Sometimes we forget that celebrities have real feelings and are real people under all the makeup and paparazzi flashes. Even their children often look like props in a photoshoot entitled "just like us."

But Angelina Jolie, in a stunning op-ed in the New York Times, shows us that beneath the glamour, celebrities have the same pain and anxieties that as we do. 

Jolie chose to have a double mastectomy. She carries the mutated BRCA1 gene which dramatically increases her risk of breast and ovarian cancer (though BRCA1 and 2 mutations only make up 5 to 10 per cent of breast cancers). Jolie's mother died at 56 from the disease, and only met one of her six grandchildren.

Having a new baby can be a confusing, overwhelming, and yes, even a depressing time. But does crying and feeling overwhelmed mean you have postpartum depression?

Vanessa Lachey (nee Minnillo, famous for something or other) wrote an explicit blog post detailing her own stint with the "baby blues" when her baby Camden (with Nick Lachey famous for being Jessica Simpson's ex) was two weeks old. She wrote:

"No matter how many books you read, NOTHING prepares you better than the real thing. I felt lost, unloved, alone and at my wits end. It's weird, too, because I have an amazing and supportive husband, his loving family and wonderful friends. But at that moment… I felt like NO ONE understood me. No one knows my thoughts, my fears, my wishes… heck, I didn't even know my own wishes."

Holly Madison doesn't have much reason to be in the news lately. Perhaps you have already forgotten her stint as Hugh Hefner's chief bunny. In case you have retained your dignity and lost touch with her, she is awaiting the very iminent arrival of her first baby.

I know this because she announced that she plans to eat the placenta after her little bundle of joy arrives. This statement has propelled her back into our unsuspecting lives. (She may already be chowing down, as she checked into the hospital on Monday morning.)

Proponents of doing it say that consuming your placenta -- raw, cooked or in pill form -- will ward off post-partum depression, revitalize your tired body and pump you full of iron. Many mammals consume their placenta following birth, though researchers don't know why, and so proponents say that it is a natural part of the birthing process.

The rest of us just think it is a little gross.

Claire Danes is getting a little taste of the mommy wars, and she has only been a mother for one month!

The cover girl of this month's Elle magazine told the writer that she would make a "lousy stay-at-home" mom, saying: "I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom. It just wouldn't suit me. I feel so fortunate, in that I've had this arrow-straight focus that I wanted to act."

The criticisms in the comments were boring in their predictable 'she shouldn't have had a baby if she didn't want to take care of it' variety.

I couldn't even pack a diaper bag one month after having a baby, let alone choose a career path. But I doubt someone with Danes' laser-focus would change her mind. And why should she?

I know from experience that when breastfeeding is difficult, the main response from doctors and lactation consultants is to tell the mother to try harder.

When my first son had a tongue tie, the doctor refused to cut it. When my son refused to latch because there wasn't enough milk, everyone shrugged their shoulders.

For the next baby, I went to a doctor who specializes in breastfeeding and a lactation consultant who understood the issues that I was facing. With their medical knowledge, I was able to breastfeed and supplement simultaneously which was a success for me.

In a totally biased, non-scientific way, I have decided on the biggest parenting stories of the year. These aren't the stories that got the most clicks (Jessica Simpson may own that title) but these are the stories that had us talking in the schoolyard and online and are the ones that we may remember in years to come (unlike what's her name.)

Just like last year, we were told that parents from another country were doing it better than us; we ruminated on the impossibility of work-life balance and the shape of motherhood and we mourned the loss of innocence. And if we got it on.

The 2012 Biggest Stories in Chaos: (in no particular order):

My editor here at MSN.ca went on maternity leave this week and I wanted to leave her with a post full of wisdom and mirth to light her path to new motherhood. But life got in the way, which is definitely the first lesson of motherhood -- your agenda is no longer yours alone.

I was trying to think of what sage advice I would give someone who was moments away from having their first baby. And all I could come up with are the usual bromides that get doled out at baby showers and by experts on morning TV. So I compiled a list of my faves, ignoring or forgetting all the ones I don't agree with. These are cliches, but try as I might I couldn't come up with much more that was wiser.

Remember:

Why has the Mayim Bialik divorce story been getting so much media coverage? A former child star, and current supporting actress is divorcing her husband of nine years. Isn't she just one of many?

Seems to me that the interest stems not from the divorce, but from the idea that the divorce may have had something to do with the whole family sleeping in the same bed, or that Mayim nursed her boys beyond the age of two.

Last week I saw a Facebook update on my page that made me smile: a toddler nursing while holding a piece a bacon. The update from The Feminist Breeder read:

While 22 weeks pregnant with her second child, Californian Jamie Cottrell Thomas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Waiting for treatment could have been deadly, so Jamie immediately had four rounds of chemotherapy.

While still pregnant, Jamie reached out to well-known blogger, Jill Krause, and asked for more than good wishes -- she asked her if she could help her find donated breast milk to feed her baby. She hoped the breastmilk would give her the best start possible, despite the in-utero chemotherapy.