The Duggar Bakery Is Again Open For Business

I'll keep this one short - I blogged about this family back when child #17 made her appearance last year.

And I made it clear then that my personal stance is that producing unlimited children just because your body can is not a choice I understand, or would ever make.

Three keep me more than busy.  Three take all I have to give.  Three fulfill ME.  I don't need 17, and I certainly don't believe God is going to hold my decision, to go back to sex as recreation only, against me.

I like my family the way it is.  And again, PERSONALLY, I do not believe it is possible to completely nurture and cherish a child the way they deserve when there are so many they actually have to make appointments to meet with you for one-on-one time.

I don't think it is fair to turn older children into surrogate parents just because you and your husband believe yourselves to be some biblical Energizer Bunnies.

But, that's just me.

The Duggar family sees it differently, and now, in terms of buns in the oven, their bakery is at it again.  Yes, child #18 is due around New Years.

More power to them.  I don't get it.  But then, I don't have to get it.  Their lives don't have a thing to do with mine.

So, I'll offer my congratulations because I love babies, but I reserve the right to throw in a tiny eye roll because, well, EIGHTEEN???

Look, I have had three, and I know...

To quote Borat, that vagine must "hang like sleeve of wizard" by now...

Comments

[Anke]

You've got to be kidding - 18??? How unfair to the other 17! I may not be a Mom, but even I can understand that these kids can never hope to get the individual attention from their parents that they deserve. There aren't enough hours in the day...

[Lori in Texas]

When the Duggars had #16 (or was it #17... whatever...) we had this discussion on my "Moms" internet bulletin board. It turned into a HUGE fight, with horrific personal insults hurled, accusations of intolerances and prejudices being flung, religion being dragged kicking & screaming into it, etc etc etc. Believe it or not, I stayed OUT of that discussion... just as I plan to do this time (yeppers, someone already posted a topic about the Duggars - AGAIN - on the Moms board this afternoon... I'm waiting for the Patriot missiles to start flying overhead).

My take on the Duggars is simple: They are 100% self-supporting - they are not on welfare, food stamps, unemployment, or any other kind of "dole." Mom Duggar gives birth to her kids in a hospital with full medical care (yep, they have insurance), and she home-schools them all. As far as I'm concerned, they can do as they please because they aren't affecting anyone else (and I won't get into the issue of the older kids - that's a huge can of worms which is based solely on personal perception).

If she wants to have thirty kids before she hits menopause, and if she and her husband can afford it financially, emotionally and mentally, and if neither of them has any mental issues, then they should go right ahead and do whatever they want. I've seen interviews with the entire family - she seems completely "compos mentis" (her Fiesta Platter is definitely NOT short any tacos) and the kids don't appear to be in any way unhappy. The whole family is healthy, active and (gotta be honest here) pretty darn good-lookin'.

I'm not gonna be throwing any stones at the Duggars. Eighteen kids is not my cup o' tea, of course, but... hey.... rock on, folks. The sex must be mind-blowing.

[Lori in Texas]

LMAO... Update. I just checked my "Moms" board and, while I was posting here, the first missile was launched over there. Our resident "troll" showed up and fired the first shot. This is such a hot topic...

[Anke to Lori]

Lori - thanks for filling in a few blanks in my knowledge of this family. I still think the kids may be getting short changed in the attention department; however, if the family is healthy and happy, who am I, or anyone else for that matter, to rain on their parade? Glad you ducked that missile :)

[ginny]

me thinks this gal never waxed her pooska to the tub...maybe she should???...g.

[Anke]

OMG, Ginny - you are truly warped - and I love it - you crack me up :) :) :)

[Lori in Texas]

"POOSKA"????? LMAO!!!!!! That's one I haven't heard. I still like Oprah's term best: Va-jay-jay. LOLOLOL

[Nikki]

Is there a prize for having the most kids or something? And when do the older kids get released from indentured servitude to start their own lives? The oldest is 20. Shouldn't he be off at college at something?

I remember she made a comment in an interview where she said at around 6 months the newest baby gets passed off to its buddy and they prepare for the next blessing. Seems like she likes babies more than she likes children.

I don't get it but I don't have to.

[Sonia in MO]

There are nights after I put my two-year-old to bed that I just collapse on the couch. My one little diva wears me out. 18? All I can say is to each his own...lol...

[Shawn - Lakewood CA]

Maybe she gets pregnant so she doesn't have to have sex often? Who knows. Glad I am not one of the kids tho.

[Ame in upstate NY]

I wonder if Linda would post all the words we all have for "hoo ha"

Pooska?
Vay Jay Jay?

Anyone?

[Lori in Texas]

One of my best friends says "cootchie." I hear "hoo-hah" a lot, too. My husband, ever the proper and snarky Brit, says "naughty bits" - or, more often just "bits." LOL

[Martha]

Planned Parenthood in Oregon as a hilarious web page with great little videos to teach about STIs, using condoms, etc. One of the videos is "the down there song" with a bunch of different names for hoo hahs and wee wees. Check it out!
http://www.takecaredownthere.org/#/watch/down-there-song/

[audreyf]

My mom always called it a coodeecam! I am not sure where she got that term or what it might mean. Anyone? Is it French? Like Coup de Cam? Not sure if that means anything. Or is is short for Cootie Camp? At any rate, all of my kids say "vagina"!

[justadiversion]

I read an article about them and here are some snippets:

"With that many children, organization is everything. Each older child has one or two younger “buddies” for whom he or she is responsible... home schooling starts, again with the older children helping to tutor the younger ones." "Fifteen-year-old Jill is responsible for preparing lunch, which is served at noon." "With so many children, there is a sign-up list in the kitchen for children who feel they need one-on-one time with a parent"

The mom and dad are realtors -- but mom home-schools (although reading above, it sounds like the older ones tutor the younger ones). How can mom be a realtor, homeschool and give all the children the attention they deserve?

Plus my favorite snippet: dad is head of household, mom is submissive to him, and children are submissive to both. Ah, life in 2008!

Each his own but I do feel these kids are getting the short end of the stick. I also wonder how many donations this family has received -- they may not be on public assistance but I wonder if they really do it all on their own. Plus let's not forget that just by having this many children, they got the gig on Discovery Channel which I am sure paid them well.

[Kelly in PA]

There is a video from the 80's called Strong Kids, Safe Kids. My mom got it for us when we were little to teach us about stranger danger and such. But...what it taught us was a hilarious song about body parts. 25 years later and we all still know all the words. My sister found the video online and bought it for like $2.00 or something and we all watched it over and over at Christmas at my mom's. She was mortified that her parenting lesson turned out to be the longest running joke in my family. Here's the link to anyone interested. It is a riot!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2DzS_hCg6bQ&feature=related

[Kelly in PA]

Oh, and as far as this family goes, to each his own. I just know that, at the end of the day, I barely have enough energy for my 3 children. Can't imagine more than that. But...as long as I am not paying for them to feed all the little dears, let your vagina (or cootchie, or vajayjay, or hoohoo, or (as my daughter calls it)my other butt) flap in the breeze Mama Duggar!

[ginny]

i have two other names for IT...my mom called it our suzie...i never did get it...not even now...bettter than callin it bob i guess...and the other is a lot like pooska...its poochaleene...

[Jamie in WI]

My mom called it a Foo-Fee...
My 5 yr old calls it her "peepee butt"

As for the Duggars - If she want to have that many kids, its their business - BUT she is 41 - and I hope she realizes that with age come risks - and the chances of birth defects increase dramatically when you are in your 40's.
So I pray that this child is born healthy.

[Lori in Texas]

Speaking of giving body parts *proper* names, my first husband (way back in the 1980's) had a name for his equipment. He called it "Skeeter" and used to refer to it all of the time, during converation, in the third person.

Just one of the many glorious reasons I left his sorry ass... LOL

[Kelly in PA]

My ex-husband used to call his "spike". Eeewwww... skeevs me out thinking I ever had relations with spike or the thing he was attached too. Yucky!!

[Tina in WI]

I am not a fan of so many kids for some of the reasons already stated, but also because there are so many people in the world already. Maybe they could adopt some kids (the older, hard to adopt ones).

Although, while I doubt the kids get as much parent time as many families with fewer kids, they do seem happier and healthier than a lot of children born to parents who really shouldn't have had kids. They don't seem to be abused, malnourished, etc.

Finally, if most of those kids do go on to be working members of society (I didn't want to say "productive" because I am sure many of the girls will be productive the way their mother was), maybe there will be enough Social Security for me!

[Kathy in FL]

I saw this in the paper this morning. I have two and that's enough for me, but hey, if that's what they want, that's their business. "Pooska"--hee hee!

[Katy]

I'm number 10 of 11 kids. My mom was Catholic, and my parents really didn't have the means to have 11 children - - but we were here, my parents provided for us, we all has to share, wear hand-me-downs, eat alot of hash and bean soup - (are your eyes tearing yet?) :-) But in this case, what the Duggars are doing and have done, IN MY OPINION,is WRONG. If they in fact DO have the means, and really love children, then they should have adopted. There are plenty of parentless children in this world and these people could have done alot more by helping those children that are already here and need parents. They might not be as good-looking, but to a "mom" your children are always beautiful.

[Nikki]

Oh the things we call our vaginas. I often refer to it as my girly bits. When I was a kid, in our family, we called it a gee-gee. The boyfriend refers to it occasionally as the pocketbook. Penises we called peckers back then. Sometimes I call his my baldy friend. He, of course, prefers it when I call it stunningly beautiful. It's not. It looks like the naked mole from a few posts ago, sans teeth. But if it makes him happy...

[Virginia]

Ok, so I had to inform my mom about the various names for my girly bits. lol. My boobs are "hooters" my va jay jay is a "cooter" and my butt is my "pooter" lol. She got a huge kick out of all of it. lol.

[Susanne - NC]

18? Really? Wasn't there a cartoon circulating when she had the 17th - something about "it's a vagina, not a clown car". I don't care what they do, but the parents should have full responsibility of all the kids, they should not have children who have to raise the next litter, who have to raise the next litter, etc.

[Kerry]

My personal opinion is that the Duggars passed the line somewhere back up the road from "loving family" to "publicity machine."

Their massive amount of children is due in part to their beliefs in what is called "Quiver Full" which says you have as many kids as God gives you. I can't help but feel that like any other organization, they are using the publicity to either promote, or at the least, justify their beliefs.

If it's really all just about your loving family, then why put them all on TV? Sure doesn't help that Discover or TLC is subsidizing some of the costs by giving them a show of their own? And what happened to privacy? Who issues a press release every time they get pregnant?

At this point, I think they've turned their family into a curiosity.

And yes, they may have health insurance, but I am sure that ultimately you or I pay for these kids even so. Family health insurance prices were certainly never meant to cover 2 adults and 18 children. Births, ongoing medical care, etc. They are probably getting much more than their money's worth for sure.

And DGMS on what I think about 18 kids in general. Sometimes it's not just about having enough money to feed and clothe everyone that makes it OK to have as many kids as you want. They have turned the older kids into baby-sitters, housekeepers, cooks, and even teachers. (There is no way that the Mrs. homeschool's all of these by herself - the older ones have to be helping.)

[alex]

My daughter came up with a new name for it recently: Virginia. Cracked us up for a few hours. You probably had to be there.

[OhioAttorney]

Wow we just found out we are expecting #2 and I feel a bit overwhelmed already. I cannot imagine 18. Just how many houses in a year does the husband sell to support that family?

I have watched their show on TV and I am sorry they just see, weird to me. IMO the older kids are nothing but slaves to their parents inability to capture the concept of birth control.

[Linda Sharp to OhioAttorney]

Congratulations! Very exciting about #2! Don't worry - you'll be fine - much more laid back this time around, and once he/she is here - after the first 8 weeks, a new routine will be in place and you'll never remember life without them! :O)

[OhioAttorney]

Thanks Linda...I have my first u/s this morning and after the miscarriage a little over a year ago I was very happy to see the heartbeat.

[Toni]

My fav word for the "region" is poonanny. LOL