Ciao bambini! The Italian pop culture community has much to celebrate ... well, maybe. In addition to the varied responses to the newest babies on the reality-TV block, there's a bit of controversy as to just how Italian the little guys are.
The E! family, along with parents Giuliana and Bill Rancic, welcomed baby Edward Duke this past Wednesday night. The birth followed nearly a week's worth of excited tweets from his entertainment-news anchor mama and The Apprentice-winner papa counting down the days until his birth, including @BillRancic's "It's Game Time......" when their gestational carrier went into labor and @GiulianaRancic's "He's a dream...." after the little guy was born.
Edward can be considered a first-generation American. While his pop was born in the United States, Giuliana was born in Italy and immigrated to the States as a young girl.
Edward's birth, mere days before his parents' fifth anniversary, follows a difficult year for his parents: They endured Giuliana's breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy in 2011 in addition to suffering through numerous failed IVF treatments and a miscarriage. But now that his mom is cancer-free, Edward and his elated parents can begin planning their first family vacay to Italy, perhaps to visit the church where the Rancics wed?
Just three days prior to Edward's Colorado birth, all eyes were on the East Coast, New Jersey, to be specific. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and fianc?(c) Jionni LaValle welcomed their little "guido," Lorenzo Dominic, super early on Sunday, about the time his reality star mom would normally get home from a night of partying at the Jersey Shore.
Perhaps most famous for getting punched in the face during a bar brawl, Snooki has earned more than her fair share of backlash after announcing her pregnancy in March. Not only did she drink during her first month before she realized she was carrying her lil guy, but she has notoriously strutted around for the past nine months in sky-high heels and wedges. Who knows if she's changed her ways, but if her recent tweets are any indication, she's definitely enjoying motherhood.
As for Lorenzo's actual Italian roots, while his dad may have passed along some Italian blood, his mom certainly didn't. Although Snooki was raised by an Italian-American family, her dad explained to The New York Times that his daughter was actually born in Santiago, Chile.
Whether full-blooded, part-Italian or simply "Guidos" at heart, here's to wishing these new boys a childhood filled with "molto amore"... and not so much fist-pumping.