Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect - "Gayby" is Born!

[ATC]

One of the Dads has updated his fb profile pic, with him and a recent pic of their son.

The child definitely looks like one of Lauren's children. There's a strong resemblance between him and his bio half-siblings at the same age.

It's weird- I know the baby is very loved, is being cared for well and will no doubt have a wonderful upbringing, but for some reason I felt a twinge of sadness when I saw how much he is starting to resemble his siblings :confusion-shrug:

[tinKanMacy]

One of the Dads has updated his fb profile pic, with him and a recent pic of their son.

The child definitely looks like one of Lauren's children. There's a strong resemblance between him and his bio half-siblings at the same age.

It's weird- I know the baby is very loved, is being cared for well and will no doubt have a wonderful upbringing, but for some reason I felt a twinge of sadness when I saw how much he is starting to resemble his siblings :confusion-shrug:

I thought the exact same thing, I even pulled up a picture of Elijah to compare them. And I believe he is about the age Elijah was when he died :(

[wild little fox]

Lauren as a surrogate makes me worry even more about all of them. Between PPD/PPP and giving a baby away and the fact they do not deal with emotions at all but bury them... I cannot see how this could be beneficial to the girls or Lauren. I know this has been hashed and rehashed... I am back from hiatus and I just jumped in.

[Cheetah]

Someone upthread who belongs to a private group with Lauren said that she's still around, just not publicly. Whether this is a good thing or not, no one knows.

I miss Lauren! She does this from time to time... disappear for months, then come back with a bunch of back-dated posts so if you are catching up on the blog you don't notice the long absences.

I hope that her girls are well and that she's been hanging out in one place or set of places with the same crowd for a while so they can start establishing ongoing relationships with safe friends outside of the immediate family.

[PeterRabbit]

Well after stalking for months I signed up because guess who's been driving around my neck of the woods...

She's still in Tasmania, the Huon Valley to be exact. Saw her a bit around Kingston by herself and wondered where the kids were. Spotted her bus in Huonville but no kids with her but today I saw her with the youngest shopping.

Not sure where the others were, maybe still in the bus.

I hope they are all well. :think: it's been really really cold here lately, -3 some nights and it's snowed a lot. We're flooded at the moment due to crazy wet weather.

[Miggy]

Lauren really seems to like Tassie but it's not a great place to winter unless you've got some serious heating. Overnight in that bus has got to get pretty icey but also, the girls don't seem to have a lot of winter clothes so I'm not sure how they manage daytime either. (Not a lot of room on the bus for coat, scarf, gloves and beanie for each girl.)

[tankgirl]

Lauren really seems to like Tassie but it's not a great place to winter unless you've got some serious heating. Overnight in that bus has got to get pretty icey but also, the girls don't seem to have a lot of winter clothes so I'm not sure how they manage daytime either. (Not a lot of room on the bus for coat, scarf, gloves and beanie for each girl.)

I know its not great to be materialistic, but the fact, that basic clothes could be luxuries, due to self imposed space limitations just seems so sad. I really hope those kids are ok.

[PeterRabbit]

I freeze getting in the car in the morning at 8am. I can't imagine sleeping in it :?

[Trynn]

I've slept in the car in ridiculously cold and snowy conditions before. I had 3 sleeping bags, 2 comforters, an afghan, 2 layers of clothing, and 2 hot packs.

I ended up having to take half of that off because I was too hot.

It can be done and done right, and I hope those girls are ok.

[ATC]

Well after stalking for months I signed up because guess who's been driving around my neck of the woods...

She's still in Tasmania, the Huon Valley to be exact. Saw her a bit around Kingston by herself and wondered where the kids were. Spotted her bus in Huonville but no kids with her but today I saw her with the youngest shopping.

Not sure where the others were, maybe still in the bus.

I hope they are all well. :think: it's been really really cold here lately, -3 some nights and it's snowed a lot. We're flooded at the moment due to crazy wet weather.

Thank you for updating.

Was the bus parked near a house? Just thinking that they be parked on someone's property, but staying indoors. I remember Lauren wrote on her twitter last year that she was looking for somewhere to set up for a bit

"Feeling a desire to establish a new "home base" away from SEQ. Need room for the bus & to store belongings; prefer bush location. Any ideas?"

Maybe someone in Tassie offered her and the girls a place to stay, or at least park the bus and have access to a washing machine, showers etc?

[morri]

i have been in SA where houses have neither insulation nor heating(apart from ovens and stand alone heaters)

it does get really cold in the morning so you need good blankets but then it is alright, unless it rains alot, for me as a pampered central european with central heating theres nothing worse than coming from a wet and cool outside into a humid and cool inside as I am so much used to come into a nicely heated place in winter.

[Miggy]

I really hope they did find a "home base". Before kids, MrMiggy and I travelled a lot - always in winter because I hate heat and always sleeping in the station wagon to save money. A sleeping bag, a blanket and I'd be warm until about 5am. That time just before the sun rises seems to get really cold and breathing in cold air use to make me miserable. That's what worries me for Lauren's kids - that last part of the night.

Just to clarify my above comment too: I don't have proof they have no coats. I've never seen them with proper winter gear - only fleecy jumpers and jackets. That's not a problem for an east coast winter but you'd need more in Tassie. They might have them but Lauren hasn't posted pictures. (I'm in inland NSW and it's currently -4oC. I love winter!)

[August]

I've slept in the car in ridiculously cold and snowy conditions before. I had 3 sleeping bags, 2 comforters, an afghan, 2 layers of clothing, and 2 hot packs.

I ended up having to take half of that off because I was too hot.

It can be done and done right, and I hope those girls are ok.

You're better off in a tent than a car. I've slept in a tent at way below freezing temps and was toasty warm but freeze in a car when it's barely chilly.

[sparkles]

Didn't the girls have winter outerwear when they were in Iceland? Hopefully, if they're traveling in colder climates now, that's not something they left behind when they came home.

I used to go winter camping and one thing that made a big difference was to wear a hat while I was sleeping. It really kept me warm, to the point that I was barely dressed otherwise in my sleeping bag. Your head is a major point of heat loss.

[LovelyLuna]

every time I see a bump in the thread I get excited and then let down. Ive been Lurking FJ for years because of Lauren. I greatly missed reading about her antics and snarking on her. I worry/ wonder about the girls. I hope everyone is ok. what dose it do to a narcissist when you take away their fandom? :?

[flubber]

Thank's for the update. I figured she'd probably scored a house-sitting gig for the winter.

Her last post shows the girls in winter jackets, so I'm guessing they brought them back from Iceland.

It sure seems like she's trying to totally distance herself from South East QLD. Maybe she's planning to settle in Tassy.

[Cheetah]

Not exactly on Lauren, but an article about the Rainbow Family gathering in South Dakota popped up on my FB feed this morning. I guess they aren't winning any fans with the Lakota or other locals:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.c ... lls-160822

[haras1972]

https://www.facebook.com/GaysWithKids/v ... =2&theater

An update on Daniel from Iceland.

[Idolatry]

Wow. Iceland must be a very chill place.

They literally made a public video that said, yea, surrogacy is illegal and we did it anyway. Nice.

[morri]

surrogacy as such is forbidden here too, but no one can forbid you to impregnate a friend.

[DaisyD]

I'll start by fully admitting that I have read very little about this woman here. I did peruse her blog and have to admit that there was a time that I ran around, rain or shine, barefoot and in the same clothes for weeks at a time. Yes, I was part of the Rainbow Family. I will qualify that with the fact that I was a supremely rebellious 14 year old runaway at the time. There is a freedom in that lifestyle that I still miss sometimes. I met some of the kindest, most down to earth people I've ever come across. Most of them would share their last piece of vegan bread, and give you anything you need if they had it to spare.

I only ever met one child being raised this way (and I suspect that her mother had other stuff going on than wanting the "happy hippie" lifestyle) so it's a limited basis for comparison.

Her children appear clean, and their hair brushed (I had dreads with weeks). The barefoot thing is not necessarily a problem. Feet get really tough quickly (I have dug glass out of my foot, my skin was thick enough that it didn't hurt too bad), though I'll admit to not running into overly hot surfaces (my little adventure took place in the early fall). I did spend some very cold nights huddled with my traveling companions for warmth. Hopefully she has some kind of warm clothes, they don't have to take up that much space.

The only thing that freaks me out about that time now is the amount of "free love" and lack of testing (I know exactly how lucky I was) in that crowd.

Honestly, there are days around here that I envy people like her.

Again, I haven't read near enough to say what she's doing is all fine and dandy (I can't imagine trying wrangle kids at a gathering), I just understand the appeal in this life, unlike the others we talk about here.

Edited because paragraphs are useful

[happy atheist]

Daniel looks like he's doing really, really well. I'm glad he's a happy little dude, and his dads seem really into him, which is great.

[church_of_dog]

I agree, he looks like he's doing great.

I couldn't help but think of Lauren recently because there was another incident of a father and baby going off a bridge and the baby died. This was in the US, in Connecticut. Different situation of course, a custody dispute, etc. But still so shockingly similar.

Too ugly a story to post links, can be easily found by googling...

I'm curious if it's getting much news airtime outside of the US, and in particular in Australia. I feel for Lauren if she hears of it.

[happy atheist]

I agree, he looks like he's doing great.

I couldn't help but think of Lauren recently because there was another incident of a father and baby going off a bridge and the baby died. This was in the US, in Connecticut. Different situation of course, a custody dispute, etc. But still so shockingly similar.

Too ugly a story to post links, can be easily found by googling...

I'm curious if it's getting much news airtime outside of the US, and in particular in Australia. I feel for Lauren if she hears of it.

There's a thread in Wide World of Snark.

[church_of_dog]

There's a thread in Wide World of Snark.

Oops, thanks, I don't look in there often, but when I went to the WWOS thread just now, I found that I had already read most of it. I know I'm old, but I didn't think I was THAT old as to be completely forgetting which stories I'd heard of and which not... :doh: