Brad and Angelina: family fun for everyone

So with the happy little Jolie-Pitt family already well rounded, why would they feel the need for a homemade addition?

It could be a drive to destiny. After playing out a nuclear-family fantasy for that weirdly predictive cover of W Magazine last year, what else could be left but to let life imitate art?

It could be vanity. You can only assume what the offspring of these two huge beneficiaries of genetic goodwill would look like. If you're one of the world's biggest movie stars, it's not easy to find someone of equal stature — literally or metaphorically.

It could be that both finally found a mate who brought the right package to the table. Jolie's marriage to Jonny Lee Miller brought the prospect of an equally adorable child, but that never materialized and seeing as he apparently hasn't felt the urge to do the baby dance since their 1999 divorce, you can assume one or both of them weren't in tot mode at the time. And no one ever expected her pairing with Billy Bob Thornton to yield more than blood-vial jewelry, a lot of tattoos and the occasional bit of TMI.

Maybe the usual love/marriage/baby carriage progression hasn't quite gone as usual for Angelina, but when does it anymore?

Speaking of marriage, those stragglers whose knickers are in a knot over the lack of Brangelina wedding bands, even your concerns just might be soothed soon. News of the World reported Brad was ring shopping at Cartier, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if Malibu caterers are soon being asked to bid on Ethiopian doro wat and Khmer banh chiao for 150.

Then family life could set in — all very normal, except for private flights up to compounds in the Canadian north woods and quick vacations to Dakar or Vientiane.

The kid stays in the picture
Whatever their plans, it's hard to ignore one Us source's assertion that both "are obsessed with building a big family."

Just how big will it grow? Angelina has one sibling, and Brad has two, so maybe "big" is relative. Whatever their plans, it's worth avoiding the pitfalls of a Mia Farrow-style gaggle.

Slide show   Brad Pitt Click to see highlights from Pitt's career. more photos

While the assumption is that Maddox and Zahara might actually escape the call of the silver screen and grow up to normal, healthy lives, you can't imagine Jolie and Pitt's biological offspring choosing a career outside the movies any more than you could Drew Barrymore opting to be a fry cook.

If it's a girl, will she opt to portray tortured fashion models and improbably-bosomed action heroes, or something with more edge, like a bad-tempered mental patient ("Girl, Interrupted")?

If it's a boy, will he opt for roles as golden-locked ancient warriors and come-hither vampires, or something with more edge, like a crazy-like-a-fox mental patient ("Twelve Monkeys")?

Whatever happens, here's hoping the birth allows us all to hasten a long-overdue death for the term "Brangelina." If those two can stick together, the least we can offer as a baby gift is a better nickname.

MSNBC.com lifestyle editor would like to borrow Angelina's Cirrus SR22 for just one day.

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