RebeccatheWriter

I think her brother owns the dojo.

dental assistant and was also teaching karate.

It was a subchorionic hematoma or subchorionic hemorrhage. It can cause vaginal bleeding, but most cases resolve on their own without complications.

My prediction is that Carlin will (if she hasn't already) lose interest in BSB as a business/job. We see her less involved other than the occasional photo shoot. She's making enough on her own brand with Evan, influencing/slinging links, and exploiting her children. The question I have is what happens to the world of influencers when the economy tanks and people have less disposable income. Companies of luxury brands are going to have to do a pivot with approach and messaging to make their brands seem less of a splurge and more of a necessity. Will influencers have a role in that pivot? Typically influencers and such do best with aspirational marketing. They target people who want that lifestyle and look.

The cravings are performative just like the cradling of the baby bump. She will do that all 40ish weeks to remind the world that she is pregnant. It validates her just as her claims that she is "super busy." I can guarantee we will see more footage of Carlin at the BSB and doing all sorts of things that she wasn't doing previously. She lives for that attention and validation as someone who is doing it all. Cue in comments from Kelly Jo, Katie, and a few others about how nobody else does as much. She's super woman. The baby stuff in gift bags for Zade and Layla to open was a bit anticlimatic because they aren't at a developmental age where it will make sense to them. Without prodding Layla probably associated the outfit with something for her dolls. Zade could identify them but wasn't going to make the leap to understand that Carlin was pregnant. I've seen it done better with the children receiving a gift from the new addition to the family to announce. A game for each of them with a note saying the baby can't wait to play with you would be an option. Carlin's trip to Target seemed like a cry for another sponsorship.

New Insta-stories show the kids getting fitted for their ski boots. Carlin is right there with them calling Layla sissy and sis rather than her name. Layla needs speech therapy too. She is 5 and cannot carry out a full sentence. She's now narrating videos and even with the closed captioning makes zero sense. There was gibberish about skiing in the snow and watching a video when she got home with a phrase about landing the plane. I don't think Carlin and Evan actually talk with their children as much as they are speaking at them on camera. I don't like exploiting children on camera and social media, but I will say others do the narration thing better. Josie Balka had a few reels and such where Willow spoke as the narrator, including announcing Josie's pregnancy with Miles. Willow does speak more clearly and it was probably recorded a few times. But even without closed captioning, I could understand her five short sentences. (I went back and found it to confirm it wasn't an urban legend. Willow says, "I have a surprise. Mommy has a baby in her belly. There's a picture of it (video of them holding the ultrasound pics). Hazel's a big sister now. Love you, bye." Not a fan of the exploitation, but at least that was not all in baby talk.

I don't know that Allie actually saw any comments or if Alyssa is just projecting. However, yes there have been comments that are derogatory toward the kids. People on social media tend to diagnose everything from learning disabilities to physical and mental issues without context or actual knowledge. These are people who view depression (as an example) as a personal failure and the result of a lack of faith or bad relationship with God. Even a comment meant with good intentions such as, "Alyssa should treat Allie better because the girl looks depressed," might trigger an internal struggle for someone being raised in that sort of household. Allie could in turn view that as people think she is to blame. While on the outside we know that is not true, a person in isolation such as that and with parents who are toxically religious is going to look internally rather than externally for the blame. It comes down to Alyssa and John needed to have put down rules and expectations for their social media interactions and content from the start. If you accept the comments people make that question your child's intelligence, looks, demeanor, health, etc., then you have to be ready to protect your child. For example, Alyssa posted video Q&A's with the girls that included the infamous comment from Allie that she didn't like homeschooling. Alyssa follows that up a year or so later with a video about curriculum and reveals that Allie is struggling academically so they changed curriculum. People tend to be ignorant and insensitive so there was a string of messages that questioned and doubted Allie's ability to learn and said that she was not doing well because of her inability rather than Alyssa's lacking. Alyssa could have nipped that in the bud by changing her own language. Rather than call out Allie's failures, Alyssa could have said they like Abeka for the fundamentals but wanted to give the girls more options as they grew. She could have said with the co-op that they saw children thriving with this other curriculum so they wanted to try it with Allie and Lexie. Instead she put all the blame on Allie's struggles on Allie. Unfortunately for Allie she is growing up in a family and culture where abuse victims are blamed for tempting their abuser and independence is equated with obedience when not being watched. Her grandfather (Webster) is a key figure shaping the priorities of the family and beliefs. He's big on homeschooling and unless John and Alyssa were to both go rogue, Allie's not going to get away from homeschooling. The majority of the negative comments are directed at Alyssa and John. However, these two aren't smart people. Telling them that they treat Allie badly is essentially telling them that Allie is bad at keeping it sweet and other such things that these people value. Expecting them to understand the nuances of cognitive development and perception of a 10 year old girl is asking a bit much from a woman who thought her family had a "mid-evil" Valentine's Day party. I feel bad for the kids. They deserve better.

I keep thinking about the old joke that if you live in a house where doors and windows are shutting and opening on their own that much, you are living in a haunted house.

My ex boss who had more money than common sense or work ethic. He used to get them from this service that catered to people with hangovers and such.

I think one pair of Carlin's earrings came from Christian Temu/BSB

I like your description better than what I was thinking. My mind kept going to a new player on Sims 4 learning the cheats.

They seem to be trying to catch up on some trends and movies they would not have been allowed to see. Carlin has referenced shows like the Office, but there was speculation and some confirmation that they used censors/filters to make things more appropriate to their beliefs. We've seen them now taking the kids to movies and thre have been toys such as Spiderman.

Erin's participation was completely for the show. She wandered around saying "designer" things. She's not a designer. She decorates. Throwing a throw pillow into a room or putting some books on a shelf (backwards) isn't design. I remember that episode. She wandered around an empty house and said what she would paint or what she would leave the way it was in the first place. The other story was Zach and Whitney (who was trying to show she was still in real estate) renovating their first house purchase. Whitney threw our real estate phrases like checking the comps and resale value.

Yes, sorry I was in a meeting and pretending to be engaged.

Erin's unaccredited degree is in music ministry. She is not qualified to earn or receive a teaching license for public or private schools - even in Florida that has relaxed the rules. But on a practical level she has six kids. What she made from teaching would just be enough to cover childcare. Private schools are relying on federal funds to survive. As it stands now (Project 2025 could change that), a school has to have a ratio of accredited teachers to students that makes it nearly impossible to hire non-licensed teachers. While she might play the piano for a church or work with the choir, the churches she and Chad tend to attend are big on women in leadership roles.