Not always glamorous

I confess that I care a little bit too much about goings on in the celebrity world. There are days when I think that I should probably pay less attention to US Magazine and more to say, Parenting or Newsweek. But I work, I parent, I pay bills – sometimes I just need a break, a little bit of mindless entertainment.

It seems that there are two separate camps in Hollywood right now. The first is made up of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and the lot, young girls with too much money and too little restraint. They are on a sad, slow, and very public spiral out of control.

The second camp, though, are having babies! I love the second camp. I love that they have to get up in the middle of the night with their kids. I love that they have to deal with toddler meltdowns in the middle of Whole Foods. I love that the back seats of their BMWs are likely covered with spilled juice and ground-in animal crackers.

Maybe it’s pathetic. Or maybe it’s just that when I am knee-deep in dirty laundry, when my whole house has taken on the odour of a diaper pail, when I realize that even my "fat" jeans are now tight, it doesn't really help me to see Paris Hilton in a miniskirt and stilettos carting her miniature dog around in a $2,000 Coach purse. What is somehow comforting are pictures like this one of Jennifer Garner. Wet - or possibly dirty? - hair, no make-up, struggling with the impossible combination of two hands, one baby, a shopping cart and a cart cover. Now that I can relate to.

Ah, babies: the great equalizer.