We all know parents' luck. You settle in to watch a movie with your spouse. The kids wake up five minutes later. Try a night out on the town alone. The babysitter calls with news of a vomiting child as soon as you're seated at the restaurant.

Keeping any marriage healthy takes a lot of work. Add kids into the mix and what's a mom who's exhausted from chasing little ones around all day to do?

Finding the balance between children and marriage is a skill a lot of couples don't master until their children are grown and out of the house. Sometimes, not even then!

Take baby steps to savor the spice in your marriage. Make a plan to talk every day or spend an hour together without TV, computers and other gadgets interfering with your quality time. We might dream of a whirlwind romance like we see in the movies but, in reality, sometimes a simple email to say, "I love you," can make your honey blush.

What are some of your favorite ways to balance your marriage with family life? Share your secrets and read how other couples are staying connected to get new ideas for yourself.

Take 96 skating babies, a remix of the 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight" and hope that millions of people watch your commercial online. Mission accomplished for Evian Natural Spring Water but will moms, who make up one in five people online, respond to those chubby little cheeks and pudgy legs?

Watch the ad to decide if it makes you want to buy water for your family. No matter what, the commercial is getting noticed.

Viral Video Chart reports the Evian spot is number one on its top 20 list. The commercial has been viewed about 8 million times, over 700 people have put the video on their blogs and more than 7,000 comments have been posted worldwide.­

Evian's not the first company to center an ad campaign around computer-manipulated babies who aren't just selling baby products. Most everyone is familiar with eTrade's talking baby and Quiznos had a spokesbaby before that with Baby Bob.

Babies are often used as bait to reach moms. When you see babies in commercials, how likely are you to buy the product?

Stay-at-home mom Melissa d'Arabian has cooked her way into the top five of The Next Food Network Star. But this saucy mama is serving up more than leftover meatloaf. Week after week she's impressed show judges Bobby Flay, Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson with her culinary skills and on-camera improvements.

The road to the final five hasn't been easy for d'Arabian. Although she's consistently placed in the top of the elimination challenges, she's also taken flack from some of her professionally-trained chef competitors for "just" being a stay-at-home mom. When the smoke cleared from the kitchen, those critics were sent packing and d'Arabian remains in the running for her own Food Network show.

Stay-at-home moms can relate to d'Arabian's struggle to prove herself and we can celebrate her success. She's not afraid to cook the same recipes she prepares for her four daughters at home and serve them to Flay, Rachael Ray, Ina Garten and Food Network execs.

You expect people with culinary backgrounds to do well in a cooking competition but d'Arabian has shown good food doesn't have to be fancy. That's an element a lot of cooking shows are missing.

If d'Arabian becomes The Next Food Network Star, she tells the Dallas Observer she would like to host a cooking show for families, both SAHMs and working moms. This former career woman says her show would also concentrate on budgeting for meals.

In episode six, the finalists leave New York for Miami. Season five of The Next Food Network Star airs Sunday nights on Food Network.

Do you hold telemarketers captive on the phone for 15 minutes because you're desperate for adult conversation? Do you shave your legs because you consider an hour at the store a night out on the town? Do your two-minute showers usually have Peeping Toms wanting to know what you're doing in there?

We adore our children but there are times when a healthy sense of humor is all that gets any stay-at-home mom through the day. Share in the laughs with other moms who can relate:

You know you're a stay-at-home mom when ...

Complete the sentence and see what other moms have to say.

As a parent, you've probably heard them all:

Television rots the brain. Don't use the TV as a babysitter. Children under 2 shouldn't be exposed to TV. Watching TV encourages obesity in kids.

Two new studies suggest we should hide the remote. One finds conversation between adults and children decreases when the TV is on, even as background noise. The other discovered TV food ads lead to a 45% increase in snacking while watching cartoons.

Too much TV is a concern for parents. But is TV always bad for children? Read more...

You take an innocent picture of your child in the bathtub and post it on your personal website. Someone rips off the picture and sells it through a child porn site.

As a parent, are you legally responsible because you posted the picture on the Internet in the first place?

That's the question TNT's Raising the Bar posed. The "No Child's Left Behind" episode focuses on parents posting pictures of their children online and who's responsible when those pictures end up in the wrong hands.

Attorney Jerry Kellerman, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, defends a dad accused of possessing and promoting child porn. He's accused of "possession" because he took a picture of his son in the bathtub and "promoting" because he published the picture on his personal website. The state argues the dad did not protect his child since he published the picture online.

This is a timely topic, considering most mom bloggers love sharing pictures of their children online. A sweet picture of your child jumping in puddles topless on a rainy day could be stolen and published anywhere or even gawked at by someone who downloads the picture for personal viewing. Posting photos online always comes with risks parents need to know before making a snap decision. Read more...

Michael Jackson's death has shocked the world. While everyone's remembering his music and the first time they saw him moonwalk, we can't forget about his three children. Prince Michael, 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7, are now left without the only parent they've ever known.

All three are currently with Jackson's mom, Katherine. The 79-year-old mother of 10 children with 27 grandchildren is "the logical choice" to take custody of the children, former Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman tells People.

However, a custody fight could be on the way. Prince Michael and Paris are the biological children of Debbie Rowe, Jackson's second wife.

Rowe's had very limited contact with the kids and tried to give up her parental rights in 2005. At first, the judge agreed to terminate her rights to the children but later overturned his own decision. According to TMZ.com, Rowe could legally seek custody of Prince Michael and Paris.

The youngest child, Prince Michael II, is the son of a surrogate mother Jackson allegedly never met. The European woman's identity is still unknown.

If either biological mother pursues custody, the legal battle could become nature versus nurture. Even if one woman won, the kids would be split up.

Who should raise Michael Jackson's children?

Update June 29: Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, has been granted temporary custody of all three children.

Related Coverage:

• Who Should Get Custody
• The Flaws of Icons
• Jackson's Death Investigation Continues
• Jackson's Death Brings Down Twitter

Nestle's online ads for Juicy Juice are targeting moms using Twitter. The campaign is being tested on mom-related websites for a month.

The display ads prompt moms to share their views on everything from stimulating a child's mind to the importance of vitamin-enhanced foods. Moms type their answers directly into the ad, which makes this campaign different from other businesses trying to capitalize on Twitter's popularity. Companies such as Skittles and TurboTax have also used Twitter for their ads but they didn't allow this type of user interaction.

It's no secret moms are a marketing powerhouse with Power Moms representing one in five people online. Since Twitter doesn't post banners and pop-ups, companies are having to get creative to reach the thousands of moms tweeting family updates or using Twitter to connect with other moms like myself (@SAHMguide).

Are you a mom using Twitter? Why or why not?

The fate of Jon and Kate has been revealed. The couple has decided to end their 10-year marriage.

At first, the "big announcement" TLC promoted seemed to be that Jon and Kate would be separating. By the end of the June 22 episode titled, "Houses and Big Changes," a graphic read:

"On Monday June 22, 2009, legal proceedings were initiated in Pennsylvania to dissolve the ten-year marriage of Jon and Kate Gosselin."

People.com reports the Gosselins filed for divorce Monday afternoon. The article hit the Internet a few hours before the episode aired.

"I don't hate Kate, but, you know, I have to do what's best for me and my kids," Jon said during the show. "Them first. It's hard to talk about."

Kate shared similar words about Jon. She also discussed her future as a mom trying to raise 8 children.

"I don't want to be alone. I don't want to do this alone," Kate said in her on-camera interview. "But it's required and I've got to do it."

Read more...

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has canceled 47 of 80 summer camp dates after some campers were diagnosed with swine flu. More than 1,800 children have already attended the first 33 camps across the country.

"These children are much more vulnerable because of their weakened respiratory muscles, so we are taking this preemptive action to protect them from possible exposure to the swine flu," said Dr. Valerie Cwik, MDA medical director, in a press release.

Children were diagnosed with swine flu after they returned home from MDA camps in three states. There are 10 confirmed cases in kids who attended camp in Minnesota, one from Utah and six suspected cases from the Pennsylvania camp.

One child who attended camp in Pennsylvania has been hospitalized. Another from the Utah camp was hospitalized but has now been released.

Read more...