I went to the world premiere of the Pixar film Brave in Hollywood last week, and let’s just get one thing straight first: after living in in Los Angeles my entire childhood and finally attending my first RED carpet event 20 years after moving away, the red carpet was green.

photo credit: Disney

See how there are two sides of that rope? I walked on the less important side of it.

I didn’t know what to write about this event that would not make you like me less, so I’m going to stick with the questions that Heather asked me.

Did you buy a new dress?

Nope, I wore a dress I’ve had for 10 years.

How did it feel to be dressed as a fancy person at a movie theater? Was the theater comfy?

The venue was the Dolby Theater where the Oscars are held (recently known as the Kodak Theater). Fancy fancy. There were celebs, paparazzi, and an after party where I couldn’t find a table and ate standing up until my forearm ached.

I love this question, by the way, because when it was happening it felt 100% fine, but looking back I’d say I do prefer not wearing Spanx, a strapless bra, and contact lenses at the movies. But I fit right in, so if that’s what you’re asking, it was all good.

photo cropped in half because otherwise my head would be too small to identify

Who is that dude? (I sent this picture to Heather.)

That is David, who blogs at The Daddy Complex. He was one of 25 other bloggers on the trip. Don’t look at his site right now because he’s also talking about Brave and you might feel overwhelmed. Look at it tomorrow when he’s talking about his twins again. I do give him mad props for wearing a kilt to the event, and look how I treated him like a Scottish prop for my amusement. Sorry, David.

Were you making awkward small talk?

Sometimes, yes. I was envious of the Pixar employees for whom it was really a victory celebration, complete with bagpipe acknowledgements. For me, as a member of the media, it was more like being at the swanky Bar Mitzvah party of someone I didn’t know (growing up in LA, some of the Bar Mitzvahs were pretty fabulous). At one point I ran into the parents of one of Scarlett’s friends, one of whom works at Pixar, so that was a nice surprise.

photo credit: caryn bailey

Inspired by the film’s protagonist, I channeled my fierce independence and wandered off alone to an activity station where you could shoot a bow and arrow.  My first shot was a bulls-eye, and my next two were darn close.

Did you see any celebrities?

Yes, I saw many who I couldn’t identify but whose status I understood due to the number of people who were taking their picture. The person I felt the greatest impulse to hug was Angela from The Office. Kevin Nealon would have been a close second, but he had a lady friend with zero body fat linking her sculpted arm to his arm. I saw Allison Janney, too. I said nothing to any of them.

Should I take my kids to see the movie even though it’s PG?

Yes, because I know you are Pixar-obsessed and will not rest until you see it, but since they’re under 8, I think you should read my post Brave: Do kids need a “good” scare? on BabyCenter first.

Every kid has a different tolerance for intensity on the screen and Scarlett and Julian are pretty sensitive.  I told them the entire plot already so that they would not be quite as startled during the movie. Julian (7 1/2) wants to go, but Scarlett is going to skip it.

I was treated to this experience by the folks at Disney, and I am one million percent grateful for the opportunity to have been there.

Thanks to Tout for sponsoring this post and encouraging me to share mom’s best advice. Visit the SELF + The Honest Co. + Tout contest on.self.com/MomKnows to share your mom’s best advice & enter to win $500 worth of The Honest Company product and a Maya Brenner Designs necklace valued at $200, plus have your Tout featured on SELF.com. For every response a donation will be made to Baby2Baby.

Over the years, my mom has given me a lot of advice. I wish I could easily put my finger on the very best but it all tends to swirl around me and through me. Some I listened to, some I ignored. If only she had had a blog, right? Then I could search for her guidance at just the right times.

Before I had my second baby, Whitney made me a terrific scrapbook of tips and advice from our mom friends with two or more babies. Including my own mother. Mixed in among my girlfriends’ suggestions to “let some things go” and “hold onto order even more tightly” was a little blast of advice from the seventies.

We lovingly call this piece of advice from my mom God bless the rocking chair (because that’s how it starts), but the nugget of wisdom I most appreciate is to spend one-on-one time with my children as often as possible.

I believe that the time we spend together doing what they want is a foundation for their happy childhood memories. Whether its playing a silly board game during naptime, building an epic fort, or creating a LEGO comic strip out of Q-tips, they will remember me as a mama who plays (at least I hope!).

As for the first part of her advice, I must make sure to get a cozy big glider for those snuggles before my children are too big to curl up with.

Related links:

• Bonding with each child by Gina Osher
• The contest with SELF + Tout
• Cozy chocolate glider
• Tips for having two under two

What’s the best advice your mom ever gave you? And if you can think of something, go enter the contest!

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Thank you again to Tout for sponsoring this post. Wanna play along? Visit on.self.com/MomKnows to share the best advice you received from your mom. Reply directly via webcams at www.Tout.com, through Tout’s mobile app, on www.Facebook.com/TheHonestCompany and www.Self.com/health/mothers-day. Viewers can watch the entire stream of replies on the Tout widget on http://www.self.com and share favorites to Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages, as well as by email and SMS.

If you are a reader of celebrity gossip, you may have already seen this photo, but I’ve never claimed Rookie Moms as a resource for breaking news.

A few things are happening in these pictures of Suri Cruise and her mom. One is that she’s out very late at night– past midnight, according to the original source where I saw the photo. Whenever I go to the movies and see kids under 5 out at the mall at 10 pm, I think “what the heck?” and judge the parents. Sorry, can’t help it.

Next, let’s discuss what she’s holding. What. She. Is. Holding.  Ok, I’ll give you a minute to think your own thoughts and then tell you the conversation I had with Heather.

Done?

Alright then.

So what you should know is that Heather is a parent with very high standards for her own family rules. The rules are not flexible, and they are numerous. As soon as the children walk in the house, they must remove their shoes and wash their hands. NOTHING ELSE MAY BE DONE BEFORE THAT. EVER. (So if you think that having three boys means she’s going to have a house full of footprints and general boy dirt, you’d be wrong.)

She is also extremely watchful of her kids’ sugar intake. They rarely get dessert,  and sometimes they get what we joke about as “How Berkeley can you be?” dessert which is applesauce or maybe vanilla yogurt with cinnamon. Juice? Only at birthday parties. Chocolate milk? No.

In case you think Heather is humorless and no fun right now, that is not at all the case. She is quite adventurous, hilarious, and makes me laugh many times each day. She will buy herself an entire chocolate cream pie from Whole Foods to split with her husband while they watch TV or play video games after the kids go to bed. (Oh, and TV for the children? 30 minutes of PBS Kids per day, tops.)

So when I showed these pictures of Suri to Heather, can you guess what she said?

“My problem with it is that it’s candy!”

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My sister just made me aware of the recent rash of celebrity pregnancy announcements. If you are pregnant yourself, one of these famous moms-to-be could be your celebrity baby match. Which will it be?

Natalie Portman

Jewel

Mariah Carey (with twins)

Selma Blair

Alicia Silverstone

Tia Mowry

Jane Krakowski

photos: natalie portman, mariah carey, and jane krakowski, candy kirby on flickr; jewel: usweekly.com; the rest, other quality resources.

With a tight schedule, barking dogs, and a napping baby, it could have been any of our new mommy friends on the quick phone call from which we just hung up. Instead, a few bloggers were lucky to have a chance to chat with Ellen Pompeo from Grey’s Anatomy about her life as a new mom and her role in the Every Little Bottom campaign. She’s joining us to help spread the word about how easy it is to donate diapers and help a mom in need.

Ellen Pompeo distributing diapers at LA Diaper Drive

Jenny from Jenny on the Spot: What motivated you to join the Every Little Bottom program? What is the passion behind your decision?

Ellen Pompeo from Grey’s Anatomy: When Huggies reached out, I didn’t know anything about diaper need. Being a new mother, all I had to hear is that 1 in 3 moms struggle to provide diapers… It’s a staggering statistic. If a big corporation like Huggies can get involved, how can I not do my part?… It was a no-brainer for me. If we can relieve the stress on moms and the stress on babies. It’s a real fixable problem.

Kim from House of Prince: What do you feel is the best way to motivate people to get involved in this campaign?

Ellen: I think the easier we make it for people to get involved the more people are likely, because everyone is busy, especially moms who work. Having these diaper drives where people buy diapers and providing places for people to drop them off would help. Even online with diapers.com, if we have a way to make it as easy as possible for people because people are super busy.

Rookie Moms: What do you like to do when you aren’t working and you are taking care of baby Stella?

Ellen: Our favorite things to do are swimming in the pool and going to mommy and me yoga. Sometimes the yoga schedule doesn’t fit with her nap time, but on the days when the class is earlier we go and we love that.

photo of Ellen Pompeo, Chris Ivery, and Stella Luna courtesy of tv fanatic

I guess the only thing that really differentiated this call from a call with my friend Crystal in Chicago was when Ellen had to dart off to go tape the Ellen Show. Ellen P helped distribute diapers at the LA Diaper Drive last week and is also co-hosting a celebrity diaper drive in New York City that will inspire many to donate diapers and solve this fixable problem.

Inspired by Whitney, Lisa, Huggies, and now Ellen Pompeo, I’ll be kicking off my own diaper drive in Berkeley next week. I’ll also tell you how you can do it too!

Their breasts defy gravity.

In the beginning, Whit and I both struggled a fair amount with breastfeeding before getting into the groove. We were told that if it hurt, we must be doing it wrong. Yeah yeah whatever. Now we believe that in the first few weeks, it hurts a fair amount even if you’re doing it right.

But if you’re a celebrity, you might time childbirth and breastfeeding just right to have huge knockers for the Golden Globe awards (Mary-Louise Parker), nurse on the cover of a major magazine (Angelina Jolie), tell Jay Leno you can shoot breast milk across a room and “hit the wall from quite a distance” (Kate Beckinsdale), or explain to David Letterman what it feels like to be a cow (Naomi Watts below).

I don’t know about you, but when my baby was two weeks old, I was just figuring it all out in the privacy of my glider strapped inside My Brest Friend, drinking ice water from a straw, with all of my remote controls in arm’s reach.

TV Guide has a round-up of eight celebrity breastfeeding stories. Enjoy!

[post inspired by Andi at MamaKnowsBreast and author of Mama Knows Breast: a Beginners Guide to Breastfeeding]

They have matching mother-daughter mermaid like hair that is tamed by professionals. Here Demi Moore is shown with her daughter, Rumer (I think) Tallulah (thanks Stephanie!), sporting some very natural-looking hair that took hours to shape.

I have crazy curly, frizzy hair that is unwashed and unkempt. If I’m extremely lucky, it will spontaneously twirl and swirl its own self into mermaid tendrils. But that would probably only happen on some magic work-from-home day when nobody would see me.

If you have an extra two hours to get your own hair doing the mermaid thing, Suki Duggan from Donsuki Salon in NYC tells us how:

1. Section hair into 1-2 inch pieces
2. Roll each section and pin as you go. .
3. After the rollers have cooled, run a comb through your hair to get large, soft waves. A spritz of hairspray should hold the style for the day.

They wear their ovulation indicators on their wrists.

Trista Sutter credits the OV-Watch with getting pregnant with her son Max and says, “Thankfully because of OV-Watch, I knew when I was going to ovulate.”

If you would like the dude next to you on the commuter train to know that you are trying to conceive, get your own watch like this at Amazon.com. Just wait till it shows “Fertile” and let the inappropriate comments from strangers start rolling in…