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Tracey and Dan Citron always wanted to have a baby. After six unsuccessful cycles on infertility medication, they decided to forgo IVF treatments in favor of adopting a child instead. In 2009, they settled on a Lutheran-based adoption agency near their home in Eagan, MN, and enrolled in classes on a path to get their home-study approval in order to adopt. By 2010, they were "approved" and ready to make a match, when they realized they had a lot more work to do.

"Our agency was a big advocate of outreach, since most of their domestic open adoption matches occurred that way, and it seemed to be the trend," Tracey told Yahoo! Shine. After attending a seminar hosted by the agency that taught parents how to market themselves effectively, the Citrons were fired up.

The couple printed postcards and business cards promoting their adoption search, which they would hand out to everyone they met. "When we paid waitresses, we'd stick a postcard with our tip," Tracey, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mom, recalls.

Read on to learn more about this new adoption option.

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Looking at the photograph of Valeria Lukyanova, left, you might wonder if this Ukrainian Internet star really exists outside of the strange land of YouTube, where "living doll" beauty has become a trend. The picture, however, is from the new issue of V magazine, which flew Lukyanova, known as "the human Barbie," to New York for the shoot, proving her existence and giving us a glimpse into her bizarre brain. At Shine, we've profiled many doll-like ladies, from 19-year-old Anime queen Anastasiya Shpagina to 15-year-old London YouTube sensation Venus Palermo to English native Sarah Burge, who currently holds the world record for spending over $500,000 on cosmetic surgery. Even so, Lukyanova's story stands out.
Learn more about this "living doll" after the jump.

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Sophia Bailey-Klugh had already written to President Barack Obama once before, to invite him to dinner at her house. He didn't RSVP, so when the 10-year-old with two dads decided to send him a note thanking him for his support of gay marriage, she wasn't expecting a reply.

Related: North Carolina's Take on Gay Marriage Could Also Affect Straight Couples

"Dear Barack Obama," she wrote. "It's Sophia Bailey Klugh, your friend who invited you to dinner. You don't remember okay that's fine. But I just wanted to tell you that I am so glad you agree that two men can love each other, because I have two dads and they love each other, but at school kids think that it's gross and weird."

Learn more about this heartwarming story after the jump.

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Minutes after polls on the West Coast had closed Tuesday night -- and even before votes in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia had been counted — news outlets declared President Barack Obama the winner of the 2012 election.

Related: Did Women Help Obama Win the Election?

"Today we congratulate President Obama on his re-election," Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, said in a statement. "We're ready to move forward with him to ensure that we close the gender wage gap, to see health care reform fully implemented so that all our families get the health care they need, and to secure earned sick days for all workers."

Read on to learn what Obama's re-election means for women and families.

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When the world tuned in to watch Kate Middleton marry Prince William, people were almost as fascinated by the bride's sister, Pippa Middleton, as they were by the newly minted Duchess of Cambridge. Now Pippa is coming out from under her sister's royal shadow—or perhaps using it to launch her own career as the Martha Stewart of England—with her first book, "Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends."

Related: Royal wedding mysteries, solved

"It's a bit startling to achieve global recognition (if that's the right word) before the age of 30, on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom," Pippa Middleton writes in the introduction. "One day I might be able to make sense of this. In the meantime, I think it's fair to say that it has its upside and its downside."

Read on to learn more about Pippa's first book.

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Parents of teenagers know that there comes a time when you can embarrass your kid simply by being visible. So when one Wisconsin couple opted to flood their daughter's Facebook page with pictures of themselves posing goofily for the camera, they probably knew they were inflicting some emotional pain.

Related: Parents May Be Teaching Teens to Be Bullies

Adding insult to social-media injury, her brother posted one of the pictures on the social news-sharing site Reddit, where nearly 1,000 people have since weighed in on the punishment. Since the photo made the rounds on Reddit, we've had a hard time confirming the story (if AustinMac gets back to us, we'll be sure to let you know).

See what her brother thinks of his parents' playful punishment after the jump.

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An Illinois school district is banning Halloween this year in what the superintendent says is an effort to address low test scores and avoid cultural and religious conflict.

Related: Glam Meets Gore in Goldie Starling's Halloween Makeup Tutorials

"There will be no costumes, no candy bags, no parties," District 69 superintendent Quintin Shepherd told the Skokie Patch.

But parents aren't pleased — and not just because they'll be dealing with disappointed kids. Shepherd made the decision in early October without allowing parents to weigh in, saying that asking the community for input would have been a waste of time.

Related: Rules For Teens on Halloween

"We knew what their response would be," he said. "We know they would feel strongly [about banning Halloween in the school district]. So, the reason we didn't go forward with the community hearings is because we knew they would be upset."

Instead, he sent out a letter saying that the decision had been made.

Read on to find out what Mr. Shepherd's letter said and how parents reacted.

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Bad hair days can make us depressed, so it may come as no surprise that some women are addicted to blow-outs. In New York City, ladies spend thousands of dollars a year for sleek, shiny hair and perfectly tamed curls. Gabby Fraenkel, 23, told The New York Post, "I've been getting three to four blow-outs a week for as long as I can remember." Fraenkel's biweekly salon blow-outs are $40 a pop, and she pays $65 for house calls. Annually, that adds up to around $7,500, or 15 percent of her $50,000 salary. "[It's] something I do for 'me' to feel good inside and out," she told the Post.

Kate Middleton spends $12,000 a year on blow-outs

Lauren Pressman, 32, prefers the $20 blow-outs at Yani Hair Salon on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "I can't remember the last time I washed my hair," Pressman told the Post. "I've been here every week twice a week for five years." Though her salon visits over the past five years have cost her $10,000, she thinks they're worth it. "It's definitely an addiction: all the compliments and looking good, it spoils you," she admits. "I've never had a guy compliment my shoes, but a million guys have complimented my hair."

Jennifer Aniston Named Spokesperson, Co-Owner For Living Proof Hair Brand

Read on to learn how to nail a professional blow-out at home.

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Experts say that one sure way to save money is to shop your closet; most people own more trendy clothes than they realize, and old favorites often come back in style. That's what Rebecca Smithers realized when she rediscovered an old favorite buried in the back of her closet.

PICTURES: Celebrities at Fashion Week

It was a handmade cable-knit sweater that she hadn't worn in years. Her mother had made it about 16 years before, and wearing it felt like meeting up with "an old and very special friend."

That sweater, and the reappearance of other old favorites, inspired Smithers to see if she could spend an entire year without buying new clothes. A consumer affairs correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian, she decided to document her fashion-free New Year's resolution.

Read on to see if Rebecca has been able to resist the urge to shop.

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Christopher Brya and Miguel Almaraz, professional market researchers and authors of the new book 'WTF Are Men Thinking?,' didn't set out to coax 250,000 men into spilling their guts about hooking up, in-laws, dating turn-offs, and other hot-button topics, they were just helping a friend.

"We were with an old friend and colleague," Brya tells Shine, "and she revealed to us that she was going through a divorce." The woman told them what she could really use was hard data on what men are thinking. She had been married for years, and she complained that she, "didn't know what the rules were any more." Brya and Almaraz quizzed some of their research panels and the project snowballed. "Miguel had the idea of asking a range of women if they had specific questions for men and wanted totally unvarnished feedback," says Brya. "Within 48 hours, we had 1,000 responses."

Related: 5 Secrets to a Happy Marriage: Revealed by Divorce

"Women get mixed messages from their girlfriends, or best guy friends," says Almaraz. "They are trying to make sense of that information." Despite the lightning speed connectivity of the digital age, communicating by text and email often leads to more questions, not fewer. "People are dating by text," says Brya. "You handle the logistics through technology, but have less real interaction."

Read on to learn the surprising answers this study produced.

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The young folks may not believe it, but emoticons — those silly strings of symbols that are supposed to illustrate emotions — have been around for 30 years.

Experts attribute their creation to a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, who, in 1982, told his students that the class needed a way to label jokes online.

"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: Read it sideways," Scott Fahlman wrote on an online bulletin board (the precursor to what we call forums today).

PHOTOS: Pets Pretending to Be Emoticons

But some point to a New York Times transcript of an 1862 speech by Abraham Lincoln, in which "applause and laughter" is followed by a winky smile ";)".

Read on to learn more about emoticons and how they are used today.

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Many parents rely on a dose of "Dora" or "Diego" to help their kids to settle down in the evenings. So when Nick Jr. launched NickMom, a block of comedies aimed at adults, earlier this month, it came as a shock to those who tuned in for toddler-friendly viewing and instead found jokes about stoned busboys, sex, and how much moms dislike their kids.

Related: Parents who hate parenting. Is this the latest trend?

"At a certain point in the evening, hopefully the little ones are in bed, and this is an opportunity for mom to get some much-needed me-time," Bronwen O'Keefe, senior vice president of NickMom, told Newsday. The NickMom.com homepage — tagline: "Motherfunny" — is crowded with video clips and snarky memes. "Everything we have on the site is a bite-sized piece of content because we know moms are busy and don't have a lot of time," O'Keefe says. (NickMom did not immediately respond to Yahoo! Shine's request for comment.)

Related: Nickelodeon TV says Romney skipped kids' questions

But instead of finding the shows — or the website — funny, some parents are furious.

Read on to find out what real moms have to say about NickMom.

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Popping a binky in a baby's mouth is a quick way to stop them from fussing, but for boys, it may also short-circuit their emotional growth.

Read More: 10 Simple Ways to Boost Kids' Self-Esteem

Before a baby can talk, he or she relies on non-verbal cues, especially facial expressions, to communicate. Babies also mirror those cues, and in so doing, discover the emotions the cues are attached to. In a recent study published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology researchers from the University of Wisconsin scientists evaluated over 100 kids and found that that six and seven-year-old boys who had heavily used pacifiers were worse at mimicking emotions expressed by faces on a video. They also interviewed more than 600 college students and discovered that college-age men whose parents reported they had relied on pacifiers scored lower on tests measuring empathy and the ability to evaluate the moods of others. For girls and young women, the researchers found there was no difference in emotional maturity based on pacifier use.

Read on to learn more about this study.

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We try to stick to our shopping lists. We keep an eye out for sales, clip coupons, study the store circulars, and even go so far as to leave the credit cards at home in order to avoid impulse buying. And yet, most shoppers end up buying more than they bargained for—and that's exactly what retailers want them to do.

Related: How to save money at Target

"Every single detail of your shopping experience—the placement of every shelf, box, sign, and restroom; the background music; color of paint on the wall; words the staff use to greet you—is a precisely orchestrated merchant-customer dance designed to achieve maximum sales results," writes Dayana Yochim at the finance and investing site The Motley Fool.

Related: 5 retail mind games that make you spend more

Customers have figured out the end-cap trick—the one where stores feature higher-priced goods on the ends of the aisles, where they're easy to see, and fill the back and center of the store with the everyday items people really went there to buy. And we all know to ignore the "impulse purchases" placed near the cash registers. So retailers have redoubled their efforts.

Read on to see 10 ways retailers get us to spend more money.

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People love cute cat photos, but Spangles takes cute to the extreme. The cross-eyed kitty, who was caught glowering goofily in pirate hat, now has a huge following on Facebook, and is making waves across the Internet as well.

She first decided to dress him up when she came across a tiger costume at a pet store. "I saw the tiger hat in PetSmart and it was so cute," his owner, 25-year-old Mary Buchanan, told Yahoo! Shine in an interview. "I put it on him and he just looked so adorable. I wanted to show others how cute he is."

Related: British Cat Burglar Takes Anything With His Paws

"He was born on July 4. So I came up with his name, Spangles!" Buchanan posted on Spangles' Facebook page, where she also posts plenty of photos. The 3-year-old mixed-breed cat was born with his eyes crossed, Buchanan told Yahoo! Shine, but "He can see perfectly fine. He has been checked out by a vet."

Related: Families' Most Inspiring Pet Tales

Spangles lives in Spartanburg, S.C., with his human, his canine siblings (Jen Jen and Mojo), and his feline siblings (Sunshine, Snowball, and Georgina). "My pets are my kids," Buchanan says. "My mom asked when she was going to get grand kids one day and I pointed to the animals playing and and told her those were her grand kids!"

"Spangles loves snuggling with me and he plays at night," Buchanan adds. "I'm a night owl so he has adapted to my schedule." And he's plenty willing to don crazy costumes and pose for Buchanan's camera. At least, most of the time.

Learn more about Spangles's love for crazy costumes here.

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Parents in South Carolina are up in arms after their kids were encouraged to compete in a beauty pageant at their elementary school. Though organizers insist that it's no different from a sporting event or a dance contest, outraged parents say that schools have no business judging kids based on their looks.

Related: School District Bans Father-Daughter Dances After Single Mom Complains

"Come be the first Warrior King or Warrior Queen of Indian Land Elementary! Represent your school all year long during school events!" the flier read. "Contestants will be judged on facial beauty, personality, and overall appeal."

Related: 10 Simple Ways to Boost Your Child's Self Esteem

According to the three-page flier, prizes would be awarded at the October 20th pageant for "Best Eyes," "Best Hair," "Best Smile," "Best Dressed," and "Most Beautiful," which would be "based upon the contestant's facial beauty score only." Boys and girls could also submit photos to win additional awards, and could collect signatures to vie for the "Sweetheart" title. The flier included instructions on how to walk, turn, and pose for the judges.

Read on to learn more about beauty pageants in elementary schools.

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For more than a century, Norland College in Bath, England, has trained young women to be elite caregivers to the world's wealthiest children. This year, though, the famous nanny school is taking on something new: a male student.

Michael Kenny, 18, is the first young man to enroll in the elite school's Bachelors of Arts program in Early Childhood Studies, which they offer in association with the University of Gloucestershire.

Related: Hiring a Babysitter? Ask These Questions First.

"I have always wanted to work with children and Norland has the best reputation in the country, if not the world, for studying childcare," Kenny told ABC News in a statement. Being the only man in the 48-student class "doesn't bother me at all," he says.

After teaching English and mathematics to severely disabled children in Uganda, where he lived with his family, Kenny knew he wanted to go to Norland, but wasn't sure if they even accepted male students. He called to check before applying.

Read on to learn more about Michael's pioneering journey.

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This cat's trip to Disney is no fairy tale: Bob-bob came along on his owner's annual trip to Orlando – in her suitcase.

Ethel Maze, who runs the Maze Residential Care Home for disabled veterans, had a lot to do in the lead-up to her yearly jaunt to Florida. She had to confirm flight and hotel reservations for her group – 18 disabled veterans and volunteers – and find someone to watch her six pets. But according to the Orlando Sentinel's story on Bob-bob's unlikely journey, the 14-month-old cat was not trying to hear about staying home in Circleville, OH. As Maze packed the last of her things Monday morning, Bob-bob made sure he got packed as well, sneaking into her suitcase.

Related: Great Dane Zeus Now World's Tallest Dog

Mike Groleau, who wrangles the group's baggage, did think he saw the bag move – but it had been a long night, so Groleau just tagged the green suitcase and put it with the others. "This was the last bag I grabbed," he told the Sentinel, and "somehow it got zipped up."

Read on to learn more about Bob-bob's big adventure.

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It's hard to believe something as small as a peanut could cause so much controversy. But put it in a lunch bag and it can divide a school.

In Viola, Arkansas, a debate is heating up, after a student had his peanut butter and jelly sandwich confiscated at lunchtime. The school has a no-peanut-products policy due to a few students with allergies, so the teacher helped the little boy get a new lunch and sent home a note explaining the situation to his mom.

Related: A Surprising Reason Why Kids Are Shorter

That note didn't go over well, apparently. Soon after the incident, a "School Nut Ban Discussion" group was launched on Facebook by parents conflicted over the policy.

Some parents believe allergy-free students shouldn't have to cater to a few kids' health sensitivities, particularly if it means cutting out healthy or low-cost snacks packed in their own child's lunchbox.

The mom who packed the confiscated PB&J sandwich thinks kids with allergies should learn "how to manage the problem" rather than live inside a "bubble," according to a local news report.

Other parents of special needs kids feel like they're playing second fiddle to those with allergies. "There are some autistic children that will only eat a PB&J sandwich or nothing at all," one parent opposing the ban argued on Facebook. According to the Viola District Superintendent John May, this is the first push-back on a policy in place in his school for some time.

"The policy is in place to protect those with a severe, life threatening problem," May told Area Wide News, a Missouri-based news site. "Until we figure out something else, it would be foolish to drop the policy."

Keep reading to learn more about this lunch staple controversy.

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The public rarely catches a glimpse of President Barack Obama's daughters Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11. Even an appearance on stage at the end of the Democratic National Convention wasn't reason enough to break the "you must go to school" rule; as the president promised in his speech, the girls were at their desks at Sidwell Friends School first thing in the morning. But when you're parenting in the White House, you have to be even more strict than your average mom or dad.

How strict? The New York Times' Jodi Kantor listed a few rules that First Lady Michelle Obama has mentioned over the years:

• The girls must write reports about what they've seen on their trips, even if it's not required by their school.
• Malia may use her cellphone only on the weekends, and she and her sister cannot watch television or use a computer for anything but homework during the week.
• Malia and Sasha have to play two sports: one they choose and one selected by their mother.
• Malia must learn to do laundry before she leaves for college.
• The girls have to eat their vegetables, and if they say that they are not hungry, they cannot ask for cookies or chips later.

Check out more Obama household rules here.