Seewalds 37: Yes, Jessa is Pregnant

[VelociRapture]

2 hours ago, OldFadedStar said:

According to Jeremy’s Instagram story, Jessa and Ben are at the G3 conference 

I’m guessing that someone in Jessa’s family is babysitting Spurgeon (abd probably Henry) then. Unless the photos on Anna's latest Instagram post are old, which is completely possible.

Another two photos:

Spoiler

 

 

[MayMay1123]

I use Clorox wipes wrapped around a butter knife and run it through small spaces like cracks on tables or the space between the stove and the counter. Works great! 

[Melbelle]

Tablecloth thread drift...I'm in!  So, tell me is this normal?  My husband's family all have beautiful wood dining tables and we have one that was originally his grandparents.  All of their tables have pads that are custom fit to the tables and are made of something that looks like wood printed vinyl.  You cannot use the tables unless the pads are on the tables, therefore everyone uses tablecloths on top of the padding.  I love linens so I don't hate tablecloths, but I also think a beautiful wood table, set with china, a table runner, and some candles and greenery is gorgeous!  I'd love to do a setting like that at holidays...but the padding must protect the table at. all. times. 

[nastyhobbitses]

I either want Ben to trim his beard just a smidge, or just go all-out and grow a bigass Grizzly Adams mountain wizard beard. 

[AtlanticTug]

14 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I either want Ben to trim his beard just a smidge, or just go all-out and grow a bigass Grizzly Adams mountain wizard beard. 

The latter.

Like many NBA and NHL players, he should vow not to shave until the playoffs (i.e. having children) are over. 

[Cheetah]

33 minutes ago, Melbelle said:

Tablecloth thread drift...I'm in!  So, tell me is this normal?  My husband's family all have beautiful wood dining tables and we have one that was originally his grandparents.  All of their tables have pads that are custom fit to the tables and are made of something that looks like wood printed vinyl.  You cannot use the tables unless the pads are on the tables, therefore everyone uses tablecloths on top of the padding.  I love linens so I don't hate tablecloths, but I also think a beautiful wood table, set with china, a table runner, and some candles and greenery is gorgeous!  I'd love to do a setting like that at holidays...but the padding must protect the table at. all. times. 

My parents have one of these for their old dining table, although it didn't look like wood on the top.  They finally about 10 years ago updated to a newer glass-topped dining table so don't use the old one for anything but storage now.  

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

It might be nice for the Seawald's to have the littles back at home. They don't really get away without them much, so a long weekend with just the two of them before #3 shows up and Jessa is tied to the infant breastfeeding for at least another year would be a nice break for them. 

[zee_four]

On 1/14/2019 at 9:43 AM, PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea said:

It's interesting to speculate if high accident rates and childbirth deaths made people act differently (maybe more or less risk-taking and/or more or less religious or superstitious?). There's a BBC series on YouTube about Medieval birth, marriage, and death and they certainly prayed a lot around a birth.

Somewhat related, I had to do a demographics lab in first year biology and went to a Mennonite cemetery with tombstones dating back as far as the 1820s (this is pretty old in southern Ontario). So many baby and child deaths that they didn't always get their own stone. Lots of 20-something dudes dying in accidents presumably but yes, the old people made it to late 60s or beyond. Fun times.

Were you in Perth County, Ontario by chance? I know they have the second highest concentration of old order Mennonites, second only to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

 

In regards to the demographic discussion, I got two bachelors when i graduated undergrad, my geography BS with a hydrology certificate (which I had started as Deaf Education then Urban Studies/Planning then when I transferred schools because of my track injuries/surgeries I wound up in the geo program) but I also got a BA in History because I love it and was already taking enough classes.

I focused on 19th century American history particularly urban, environmental and social history. My honors thesis was on the African American communities in Denver and how and why they developed and specifically how they effected the whole city because of their role in desegregation in Denver Public Schools (DPS was the first non southern school to be federally desegregated by the SCOTUS)

But to get there I also did a lot of 19th century history taking an amazing senior seminar course called Sex and Sexuality in 19tn century Britian and America. At the beginning of the century the average age of marriage for women in Britain was 28! As the Industrial Revolution brought people from farms into cities and working in factories, young women did leave home to work and the average age of marriage dropped but never lower than 22. Working class women married later than wealthy women. The latter married in somewhat arranged terms, courtship was strictly controlled by societal norms (but was never as puritanical and patriarchal as today's fundies) and was done for the benefit and uniting of family and business/wealth benefits. Poor women had more freedom of choice but more work and responsibilities even as single daughters that kept them from marrying as young. American women married slightly younger than their British counterparts with more space and opportunities for young men to become established before proposing and starting a family, but it only was am average of a couple years younger nothing substantial.

The youngest average age was post WWII but that was directly in response to the effects of the war. Again Anerican women married younger because of the vast opportunities and relatively lack of impact the war made on the home front. In Britain women (and Men) had far more destruction to overcome physically and emotionally. But still the youngest average age never fell below 20, even state  side.

 

But fundies doing legitimate research instead of throwing out incorrect made up "facts" to support their own self serving agendas? That will be the day, color me shocked.

 

But in the mean time I'm geeking out about the great historical discussions @SorenaJ @PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea @Vivi_music @singsingsing keep it up!!!

[twoandthrough]

1 hour ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

It might be nice for the Seawald's to have the littles back at home. They don't really get away without them much, so a long weekend with just the two of them before #3 shows up and Jessa is tied to the infant breastfeeding for at least another year would be a nice break for them. 

I agree! My two daughters are roughly the same age as their sons, and it would be AMAZING to get away without them, even if just for a couple days. 

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

4 minutes ago, zee_four said:

Were you in Perth County, Ontario by chance? I know they have the second highest concentration of old order Mennonites, second only to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

 

@SorenaJ@PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea@Vivi_music@singsingsing

Pretty close - Waterloo Region.

[zee_four]

18 minutes ago, PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea said:

Pretty close - Waterloo Region.

Yep my mum grew up in far eastern Huron County and went to high/secondary school in Listowel, which is in Perth County. Perth County is whats between where shes from and KW, we used to do the drive every summer. Almost all my family on her side is still in southwestern Ontario, my uncle and cousins live in Kitchener and he teaches in Stratford, so I know the area super well. A few older cousins went west to Edmonton starting about 5-6 years ago, they're all blue collar workers and there was no jobs around that part of ONT, but that's about all who left besides my mum of course.

 

Did you go to Anna Mae's??? Its the Amish restaurant right outside KW in Milbank. SOOOOOOO good, especially the pies!

[Thorkim1954]

6 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

I’m guessing that someone in Jessa’s family is babysitting Spurgeon (abd probably Henry) then. Unless the photos on Anna's latest Instagram post are old, which is completely possible.

Another two photos:

  Hide contents

 

 

Bin looks like shit with that beard.  Almost as bad as Janelle Evans' David or Taylor married to Teen Mom Maci.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Ben’s hair is trimmed into a very narrow shape. It doesn’t go with the wider beard. Either trim the beard or grow out the hair.

[Markie]

Jessa looks nice in her dress from Amy’s store. Hope they are there sans enfants! 

[Carm_88]

Ben does look a bit older with the beard. So maybe that is what he is going for! 

[nst]

I don't like this look on Ben.  He needs to shave all his hair on his face off = he has aged it's ok. 

i deleted old pictures

 

[VBOY9977]

I always find it so hard to believe Ben is freaking 23. He’s only 2 years older than me! If I didn’t know his birth date I would guess he was pushing 30. 

[squiddysquid]

Well looks lik Jana is with them too... Doubt that Michelle is looking after the kids - guess they're staying with the Seewald grandparents?

[Four is Enough]

21 hours ago, Melbelle said:

Tablecloth thread drift...I'm in!  So, tell me is this normal?  My husband's family all have beautiful wood dining tables and we have one that was originally his grandparents.  All of their tables have pads that are custom fit to the tables and are made of something that looks like wood printed vinyl.  You cannot use the tables unless the pads are on the tables, therefore everyone uses tablecloths on top of the padding.  I love linens so I don't hate tablecloths, but I also think a beautiful wood table, set with china, a table runner, and some candles and greenery is gorgeous!  I'd love to do a setting like that at holidays...but the padding must protect the table at. all. times. 

We have felt/vinyl custom made table toppers, too. We have them on our GORGEOUS  cherry sunburst table ALL THE TIME. Why, do you ask?

One. Everyone piles everything on the table and it can get scratched or scored very easily.

Two. When food is served at the table, hot plates and dishes can cause the finish on the wood to discolor to white, thereby marring the wood again.

So. We are stuck with pads all the time/ They're ugly and taped up after a long time. BUT: it's a five by ten foot table, up to fourteen feet with all the leaves in it, and if anyone thinks I'm not using that table for sewing, quilting, and crafts, they're completely off their rockers, because space.

I have a friend who owns a beautiful antique inlaid table. She had custom made glass covers for her table... and the wood shows through. She'll put a tablecloth under the glass for a   special dinner.. but the moral of this TL;DR is: protect the wood and finish or it won't look so good later.

[Jigsaw3]

My parents have a gorgeous antique wood dining room table in the dining room. My mom changes the decor up every few weeks by switching out the table cloth or centrepiece or runner. We don't eat off it every day, and when we do it has either a tablecloth or placemats to save the surface, but we definitely use it as a dining room table. It occasionally gets used for crafting or organization or my brother's poker nights but we don't scratch it up because we put down newspaper or a cloth.

@zee_four I have a very good friend who is a Mennonite from Listowel! We're probably friends of friends in real life. Kitchener-Waterloo is a fairly great city, and I appreciate the hitching posts around town and the stabling in the parking lots (used occasionally, if not often.) 

Spurgeon and Henry are definitely old enough for Ben and Jessa to enjoy a weekend away without them, especially since she'll have a newborn soon. I hope they get time for some couple dates, not just preaching. 

I am very interested in what Ben is up to, though, and I hope that he's still continuing his schooling (if he wants to, of course.) I also hope that having a newborn doesn't tie them closer to the mothership.

[Greendoor]

On 1/9/2019 at 8:13 PM, singsingsing said:

I think the entire point of Snape's character was J.K. Rowling's message that love is the most powerful force in the universe. So even though Snape was basically a very shitty person, the fact that he loved Lily so much compelled him to do good things despite his shittiness. If Snape hadn't been such a shitty guy the message wouldn't have been nearly as compelling because good people will do good things whether they love someone or not. It's the same reason the Malfoys were kind of sort of a tiny bit redeemed in the end. Because they ultimately chose their love for each other over their loyalty to Voldemort.

I have never read or seen Harry Potter.  Your post brings tears to my eyes.  I may have to visit the library.

[StraightOuttaArkansas]

Drifting a bit more from tablecloths to tables. When we moved to this house from my tiny tiny apartment, we ditched my tiny tiny table and his (we actually had the same one in different colors I think) in favor of a larger table. This house is so old and has all those tiny rooms and naturally one lent itself to being a dining room. I got my first "grown up table". It is just Ikea, but I love it and I try to take care of it. I really thought I would be a "DON'T SCRATCH IT!!11!!" person or a must have a tablecloth person, but I have really surprised myself. The scratches give it character and I love the black-brown color so I only use a runner and place mats on it. I have few seasonal tablecloths, but I found itching for the holiday to be over so I could take them off again. Very different than how I though I would be. The Crack in the middle is annoying, but I guess I just accept that it is part of having an extendable table. My husband hates having any type of covering on the table, which I find annoying because he gets crumbs and bits everywhere.

[CarrotCake]

We have vinyl on top of our table as well but we put the linen tablecloth on top of that. During the day we have nothing on the table and if I just take a cup of tea I will also not take out the tablecloths but just use a coaster. Only for dinner we take out the vinyl and tablecloth. The vinyl is there to protect the table from scratches and heat and in the 5 years we have it it is still very nice with only a few small scratches.

I do wonder sometimes what we will do once we have kids, I am afraid I will have to keep the nice table covered at all time. Maybe a good moment to move to a bigger house and get a separate kitchen table ?

[Rosie]

On 1/18/2019 at 1:55 PM, Melbelle said:

Tablecloth thread drift...I'm in!  So, tell me is this normal?  My husband's family all have beautiful wood dining tables and we have one that was originally his grandparents.  All of their tables have pads that are custom fit to the tables and are made of something that looks like wood printed vinyl.  You cannot use the tables unless the pads are on the tables, therefore everyone uses tablecloths on top of the padding.  I love linens so I don't hate tablecloths, but I also think a beautiful wood table, set with china, a table runner, and some candles and greenery is gorgeous!  I'd love to do a setting like that at holidays...but the padding must protect the table at. all. times. 

I do think it's normal and would never set my beautiful mahogany table for a meal without protecting it with *something* (place mats at a bare minimum).  

Like you, I love the way the beautiful wood table looks, so when it is not in use, the wood is on full display with a centerpiece or something in the middle.  When we are using it, however, it is protected by the pads and a tablecloth.  The reason that your husband's grandparents' table made its way to you in great condition is that they protected it over the years during which they used it.

They did this at Downton Abbey, too.    

[SilverBeach]

I just don't see the point in having beautiful furniture that you never see.  Back in the day, there were people who ordered custom vinyl covers for their new sofas. They stuck to you and made crunchy, farting noises if you weren't careful sitting down. There are also people that leave the plastic wrapping on their lampshades. Nope. Furnishings are made to be used. Not abused, but normal wear and tear is expected. I wouldn't have kids painting on my unprotected table, or doing heavy crafts, but eating? Sure. Wood can develop a beautiful patina from use. I do have glass tops on my wooden night tables because I am always spilling something and would also put a glass top on a dining room table. I have a eat in kitchen and a formal dining room, so my nice wood table doesn't get used much.  When it does, it's placemats only.