Chelsea Instagram

[JermajestyDuggar]

@unholypoledancer

They live in Arkansas. I wonder if they've ever crossed paths with a Duggar at Walmart. She seems like the type that would like the Duggars.

And her home is probably clean all the time because she has a cleaning service. She doesn't take a lot of pictures in certain parts of her home so I bet they are often the messier parts of her house. Like the kitchen and the girls' room. 

[mango_fandango]

Few things:

At least the family seem to believe in regular medicine rather than essential oils and Plexus. In Charlotte's 1-year-checkup post Chelsea mentioned her getting shots so they're not anti-vax.

Age order: Mary Grace (9) who's in 4th grade, Abigail (5) who's in Kindergarten, Jane Claire who's 2 and Charlotte who's 1. 

And HOLY FUCK THE OUTFITS MAKE MY EYES BLEED.

[Briefly]

20 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I'm guessing that since they seem to get a lot from Etsy, they may be able to get larger sizes. Mommy and daughter matching dresses are actually a thing. So she may not have as juvenile a dress as her younger sisters. But I bet she can get a matching dress still. 

Actually, she may be able to find dresses as they age.  My mid 20's daughter does cosplay.  She is also in a group that dresses in what is called Lolita style.  It's not connected with the movie, Lolita, it's actually a trend that started in Japan.  There is a whole industry of clothing in similar styles - some of it does cater to younger girls, but there are quite a few 20-somethings that are fans of the styles.  Most of it is actually very nice clothing, there are a variety of themes and styles.

[unholypoledancer]

I feel if you compare them to the Duggars, these kids get more socialization and it seems like they do more activities (choir). Which is awesome! I mean besides sister-mom, what did the Duggar girls get to do?

I guess they are Fundie-lite? 

I'm just glad they get to have a little more enjoyment out of life than many other Fundie children do. 

[PennySycamore]

@Briefly, my youngest daughter has been into Lolita although there doesn't seem to be a Lolita community locally. She and one of her friends went to a big Lolita event in NYC when she lived in Connecticut.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

I definitely know of the Lolita style. I'm not really a fan to be honest. I love character cosplay. Some people are amazingly talented at it. 

And although the Lolita name isn't directly related to the book/film, it is sort of connected. Since it's usually adult women dressing in a younger style. Similar to Lolita being a a child/adult.

[HeadshipRegent]

Her sister's daughter is 12 (!!!) and dresses in the same kind of outfits. Cannot imagine going through puberty in doll-like outfits.

[HarryPotterFan]

22 hours ago, Fascinated said:

@HarryPotterFan, what are you doing?  I used to really like cats.  Those are sick. And I don’t mean siq. 

Haha I'm sorry. Here's a picture of kittens snuggling to make up for it: 

Spoiler

21 hours ago, Shoobydoo said:

Why, you're in luck. I happen to be visiting my folks and was thus able to track down the photo. Here's one Shoobydoo circa 1995. Enjoy. 

  Hide contents

 

 

ETA: The show was based on Alice in Wonderland and the youngest ballet class was the kittens. 

Amazing costume! You were a cute little kid. The ballet studio I took dance lessons at never had fun costumes, no fair.

19 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

Baby Charlotte is adorable and chubby but her mother keeps making comments about what a pig she is. She does actually weigh more than my almost 3 year old by a bit but it’s clear Chelsea has eating issues. 

Who fat shames a baby?? 

3 hours ago, OtterRuletheWorld said:

Notice her warm jacket and Charlotte's bare arms.

That picture was from January!!! It's cold in DC then! What the hell. Poor freezing baby.

3 minutes ago, HeadshipRegent said:

Her sister's daughter is 12 (!!!) and dresses in the same kind of outfits. Cannot imagine going through puberty in doll-like outfits.

Poor kid!! Kids that age can be cruel, I hope the other kids don't bully her for what her mom does to her.

[singsingsing]

There's something incredibly creepy about this woman. And my guess as to why she doesn't have herself all dolled up all the time is that it's uncomfortable. She doesn't want to torture herself, feel her hair pulling her scalp tight all day, sweat in stiff, scratchy dresses. But she has no problem subjecting her kids to it, because they're her props. It's like Munchausen by proxy, but instead of getting attention and vicarious enjoyment out of convincing people her children are ill, she does it by turning them into Victorian dolls.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

5 hours ago, unholypoledancer said:

But if I dressed myself and my daughter up to go to a pumpkin patch out here in the Midwest, we would get weird looks (as another Midwest person mentioned on here).

I agree. My family is as casual and Midwestern as they come, but my aunt married a rich guy and got into this trophy wife/ keeping up with the Joneses lifestyle (she's chilled out in recent years). Her kids were never anywhere near as bad as this freakshow but she did buy them a lot of expensive clothes and fuss over their outfits. When she tried to give us hand-me-downs, my mom was totally flabbergasted. I was about 6 and got all these patent leather shoes that had belonged to my cousin, and 20-odd years later my mom will still bring it up, like "what kind of person buys multiple pairs of patent leather shoes for a six year old?" There were a ton of frilly Sunday dresses with peter pan collars and shit that we got rid of because even as a kid I wouldn't have been caught dead in them. She also gave my mom a huge, obviously expensive fur coat that she didn't want anymore, and my mom wore it ONCE to Christmas Mass and then got rid of it because she felt like everyone was staring at her. I have no idea if flashy dressing is more normal in Chelsea's community, but at least where I grew up, that kind of attention to appearances will make you stick out like a sore thumb.

[PopRox]

34 minutes ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

... that kind of attention to appearances will make you stick out like a sore thumb.

You listening, JRod?!?

[OtterRuletheWorld]

4 hours ago, unholypoledancer said:

 

I'm just glad they get to have a little more enjoyment out of life than many other Fundie children do. 

They don't seem terribly miserable with their lives. I hope when they grow up they don't feel yucky and embarrassed while looking at these photos. I hope they can laugh about it at least a little. Maybe a bit of payback to their mom if they can show a friend a make fun of how ridiculous their mom.

 

 

[Demonfan]

What bothers me more than the style of clothes, because everyone has different asthetics, is the number of negative things she posts about the girls. There will be something positive to say, followed by almost a little dig. Maybe I am too sensitive? I would not post criticism of my kids online.

[fundiefun]

I'm surprised their private schools allows these giant bows and over the top hair styles because here those bows and curls alone would be considered extreme hair styles and they would be out of uniform.

[OtterRuletheWorld]

47 minutes ago, Demonfan said:

What bothers me more than the style of clothes, because everyone has different asthetics, is the number of negative things she posts about the girls. There will be something positive to say, followed by almost a little dig. Maybe I am too sensitive? I would not post criticism of my kids online.

Sometimes I can't tell if she is just having a sense of humour about it or if she is being critical. Sometimes it comes out as more of a factual observation to situations. I think the internet tends to make parenting a weird thing, which in some ways, it makes me think she is SORT OF a normal mom who has moments where she thinks her kids are being ridiculous in a loving way and is sharing this with the world as a "haha" moment. Except it comes out odd because she is clearly super controlling about their outfits, but also obviously why so many "bad" moments with the girls surrounds getting dressed up because that shit probably takes a lot of time and when they are done they probably want to play and leave her alone.

[nastyhobbitses]

5 minutes ago, OtterRuletheWorld said:

Sometimes I can't tell if she is just having a sense of humour about it or if she is being critical. Sometimes it comes out as more of a factual observation to situations. I think the internet tends to make parenting a weird thing, which in some ways, it makes me think she is SORT OF a normal mom who has moments where she thinks her kids are being ridiculous in a loving way and is sharing this with the world as a "haha" moment. Except it comes out odd because she is clearly super controlling about their outfits, but also obviously why so many "bad" moments with the girls surrounds getting dressed up because that shit probably takes a lot of time and when they are done they probably want to play and leave her alone.

Yeah, that's what's bothering me so much about it. Sometimes it comes off like "haha, my kids aren't perfect angels all the time, sometimes they're fussy or overstimulated or don't want to do stuff", but combined with the outfits that clearly aren't just for special occasions, the repeated singling-out of Abigail as anxious/unwilling to dress up/clearly not into the photo shoots, and the post where she seemed to say that she found it "embarrassing" for the girls to be out in public dressed like normal little girls with far more natural hairstyles, it comes off as yet more control over her children and resentment that they have minds of their own.

[SolomonFundy]

Oh, man. This was an amazing trip into WTFery. Her kids look like set extras from a Tim Burton movie.

Chelsea seems like an absolute obsessive control freak, and her kids are going to end up with COPD from a childhood spent gagging on clouds of hairspray. I admit to 100% loving the general style of the clothing and shoes (though not the other accessories, collars, and hair), but most of it is far too immature in design for her oldest daughters to wear without looking like they are in costume. Unless they live in a closed religious community, that's eventually going to cause some social friction. I applaud her for supporting small businesses and handmade quality clothing over fast-fashion from Sweatshop-Mart, but there's a balance: Buy lovingly handmade twee outfits that your kid can actually play in, and that don't require "bow training" or a trip to the dry cleaners. I want to believe that they are wearing this shit less than a few times a week, but her posting history suggests it's nearly every day. The girls even sleep in tight, high ponytail braids, I guess to save time in the mornings. The thought makes me wince. 

As to the Duggar connection, I doubt that either the Pomeroys or the Duggars would want to have much to do with one another. The religious differences would be enough, but the dancing would be a deal-breaker. Last time I checked, the Duggars think that dancing is right up there with being an ebil gay. Meanwhile, Pentecostals have invented new excuses to shake a leg.

But I would gladly watch a cage fight between Chelsea Pomeroy and Michelle Duggar over who gets the last can of hairspray in Arkansas. 

[mango_fandango]

In the post about Mary Grace's achievements at school, it's mentioned they go to Calvary Academy, which is in North Little Rock (googled). There aren't many photos of that specific school (obviously lots with the same name), but I did find a photo on Images with pupils from the school (twitter photo, mentions the name and location in the caption) and apparently hair bows are a thing. I spotted a red one, a navy one and a white one. Fairly big looking, too. The Pomeroy girls' bows may well be the biggest, but they're definitely not alone in wearing hair bows.

 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

Yeah the girls are at the school run by their church. 

I’ve checked out the people who attend and the girls won’t look out of place much. I mean a little bit more OTT than most of the girls but they all get ridiculously dressed up for church. 

Have you noticed the women don’t wear makeup? Apparently that’s not allowed but these ridiculous outfits (which I secretly actually adore!) are fine. 

At around 12 or 13 the girls stop wearing kids clothes and go straight to something a 20 or 30 year old would wear. 

Check out their photographer’s instagram, she attends their church and takes the photos for most the families. 

http://instagram.com/everafterbykristi

Please don’t judge but I’ve spent hours obsessing over this family while nursing baby girl whose 6 months old but still feeding 2-3 times a night at least. It’s better than falling asleep while feeding her lol 

my favourite video from their church I swear I watched ten times and even made my husband watch is this one:

The devil can’t have our Sunday nights...wtf

please tell me what I’m watching?!

[adidas]

Am I judging too harshly? Or is 13 months a little young to be giving coffee to a baby?

[Captain Obvious]

I think she might get some of the dresses from this place. The bows are definitely the same:

http://daintyjewells.com/dresses-1/

Holy crap - does this mean that there are other people buying this stuff and dressing their kids like this?

[Lurky]

There's a video with MG singing in a children's choir, and there are a lot of bows, and some dolled-up girls, but it seems the Pomeroys are the most extreme.  "The higher the bows the closer to God"??

So interesting seeing this mini cultural phenom!  It reminds me a little bit of being at school, when a fashion comes in and spreads like wildfire, getting more extreme until the reactive-fashion appears.  In my secondary school all the boys wore ties, and girls could, if they want to, and how ties were tied was this big deal.  For the years around my year, it was as narrow as possible, with the thinner back side of the tie the one visible (I wore that because I liked the look better than an open shirt).  A few years later, it was all about as big knots as possible, and short, wide ties hanging down.  The difference is, of course, children's fashions change fast, and of course, they're about how the kids want to show their independence and work out their own style.  Seems like this church community is all about the mothers making their daughters into dolls, as a reflection of their own taste.

2 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

At around 12 or 13 the girls stop wearing kids clothes and go straight to something a 20 or 30 year old would wear.

This must be SO weird!  To go from being a living doll, to having a conservative style could be whiplash - but I guess they're used to seeing the "big girls" look like this, so it's a sign of being grown up.

[Palimpsest]

2 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

The devil can’t have our Sunday nights...wtf

please tell me what I’m watching?!

They are dancing in the Spirit and singing in tongues.  Pentecostal spontaneous worship when the Holy Spirit takes over your body.   One woman looks positively orgasmic.

All the buttons and bows and furbelows on the little girls aside, I'm interested that the women are frumpily rather than Plain dressed although the no make-up rule applies.  But look at their shoes! There are some rather daring shoes there.  One might almost call them stripper shoes. 

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I'm guessing that because they are not allowed to wear makeup and must hold to the modesty rules (skirts covering the knee, no cleavage, no sleeveless dresses), that they are going a little wild with the shoes. Although Chelsea doesn't do curls, she does nice braid crowns around her head that does take some time. So Chelsea seems to be the one upper in the community. Her sister as well. She's like the Kristin Wigg character on Saturday night live. She will out do you. Tight hair headaches and scratchy clothing don't matter. Only that her family is the best looking family at church. 

[Lurky]

I still can't get over the Barbie pink heels with ribbons.  Completely the opposite style of shoes I'd imagine a Godly Modest Wife to own!

Spoiler