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

[Sew Sumi]

The house was transferred from Mary's trust to Boobchelle's within the last month. It is also on the market.

[Madtown]

I'll leave everyone else to comment on where Henry's hands are and if it's on purpose..2 pictures.

[JoanArc]

Stop trying to make Ivy happen. She's not going to happen.

[Sew Sumi]

At least she's not wearing a horrible head wrap. I think that's a first.

[BitterApple]

Cute kids and cute picture but not something I'd share with millions of strangers on the Internet.

[cmr2014]

On 9/25/2019 at 11:50 AM, Jeeves said:

I have no pity for him. He hopped on the Duggar gravy train and it's chugging right along. He's not starving, or working double shifts to feed his family, or trying to take care of a child with special needs, or having his ass busted by big medical bills because someone in his family got sick or hurt bad. He's a fucking TV star, and yeah I know what if the gravy train stops and he's got a bunch of kids and then times will be hard? Maybe he'll be prepared for that, and even if he's not he'll survive it.

There are lots of people in this world who have my sympathy, and none of them are Duggars or Duggar in-laws.

I can completely relate to this.

On one hand, Ben is a kid who got exactly what he wanted when he was 19 years old. I can say with certainty that I would have been very unfortunate in the long run if I had gotten exactly what I wanted at 19. Ben also comes from a family (and married into a family) where getting married and starting a family took precedence over his education -- what kind of bizarro world is that?

On the other hand, Ben outed himself almost immediately after he and Jessa started courting as a narrow-minded bigot, and know-it-all. He also hunted down and stalked Jessa because he knew who she was and he wanted to be part of the dog-and-pony show -- it's hard to quantify that level of creepiness.

[beagletime]

2 hours ago, Madtown said:

I'll leave everyone else to comment on where Henry's hands are and if it's on purpose..2 pictures.

In this case I think it's just happens to be the way he's holding her.  Ivy looks like she'd fall over otherwise.  With her upbringing I'm impressed that Jessa let's her kids run around half dressed.  Her children seem happy, cuddled and well loved.

[floridamom]

Wow, Ivy looks huge.

[Zahdii]

18 hours ago, Madtown said:

I'll leave everyone else to comment on where Henry's hands are and if it's on purpose..2 pictures.

Are you seriously insinuating that a two year old is trying to cop a feel of his 4 month old sisters breasts?

Henry's uncle may have molested his mother over 15 years ago, but he doesn't know that.  The tendency to molest isn't genetic, as far as I know.  Henry probably doesn't think much about breasts unless he sees his mom breastfeeding his little sister, and then he would see them as Mommy's way of feeding the baby.

All I get out of those pictures is a toddler trying to keep his baby sister from flopping over or falling off the couch so his mom can take a picture of two of her adorable children while they're both being smiley and happy.

[doodlebug]

9 minutes ago, Zahdii said:

Are you seriously insinuating that a two year old is trying to cop a feel of his 4 month old sisters breasts?

No, not to put words in her mouth, but I think she was saying that Jessa told Henry to hold his hands over the baby's chest lest her bare baby breasts defraud any men who might see the photo.  Remember, these are the Duggars.  Meechelle chastised Josie for removing a sweater and exposing her bare arms on TV back when she was still preschool age. The Duggars have a very warped view of modesty and their POV is that even children, especially girls, must be covered because they can inspire lust in men.  

More than a few of us have posited that at least part of the reason the girls forgave Josh for molesting them was because their parents would've insisted that the girls tempted him, making it their fault, including Joy who was 5 at the time he assaulted her.  Gothard's teachings are some sick stuff.

Edited October 2, 2019 by doodlebug

[Ohiopirate02]

I wanted to weigh in on Jessa's Instagram post with Henry and Ivy.  Instagram has a policy to delete any photo showing "Uncovered female nipples for children older than toddler-age."  Ivy is a baby, but policies like this are very subjective.  I wouldn't put it past a Duggar hater to flag a post where Ivy's nipple is showing.  I do think the picture was entirely innocent and Henry's hands just happened to cover them.  

[madpsych78]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

No, not to put words in her mouth, but I think she was saying that Jessa told Henry to hold his hands over the baby's chest lest her bare baby breasts defraud any men who might see the photo.  Remember, these are the Duggars.  Meechelle chastised Josie for removing a sweater and exposing her bare arms on TV back when she was still preschool age. The Duggars have a very warped view of modesty and their POV is that even children, especially girls, must be covered because they can inspire lust in men.  

More than a few of us have posited that at least part of the reason the girls forgave Josh for molesting them was because their parents would've insisted that the girls tempted him, making it their fault, including Joy who was 5 at the time he assaulted her.  Gothard's teachings are some sick stuff.

See, this makes more sense to me. I do think Henry's hands are where they are on purpose, but not because he's like Smuggar in any way.

[Temperance]

I think the picture is entirely innocent.

However I wouldn't put such a picture on the internet. For one thing pervs (meaning adults on-line, not innocent babies). For another, the kids might go through a phase where they wouldn't want such a photo public. 

[Suzn]

17 minutes ago, Temperance said:

I think the picture is entirely innocent.

However I wouldn't put such a picture on the internet. For one thing pervs (meaning adults on-line, not innocent babies). For another, the kids might go through a phase where they wouldn't want such a photo public. 

I agree that the picture is completely innocent. It is however an uncharacteristically unattractive and awkward pose.  Your eyes are drawn to Henry's hand placement and it is just not appealing.

[Nysha]

These days I would not put a picture of a young child not fully dressed on the Internet because you never know who is going to see it. Even if I have my account private, there's a chance that one of friends/family could repost the picture and someone could see it.

[Aunt Catfish]

5 hours ago, Temperance said:

I think the picture is entirely innocent.

However I wouldn't put such a picture on the internet. For one thing pervs (meaning adults on-line, not innocent babies). For another, the kids might go through a phase where they wouldn't want such a photo public. 

Amen to that.  Henry appears to be naked in the pictures (even though he is probably not) and the posing here is most unfortunate.  A little modesty would be a good thing in this case!  And a heaping helping of discretion.

[DangerousMinds]

Not sharing these pics with millions of complete strangers would be smarter.

[doodlebug]

31 minutes ago, Aunt Catfish said:

Amen to that.  Henry appears to be naked in the pictures (even though he is probably not) and the posing here is most unfortunate.  A little modesty would be a good thing in this case!  And a heaping helping of discretion.

I don't have kids, so it's easy for me to say, but, personally, I think I would post as few photos of my children online as I could.  And every photo would have the kids fully clothed and would only be available to a limited audience of family and friends.  Those cute shots of the baby wearing just a droopy diaper or the little ones playing in a bubble bath can be shared privately, IMO.

Of course, I am not Jessa and have an education and real job to support myself.  In the Duggars' case, selling your kids' private moments to the public online or on TV is how they manage to avoid real work.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 minute ago, doodlebug said:

I don't have kids, so it's easy for me to say, but, personally, I think I would post as few photos of my children online as I could.  And every photo would have the kids fully clothed and would only be available to a limited audience of family and friends.  Those cute shots of the baby wearing just a droopy diaper or the little ones playing in a bubble bath can be shared privately, IMO.

Of course, I am not Jessa and have an education and real job to support myself.  In the Duggars' case, selling your kids' private moments to the public online or on TV is how they manage to avoid real work.

My sister uses her Instagram stories to post pictures of her kids that should not be shared with everyone.   Those disappear after 24 hours which lessens their reach.  I only post pics of her kids when I am with them and she is aware that they can be shared.  I wanted to post a pic of my sassy neice last week on here, but I'm not her mom.

[Snow Fairy]

But someone can screenshot instagram story, so even those pictures aren't totally safe

[Madtown]

18 hours ago, Zahdii said:

Are you seriously insinuating that a two year old is trying to cop a feel of his 4 month old sisters breasts?

WTF? NO! My goodness, why would I ever think something like that?

18 hours ago, doodlebug said:

No, not to put words in her mouth, but I think she was saying that Jessa told Henry to hold his hands over the baby's chest lest her bare baby breasts defraud any men who might see the photo. 

Yes, this is what I was saying. Which is why I wondered why she would post a picture like this at all. I would never think she would post a picture of Ivy in just a diaper.

[leighdear]

Sorry, the baby still looks like a potato.  Jessa got pretty boys though.  

[galaxychaser]

Jessa got the cutest babies out of all the Duggar’s. I wish she would stop at 3. 

But probably there are 7 more on the way.

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, leighdear said:

Sorry, the baby still looks like a potato.  Jessa got pretty boys though.  

I have hope for Ivy.  Henry wasn't pretty at that age either.

15 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

Jessa got the cutest babies out of all the Duggar’s. I wish she would stop at 3. 

But probably there are 7 more on the way.

I agree! ...unfortunately about  the 7 more,too.

[3 is enough]

As much as I adore my granddaughters I am very hesitant to share photos of them on social media.  I always check with my son or daughter-in-law first and I always make sure they are fully dressed in the photos. The baby is 14 months old and I think I have posted a total of 5 photos of her.

While I find the Duggar's modesty standards to be ridiculous, I would never post a photo of a baby wearing only a diaper.  Kind of surprised at Jessa.

[Churchhoney]

2 hours ago, 3 is enough said:

I would never post a photo of a baby wearing only a diaper.  Kind of surprised at Jessa.

I fear it has to do with their knowing that their claim to fame -- and thus to continued paychecks -- is courtship...weddings! .....and Babeez Babeez Babeez.....

And never thinking much beyond that about anything. 

Edited October 8, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Jynnan tonnix]

17 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I fear it has to do with their knowing that their claim to fame -- and thus to continued paychecks -- is courtship...weddings! .....and Babeez Babeez Babeez.....

And never thinking much beyond that about anything. 

I totally read the "Babeez Babeez Babeez" part of this as some variation on Beelzebub, Beelzebub 🤣

[queenanne]

On 10/1/2019 at 9:18 PM, beagletime said:

In this case I think it's just happens to be the way he's holding her.  Ivy looks like she'd fall over otherwise.  With her upbringing I'm impressed that Jessa let's her kids run around half dressed.  Her children seem happy, cuddled and well loved.

Yeah, I was gonna say, don't young children have a classic history of grabbing onto any bit of a squirmy younger sibling that they can muster to hold them in place?  It is rather inelegant as a pose though... couldn't they be rubbing noses or something similar?

[Minivanessa]

32 minutes ago, Mojitogirl said:

I’ve said this before but Jill is really the sister that has most expanded her world. Jinger might live in LA but she’s still a follower of Jeremy’s whims and interests. Jill has a house to maintain, she’s overwhelmed but she stays home with her kids and does activities with them. They’ve been to the pumpkin patch, the zoo, the library and had play dates with sweet friends, none of which seemed to have been filmed for TLC.  Plus, she wears whatever she wants around her family - have we seen Jinger do it?  I noticed even Abbie is now almost full time wearing skirts.  

I find her annoying (and Derrick more so), but I’m rooting for her to expand her world and her mind so that will trickle down to her children  

Jessa, oddly, has disappeared. Her trickling out of Ivy pictures, few cute family shots, and not going to LA is out of character. However, she has never shown us that she has expanded her or her children’s world as she’s always at at TTC. I hope that emotionally she’s ok since she used to get energy from her public persona. 

I brought this over from the Jill and Derick discussion. 

Very good points about Jessa. Of all the Duggar kids she's seemed the one most devoted to being on TV. She seems to absolutely bloom when she's front and center in front of the TV camera. 

I wonder how much she'll be featured in the new series of Counting On. Maybe she'll get some airtime because, as noted, she really really loves being on camera, vs. some of her sibs who seem to be enduring it and may be harder for the producers to get good footage from. 

Sure, she's had a baby lately. But it was a third, not notable in the Duggar breeding sweepstakes -  while there are *two* SILs expecting their first babies. And I don't know how the show will handle it, but Joy's miscarriage while tragic is more interesting for TV purposes than a young woman having a third child. Not to mention that the Vuolos have moved to HOLLYWOOD!!! Well, LA, which in TV terms is about the same thing. With their adorable baby girl, and they go out to new places and Jeremy's in seminar and hangs out with all these new people.

The competition for airtime this season could be brutal. Sitting around the house in Arkansas, being Queen Bee Jessa Seewald, may not cut it for TV time this season. 

She and Bin haven't traveled, that we know of, or changed 'careers' or developed some new interests. I'm sure that if they had, Jessa would have been discreet enough about them not to wear out their interest before they could be unveiled on the TV show. But the lack of any hints of such things on her social media presence lately, so close to the premiere of the next season, leads me to think they ain't got nothing new except Ivy Spice. And Jessa's second rush to the hospital because of post-delivery bleeding. Which didn't even get a People exclusive, IIRC. 

Edited to add, this is what my Xfinity onscreen guide says about next Tuesday night's season premiere of Counting On, and nothing about this suggests the Seewalds will be featured:

Quote

S10 Ep1: Who's the Most Romantic?

Jinger and Jeremy go house-hunting in Los Angeles; the family goes camping in Arkansas; one couple makes a special announcement.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Jeeves

[MonicaM]

"Queen Bee Jessa Seewald" has been dethroned.  I would say that if anyone is "Queen Bee" these days, it's Jinger, with her photogenic baby, expensively clad husband, and glamorous life in California.  

Meanwhile, despite her assertion that she and Bin are still "madly in love", I suspect things aren't as happy as she would like in the Seewald household.  Yes, they have a new baby, but plenty of couples who are having a rough patch have a baby while also having relationship troubles.  All relationships have ups and downs, and Jessa (and Bin) may not understand that it is normal for passions to cool and for feelings and roles to change as time goes by.  

Jessa and Bin had no real foundation when they married and opened the baby factory.  They barely knew each other.  Jessa saw herself as the most desirable Duggar daughter, and I think Bin fell for that facade.  Now he's discovering much of the Jessa allure was just that - a facade.  Just my opinion, of course.

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, MonicaM said:

Jessa and Bin had no real foundation when they married and opened the baby factory.  They barely knew each other.  Jessa saw herself as the most desirable Duggar daughter, and I think Bin fell for that facade.  Now he's discovering much of the Jessa allure was just that - a facade.  Just my opinion, of course.

And didn't they court the longest of all the married couples? 

[BitterApple]

30 minutes ago, MonicaM said:

"Queen Bee Jessa Seewald" has been dethroned.  I would say that if anyone is "Queen Bee" these days, it's Jinger, with her photogenic baby, expensively clad husband, and glamorous life in California.  

Meanwhile, despite her assertion that she and Bin are still "madly in love", I suspect things aren't as happy as she would like in the Seewald household.  Yes, they have a new baby, but plenty of couples who are having a rough patch have a baby while also having relationship troubles.  All relationships have ups and downs, and Jessa (and Bin) may not understand that it is normal for passions to cool and for feelings and roles to change as time goes by.  

Jessa and Bin had no real foundation when they married and opened the baby factory.  They barely knew each other.  Jessa saw herself as the most desirable Duggar daughter, and I think Bin fell for that facade.  Now he's discovering much of the Jessa allure was just that - a facade.  Just my opinion, of course.

I don't think they are either. It wouldn't surprise me if Bin is starting to realize he pissed his youth away for the sake of banging the "hot" Duggar daughter and is starting to show some frustration. Even if he's working for Boob, that's not a real career, especially in comparison to his sisters. As for Jessa, everything that gave her a competitive edge is gone. Her looks have faded, Jinger's got the cutest baby, Jill's husband is in law school, Joy's husband has his own business etc. She's the type who needs to lord her superiority over others and she's got nothing to work with. 

[Tasya]

I've said this before but Jessa has plenty to market. Her boys are SUPER cute. Like way above average cute. They also seem polite and reasonably well-spoken. If she had any sense at all and she was really concerned about staying relevant, she would be developing those boys as kiddie models/spokesbabies. They would definitely get picked up. 

The fact that she doesn't "sell" them more, makes me believe that Jessa is right where she wants to be. Maybe she simply has little to no ambition/drive and she can't be bothered to be more than what she is. 

[Minivanessa]

6 minutes ago, Tasya said:

The fact that she doesn't "sell" them more, makes me believe that Jessa is right where she wants to be. Maybe she simply has little to no ambition/drive and she can't be bothered to be more than what she is. 

Let's hope that's true and she's not unhappy. She certainly adored her time on TV. Maybe she's over it. This is the biggest photo on the main show page on the TLC website, and look who's not there:

Edited to add: She did get two episodes - 19 minutes total - about Ivy's birth, on tlc.com, so there's that:

Edited October 10, 2019 by Jeeves

[Suzn]

5 minutes ago, Tasya said:

I've said this before but Jessa has plenty to market. Her boys are SUPER cute. Like way above average cute. They also seem polite and reasonably well-spoken. If she had any sense at all and she was really concerned about staying relevant, she would be developing those boys as kiddie models/spokesbabies. They would definitely get picked up. 

The fact that she doesn't "sell" them more, makes me believe that Jessa is right where she wants to be. Maybe she simply has little to no ambition/drive and she can't be bothered to be more than what she is. 

It's my gut feeling that she's OK where she is.  She might have to put herself out there hard to compete with Jinger, but she can mop up the floor with Jill whenever she cares to compete.  I can't tell what it is but there seems to be a fundamental shift in her.  I'll even go farther with this - if there were something seriously wrong for her, it would show in the boys.

[GeeGolly]

I think Jessa is as much of a fame whore as cousin Amy and would be front and center of all publicity, given the chance.

I think she's struggling with a few issues. First and foremost she's in an awkward "season of life" for Fundy appeal: only 3 babies - not expecting her 13th and not homeschooling a herd of children. Second, I think she's a tad embarrassed that her scholarly husband doesn't have a real job and knows the audience sees through Ben's fake coaching/sports camp stuff. Those two reasons are enough to reduce her Counting On time.

Third, she is very sensitive to negative SM comments, but knows she really can't clap back, so I'm guessing that's why she has reduced her number of SM posts.

And lastly, Jessa is lazy, uneducated, uncreative, and really isn't skilled at anything other than bossing folks around.

If Jessa had anything to brag about, she would be bragging about it. Three kids, an unemployed husband and days spent hanging at her parents' house is not much to brag about.

Edited October 10, 2019 by GeeGolly

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I think Jessa carried the brunt of selling and carrying Counting On in the earlier seasons post-Josh scandal and it was a lot of work (especially for a Duggar).  She now has three very small children and a child-man (Ben) to take care of daily.  Homegirl is probably exhausted from the past four years or so and just needs some downtime after Ivy's birth.  She's probably too tired to give an actual F if she's the "main character" in the show right now.  She probably figures it's on the younger couples/newly married couples to do the "work" of carrying the show for a while as she recharges.  I have no doubt that if the TLC money train started seriously becoming nonviable that Jessa would be there in a sec to try to get that train back on track with all the fake-smiles and fake-reliability she could. She probably figures she's had enough on-camera home-laboring and disastrous home-births that the other newer parents among the kidults need to provide that "entertainment" this season. I think right now, though, Jessa is just tired and wants the other kidults to have to do "work" of the show/Duggar brand rehabbing for a bit.  

Or maybe she just finds Lauren so freaking annoying and she's afraid she'll punch her in the face on camera.  Maybe she just knows she doesn't have the energy to keep sweet on camera around Lauren or not roll her eyes out of her head at Kendra's naive, bubbly giggles. Maybe she stayed home from vacation so she didn't have to be around any younger annoying kidults (cough, Lauren, cough) & their spouses or to be far away from Josh (I wouldn't want to be on a family vacation with him.  

Edited October 10, 2019 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[Minivanessa]

38 minutes ago, MyPeopleAreNordic said:

Or maybe she just finds Lauren so freaking annoying and she's afraid she'll punch her in the face on camera.  Maybe she just knows she doesn't have the energy to keep sweet on camera around Lauren. 

OMG, I hadn't thought of that. And now that you mention it, I can totally see it. 🤣 

[Annb67]

Honestly, I can see staying home rather than traveling around with three thousand other people. I like to go places with my people but damn if I don't need my own space at some point during the day. I can't imagine being always surrounded by clean, decent people much less dirty, loud, giggling, drama-filled people breaking into Amazing Grace at random intervals. Nope, no, hell no.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Annb67

[satrunrose]

I'm not sure anything's going on with Jessa (in the something's wrong sense or in the things of interest sense). I remember noticing that the Smuggars got a lot less attention for baby 3 and that was pre-scandal when they still had, arguably, the most interesting lives in DC. TLC has been trying to catch the Duggars doing something new and different since the start of X Kids and Counting. A third baby, even a rare (until this round) girl, just isn't new. 

How Jessa feels about all this, I don't know. I think Gee Golly might be onto something when she talked about this being an awkward "season" for a fundie woman. If you take away the famous family angle, Jessa's still at least 7 babies away from Mother of the Year type attention.

[Churchhoney]

On 10/9/2019 at 10:30 AM, Jynnan tonnix said:

I totally read the "Babeez Babeez Babeez" part of this as some variation on Beelzebub, Beelzebub 🤣

Beelzebub, eh? Funny. That's what I read whenever I see "Jim Bob." 😁

Edited October 13, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Nysha]

I think the jump from 2 kids to 3 kids is a lot harder than most parents are prepared for, that and generally newborn exhaustion is probably keeping Jessa out of the spotlight.

[yogi2014L]

11 hours ago, Nysha said:

I think the jump from 2 kids to 3 kids is a lot harder than most parents are prepared for, that and generally newborn exhaustion is probably keeping Jessa out of the spotlight.

Agree. And if she is actually a decent mom, she doesn't have time to just sit on her phone and post to IG. I only have one toddler ( 15 mo) and I can't take my eyes off her for one second much less do anything on my phone for longer than a quck text.  I also in general try not to be on my phone around her, but even if I wanted to sit and scroll for a bit I wouldn't be able to!

What are the age differences of her kids?

Edited October 15, 2019 by yogi2014L

[Zella]

9 minutes ago, yogi2014L said:

What are the age differences of her kids?

Looks like Spurgeon turns 4 in a couple of weeks, and Henry will be 3 in February while Ivy is nearly 5 months old. 

[3 is enough]

Just a thought, but maybe Jessa is having trouble losing the baby weight and/or she has had some significant postpartum hair loss and she just doesn't want to be photographed right now.  She always struck me as being a bit vain about her reputation as the "hot" Duggar sister.

[Sew Sumi]

Nah, she's already posted selfies modeling clothes for her pet company. She looked slim and fit.

[lookeyloo]

She posted a picture of the three kids on Instagram plugging the show

[galaxychaser]

I don’t blame Jessa not wanting to go on a road trip with 3 little kids. 

[doodlebug]

3 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

I don’t blame Jessa not wanting to go on a road trip with 3 little kids. 

Well, she surely isn't adverse to having her siblings watch her kids at the TTH which she seems to visit almost daily.  I am sure if Jessa had gone on the road with her kids, the other kids would've been assigned to watch the boys at the very least.  And, if something happened, Jessa would probably yell at the kids for not taking better care of her kids just like Anna did.

Remember, Jessa is a Duggar and they do things a little differently.  One of the differences is that biological parents pass their kids off onto other kids to watch as soon as feasible.  Maybe even sooner.  Going on a road trip with 3 little kids, 2 parents and at least half a dozen child care providers is not that difficult.

Edited October 15, 2019 by doodlebug

[Churchhoney]

2 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Well, she surely isn't adverse to having her siblings watch her kids at the TTH which she seems to visit almost daily.  I am sure if Jessa had gone on the road with her kids, the other kids would've been assigned to watch the boys at the very least.  And, if something happened, Jessa would probably yell at the kids for not taking better care of her kids just like Anna did.

Remember, Jessa is a Duggar and they do things a little differently.  One of the differences is that biological parents pass their kids off onto other kids to watch as soon as feasible.  Maybe even sooner.  Going on a road trip with 3 little kids, 2 parents and at least half a dozen child care providers is not that difficult.

Yes....but you can make it look difficult if you want to spend decades making your living by being on television.    tm Meeechelle and Jim Bob