Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[lascuba]

14 hours ago, ginger90 said:

Ben retweeted this:

The lack of self-awareness on Ben's part boggles the mind. 

[Fostersmom]

Maybe he's actually reflecting on his views? He's obviously staunch in his religious views and anti abortion, but so are a lot of people. I don't pay that much attention to him, but I don't remember him being hateful or racist or just plain mean like Derick. 

[MamaMax]

1 hour ago, lascuba said:

The lack of self-awareness on Ben's part boggles the mind. 

I suspect he is mostly thinking of race here.  Definitely not thinking of Catholics! HAHAHAHAHA

[Lady Edith]

Or Jazz...

or the folks marching in Pride parades...

[lascuba]

2 hours ago, Fostersmom said:

Maybe he's actually reflecting on his views? He's obviously staunch in his religious views and anti abortion, but so are a lot of people. I don't pay that much attention to him, but I don't remember him being hateful or racist or just plain mean like Derick. 

He pretty much was/is. He didn't directly respond to people, but his posts were hateful screeds until Jessa/TLC freaked out over the negative attention and told him to cut it out. That's why, I think, he looked so annoyed with everything during the first Counting On specials. I think he's resentful of the fact that he can't use the Duggar platform to say exactly what he believes in the most direct terms possible. 

More generally, to be fundie IS to be hateful. Sure, they call it love...note how Derick and Jill talk about love. They always make a point to say that "love" means warning people that their sins are leading them to hell. Ben very well might be reflecting on his views--and I know that baby steps are important and I shouldn't count on radical changes--but as long as any changes he makes are based on optics and finding a "nice" way to legislate rights away, he can fuck right off. 

[PradaKitty]

As for closeness between the brothers-in-law, I keep flashing back to the episode with  Ben and Jeremy on the gym obstacle course laughing at Derick trying to do any/all of the obstacles and flopping around like a deranged spider monkey. 

[Mollie]

12 minutes ago, PradaKitty said:

As for closeness between the brothers-in-law, I keep flashing back to the episode with  Ben and Jeremy on the gym obstacle course laughing at Derick trying to do any/all of the obstacles and flopping around like a deranged spider monkey. 

After the Roseanne Barr tweet, are we allowed to compare someone to a monkey?  I think a monkey, deranged or not, would have aced that obstacle course.  Derick, on the other hand, has no upper body strength and has a lack of coordination. Ben, Jeremy and Austin were all laughing at him because he was pitifully funny.  The camera crew loved filming that.

[GeeGolly]

4 hours ago, MamaMax said:

I suspect he is mostly thinking of race here.  Definitely not thinking of Catholics! HAHAHAHAHA

I agree that Ben is referring to race. I'm guessing he thinks he's an expert on all things regarding POC because he has his rapper friend Blaze or Flash. Ben even toured a low income neighborhood in Blaze's hometown. 

[Spencer Hastings]

1 hour ago, Mollie said:

After the Roseanne Barr tweet, are we allowed to compare someone to a monkey?  

Movements of an idiot, yes.  Facial features of an African American woman? Nah.

[madpsych78]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I agree that Ben is referring to race. I'm guessing he thinks he's an expert on all things regarding POC because he has his rapper friend Blaze or Flash. Ben even toured a low income neighborhood in Blaze's hometown. 

Flame, but otherwise I think this is pretty spot on re: Ben.

[awaken]

6 hours ago, PradaKitty said:

As for closeness between the brothers-in-law, I keep flashing back to the episode with  Ben and Jeremy on the gym obstacle course laughing at Derick trying to do any/all of the obstacles and flopping around like a deranged spider monkey. 

Truly one of the most classic scenes ever on this show!  

(That and josh and his buttcrack on the trapeze!!)

Edited June 11, 2018 by awaken

[lascuba]

5 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I agree that Ben is referring to race. I'm guessing he thinks he's an expert on all things regarding POC because he has his rapper friend Blaze or Flash. Ben even toured a low income neighborhood in Blaze's hometown. 

He's the wokest. 

[MamaMax]

28 minutes ago, lascuba said:

He's the wokest. 

Oh good lort. If he’s woke we are all in so much trouble.

[OpieTaylor]

Jessa has posted a long tale with photos on Instagram - IMO she's trying to stir up outrage and controversy over it all, apparently she wants some attention? Be sure to look through the photos to see Henry's wound.

Edited June 14, 2018 by OpieTaylor

[awaken]

Sooooo, why would that little incident require this long meandering tale, complete with pics?  Again with their mundane lives. Your kid hit his brother. And the zillion emojis to represent the boys reads like one of those kid puzzles where you try and sound out a sentence that’s written only in pictures. 

[Zella]

All the emojis and squares are making my eyes bleed!

My brother threw a screwdriver at me and dinged me in the forehead when we were this age. Actually, he clobbered me in the head quite a bit as a child, with enough different instruments and tools that it almost seemed like we were in a never-ending game of Clue. It's a wonder I still have brain cells, but we're good friends as adults. (And we don't beat each other senseless anymore either.)

Jessa's story seems primarily geared as a compliment to herself. Not only is she a super sleuth, but she's also raising compassionate children--or at least that's the vibe I feel like we're supposed to get. 

[Marigold]

That was so stupid. Way too long and lost her reader with all the stupid emoji faces.  It wasn't funny either. 

I'm sick of the #boymom thing.  I have boys and girls and they both do crazy things.  Jessa is 1 of 19, this shouldn't be news. 

[BitterApple]

Uh, okay Jessa. Your kids certainly aren't the first to get into a scuffle over a toy. I'm not sure why we needed a convoluted story to explain something that's really no big deal.

[kalamac]

I guess the positive take away here is that as far as we know Spurge isn't being told he's an evil little sinner for hitting Henry, and being beaten over it.

[OpieTaylor]

My first take was that she wanted to stir the pot a bit and get the commenters arguing, but so far most are telling her what a great mom she is

[Spencer Hastings]

Hmm..a Duggar had a natural human reaction against his brother and lived to tell the tale.  Progress. 

[Heathen]

Anybody take note of her mention of nursing Henry? Henry is about sixteen months old now. Maybe Jessa's whole point, or mini-point, was that she's not like her mother* and is using nursing as her version of birth control. 

*Mullet weaned her babies at six months old, if she nursed even that long. 

[Temperance]

I don't see it as stirring the pot really.

It's a pitch for relatability. 

It's not bad. Maybe a little long and the emojis, but probably in line with a lot of content from the mommy bloggers/vloggers.

It's showing Jessa to be a smart and compassionate mother and how her boys fight and still get along. I'm sure her fans appreciated a slice of her life and a cute story. 

On the nursing thing, Jill nursed a long time with Israel and is probably still nursing Henry. 

[kokapetl]

The emojis are too hard.

[becca3891]

6 hours ago, Marigold said:

That was so stupid. Way too long and lost her reader with all the stupid emoji faces.  It wasn't funny either. 

I'm sick of the #boymom thing.  I have boys and girls and they both do crazy things.  Jessa is 1 of 19, this shouldn't be news. 

The #boymom thing really, really bugs me too. She's using the hashtag while simultaneously saying she did the exact same type of thing as a toddler. We're all humans! It reminds me too much of the horrific "gender reveal" cakes that say things like "Quarterback, or princess?" Gag me.

5 hours ago, OpieTaylor said:

My first take was that she wanted to stir the pot a bit and get the commenters arguing, but so far most are telling her what a great mom she is

I think it's definitely that she basks in the glory of all the attention and being told what a great mom she is. 

[madpsych78]

I didn't find the emojis to be that hard. The baby is clearly Henry while the dark-haired boy was Spurge. That said, she could have just typed H and S to refer to them if she did not want to type out their full first names.

[Jynnan tonnix]

15 minutes ago, madpsych78 said:

I didn't find the emojis to be that hard. The baby is clearly Henry while the dark-haired boy was Spurge. That said, she could have just typed H and S to refer to them if she did not want to type out their full first names.

H&S...made me think of the old-timey green stamps!

Except those were S&H, I think lol

Edited June 14, 2018 by Jynnan tonnix

[yogi2014L]

Better than Jillys recipies. It is mundane but this is par the course of all the boring ass stuff I see from people I know in real life every day. I think some moms just like to document stuff like this. I have a FB friend coworker who literally posts 900 posts like this. Nobody gives a shit what your kids had for dinner or what you did that day- it is almost like they treat social media like an online journal

And jessa can't really post anything interesting bc she has to save the brand so what else does she have to talk about??? lol

[Abmis]

She's willing to bet $50.  Doesn't she know that gambling is sinful?  She needs a trip to the prayer closet STAT.

[xwordfanatik]

"A deck of cards is the devil's playbook."  Grandma Walton

Gambling must be one of the seven deadlies.  For shame, JessaBlessa.

If social media had been around 30+ years ago, I would not be sharing like most moms seem to do daily.  I mean, why post every time your kid takes a dump or squabbles with his sibling?  Jeez Louise.

[Natalie68]

On 6/10/2018 at 6:02 PM, awaken said:

Truly one of the most classic scenes ever on this show!  

(That and josh and his buttcrack on the trapeze!!)

While both are noteworthy, seeing Dickweed flail around was hilarious (and super unsexy) that buttcrack was horrid and may have sent me to look at puppy and kitten pics.  

[Natalie68]

12 hours ago, Zella said:

All the emojis and squares are making my eyes bleed!

My brother threw a screwdriver at me and dinged me in the forehead when we were this age. Actually, he clobbered me in the head quite a bit as a child, with enough different instruments and tools that it almost seemed like we were in a never-ending game of Clue. It's a wonder I still have brain cells, but we're good friends as adults. (And we don't beat each other senseless anymore either.)

Jessa's story seems primarily geared as a compliment to herself. Not only is she a super sleuth, but she's also raising compassionate children--or at least that's the vibe I feel like we're supposed to get. 

OUCH!  That could have put an eye out!  My sisters used to pick on me quite relentlessly.  The worst thing one did was when I was climbing into our VW van and had to climb over that middle stool thing between the 2 front seats on my way to the back.  I was 5 and going too slow so my sister pushed me and my head (and eye) went straight into the drawer handle below the back seat.  MAN she was in trouble!  I was sporting a pretty fierce black eye in Kindergarten.  Being the youngest of 3 surly big sisters was kind of survival of the fittest.  It did make me kind of scrappy though.

The emojis made her story hard to follow.  I will say however, Spurge (if he went to my public school I imagine he would be called Spooge) is darling.  It feels kind of dirty giving them a compliment.

1 hour ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

H&S...made me think of the old-timey green stamps!

Except those were S&H, I think lol

I remember those!  

1 hour ago, Abmis said:

She's willing to bet $50.  Doesn't she know that gambling is sinful?  She needs a trip to the prayer closet STAT.

If she comes to the prayer closet I am not sharing any of my goodies with her!  

[kokapetl]

56 minutes ago, Natalie68 said:

While both are noteworthy, seeing Dickweed flail around was hilarious (and super unsexy) that buttcrack was horrid and may have sent me to look at puppy and kitten pics.  

Josh’s flabby body was also being pinched in half.

Edited June 14, 2018 by Kokapetl

[Natalie68]

3 minutes ago, Kokapetl said:

Josh’s flabby body was also being pinched in half.

I must have struck that from my memory.  Just think, ALL of that is Anna's!  Don't be jealous!

[Marigold]

15 hours ago, Temperance said:

I don't see it as stirring the pot really.

It's a pitch for relatability. 

It's not bad. Maybe a little long and the emojis, but probably in line with a lot of content from the mommy bloggers/vloggers.

It's showing Jessa to be a smart and compassionate mother and how her boys fight and still get along. I'm sure her fans appreciated a slice of her life and a cute story. 

On the nursing thing, Jill nursed a long time with Israel and is probably still nursing Henry. 

True True.  At least it wasn't a wacko hate rant (hello Derick).

Jessa is not a low IQ Duggar.   She would've done so well in college.  Seems Jessa likes to write and tries to have a sense of humor in her writing.  In some type of higher education she would've learned to keep stories short and sweet.  Less meandering. 

Sad her writing skills were not developed and instead, squashed flat like a pancake! 

She is trying so hard to be "normal" and fit in with the mom crowd.  I do see she is a different mother than Michelle and I give her major credit for that.  It's not easy to break out of a choke hold.   

[GeeGolly]

Just going to add that the offending part of the firetruck wasn't the tail light. That's all.

[Ohiopirate02]

33 minutes ago, Marigold said:

True True.  At least it wasn't a wacko hate rant (hello Derick).

Jessa is not a low IQ Duggar.   She would've done so well in college.  Seems Jessa likes to write and tries to have a sense of humor in her writing.  In some type of higher education she would've learned to keep stories short and sweet.  Less meandering. 

Sad her writing skills were not developed and instead, squashed flat like a pancake! 

She is trying so hard to be "normal" and fit in with the mom crowd.  I do see she is a different mother than Michelle and I give her major credit for that.  It's not easy to break out of a choke hold.   

She also appears to be able to accept constructive criticism which can help her to become a better writer.  She is making baby steps away from her parents.

[Heathen]

15 hours ago, Temperance said:

 On the nursing thing, Jill nursed a long time with Israel and is probably still nursing Henry. 

I doubt Jilly is nursing Henry! Do we know for sure she nursed Israel for very long? Of all the Duggarettes so far, Jill is the one I'd pick to wean at six months or before. 

[lookeyloo]

Well, JIlly would be nursing Samuel and Jessa would be nursing Henry.  Unless, they swap out now and then.

[MichaelaRae]

Of the many things that Jessa posts, this bothered me not at all (admittedly, sliding scale-wise, this was WAY better than the "Duggars! They're just like US!" of the dirty diaper pyramid). Okay, the emojis bugged but then I sorta got used to them. At any rate, overall, the story felt pretty similar to stories I've seen other moms, fundie or not, share about the adventures of having small children. It wasn't peppered every third word with fundie malapropos and seasons of life and in fact didn't mention her belief system at ALL. It was just about two kids behaving like she's pretty sure she and her close-in-age sister behaved. It was shockingly...normal.

#boymom is gender-stultifying and annoying as SHIT though.

[DangerousMinds]

Spurgeon is looking even more bad seed-ish IMO.

[Farmfam]

1 hour ago, Heathen said:

I doubt Jilly is nursing Henry! Do we know for sure she nursed Israel for very long? Of all the Duggarettes so far, Jill is the one I'd pick to wean at six months or before. 

On an episode while they were in Central America Jill was nursing Israel and he was well over 6 months, if not even over a year old. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

41 minutes ago, Farmfam said:

On an episode while they were in Central America Jill was nursing Israel and he was well over 6 months, if not even over a year old. 

This kind of makes me wonder...Jill has always seemed to have a bit of a hippy-dippy, crunchy granola vibe, further exacerbated by Drek and his missionary sensibilities. They were the first we saw appear to branch out a bit into some ethnic foods and even seemed to be dipping a toe into some vegan options. Why, then, of all the recipes out there, ripe and available for stealing, is she going back to stuff which doesn't even pretend to give a nod to being healthy or even remotely natural? Does she think that the generations-outdated "comfort food" niche is one she will find a following in or what? Who in her age range with even a cursory interest in healthy cooking would find anything she has posted even palatable? Or is she hoping to gain a following among viewers of her parents' age who might find it heartening to see younger people following the examples they grew up with? How many elder Fundies of that stripe would even be on social media to start with?

[Mollie]

19 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

This kind of makes me wonder...Jill has always seemed to have a bit of a hippy-dippy, crunchy granola vibe, further exacerbated by Drek and his missionary sensibilities. They were the first we saw appear to branch out a bit into some ethnic foods and even seemed to be dipping a toe into some vegan options. Why, then, of all the recipes out there, ripe and available for stealing, is she going back to stuff which doesn't even pretend to give a nod to being healthy or even remotely natural? Does she think that the generations-outdated "comfort food" niche is one she will find a following in or what? Who in her age range with even a cursory interest in healthy cooking would find anything she has posted even palatable? Or is she hoping to gain a following among viewers of her parents' age who might find it heartening to see younger people following the examples they grew up with? How many elder Fundies of that stripe would even be on social media to start with?

Jill said that the recipes she would be posting were from Michelle.   This is why they are in mega quantities and the recipes involve more opening of cans than cooking because the directions had to be for a six-year-old to make.  Michelle always said that daughters were assigned to make lunch and dinner.  The daughters, of course, never learned how to really cook but they certainly know how to open cans of soup.

The crazy thing is that Jill really thinks these are great recipes.

[Zella]

9 hours ago, Natalie68 said:

OUCH!  That could have put an eye out!  My sisters used to pick on me quite relentlessly.  The worst thing one did was when I was climbing into our VW van and had to climb over that middle stool thing between the 2 front seats on my way to the back.  I was 5 and going too slow so my sister pushed me and my head (and eye) went straight into the drawer handle below the back seat.  MAN she was in trouble!  I was sporting a pretty fierce black eye in Kindergarten.  Being the youngest of 3 surly big sisters was kind of survival of the fittest.  It did make me kind of scrappy though.

OW! That sounds painful! I have 3 older brothers but fortunately, the oldest 2 were so much older than me (17 and 14) that they were more like uncles than brothers. They were a lot sweeter with me than I would have been with siblings that much younger than me. The brother that was closest to me in age (19 months apart) was the screwdriver flinger. LOL I can only imagine having more than 1 sibling to fight!

I do have a scar on the top of my forehead from the screwdriver. It's right below the hairline, so it's not always noticeable. Not sure anyone would really pay it any attention if they didn't know to look for it. I actually forget about it, but I remembered it after mentioning the screwdriver story here, so I studied the scar today for the first time in years. It is definitely shaped like the tip of a screwdriver. . . . 

Edited June 15, 2018 by Zella

[saylubee]

14 hours ago, Heathen said:

I doubt Jilly is nursing Henry! Do we know for sure she nursed Israel for very long? Of all the Duggarettes so far, Jill is the one I'd pick to wean at six months or before. 

There was an episode where everyone was at a consignment sale, Izzy was probably 18 months old and Jill heavily implied that she had to go feed him from the boob. I’m sure they all use extended breastfeeding as their “birth control” and “leave” everything else to God.

It was probably also easier to breastfeed Izzy in Central America then to feed him real food.

[Heathen]

1 hour ago, saylubee said:

There was an episode where everyone was at a consignment sale, Izzy was probably 18 months old and Jill heavily implied that she had to go feed him from the boob. I’m sure they all use extended breastfeeding as their “birth control” and “leave” everything else to God.

It was probably also easier to breastfeed Izzy in Central America then to feed him real food.

Those shows are so heavily scripted and rehearsed, I wouldn't accept them as truth. Let me rephrase -- have we seen anything on Jill's (unfortunately for her, unscripted) Instagram that indicates she nurses longterm? 

[Natalie68]

13 hours ago, Zella said:

OW! That sounds painful! I have 3 older brothers but fortunately, the oldest 2 were so much older than me (17 and 14) that they were more like uncles than brothers. They were a lot sweeter with me than I would have been with siblings that much younger than me. The brother that was closest to me in age (19 months apart) was the screwdriver flinger. LOL I can only imagine having more than 1 sibling to fight!

I do have a scar on the top of my forehead from the screwdriver. It's right below the hairline, so it's not always noticeable. Not sure anyone would really pay it any attention if they didn't know to look for it. I actually forget about it, but I remembered it after mentioning the screwdriver story here, so I studied the scar today for the first time in years. It is definitely shaped like the tip of a screwdriver. . . . 

It was!  I remember walking around with my hand over my eye for a long time.  It must have been fun having brothers so much older.  That is how one of my older male cousins was.  Very protective of me.   Siblings can be BRUTAL with each other.  I think it makes us all a little stronger.  Crazy!  You are sooooo lucky!  And you get to bring it up if he ever bugs you.  Remember the time you almost put my eye out???  HA!

[Nysha]

Jessa posted on Instagram that she would have liked to breastfeed Spurgeon until he was two, but he weaned himself off the breast and she ended up using a bottle for him. I'm not on Instagram, but here's an article with the post embedded: https://www.romper.com/p/do-all-the-duggars-breastfeed-they-take-a-pretty-realistic-view-about-feeding-their-babies-8286508

[louannems]

I have no idea which episode I saw it on, but I do remember Jill nursing Izzy behind her modesty veil and he was way over a yr old.