Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were in court yesterday for the “hundredth” time. I have seen a few different stories about the outcome of the hearing. All that is definite is that Britney was granted more time with her children.

The order before this was of only monitored visitation rights with her sons, Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, several times a week but no overnight privileges. Her father and a lawyer maintain legal control of her affairs. She has kept a low profile since and has been making progress. Commissioner Scott Gordon was impressed with her progress and in turn gave her more time with her children.

TMZ says that Brit will get three days of supervised visitation per week. They also say that within a month she will also have overnight visitation with her kids along with eventually getting 50/50 custody.

Jamie Lynn Spears is following in the footsteps of J-Lo (she's still J-Lo to us!) and is sparing no expense on her Kentwood, Louisiana nursery.

The nursery, which a source claims is actually in big sister Britney's home, is being designed by what seems to be the only such store deemed good enough for celeb moms-to-be: Petit Tresor. The nursery has an ocean theme, and in a sweet gesture, Britney is picking up the tab. The source says more than $30,000 has already been spent on the nursery.

Among the pricey items: A “Round Crib at Sea” ($1,150); the “Bliss Nursery Dresser ($995) as well as organic bedding and baby blankets that are being made by Robbie Adrian. Britney also reportedly ordered a custom-made, six-foot-tall elephant with a blue bow for the nursery.

[MSNBC]

It appears that Jamie Lynn Spears is following exactly in the footsteps of her big sis–at least as far as babies are concerned. Like Britney before her, her first child is expected to be a baby boy. 

Jamie Lynn and Britney were spotted this weekend shopping at the baby store to the stars, Petit Tresor in Los Angeles. (This store must be doing booming business of late!) Jamie Lynn reportedly bought blue organic blankets, towels and pajamas. Britney tried to play protective big sister by claiming the clothes were for her own sons, but sources say they were too small for Jayden or Sean Preston.

“Britney originally said the items were for herself,” said an insider. “None of the items could have been mistaken for being purchased for the two kids Britney already has.”

Jamie Lynn was eager to find out the gender of the baby she's expecting with 19-year-old Casey Aldridge, but she was waiting for Mama Lynne to get back from Los Angeles after Britney's breakdown. Jamie Lynn did well on her GED and is now said to be considering college.

Kudos to Jamie Lynn Spears for receiving her high school equivalency diploma. The pregnant 16-year-old reportedly scored exceptionally well on reading comprehension. The younger Spears is said to be thinking about taking the ACT college entrance exam and pursuing studies in journalism.

"She's not wasting any time," a friend of the Zoey 101 star says. "People don't know her. When she gets something in her head, she'll make it happen. Everybody is so supportive of her."

At least Jamie Lynn is making an effort to straighten up and fly right. Let us hope and pray that she manages to create a stable enviroment for herself and her unborn child.  

[PEOPLE]

The embattled Britney Spears finally caught a break this weekend, when she was reunited with sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, after several weeks of being absent from their lives.

Spears had her visitation rights revoked by a judge on January 3, after her breakdown at her Beverly Hills home. On Saturday, she got to spend three hours visiting with her babies, after an agreement was reached with ex, Kevin Federline. Federline has repeatedly insisted that he wants her to be a part of their sons lives.

The troubled pop star picked the boys up from Federline's home on Saturday morning, in the company of her father Jamie and her psychiatrist. And to avert another car seat 'incident', K-Fed made sure he buckled the tots into their seats before Spears drove off.

When Sean Preston was only eight months old, Britney came under fire for placing him in a forward-facing position in his Britax car seat. Safety experts and manufacturers recommend keeping an infant in a rear-facing position until they reach a year old. And speaking of the awesome Britax brand, have you bought your car seat/travel system/stroller yet? The annual Britax sale is on in full force at Babyage.com and the Britax products are selling like hotcakes. Get yours while they're still some left in stock! Sale ends March 2. 

(Baby) baby momma-to-be, Jamie Lynn Spears, has reportedly been running wild in Louisiana since Mom Lynne had to fly to LA to be with Brit. (Get well, Britney!)

Perhaps to quell the rumors, she and the baby's daddy, Casey Aldridge, went on a photo-op shopping trip this week and held hands the whole time. All's well in lovebird land.

Now, the 16-year-old is itching to find out the sex of her baby. "Jamie (is) just hanging out with friends and cousins, mostly cousin Laura Lynn, who's twenty-six" a Spears family insider tells Life & Style.  "Jamie Lynn wants to go to the doctor to find out the baby’s sex, but because Lynne had to leave to help with Britney, Jamie Lynn had to postpone it.  She wants to wait until her mother can be there with her."

Psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow, who does not treat the star, is not surprised. “It’s a big hurdle to be sixteen and pregnant and separated geographically from your family,” he says. “At a time when she needs a real safety net under her, there isn’t a lot of safety.”

Torn between two very vulnerable daughters. Not an enviable position for Lynne.

[NL]

Perhaps Casey Aldridge's lack of enthusiasm at becoming a chump baby daddy made Jamie Lynn Spears nervous. Maybe she watched the movie "Juno" enough times to realize it's a bad idea at her age. Whatever the reason, Jamie Lynn is reportedly planning to turn over her baby to her mom, Lynne, once it is born, so she can "focus on her career." 

Star magazine quotes a source close to the pregnant 16-year-old: "After several weeks of personal soul searching and talks and discussions with her mom, Jamie Lynn reluctantly agreed that giving up the baby is the right thing to do."

The source goes on to say that that in Lynne's view, the 'Zoey 101' star "doesn't understand the lifelong consequences of having a baby." Mama Spears wants Jamie Lynn to continue supporting her financially her showbiz career after the baby is born.

Apparently, Jamie Lynne's had an epiphany about the tremendous responsibility that goes along with motherhood. She reportedly wants to enjoy her teens without being burdened with a child. And who could blame her?

Lynne will raise the baby at the family home in Kentwood, Louisiana, where Jamie Lynn has been living and taking GED classes since her pregnancy announcement. 

Heaven help that child.  

[FF]

Is Britney making a real effort to get her kids back?

The runaway train wreck last Monday lost custody of Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, indefinitely, after a minor meltdown upon arrival at the courthouse for her deposition. Ignoring the pleas of police officers, Spears made a U-turn and inexplicably fled. This, of course, did not sit well with ex-hubby K-Fed's lawyers.

Yesterday, Spears finally showed up and actually stayed two hours at the Los Angeles office of Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan. The singer has missed numerous appointments for the court-ordered cross examination. Kaplan is expected to grill her about past drug and alcohol use, her repeated defiance of court orders and other matters pertaining to her parenting skills. Evidence gathered will be used to try to prove that primary custody should be granted to Federline. A custody trial has been set for April.

Kaplan told PEOPLE magazine:"Kevin wants nothing more than to be able to parent his children with participation by their mother. But the best interest of the children require that they be in the most sound, safe, nurturing and consistent environment. That is paramount.”

[icydk]

Britney Spears was spotted buying a pregnancy test at a local drug store in Studio City, California. Rumors have been spreading that Britney was pregnant by her new paparazzi  boyfriend.

Additionally a Spears family friend tells People "She's going through a lot right now. Having her children taken away, which she really didn't expect and all this attention around her, it really takes a toll. There's no truth to her being suicidal. She has problems that she needs to address and that's it. She'll pull through this. She just needs some time and space."

For her and her kid's sake, I hope she straightens her life out before having another child.

Mentally-fragile Britney Spears is determined to avoid any effort to get her the help she so obviously needs. Having lost custody of her boys, perhaps indefinitely, she still hasn't hit rock bottom and seen the need for change. Spears continues to do the same things she has been doing for years now (driving around aimlessly, living cluelessly) expecting a different result. The very definition of insanity. So perhaps her parents are not as much to blame for her condition as many of us had thought. After all, you can lead a horse to water…

It's now being reported that Spears fled Los Angeles with her paparazzo bedfellow, Adnan Ghalib, last night, to avoid a planned intervention by her family. Pals of the singer say the couple took off in a private jet and landed in Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. TMZ reports that the two have been spotted in Mexico, which is famous for some of Spears' favorite things — pharmaceuticals and plastic surgery.

Britney is said to have taken off after getting wind of her family's plans to have the police get her from her home and take her back to the hospital. Last week she was released early from a 72-hour hold after she pitched a fit or two.

Spears is also ticked off with her parents for going on NBC's "Today" show to talk about their row with Dr. Phil McGraw. The self-styled psychological guru sought to jump on the Britney bandwagon by planning a show about her without consulting the singer or her family. Following a firestorm of criticism, the planned show was scrapped. Dr. Phil claimed the situation was too "intense."

According to the Spears' family spokesperson and business manager, Lou Taylor, "the family, basically, extended an invitation of trust for (Dr. Phil) to come in as a resource to support them, not to go out and make public statements. He was not invited to make this part of a public display."

Taylor added that McGraw's big mouth "compromised" Lynne and Jamie Lynn's relationship with Britney. The TV shrink told "Entertainment Tonight" that Spears "is in dire need of medical and psychological intervention."

Maybe so, Dr. Phil. But not from you. Still, Britney, you need to give it up and give in to treatment, NOW!

[nydailynews]

This is both mind-boggling and tragic at the same time. Yes, Britney does need very special help. Like round-the-clock pychiatric treatment. We can continue to bash/mock/flip off this troubled young woman, or we can start heeding her desperate cries for help, if only for the sake of her boys.

The headline-grabbing drama queen stayed true to form and got herself committed last night after a three hour standoff with law enforcement officials, in which she allegedly locked herself in a room with one of her young sons, refusing to hand him over to her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Spears is now on a ‘5150 hold’ at Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. , meaning she's a danger to herself and others. It is alleged that the fallen pop star tried to kill herself. Entertainment Tonight reports that Spears will receive psychological evaluation for the next 72 hours.

Emergency services–police, medical and fire crews–were summoned to Spears' home Thursday night at around 8 p.m. after she refused to hand over her boys at the appointed time. It is alleged that the singer was under the influence of an unknown substance, however Life & Style magazine reports that her blood tests came back negative. “There are no traces of drugs or alcohol of any kind,” a source close to the Spears family told the magazine. Thank goodness–one bright spot in this whole dark and sordid affair.

Spears eventually relinquished her boys at 11 p.m. Strapped to a gurney, a disoriented-looking Spears alternated between bouts of screaming and hysterical laughter as she was whisked off to Cedars-Sinai. Among the things she's said to have been screaming was that she wanted to die, and that she "would rather die than let him have my babies."

Poor, poor Britney. Let's keep our fingers crossed that she gets the help she so desperately needs, at last.

[CNN, ET, Life & Style]

Shame, shame, a thousand times, shame on any parent who uses their child or children as a pawn/tool of manipulation. That means you, Britney 'mother of all train wrecks of a mother.'

PageSix.com reports that the bitter tart refused to let her sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, open Christmas presents given to them by their grandparents.

“Britney would not let her boys open the gifts from her mom and dad,” a family insider said. “Apparently she hid them, and she told [her ex-husband] Kevin [Federline] she might send them back to her parents un-opened.”

Lynne and Jamie Spears are apparently being punished by their daughter for 'forcing' her into rehab last year. Lynne Spears' decision to keep Britney out of the loop regarding her sister's pregnancy probably tipped Brit over the edge….wait a minute, she can't fall any farther, can she?

To her ex's credit, K-Fed reportedly chewed Britney out over the phone for her characteristically selfish behavior. “Kevin told her to stop acting like a spoiled brat,” the insider added. “He asked her to give them to him and he would let them open them.”

Turnabout is fair play, I suppose.

Ms. Paragon of Virtue herself, Britney Spears, has been put through drug-testing, the loss of driving privileges and mandatory monitoring of visits with her two sons.

But she's decided to have K-Fed called on the carpet for allegedly exposing her kids to pot smoke. Britney plans to have her boys' hair samples tested to see if they've been exposed to marijuana.

According to a source, the pop tart "says she can smell it in the boys' hair and on their clothes when she has her visitation with them." A positive test could prove that 2-year-old Jayden James and Sean Preston, 1,  had been exposed to secondhand smoke and would probably lead to K-Fed's temporary custody being overturned.

Jamie Lynn told the magazine she learned of the pregnancy from an at-home test and subsequent visit to a doctor and kept the news to herself for two weeks.

“I needed to work out what I would do for myself before I let anyone's opinion affect my decision. Then I told my parents and my friends. I was scared, but I had to do what was right for me.” 

Apparently, Britney couldn't stomach the news, which she only learned of through the media. She insisted to paparazzi that her sister "is not pregnant!" 

The mother of the role model Spears girls, Lynne Spears, was blown away by the baby news. "I didn't believe it because Jamie Lynn's always been so conscientious. She's never late for her curfew. I was in shock. I mean, this is my 16-year-old baby." 

Asked by the magazine if she wanted to send a message to teenagers about premarital sex, the younger Spears said: "I definitely don't think it's something you should do; it's better to wait. But I can't be judgmental because it's a position I put myself in."

Ok, so maybe she made a mistake. She does sound like she may have a couple functioning brain cells. But I see a definite pattern emerging here. Dysfunction tends to be handed down through generations.

Meanwhile, Jamie Lynn's decade-older sis will continue to be allowed only monitored visits with her two sons, two-year-old Sean Preston and Jayden James, one. A court commissioner in Los Angeles ruled yesterday that ex-hubby Kevin Federline should retain temporary custody. K-Fed's lawyer is also seeking sanctions against the pop tart for consistently evading her depositions.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Jamie Lynn will be a better mom than her sister has been? Or her own mother, for that matter?

Incidentally, Lynne Spears has a book on parenting due to be published. Yes, I said parenting. The book's been postponed.

Next on celebrity photographer Dani Brubaker's agenda: endorsing Cheetos as a health food.

Seems the photog was hired by Britney Spears to shoot her and the boys at home, came to some interesting conclusions about the pop singer's maternal skills.

After waxing about the photographic depiction of "the bond between the children and their mother," Brubaker opines: “The kids were so adorable, it’s obvious they are well loved.” 

Sorta like you feel about that paycheck, huh?

[E!Online]