brotha: Short Dudes & Caribbean Cuties

Cosby Hair: 10 Looks We Adore

Is Sex What REALLY Gets A Man? See What These Men Have To Say

Jim Jones And T.I. Remind Us Why We Love Bad Boys

Top 9 Deal Breakers For Women

Few things are as strong as a mother’s love for her child. But when it comes to boys, little will rival the connection he shares with his mama. The intricate nature of a mother’s love for her son has been covered by everyone from Maya Angelou to Sigmund Freud  and when passed through the lens of class and race in America, that relationship takes on entirely new dimensions. Black men that get caught up in the system of imprisonment and frequent unemployment start off as someone’s baby.

Regardless of whether men grow up in a single parent household or not, moms typically lead child rearing efforts. Much of that time is spent sheltering your boy, protecting his knees and elbows from boo-boos, answering to his call and making him happy. And rightly so. He’s your baby and deserves your love. The problem is that often, the way in which we raise our boys doesn’t always match up with what we and the rest of society expect of them as men.

The term “mama’s boy” probably comes to mind. Clearly a man should have a cherished place in his heart for his mama but that shouldn’t interfere with his ability to have an adult relationship with another woman or be a productive member of society and his community. Even as you spend your last dime to give that perfect little angel love and attention as only a mother can, it’s important to keep your eyes on the end goal: raising a good man.

Kids grow up fast but not over night. There will be plenty of time for your little man to be your baby but along the way, help him be the kind of man any mother can be proud of.