ReadMeLattice

I have to agree! She's got her issues but she works and is incredibly generous with her time. And yeah, I actually find her pretty funny. Abrasive yes but funny. What exactly is happening to these people's labias?! I wouldn't necessarily mind a mommy makeover of my stomach right now...but vagina? What a weird choice!!!

Oh, she is absolutely telling the truth. This isn't Doris lying to help out Nathan like the minions are saying. She knows and admits her son isn't a fit parent either. This is all about Kaiser. Finally, somebody actually cares about HIM.

Do we know who the best friend is that she slept with?

Must have missed that in my newborn haze. I'm sure he'll get other charges by the time I'm caught up, lol.

Charges roundup: Does Jenelle have any remaining pending charges? She wasn't charged with anything as a result of Ensley testing positive, correct? Could she be? And David has stalking or violating a restraining order, right? Any updates on that? Nathan is awaiting trials for first degree burglary, domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and 2nd degree domestic violence charges. Don't know about anything else.

"The Plaintiff and Defendant [Nathan Griffith] are at this time not fit and proper persons to provide for the care custody and control of the minor child," the documents stated." This is so sad. Thank God for Nathan's mom. At least she 1) is proactive about her grandson's best interests like Barb (how many people would look the other way? Not Barb and not Nathan's mom) and 2) doesn't seem to be making excuses for her son's own lack of fitness as a parent like some parents would do, since the order is filed against both of them. I respect her for that. At some point Jenelle and Nathan have to be given up on and it has to be all about Kaiser. The felonies and drug use are not going to stop. She is really stepping up, which makes me wonder how she turned out a two-time deadbeat dad and how Barb ended up with two deadbeat mothers as daughters. They are clearly hard working women who care deeply about their grandchildren. I guess they just wound up with bad eggs, or drugs got the best of them as they do to so many. I just hope Kaiser is ok.

Texas has some of the lowest housing costs in the country! Where I live, a decent 2-bedroom/2 bath is easily $3,000 a month. Before marriage I lived with a roommate in a 1700/mo 2-bedroom/one bath apartment in an awful neighborhood in a very lackluster complex with only one parking space. It was considered a steal.

Yeah, I was going to say that sounds inexpensive to me!!

Wait, but then why did the judge order that Barb could not restrict Jenelle's access to Jace's records and private info?

Overall, it seems that teens are having less sex and using protection more. I personally believe the decline in abstinence only education has helped. Also, you can use the internet to educate yourself if your parents and school won't. https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/419285001/ "Researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics, using new data of never-married teens released Thursday, found 42% of girls and 44% of boys between 15 and 19 years old had experienced vaginal intercourse. Both rates have remained steady since about 2002, but are among the lowest levels in the nearly 30 years of national data on teen sex." No thanks to MTV.

Teen pregnancy rates *are* on the decline, though, just not because of them watching TM. That's what gets me, and makes me laugh (darkly)--younger folks are playing it smarter while the TM girls are in many cases still making the mistakes of nearly a decade ago. And they were supposed to be the examples! Yikes.

To be fair, a wheelchair van can be upwards of $100,000, but I assume they could manage that unless they've spent it all. Leah isn't the best with money. And omg I wish to heaven that wheelchairs got you first in line at airports! They make airports total hell, it takes up to four hours longer to get through a plane ride from start to finish with a wheelchair and has added up to six total extra hours to our flights. Sometimes I wonder if Leah is just too disorganized to deal with all the major downsides. Everything pretty much takes longer and is more inconvenient. She's not the hardest working person and I think anything mildly difficult intimidates her. A long drive for college, nope. A job, too difficult. Online classes, too hard. Healthy meals, meh, takes too long. She is lazy, tbh. A wheelchair is incredibly hard to deal with on an everyday basis, from people not being trained to handle them to places not being equipped for them. She's frankly not up to it and unfortunately would likely choose the convenience over the health of her child. And I don't hate her or anything...she just doesn't strike me as a proactive person who would check about accessibility beforehand or do any of the things required of her. She likes things to be easy.

Yes, but why were they all SO desperate? Self esteem issues? I just don't get it. I had self esteem issues as a teen/young adult, but I would have been absolutely terrified to have unsafe sex. And I honestly also don't get the guys not putting on a condom. Why don't they care about themselves/their bodies (risks of diseases) or their futures? I hate to sound all self righteous but what messages do people hear that make this ok?

I don't believe it's illegal to do drugs while pregnant. It could get your children taken away, but I don't think it's a criminal matter as of now? They tried to pass a bill regarding drug use during pregnancy in TN and it backfired majorly and ended after 2 years. So yeah, I don't think Dustin would be involved here. This would purely be CPS unless somebody knows something I don't.

I'm literally just putting a picture of my baby here because I'm obsessed with her. Also she didn't test positive for marijuana at birth so I'm pretty much supermom in TM world right now

Does Nathan's mom raise his daughter too or does the daughter's grandmother raise her? As in, would this be the second child she's raising or the first? I feel terrible for all these grandmothers raising little kids and these kids with zero fit parents. Can Nathan not fight for custody given this new info because of his record or is he just not bothering?

And Briana works at least part time. I don't think they live in a high income area so affording an apartment like that wouldn't be above their means with three working adults.

@ghoulina I'm surprised David doesn't flaunt guns and military-grade weapons all over the place, along with axes. He seems the type for sure.

Right. I could see the bias in the courts perhaps in thinking of the mom as the default primary custodial parent (which is an idea that needs to go for everyone's sake IMO, as it's not fair to anybody), but I would imagine it is VERY rare that a father who wants it is literally denied visitation rights. Hell, there have even been cases where moms have been ordered to take their kids to prison to visit the father on a schedule, or even where rapists have been granted some visitation rights. When it does happen that a mother is truly keeping their child away from the father, a dad (or mom) who really wants their child will file an emergency order, document it, take her to court again and again., etc, until she is stopped.

Somewhat like Javi, I see her as a good person but highly emotionally immature. She is also a volatile and abrasive person. I actually like her and think she's fundamentally a good person, and obviously a very hard worker, which I deeply respect in a person. She works her ass off and deserves a vacation and a raise and people around her to treat her with kindness. I feel really bad for her. She does have major flaws, though, and I can't put ALL of the blame for how her kids turned out on her ex. I especially find the Barb/Jenelle connection really sick. They have a bizarre, codependent, obsessive bond. They hate each other's guts but still seem to constantly be in contact. I know that at this point that is primarily Jenelle's fault, but I don't understand why Barb can't disconnect *somewhat.* I understand not just totally writing off your child, but she is still 1000% invested in everything Jenelle does, which, it's clear, is not going to be non-destructive anytime soon. It's very unhealthy.

Definitely agree there. I'm admittedly biased because my dad got FULL custody, without much of a battle, of his first child, and this was back in the '80s. Simply because he fought for it and his ex had some issues that he was able to prove. It's just anecdotal evidence but I have a hard time believing that every "my baby mama sucks" guy is out there fighting like hell for his child. Even after the big show Nathan made about taking Jenelle to court, he wound up being cool with two weekends a month and continuing to get arrested. I am totally a believer in full equal paternal rights and know that some judges are biased, I just don't believe that every dad bitching about his baby mama (who he chose to fuck raw just like she did) is pleading with the court to change diapers 50% of the time. "Well, your baby mama is a bitch and I hate men, so you don't ever get to see your child now even though you're a competent father" is not something I imagine most family courts decide.

I'm torn about the way Barb interacts with Jenelle. Not to get too personal but I have an abusive family member and I can have a short fuse sometimes a la Barb (though not that severe), and I try REALLY hard to remain level headed around this person no matter what they do but I'm just not that Zen yet. I don't know how you *couldn't* occasionally blow up at Jenelle, but there's also a child involved who sees all this and gets the brunt of Jenelle's and *latest soulmate's* rage whenever it happens. Like, would I want to yell and grab the camera from David too? Would it be understandable? Yes. But should I when I'm in a custody battle and a child is there? No. Would I be able to help myself? Not all the time, no. So...idk. Her biggest error is not pulling away from Jenelle, and her behavior in front of Jace is sometimes objectively inappropriate and even harmful (aka exposure to the fighting). But...I also totally get her struggle, so...I see both sides.

Omfg I'm SOooooo into referring to the land as The Land (TM). Dying!!!!

I probably can't come with a newborn, but all they need are hot dogs right?

@Christina87, totally, Chelsea's nearly whispered "well you guys are nice to talk to" would have been much more of a full blown fit about their suggestion that she not have it outside in October had the cameras not been there.