Seewalds 26: Marketing her cute growing (?) family

[Carm_88]

The diapers are a bit much for me. I'm not a Mom but I can't imagine leaving those around. 

[Screamapillar]

To each their own. I'm a super neat freak, (though I don't expect others to be), so if it's between a clean(ish) house or 20 minutes less sleep, I clean the house. (In Jessa's case I would say 20 minutes less Bible time and clean the house!) I don't think her house is really that dirty, but as a Mom of a toddler myself: the diaper pile is just not a good idea. My toddler would quickly redistribute those...and it might take a long time to find all of her hiding places for them!

Just so I don't sound too BEC, the sentiment behind the post is nice. Snuggle babies first. (But for the love of Rufus, Jessa, don't sleep in spit up.) 

[singsingsing]

I kind of lean toward this being a 'F--- You' to all the nitpickers who comment on her stuff. Like, "Yeah, that's right, you wanna see how bad I really am? BOOM! Dust! Piles of diapers! Spit up I've been sleeping in for YEARS! AHAHAHAHA!"

Look, I'm a really disorganized person and my place is always kind of messy, and right now I have laundry and dishes piled so high my head is spinning, and I don't even have kids, so I get it. I find it hard to imagine leaving piles of used diapers stacked around, and especially sleeping in spit up, but again, I don't have babies. God only knows what would happen if I did. I'm not sure I'd brag about it on social media (just like I wouldn't post 10 pictures of my clean and shiny house)... but I will say that I give her points in a sense of not pulling one of these, 'Omg ya'll we are sooooo not perfect around here, hehe, check out my toddler's slightly messy hair and this one bowl and cup in the sink, ugh I'm not the greatest housekeeper, teehee!' humble brag things. I mean, we do complain about the Duggars not being 'real', and this was definitely real. 

[Carm_88]

Oh, I'm not saying that I don't have dishes piled in the sink that I glare at. I'm also disorganized and there's a fair chance that I am switching up my laundry detergent so that I know how long ago I washed something.  

The litter boxes are clean though, so I'm sticking by the diapers would be a hell no! 

[coffeebean7]

I freaking love her post. Even if the mess thing grosses you out or you think she should be cleaner, at least it's real. She commented to her post thanking everyone for telling her the diapers smell  because what would she do if people hadn't told her that , lol. I like it.

I am a little surprised by people commenting on her post about how their houses were never messy. She does have a small house and doesn't work but ... toddlers and babies can undo the cleanest houses in 5 minutes. The sheet thing and vent and table would gross me out but plenty of other stuff in my house would bother others. 

[divadivine]

And Jessa was always the one who organized everything in the TTH.... hmmm. 

The diapers & the sheets grossed me out. Sorry, not sorry. Put those dirty diapers in a diaper pail. Don’t those things stink?

[Dubiousclaire]

Yeah, I only had two kids, 26 months apart. Only had two in diapers at the same time for a few months.  But I never had piles of dirty diapers. We had a diaper pail. Or I would put them in the bathroom trash. Really gross diapers were double bagged and put in outside trash. 

I went back to work at 10 weeks after the second baby, and my house never looked like that.   If Jessa  needs to clean that bad, just tell Ben to keep the kids occupied for thirty minutes, or take them outside or for a walk. 

I was never one of those "I haven't showered or changed my clothes in 3 days" moms.  I always found time for that! Even if it means setting your alarm for thirty minutes before the kids normally wake up. 

I get it, its hard to get stuff done, especially when they won't cooperate and take a nap at the same time.  But you have to put together a list, and grab 10 minutes of productive time whenever you get a chance. 

[BabyBottlePop]

I want to cut her some slack but the diapers! And I know I am preaching to the choir here. Nobody bought her a fancy diaper genie when she had a baby shower? Or did all the baby gifts from those go to anti-abortion traps pretending to be "health centers"? She can't find a trash can in the warehouses of stuff her parents have? How can they ever be in the mood for sweet fellowship with the smell of baby poo a few feet away? 

My job is helping care for special needs children, so while I do not have any children of my own, I have been around diapers. It disgusts me that the diapers are sitting around. I hope that she throws them out every day at least.

[coffeebean7]

5 minutes ago, divadivine said:

And Jessa was always the one who organized everything in the TTH.... hmmm. 

The diapers & the sheets grossed me out. Sorry, not sorry. Put those dirty diapers in a diaper pail. Don’t those things stink?

I probably have a few diapers around my house right now. Like 1 or 2 on my nightstand from my 3 month old last night. They don't stink (he's breastfeeding so that helps make diapers less smelly). Very different from a pile though and from kids eating solids..

[snickers34]

Oh god, I HATE the mommy shaming as much as the next person, but jesus. Stacked dirty diapers reminds me of Hoarders episodes where people would poop in plastic bags and pile them up in the corner. It takes literally seconds to remove human feces from your home, Jessa. I think she might be trying to emulate the whole 'real momma/real life' thing, ala Sierra and other christian mommy blogs, but man she missed the mark and overshot a bit for me.

[Lurker]

On one hand, Jessa has really expressed a loving style of parenting which is very different than the way she was raised.  She also  seems to be in the don't give a  damn stage with her media and is probaby enjoying her freedom from keeping sweet at all times with some mildly sassy replies to negative posts.

On the other hand, those diapers and dirty sheets are disgusting. It doesn’t take much time to throw diapers in a garbage bag which you can hang on the dresser knobs if you can’t walk to a trash can.

The sheets just gross me out.  She doesn't have to carry the sheets to a laundromat.

I am not a great housekeeper, my house is messy because I have way too much stuff. But, my cat box is always scooped and fresh and my bathrooms are decent even though my husband and adult son seem to be blind to hair, whiskers and other messes.

I was able to work full time (with a great  childcare arrangement ) and be affectionate to my then two cats and two kids 5 years apart as well as maintaining a decent standard of hygeine.

[blackberry]

I can empathize with the diaper pile. We do keep a lidded trash can in the nursery that pee diapers go into, and when we take the trash out, sometimes it takes 12-24 hours to grab another trash bag from the kitchen. Granted, I definitely get a bag by the time there are three diapers waiting, but I will walk into the nursery and realize that I forgot to grab a bag AGAIN, just like the last 3 times I intended to. It's the curse of having littles, at least for me. A needy child usually distracts from the task at hand. 

[VelociRapture]

Just now, coffeebean7 said:

I freaking love her post. Even if the mess thing grosses you out or you think she should be cleaner, at least it's real. She commented to her post thanking everyone for telling her the diapers smell  because what would she do if people hadn't told her that , lol. I like it.

I am a little surprised by people commenting on how their houses were never messy. She does have a small house and doesn't work but ... toddlers and babies can undo the cleanest houses in 5 minutes. 

Comment mentioned by @coffeebean7

I’d give her ten points for the phenomenal sassiness, but she’s a Duggar. So no points and may God have mercy on her soul. 

(I’m joking. I’m completely grossed out by the diapers, but she has two young kids who seem pretty active - it’s a win if the house is still standing and everyone is alive. Lol!)

@Dubiousclaire My sister had PPD and wound up on medication just a few days postpartum - cleaning and showering absolutely took a back seat to bonding with her son. It still does sometimes actually - she works as a teacher, has a side job, and is working on an additional professional certification program all so she can help provide for her family (her husband also works two jobs.) Then you had me, the one with the baby born prematurely at 34 weeks. Showering and chores were the last things on my mind for a while because I had far more important things to worry about (like getting used to holding my baby without a ton of wires connected to her once she came home from her week in NICU - it was SO weird being able to walk freely around a room with her.)

That’s why I generally don’t pass judgement on most other parents. You never know who is dealing with PPD or health complications or anything else that may be preventing them from taking care of the things you mentioned. 

(And I know the circumstances are different because Jessa’s kids are older, etc. But you were speaking generally and I thought this was a good reminder that not everyone will be able to take care of things the same way.)

[SCROW10]

Without the Diaper picture I would have enjoyed it, but that is a little too much even for me. 

Has anyone noticed when she uses emojis on herself she uses the darker ones. Nothing wrong with that I just find it funny. EX: The double seat post the clapping hands were brown and then her snarky reply about the diapers the whatever emoji she picked the the tanned brunette one as well., but when she refers to the boys she uses the common white ones. - Nothing important just a random thing.

[Fun Undies]

Oh my gosh ~ I have no idea what motivated her to share that post (trying to "keep it real", a big "F-you?" <-- to whom?) . . . but wow.  I just don't even know where to begin:

Relatable: pen artwork, and fingerprints/hand prints on shiny surfaces, toys scattered everywhere (I've had worse at my own house!), and I rarely clean my vents either, every couple of months.  Sink full of dishes . . . I got one right now

The parts that made go "Whoaaaa": the sidetable.  I mean, mine were born 17 mo. apart, so I can relate to the struggle of keeping a clean house.  But my sidetables were usually overstuffed, or had streaks from cleaning them down with wet wipes meant for butts   That amount of dust would easily get my asthma flaring.  And the dirty diapers?!  Okay, so who hasn't left one (or heck I'll even say up three) diapers on the changing table, because both kids were screaming, and you walked away forgetting about it.  But sweet Jesus, that amount?!  And why, WHY post that on social media?  Like adult Spurgeon and Henry aren't going to be mortified if they ever see that?  And finally, the stovetop - are they just ignoring the caked on food smells when cooking?  Or are they just literally eating out every single meal at this point?  

Maybe she's pregnant again, and just too nauseous to do anything?  I mean, I've been there, so maybe I could give her a pass (sort of) if that's what it turns out to be?

Otherwise, if you have fifteen minutes to upload pics, and write about how dirty you're house is - you got 15 minutes to wipe down the sidetable, vents, stovetop, remove the bedsheet, and grab a plastic bag to throw those diapers in.  I mean, come on!  If you don't want to do it, then just admit it, don't sit here, and say how it's so you can spend time with the kids . . . . while you're typing said excuse on social media . . . away from your kids.

And alsoplusalso, can Laura and Jana just have Grandma Mary's room already??  Come on Michelle, they'll be closer to the kitchen so they can get to breakfast faster.

[singsingsing]

I'm going to slightly troll for a second here and suggest that, were she perhaps in the early stages of pregnancy and experiencing a lot of sickness and exhaustion, her house might currently be in a state far worse than normal.  

(I don't think it's BEC at all to criticize her messy house when she's the one specifically bringing attention to it, btw. It's not making a value judgement on her as a person to look at a post that she's basically captioning, 'lol check out how gross my house is' and say, 'Yeah, that's pretty gross!')

3 minutes ago, SCROW10 said:

Has anyone noticed when she uses emojis on herself she uses the darker ones. Nothing wrong with that I just find it funny. EX: The double seat post the clapping hands were brown and then her snarky reply about the diapers the whatever emoji she picked the the tanned brunette one as well., but when she refers to the boys she uses the common white ones. - Nothing important just a random thing.

I think it's because she's going for the one that has the hair closest to hers. The lightest-skinned emojis only have blonde or black hair. 

[meowfundiecatz]

Girl is great at building this brand, y'all.

[Jenn The Heathen]

I have two kids 21 months apart. My husband works 40+ hours a week and I work 25 and my house has never looked like that. I can see laundry not getting put right away or maybe leaving the dishes until the next day because you’re exhausted, but the diapers and dirty sheets are GROSS.  That’s not being messy, it’s unsanitary.

[SapphireSlytherin]

I'm sitting here with a sink full of dishes and a stove that hasn't been wiped down since Tuesday night. 

However, how fucking HARD is it to put a diaper in a fucking trash can? It takes literally NO extra time to put it where it goes, instead of putting it on the dresser. 

And sleeping in puke? That's just even more disgusting.

[SassyPants]

7 minutes ago, Jenn The Heathen said:

I have two kids 21 months apart. My husband works 40+ hours a week and I work 25 and my house has never looked like that. I can see laundry not getting put right away or maybe leaving the dishes until the next day because you’re exhausted, but the diapers and dirty sheets are GROSS.  That’s not being messy, it’s unsanitary.

I always worked too and my house was clean. Maybe it's because we were never in it!

[Dubiousclaire]

@VelociRapture

Absolutely, I would never pass judgement on someone with PPD, or another illness, or a sick baby, or multiples.  They deserve all the help in the world. 

My SIL was one of the non showering mom's, and she was just disorganized and a big slob. Good mom, but always late and messy. She got better eventually.  Her daughter is pretty much the same way.  I end up cleaning every time I go to her house (at her request, not me being pushy..i.e. Twenty people are showing up in fifteen minutes for a birthday party and the trash is overflowing and the counter top is sticky and there is laundry on the sofa and she didn't have the kids presents wrapped yet, OMG help me Aunt C. ).  That is just how they are wired, I guess. 

They could take a shower or clean, they just didn't. Not that they couldn't. 

 

[JordynDarby5]

I'll admit my first thought was the sister-moms hadn't been by to clean in a few days. 

[SassyPants]

Those diapers are effing gross.

Here's a thought: Have Ben bop on over to the Duggar's storage warehouse and find a diaper pail.

You're welcome.

[JermajestyDuggar]

22 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

I always worked too and my house was clean. Maybe it's because we were never in it!

In my experience, that's part of it. I stay at home with my kids and they make SO MANY messes throughout the day. My floor is constantly covered with toys or crumbs. We make a lot of dishes. We use the bathroom sink constantly to wash hands. We track dirt in on the rug at the front door because the kids are always going in and out. If you're using thehouse all day every day, it will get messy. 

[Fjrocks]

    How can you embrace affectionate, imaginative, hands on parenting above all else and NOT recognize your parents are a complete shit show?