Oooh LaLa!

LaLa Vazquez always has her eye on the prize. A former MTV VJ, she's known for being the reality show hostess with the mostess, manning the mike on shows like "I Love New York," "Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School," and "For the Love of Ray J."

A doting mom to 2-year-old Kiyan with fiancé and NBA star Carmelo Anthony, Vazquez counts her new blog, I Am LaLa, among the many things on her keep-doing list. "I just wanted something where people could feel somewhat connected to me -- something fun for my friends and my people, if they wanted to see what I was doing and my celebrity friends and stuff like that."

She also relishes her role as a producer. With a producer credit on "Tyson" (the acclaimed Mike Tyson documentary) under her belt, Vazquez is focused on developing new projects with her company, Krossover Entertainment. "I'm staying busy for sure! We are starting the process of working on the Roberto Clemente life story. I also produce a few reality shows with different networks. We have one with 51 Minds entertainment ('Rock of Love,' 'I Love Money,' 'Flavor of Love') called 'The Six Man,' where we are looking for a basketball player who has the skills and the mentality to be in the NBA. We can't promise them a spot in the NBA, but they'll get with a major sports agent who will help them get in the NBA."

As busy as she is with all these projects in the hopper, Vazquez says her main priority is her little man. "It's definitely overwhelming, but I always carve out time for Kiyan," Vazquez says. "It's a lot of work. But we always have fun."

And her little sweetie didn't exactly come easy. While pregnant with Kiyan, Vazquez suffered from a severe, debilitating form of morning sickness called hyperemesis. "It was very intense and very scary," LaLa says. "Every single day of my pregnancy for nine months, I would throw up on average nine to 12 times a day. You'd be trying to keep food down and the goal was to keep it down for two, three minutes so something would get into your system right away. It was horrible. I think I've blocked it out of my head since, it was so horrible. It was hard to gain weight, so you have to get fluids intravenously and you are at great risk for preterm labor because everything affects everything else."

During this trying time, she took solace in online support groups that connected her with other moms in the same situation. "It was really helpful talking to people who'd been through it and having them guide me through it. Come the sixth and seventh month of being so sick, it really wears on you mentally and emotionally, so you do need a pick-me-up, because you start to feel like 'this can't be happening.'"

As for things to come, think cake and lots of it. LaLa says after four years of engagement, she and 'Melo are finally closing in on a wedding date. "The thing is we had the baby -- and that was kind of unexpected. We've had to work around Mel's season, but we are finally getting around to doing some wedding planning!" And in true LaLa style, it's sure to be off the hook.

-- Vivian Manning-Schaffel

Originally posted October 8, 2009 on momlogic.com