Josie and Kelton: They Have Employable Skills

[GeeGolly]

Katie used to visit Josie all the time and Josie used to visit her. I believe Josie's first trip alone with the girls was to Katie's house.

As far as an 18 year old wanting to court/date a 14 year old - that's a freshman and a senior. Too young? Yea probably. But I don't see it as predatory. This went on in my parents' high school days, my high school days and even my kids' high school days. Mostly innocent kissing, holding hands dating.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Katie used to visit Josie all the time and Josie used to visit her. I believe Josie's first trip alone with the girls was to Katie's house.

As far as an 18 year old wanting to court/date a 14 year old - that's a freshman and a senior. Too young? Yea probably. But I don't see it as predatory. This went on in my parents' high school days, my high school days and even my kids' high school days. Mostly innocent kissing, holding hands dating.

I find it odd but for me it's Kelton's when Gil told him Josie was too young and broke it off. While that really sucks. His was bitter about it ever since. So much that when he and Josie were allowed to court he was still pissed at Gil and said that he was trying to forgive Josie. Forgive her for what? It wasn't her decision it was her father's and she clearly still liked him if she agreed to court him. Gil agreed to the courtship, so really all Kelton had to do was wait until Josie was older. But he was still mad at Gil. He was so bitter and pissed that Bobby included in his best man speech.   

[3 is enough]

It’s interesting that Carlin posted a couple of photos of Layla with Willow and Hazel to her stories last night. It does look like they were in a public place/church hall, but really makes you wonder if she reads here.

[Dimi1]

15 hours ago, Natalie68 said:

Maybe they both agree most of the Bates are feral and are too much trouble to have visit.  I can see why Kelton wouldn't want to buy prime rib for the Bates.  If they are anything like my cousins who had a HUGE family, food is inhaled and barely tasted.  

I think it has to do with the "grifter - ing" of the family in general...and Kelton put his foot down to it...staying with someone means footing the food bill and possibly babysitting the kids...He is a successful business owner with a plan. And it does not include supporting 4-6 people at any given time..which if you do it once a month adds up...I do think Josie too...as she is one who does not like chaos...I know with family -- it's one thing to deal with 1 or 2 siblings..but 18!!! if one of them a month had a crises, needed babysitting, traveled to visit..etc -- that would be too much for anyone....

[ranchgirl]

Maybe Kelton and Josie are just more private people and don't like having overnight visitors to their home right now.  I certainly know people whose back door is always open and the more the merrier and I know people who are more private and hardly anyone has even been in their home.   

Has Josie taken down the chairs that hung from in her living room ceiling?  Haven't seen them in a while.  

[zenme]

I can’t imagine have umpteen unruly people in my home, especially if people aren’t respectful of my home and its contents. I would hate kids walking around my house with snacks and juice boxes, etc. I don’t blame them for not always inviting folks with small, unruly children.

[Heathen]

8 hours ago, zenme said:

I can’t imagine have umpteen unruly people in my home, especially if people aren’t respectful of my home and its contents. I would hate kids walking around my house with snacks and juice boxes, etc. I don’t blame them for not always inviting folks with small, unruly children.

And it's not like some of the adult Bateses are likely to be much tidier than the children. 

[Meow Mix]

My take on Kelton is that there is probably some unprocessed trauma from his mother's death that leads to some of his odd behavior.  I guarantee you that since they are fundies, there was little or no grief counseling for Kelton's dad or any of the kids.  They just had to pray it away.  Witness how uptight Kelton is around Josie giving birth.  He is convinced that the epidural was the issue which @Notabugmade very clear wasn't the case, yet even when the pain is bad enough that Josie passes out, he refuses to budge and educate himself.

As far as his actions around courting Josie, he clearly is not reflective enough to let go of the grudge.  Most people as they grew older would realize that Gil had a point that both he and Josie were too young.  Now Gil handled it poorly.  Making Josie break it off instead of talking to Kelton himself and insisting that they couldn't even communicate was a weasely move and really pretty dumb.  That set up a Romeo and Juliet dynamic in both of them that was guaranteed to push them back together.  All that being said, it was clear even from Kelton's writing on their story that he was still hanging on to a lot of resentment.  

As for interacting with the rest of the family, I couldn't see Kelton and Evan getting along regardless.  Besides Evan being a lazy grifter, they have completely opposite approaches to life and Evan's kids are pretty much feral.  And Kelton may also resent Travis because he didn't have to work his butt off building a business like Kelton did.  I think Kelton needs to let go of all this resentment and count his blessings more.  

And since it can't be said enough, if Kelton is watching his kids while Josie does weddings it is NOT babysitting.  It is parenting.

[BetyBee]

Can someone refresh my memory? I know Kelton's mom died in childbirth. Did the baby live? How old was Kelton at the time? That's a terrible loss for the family. I can't even imagine! I wish he had gotten counseling, so Josie could make her own decisions regarding pain management. It's her body!

[Notabug]

4 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

Can someone refresh my memory? I know Kelton's mom died in childbirth. Did the baby live? How old was Kelton at the time? That's a terrible loss for the family. I can't even imagine! I wish he had gotten counseling, so Josie could make her own decisions regarding pain management. It's her body!

Kelton's mother died when he was 13.  His younger sister, Kerstin, survived.  She was the 5th kid, Kelton was the oldest.  I don't think there are any public details as to what happened.

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, Meow Mix said:

Making Josie break it off instead of talking to Kelton himself and insisting that they couldn't even communicate was a weasely move and really pretty dumb.

What exactly was there to “break off” when she was 14? Surely they hadn’t been able to date/court or anything else at that point. And he didn’t pursue any other women while in college?

1 hour ago, Meow Mix said:

And since it can't be said enough, if Kelton is watching his kids while Josie does weddings it is NOT babysitting.  It is parenting.

THANK YOU!!

[cereality]

It's amazing how FAST fundies insist on living life. His mother died at 13. His mother was the center of his world - as is true for most children - but even more so because she home schooled so he literally was home with his mother 24-7. As the oldest, I guarantee he had responsibilities at home helping his father; if he wasn't cooking and cleaning, he at least was overseeing homeschool for the rest of his siblings. In high school he gets his plumbers license, starts working for his uncle's company, and decides he will be a plumber with his own business at some point.

At 18 he meets Josie, decides that's it, she's THE ONE. Goes off to college and spends 18-21 being pissed off at not being allowed to date Josie. At 21, Josie turns 17, he's 21, he starts pursuing her again, engaged at age 23, married 3 months later, baby 9 months after that. All STILL at age 23. All of this happened within 10 years of his mother's death. That is A LOT to go through that quickly.

I mean some of this may just have been coping - keep busy, don't waste time in life, keep getting onto the next thing in life whether work, school, business or Josie. But you'd think his dad or someone in his family would've encouraged him to slow down and take some time for himself. Even if that just meant chilling for a year or two after college and having fun while working before taking on a wife and baby. Or fine take on the wife because SEX but maybe use some protection.

4 hours ago, Meow Mix said:

And since it can't be said enough, if Kelton is watching his kids while Josie does weddings it is NOT babysitting.  It is parenting.

Agreed. Though let's be real, he ain't watching his kids all that much. He has taught Josie how to scale up her business just like he scaled up his plumbing biz - i.e. others are out there doing the work for the company, getting a salary, and the owner taking the lion's share of what comes in from every job. Truth is that sort of thing works WAY more successfully in plumbing than in wedding hair. In plumbing, a young plumber can't just go out and start his own biz because there is a ton of equipment, insurance, advertising etc. that goes into it, so he is better off working as an employee someplace while he gathers the capital to do that. In the wedding biz, when Josie isn't showing up to weddings, her employees are doing the hair and chatting it up with the brides and bridesmaids and hearing - oh so and so is engaged and getting married in 6 months. At that point, they ain't recommending Effortless Beauty, they are slipping that bridesmaid their own info and that bridesmaid is more apt to call that person individually - having had her hair done by her before and having never even met Josie. And the start up cost for doing this is just a few hundred dollars in hair supplies.

Josie works VERY few weekend weddings nowadays. When she rarely says she's working a wedding all day, it's almost always a Friday wedding - i.e. Michael is babysitting. FWIW Kelton did used to make a big deal about "babysitting" Willow early on when Josie would be gone all day Saturday for a wedding and Josie would effusively thank him blah blah - as if it wasn't his kid too and as if the $$ coming in wasn't going to benefit both of them. And once the 2nd kid came around, Josie pretty much stopped going to weekend weddings prob bc it was too much work for her headship to watch both kids. But I think this is the best of both worlds for them. He gets to be that headship that feels like - see I don't control my wife, she has a business, blah blah. She feels like OMG I'm a #girlboss all because of Kelton. And in the meantime Kelton is inconvenienced as little as possible with his own kids.

[Meow Mix]

21 hours ago, AstridM said:

What exactly was there to “break off” when she was 14? Surely they hadn’t been able to date/court or anything else at that point. And he didn’t pursue any other women while in college?

I agree there was really nothing to break off.  Kelton approached Gil about courting Josie and instead of just saying no or not right now or something, he made Josie tell Kelton to go away and never contact her again.  Not the smarted move on Gil's part.  But Kelton seems to still be hanging on to his resentment over that which is silly as well.

[AstridM]

If his mom died when he was 13 and he was the oldest, who homeschooled his siblings?

Edited January 15 by AstridM

[Heathen]

53 minutes ago, AstridM said:

If his mom died when he was 13 and he was the oldest, who homeschooled his siblings?

His father worked from home before his wife died, and I believe he continued to do so and also homeschooled the kids. I'm sure there was a lot of responsibility put on Kelton after his mother died (as in, can you cook dinner, Kelton?), but they probably got some help from relatives and "sweet church friends," too. Quotation marks because that term is so nauseatingly fundie. 

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, Heathen said:

His father worked from home before his wife died, and I believe he continued to do so and also homeschooled the kids. I'm sure there was a lot of responsibility put on Kelton after his mother died (as in, can you cook dinner, Kelton?), but they probably got some help from relatives and "sweet church friends," too. Quotation marks because that term is so nauseatingly fundie. 

For sure. When a husband loses a wife folks coming running and offer help for an extended period of time. If a wife loses a husband folks come strolling in and only stick around for a short period of time. In both Fundyland and sadly in the real world still.

[BetyBee]

Did Kelton's dad remarry? In the olden days, that baby may have been farmed out, or Dad would remarry pretty quickly. 

[Salacious Kitty]

22 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

Did Kelton's dad remarry? In the olden days, that baby may have been farmed out, or Dad would remarry pretty quickly. 

I don't think he's ever remarried. Someone correct m if I'm wrong. 

[Heathen]

3 hours ago, BetyBee said:

Did Kelton's dad remarry? In the olden days, that baby may have been farmed out, or Dad would remarry pretty quickly. 

No, he hasn't remarried and still wears his wedding ring. 

When I was little, I thought the "olden days" meant the 1950s, which annoyed my parents because they were born in the '50s. 

 

[65mickey]

I may be wrong but I thought that I read that one set of grandparents moved in for awhile to help. It must have been a horrible shock for the family. I admire Kelton's dad for putting his children first and not trying to bring in another wife. It seems like he raised good kids. 

[BitterApple]

9 minutes ago, 65mickey said:

 I admire Kelton's dad for putting his children first and not trying to bring in another wife. It seems like he raised good kids. 

I agree. It seems like most guys have new girlfriends before the ink on the obituary can dry. 

[GeeGolly]

Josie got a whole bunch of (I assume free) pink clothing. I think its for Valentine's Day, but I also think the Barbie movie is making the color more popular.

Now lets see if she actually wears the clothes herself and if she'll continue to dress the kids in them.

[BitterApple]

Josie promoted the boutique so it was definitely freebies. Maybe she's trying to be ahead of the curve by abandoning the Sad Beige aesthetic? 

[3 is enough]

I know I am from a different generation, but the skintight maternity clothes do not look flattering or comfortable. One of the dresses was pulling across her thighs and just looked too tight. I know they like to show off their bumps but this is extreme.

Josie is really pushing the girl mom thing these days.I suspect she knows it’s a boy and is milking it while she can.

[floridamom]

I agree about the skin tight "maternity" wear. I think it looks awful. Clothing should fit no matter the situation. It's not modest in any way IMO and with these people advertising "modest" I wonder what Gil and Kelly think of their daughters and daughters-in-law who have worn such clothing?

[GeeGolly]

I think they have an entire wall of ultrasound pics.

[BitterApple]

It's definitely a boy. 

[Heathen]

8 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

It's definitely a boy. 

I feel sorry for the girls if it is. It'll be Golden Penis 2.0 

[Salacious Kitty]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I think they have an entire wall of ultrasound pics.

Those ultrasounds could be from all 3 pregnancies. 

[GeeGolly]

31 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Those ultrasounds could be from all 3 pregnancies. 

For sure. There is a lot of them. So creepy to keep them on display in the dining room/kitchen. Or anywhere for that matter.

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

For sure. There is a lot of them. So creepy to keep them on display in the dining room/kitchen. Or anywhere for that matter.

Well, they are part of a fertility cult, so it tracks.

[woodscommaelle]

15 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

 

Is this an actual picture she posted or it’s a screenshot from a video? Either way, this picture is very unfortunate.

#dickhead 🤪

Edited January 19 by woodscommaelle

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, woodscommaelle said:

Is this an actual picture she posted or it’s a screenshot from a video? Either way, this picture is very unfortunate.

#dickhead 🤪

Screenshot. 🤣

[Tdoc72]

On 1/18/2024 at 7:56 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

Those ultrasounds could be from all 3 pregnancies. 

They could. But she’s also high risk.  In my experience, high risk pregnancies have more scans. My first baby I had one scan and set of pics. For my 2nd and 3rd, I had at least 4 for each between ultrasounds and echocardiograms. 

Edited January 21 by Tdoc72

[Salacious Kitty]

I would like to think that she is giving each pregnancy equal representation in that display.

[Meow Mix]

On 1/20/2024 at 12:56 AM, Tdoc72 said:

They could. But she’s also high risk.  In my experience, high risk pregnancies have more scans. My first baby I had one scan and set of pics. For my 2nd and 3rd, I had at least 4 for each between ultrasounds and echocardiograms. 

But did you display them all on your dining room wall?  It's not having all those pics, it's that she feels she needs to display them particularly there.

[GeeGolly]

In what world is this attractive?

[AstridM]

28 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

In what world is this attractive?

Reminds me of Jill Rod! 🤣

[3 is enough]

Rolling the sweater up over the bump is a … choice. 🙄

[Heathen]

She looks like a pregnant version of one of those 1980s hair band video vixens. A fundie Tawny Kitaen. 

[floridamom]

Once again I wonder what Josie's parents really think about her immodesty.

[BetyBee]

1 hour ago, floridamom said:

Once again I wonder what Josie's parents really think about her immodesty.

I may be jaded, but I think Gil and Kelly's values are fluid, and I doubt that they care about what their daughters wear, at least when they're gestating.

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, BetyBee said:

I may be jaded, but I think Gil and Kelly's values are fluid, and I doubt that they care about what their daughters wear, at least when they're gestating.

Yea, even Jessa had some risqué Fundy wear early on. Not as Kardashian as Josie but risqué none the less.

[Salacious Kitty]

I read elsewhere that Josie will be induced in 2 weeks. She's currently 34 weeks. I thought they usually wanted to get the baby to term before inducing. If she's having health issues this time around, she's doing a very good job at hiding it. Seems like life as usual, other than recently getting the flu.

[AstridM]

The “flu?” Hmmm. 

[GeeGolly]

Valentine's baby, maybe.

I thought because of their blood disorders Erin, Carlin and Josie were induced early. Or maybe that's just Erin? I wonder if the baby is still measuring really big?

I do think they want babies to be born nearest to 40 weeks, but technically 37 weeks is considered full-term, so in that sense she'll be delivering one week early.

[Absolom]

I think currently 39 weeks is full term.  The definitions started shifting a few years ago as too many unnecessarily early pregancies were being induced.  Frequently they do induce early when there is a blood disorder though.  Early term is the wording for 37 weeks 0 days to 38 weeks 6 days now.  

[Notabug]

In general, we don't like to deliver babies until 39 weeks or more and do not schedule inductions until then, except in cases where there is a high risk of stillbirth or other significant complication prior to the due date.

Full term is defined as 37-41 weeks with 40 weeks being the due date.  However, kids who deliver before 39 weeks are more prone to things like newborn jaundice, breathing issues that require oxygen the first couple days and even infections.   They're also more likely to have problems trying to breastfeed initially. So, we try not to deliver electively by induction or cesarean until 39 weeks in most cases.

Survival rates for newborns are comparable anywhere from 34-41 weeks, but the preterm babies have longer hospital stays which gets prohibitively expensive and we need to be fiscally sensible, too.

I don't know enough about Josie's condition except to say that she must have a particularly high risk of term stillbirth which makes her doctor want to get her delivered sooner.

[Salacious Kitty]

I believe she does have the c!outing disorder. Plus whatever condition that cropped up while pregnant with Hazel. She has been going to a high risk OB this pregnancy.

[zoomama]

shouldn't josie be having the induction about now?