Jessa and Ben 49: Five and Counting

[Bassett Lady]

7 hours ago, WannabeHistorian said:

Instead of getting the care I need, I now have to figure out what I can go without until I can switch to something better. 

Call your doctor’s office and talk to the person who does insurance. Sometimes there are loopholes or ways to make it work, even if at first glance it doesn’t seem to cover you. 
 

Many plans discourage you from getting care by being obtuse or purposely obfuscating the truth. Your office insurance person may know how to work the system to your benefit. 

[Mama Mia]

On 1/1/2024 at 9:20 PM, SassyPants said:

My husband’s brother has 3 daughters each 4 years apart (40-36-32). #One was getting married and the next one got engaged days before the wedding. The older one got PG and had a baby weeks before the 2nd got married, and quickly had a second as well. The 3rd one got engaged, #2 got PG and had the baby months before the wedding. Sister 1 got PG with #3, followed the next month by sister #2 announcing a second baby. Sometime during Covid isolation sister 1 got a divorce. This past year sister #3 had her first baby in August and sister #2 had her 3rd in September. I swear these girls cannot allow their sisters to have 1 second of time in the spot light. All of these engagements, weddings and births happened between 2012-2023

But that just seems like ——- life? I hate to use the cloying  “ Season of Life” phrase - but- yea. It just kind of is. People like your Nieces are probably going to have their life events happen in close proximity. And that’s with only 3 people with an 8 year spread.   So for a family  the  Duggars - with a zillion kids, all back-to-back-to back — it would be next to impossible for each individual sibling to wait to have weddings or babies or make major life announcements until there is a clear space when nothing else is happening.  It doesn’t mean they are “ competitive” 

[Mama Mia]

On 1/1/2024 at 7:20 PM, Father Son Holy Goat said:

Do we think Jessa will stop after 5? 

She said in her video she never decides while pregnant or post-partum. Or she would of stopped after 1. She has relatively easy pregnancies and births ( not withstanding the two hemorrhages, but now she does hospital deliveries) and seems to not have trouble nursing. Her house is a good size, and she’s not hurting for $$. Most of her kids seem fairly chill. She co-sleeps / keeps the baby in their room  into toddlerhood so a little less sleep deprivation. I could see them having 1-3 more. Possibly even more, if things continue as is health and stress wise. 

I think it really shows the difference in planning your kids vs the whole quiverfull thing. She’s obviously very fertile. If she’d kept going at the same pace as Spurgeon and Henry she could have matched her mom. If she ends up with 7-9 kids, spread fairly evenly over 18 years compared to her moms 19 with many, many births only 12-14 months apart? Just mind blowing. Still a huge family. But capacity wise- mentally, physically, emotionally? Gigantic change. 
 

 

[WannabeHistorian]

15 hours ago, Bassett Lady said:

Call your doctor’s office and talk to the person who does insurance. Sometimes there are loopholes or ways to make it work, even if at first glance it doesn’t seem to cover you. 
 

Many plans discourage you from getting care by being obtuse or purposely obfuscating the truth. Your office insurance person may know how to work the system to your benefit. 

I did some more digging and found discrepancies within my portal (which is where it claims I have very few benefits). One document says I get 3 appointments, another says 6.

I also remembered that the insurance agent who sold me my plan emphasized that it doesn't cover pregnancy or substance abuse treatment. Why would he leave out the rest of stuff it didn't cover? So I'm holding onto the hope that someone majorly fucked up while creating my account. I will be calling them asap to figure out wtf happened.

If the worst case scenario does happen, I will be sure to call my doctor's office. Thank you for the advice.

[JDuggs]

George is a chunky monkey. And Jessa is pushing children’s vitamins.

Spoiler

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

25 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

George is a chunky monkey. And Jessa is pushing children’s vitamins.

  Hide contents

 

The Duggars do have naturally chunky babies it seems. 

[Bassett Lady]

George is so adorable. What a beautiful (and chunky) baby. 

[Jackie3]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:19 PM, Mama Mia said:

But that just seems like ——- life? I hate to use the cloying  “ Season of Life” phrase - but- yea. It just kind of is. People like your Nieces are probably going to have their life events happen in close proximity. And that’s with only 3 people with an 8 year spread.   So for a family  the  Duggars - with a zillion kids, all back-to-back-to back — it would be next to impossible for each individual sibling to wait to have weddings or babies or make major life announcements until there is a clear space when nothing else is happening.  It doesn’t mean they are “ competitive” 

We're also assuming that people want "all eyes on them." Many people hate that. When I had a baby, I really didn't care whether close relatives had babies too. In fact, it was more fun if they did. The last thing I wanted was "the spotlight."

Plus, the idea of the "spotlight" is often quite inaccurate. Ween I go to a wedding, I'm not thinking about the bridal couple the entire time. Sometimes I don't think about them all. Sometimes I'm chatting with friends, other times I'm wishing I could go home. My spotlight is not on the bridal couple. I mean, they're interesting for a moment or too, but that's about it. They aren't jumping out of an airplane or curing cancer, they're just getting married, which is something lots of people do.

[Father Son Holy Goat]

Awww he’s a cutie. I do love the WTF look on his face. Get used to that face kiddo, you’ll be making it a lot.

[Cam]

George seems big for a one month old.

[Jackie3]

When my daughter was young, she'd become furious if it looked like a relative was going to have a wedding/baby/big event anywhere near her birthday. She seemed to feel that she owned the days surrounding her birthday. After all, she could not get her full share of public adoration if another event was happening near her big day. She wanted the "spotlight."

Fortunately, she outgrew this belief. 

I think adults who expect the same kind of attention are equally immature. Life's messy, life happens, and sometimes you find you are giving birth right before your sisters wedding. Maybe be happy that there are two reasons to celebrate? Lots of people want these things but never get them, so having two at once is a double blessing. (Sorry, I was driven to use a fundie term!)

Edited January 17 by Jackie3

[Mama Mia]

It’s so interesting watching these giant families. The Bates and Duggar sisters  contain a large number of women in the same age range, more or less same geographical region, similar upbringing and lifestyle, slim to average builds, but the Duggar sisters tend towards high birthweight, chunky butterballs. And the Batesesess all tend to be itty bitty little things. 

The Duggar sisters are a little taller than the Bates, and the Bates have medical conditions that tend to have them  deliver early. But still. Interesting. 
 

 

 

[Meggo]

I love chunky butterball babies. I had a preemie - so it took him a LONG time to chunk up. He's still a skinny little dude at nearly 11. He's the only baby I knew that wore his actual age in sizes. So those 12 month clothes that barely fit 12 month olds? My kid wore them for months. 
Except ONCE - when he was 9 months old - he had to be in 12 month pants for a while because his thighs didn't FIT in smaller pants. He was just rolls upon rolls upon rolls (and delightfully squishy). 
Now he's a few weeks shy of 11, wearing whatever clothes are for 10 year olds. Everything he eats goes straight to his feet.

[HeartsAFundie]

4 hours ago, Jackie3 said:

When my daughter was young, she'd become furious if it looked like a relative was going to have a wedding/baby/big event anywhere near her birthday. She seemed to feel that she owned the days surrounding her birthday. After all, she could not get her full share of public adoration if another event was happening near her big day. She wanted the "spotlight."

Fortunately, she outgrew this belief. 

I think adults who expect the same kind of attention are equally immature. Life's messy, life happens, and sometimes you find you are giving birth right before your sisters wedding. Maybe be happy that there are two reasons to celebrate? Lots of people want these things but never get them, so having two at once is a double blessing. (Sorry, I was driven to use a fundie term!)

Try having an attention-whore younger sister who, at your family birthday party, demand and scream that everyone present sing "Happy Birthday" to her after singing it to me...and my parents, probably in an attempt to stop her tantrum, went right along with it.  Right down to relighting the candles on my birthday cake for her to blow out.  Her birthday is nowhere near mine on the calendar, either. In fact, it is as polar opposite as you can get. 

To this day, she, who calls the month she was born in her "birthday month" and expects presents and adulation throughout, doesn't understand why I don't like to make a huge deal out of my birthday.  Gee, I wonder why.   

[Expectopatronus]

On 1/17/2024 at 12:40 PM, Meggo said:

I love chunky butterball babies. I had a preemie - so it took him a LONG time to chunk up. He's still a skinny little dude at nearly 11. He's the only baby I knew that wore his actual age in sizes. So those 12 month clothes that barely fit 12 month olds? My kid wore them for months. 
Except ONCE - when he was 9 months old - he had to be in 12 month pants for a while because his thighs didn't FIT in smaller pants. He was just rolls upon rolls upon rolls (and delightfully squishy). 
Now he's a few weeks shy of 11, wearing whatever clothes are for 10 year olds. Everything he eats goes straight to his feet.

 Mine was small too; usually a size or two below her age ie) at 12 months wore 6-9 clothes. Now, she’s four and wears a 3T but she just turned 4 in December so she’s definitely catching up. Her cousin at 9.5 wears 6X. I find the range of sizes of kids fascinating. My colleague’s daughter is 16 months and weighs 4 lbs less than my kiddo. We laugh about having opposite ends of the spectrum kids (personality wise too. Her’s is laid back and chill whilst mine is intense and strong willed). 

[AprilQuilt]

My daughter gets longer but never wider, I'm sure of it. She was a 6lber and has stuck to the little end of the spectrum - never really had lovely squishy rolls to speak of, was always just a skimpy little shrimpy. Covid hit when she was just turned 1, and when it suddenly got hot we were in lockdown and couldn't get new warm-weather clothes for her - you could barely order things online, and all the shops were shut. I just put her back in her 3-6 month summer clothes and they all fitted fine as they'd been too big in her first year of life and now they fit but she was just... long for them. So any kind of t-shirt or shorts from the year before was completely fine.

I think maybe this is just how she is. She still wears plenty of age 2-3 clothes at nearly 5. They always get too short for her before she fills them out. Then we size up and the waistbands are just falling off her.

[Coconut Flan]

1 hour ago, AprilQuilt said:

I think maybe this is just how she is. She still wears plenty of age 2-3 clothes at nearly 5. They always get too short for her before she fills them out. Then we size up and the waistbands are just falling off her.

That's my grandson.  In the US there are lines of pants with adjustable waistbands (button holes in the elastic so the can be taken up or let out).  We alwas end up using nearly the last buttonhole for him.  Grandaugter is close to the opposite problem.  Things sometimes get too tight before too short, but not often enough to be an issue.  

I've been collecting size up sweat pants and cargo pants for grandson with various ways to adjust the waist.  The regular pants are two inches and more too big around.  

[GreenBeans]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:37 AM, Expectopatronus said:

I find the range of sizes of kids fascinating.

Here the baby/kids sizes are based on body length (in cm), rather than age. So many full terms newborns start off wearing 50/56 (~20-22”), but it varies pretty much the older they get. Therefore, there is no expectation that two kids of the same age would necessarily wear the same size. My sister in law had a baby almost a year after our son was born. But there was no way we’d ever be handing down clothes to them, because right from the start he was HUGE for his age. Now at ages 2 and 3, they both wear the same size.

[Meggo]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:46 PM, Coconut Flan said:

That's my grandson.  In the US there are lines of pants with adjustable waistbands (button holes in the elastic so the can be taken up or let out).  We alwas end up using nearly the last buttonhole for him.  Grandaugter is close to the opposite problem.  Things sometimes get too tight before too short, but not often enough to be an issue.  

I've been collecting size up sweat pants and cargo pants for grandson with various ways to adjust the waist.  The regular pants are two inches and more too big around.  

Those pants are soooo good. Aside from his thigh roll days - my kiddo hasn't been in the least bit pudgy. Once he grew out of that soft babyness as a toddler - he's all angles and points. And he's just a slim build. Those pants with the waistbands are perfect for him (if he's not wearing sweatpants). 
And he gets too tall for most of his pants - He'll still put them on - but they're way above his ankles. I don't think he's ever put them on and had them been too tight (and I think he's still wearing underpants from at least 4 years ago) He's just always been a really skinny kid. We joke (never to him) that he has tooth picks for legs (and canoes for feet). But he eats NON STOP. That kid comes home from school and just starts eating and doesn't stop till he goes to sleep. It's all healthy - he loves veggies and fruits - but if it's not nailed down - he's eating it. 

[Sullie06]

On 1/17/2024 at 1:40 PM, Meggo said:

I love chunky butterball babies. I had a preemie - so it took him a LONG time to chunk up. He's still a skinny little dude at nearly 11. He's the only baby I knew that wore his actual age in sizes. So those 12 month clothes that barely fit 12 month olds? My kid wore them for months. 
Except ONCE - when he was 9 months old - he had to be in 12 month pants for a while because his thighs didn't FIT in smaller pants. He was just rolls upon rolls upon rolls (and delightfully squishy). 
Now he's a few weeks shy of 11, wearing whatever clothes are for 10 year olds. Everything he eats goes straight to his feet.

It's funny because both my kids were chunky butter balls. My son was 9lbs 9oz and my daughter was 8lbs 10 oz and she was born at 39 wks. They were so chunky and had the cutest rolls everywhere.  Then all the sudden they just shot up around age 6/7. 

They are 10 and 8 now and both are tall and so skinny. My son can still wear size 6 pants but they are way to short. and my daughter can fit into a 5T around her waist at 8. I'm like whos kids are these because my husband and I have never been referred to as skinny or thin in our lives LOL. 

[LancetteShing99]

My son was born averaged sized but got very chunky soon after. When he was 5 months old he already weighed about 22lbs. And he was not tall at all.

My daughter was not exactly skinny as a baby but way skinnier than her brother.

By now they are 3.5 and 5 years old, very small and of average build.

My husband and I were right in between our children when it comes to chunkiness. By the time we started elementary school we both became very skinny.

[Smoochie]

21 hours ago, Sullie06 said:

It's funny because both my kids were chunky butter balls. My son was 9lbs 9oz and my daughter was 8lbs 10 oz and she was born at 39 wks. They were so chunky and had the cutest rolls everywhere.  Then all the sudden they just shot up around age 6/7. 

They are 10 and 8 now and both are tall and so skinny. My son can still wear size 6 pants but they are way to short. and my daughter can fit into a 5T around her waist at 8. I'm like whos kids are these because my husband and I have never been referred to as skinny or thin in our lives LOL. 

My niece was/is tall and skinny and was a nightmare trying to get pants that fit and were long enough until one store came out with a double 0.  One day when she was about 12-13 she came into the kitchen wearing a pair of capris and I said those are cute, her mom said where did you get them. LOL she had opened a tote in the basement and it was a pair of size 6x jeans from her youth!

[Sullie06]

54 minutes ago, Smoochie said:

My niece was/is tall and skinny and was a nightmare trying to get pants that fit and were long enough until one store came out with a double 0.  One day when she was about 12-13 she came into the kitchen wearing a pair of capris and I said those are cute, her mom said where did you get them. LOL she had opened a tote in the basement and it was a pair of size 6x jeans from her youth!

My niece is the same way as well. She's 14. 5'9" already and she's a dancer so she's very trim. My sister has the worst time buying clothing for her. She has to wear adult 00 and typically has to shop at stores that offer multiple inseams, which isn't always easy to find for women. 

[GreenBeans]

On 1/22/2024 at 4:44 PM, LancetteShing99 said:

My son was born averaged sized but got very chunky soon after. When he was 5 months old he already weighed about 22lbs. And he was not tall at all.

My daughter was not exactly skinny as a baby but way skinnier than her brother.

By now they are 3.5 and 5 years old, very small and of average build.

My husband and I were right in between our children when it comes to chunkiness. By the time we started elementary school we both became very skinny.

Similar here. Except I’m really small and have always been struggling with being overweight, ever since childhood, while my husband is super tall and whatever he eats just gets turned into muscle.

My son is very much a mini me in terms of personality, talents, face, eye and hair color (which I love, especially the personality and talents part). But thankfully, ever since leaving the chunky baby stage, he’s fairly small for his age, but completely normal in weight and build. I can simply buy his clothes based on his current size, and it generally fits. We’ve never had to worry about him being too slim or not gaining enough weight, but also not about eating too much or becoming overweight, either. He’s only 3 now, but at least up until now, food and weight has been  a non-issue with him, and I am so glad about this and hope it stays that way.

My husband had a major growth spurt at 12/13, so our son may still turn out tall-ish, but we’ll see.

[nolongerIFBx]

On 12/25/2023 at 4:07 AM, lumpentheologie said:

Just fyi those are two different St Augustines, it’s very confusing. The theologian was Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and the English one was Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604).  I’d guess Georgie is named after the theologian, since that’s Ben’s vibe and he’s seen as something like the grandfather of the Reformed churches since he came up with predestination. 

I think that early Augustine is to blame for setting the tone of misogyny in Christianity. He wanted to be completely pure of thought and celibate and those women just being alive prevented that. So blame the women, of course.