Growing Family, Growing Tension
(2016-2019)
You can replace "youtube.com" with "yewtu.be" if you don't want to give her views/don't have an adblocker. 2016January
6: Charlotte's
newborn photoshoot
13:
“Introducing Charlotte” video. Don is smitten. Jen is Jen.
Feb 20: Jen’s Postpartum Hormones gush on IG: “My love for him grows deeper with each passing day”
May
10: Jen attempts to sabotage the Ross Mother’s Day brunch
#entry461423803Late June: Hamptons with the Rosses interrupts Charlotte's sleep schedule <nostril flare>
From her blog:QUOTE
Once again, sleep has been all over the map. Traveling and staying in a different environment with our family was a much different vibe than we’re used to at home, which definitely threw a wrench in CC’s naps.
September
2: Suzanne catches Jen hiding from the fam with Charlotte: "I thought she was tired?"
#entry41916402626: Where is Don?
QUOTE (gardenhoe @ 9/26/2016, 12:23 AM)
Don is so MIA that they could be separated for all we know and she's just continuing to portray her perfect life.
Other than mention of family photos soon that someone mentioned above, it's like he's been written out of the script.
Oct 3: Don is named CEO of PDQ, which rebrands to Coda Markets.
December
Coda kicks off its fraudulent
circular routing scheme.
7: Jen
"just can't get into [meal planning]."2017Jan 7: Jen says she’s the primary caregiver - Don’s not home much. Complains about having to cook. Believes she had a difficult time conceiving Charlotte
#entry422080731 (
"New Years Chit Chat | Goals & Reflections | January 2017")
Feb 27: “Softened the rigidness forming in her relationships”. Not enough, apparently. (
"One Little Word | 2017 Album Flip Through & 2018 Prep")
Mar 13: “Do you want me in the picture?” Don is an afterthought at Disney
#entry423638386 (
"Travel Vlog | Disney World, Part 1 | February 2017")
May
12: Interview to hand over Charlotte to the SK (
assumed - also see
MD post).
31: learns she’s pregnant with Poor Donny ("OLW 2017")
Jun 30: rates her marriage 4/10 (
"Bullet Journal (Not So) Newbie | One Year In")
July
5: Wears her white lace maternity dress. Might as well have made a pregnancy announcement.
#entry426246174
24: Sells Don’s bar furniture
#entry426651587August
11: Announces second pregnancy to viewers.
Shockingly, she conceived immediately: "Three years is really healthy age gap - there are some statistics behind that…but
I figured two was fine." (
"Big News!! | Pregnancy Announcement")
15: Feeling unsupported and isolated. Don’s back pain has been increasing. ("OLW 2017")
Sep 10: D+J spend their anniversary separately
#entry428019038Nov
7: "I love our house. I just love it." (
"Q&A | Home Updates, Holidays, Perfectionism | Fall 2017")
12-16: Disney Babymoon. Their fourth (I think?) visit of the year. (
"Travel Vlog | Walt Disney World | November 2017")
December
11: Charlotte’s first day at the SK
#entry42976781822: Jen is forced to haul holiday bins up the stairs by herself. Doesn’t bother to put ornaments on the tree
#entry429417735 (
"Holiday House Tour | December 2017")
31: “It was a tough year emotionally for me” and "I have become so much more
ME this year" ("OLW 2017")
2018Jan 30: Poor Donny born.
February: rates marriage 5/10 ("Bullet Journal")
March
Don undergoes a spinal fusion this month (
"My First YouTube Live!"). Begins a weight loss journey.
27: Embarks on an elimination diet because she doesn’t want to give Poor Donny medicine for his
acid reflux #entry431549244 (
"Whole Foods Haul | Elimination Diet (Breastfeeding)")
Apr 13: “SLAMMED into motherhood”
#entry431924478
Mentions she doesn't really go into the basement anymore: "The basement...honestly I don't even go down there anymore, now that I don't do laundry. Of course,
I let Don have his office space..." (
"Let's Chat | Home Care & Self Care")
May 15: Has given up on cooking for the whole family. Don usually scrapes together his own thing (
"What I Eat In A Day | Making Changes")
#entry432629704June
8:
MILK MELTDOWN aka a desperate cry for help. Says Don can keep his meat in the garage. Emails the video to the fam jam.
#entry433004747
Sometime before the 12th: removes “happy wife” from IG bio
#entry43307543029: Final
Hamptons Vlog. Charlotte avoids Jen when she comes home from pancakes with Don. Jen cooks a smorgasborg for herself and only herself
#entry433379621Also this:
The face of a man who had a spinal fusion just three months before.July
Buys herself the $4k Cartier Love bracelet
6: Is feeling isolated in her personal life - blames it on her new plant-based lifestyle. Anticipates "challenges" with the Rosses during their upcoming Utah trip.
#entry433525028 (
"Plant-Based Newbie | One Month In")
26: Smug breastfeeding IG claiming to be happy
#entry433988418
August
10: Misearable in Utah with the fam, posting about her dream of livng in a tiny house in the middle of nowhere
#entry43423608112: “What does Don eat?” “Whatever he likes”
#entry434262339 (
"What I Eat In A Day | Plant-Based Newbie")
Makes it clear that responding to Charlotte's needs is a burden:
18: D+J awkward in Utah, captured by PK
#entry43437112723:
#entry434450308
31: Has had her "favorite stay ever" in Utah (posts
a vlog the next week showing herself hiding from the fam the entire day). Says she would like to live in UT full time someday
#entry434582227 (
"Lifestyle Favorites | August 2018")
Oh, and she's reading
The Secret:
QUOTE
The one thing that I really gleaned from this book is that I am in control of my happiness and I can shape my happiness regardless of whatever situation--external situation, internal situation--I can work my way back to a place of love and joy by just being mindful about it. It has helped me so much this month, just trying to be more joyful and loving and grateful.
September
10: Anniversary. Is reflecting on their 5th/Bora Bora, for some reason: “I noticed a lot more [???] attention about our ann. than usual. I thought it was just another day. But I’ve truly been doing a lot of reflection about it today esp our 5th.”
#entry435099829 ("Bullet Journal (Not So) Newbie")
20: Suggests to Don that they sell their stuff and travel. Him: “Wouldn’t you rather stay in one place?” ("Bullet Journal (Not So) Newbie")
22:
"Making Friends is Hard" - a viewer calls her out for isolating herself with her marriage
#entry435106507
October: Don starts working out with a personal trainer. Has lost 40lbs since his surgery in March. ("My First")
Nov 27: Hates her life. (
"Vlog | Day in the Life with a 9 Month Old")
Dec 10: Wants to redo the fireplace this summer
#entry436369092 (
"Vlogmas 2018 | Holiday Decor Haul")]
2019January
1: writes Don out of her goals (
"Planner Update 2019 | Erin Condren On The Go Folio & PetitePlanners")
25: D+J having more arguments (
"Reacting to Assumptions About Me")
Feb 12: Punishes her 12mo for dropping his cup. Charlotte will stay in bed unless someone comes to get her
#entry437372281 (
"Vlog | Day in the Life with a 12 Month Old")
Later in the month, Don has his 4th surgery. Jen mentions it offhand
in a Q&A the following week.
April
2: Don’s final appearance as a series regular (I stole that line from somebody; my apologies, you’re brilliant.) (
"Travel Vlog | Walt Disney World | March 2019")
12:
"Bathroom Purge" video - Jen discusses remodeling the master suite bath
19: Bitches about Don's drunk drawer pens (
"Junk Drawer Takeover | Spring Fever 2019")
May
1: Leaves photo guides for Don to care for his own children
#entry43915796412: spends Mother’s Day avoiding her family via an IG Q&A
#entry43875584524:
“Let's Chat | Dealing with Doubt” aka has no friends
June: “navigating fragile relationships” (
"One Little Word | 2019 Recap")
11: Reading Glennon Doyle
#entry441486637(
Some background info on GD if you're not familiar.)
16: Father's Day: Jen eats shrimp. Blames Don. (Confessed in
"Plant-Based (Not So) Newbie")
#entry440585047
late June: Hamptons - Jen doesn’t film. Includes a picture in her
2019 OLW.
The caption:
“never underestimate the investment you make in yourself” 
July
early-to-mid month: Last family photo shoot, the ones taken at the end of D+J's bed. Jen takes photos to Eugene (
"Travel Vlog | Exploring Eugene, Oregon | September 2019")
14: last family photo posted on IG grid - they go to a Cubs game
www.instagram.com/p/Bz671yfBbE7Bonus photo from OLW:
26: Buying more hoodies after purging the ones she had
#entry439866942August: "huge internal shifts" ("OLW 2019")
#entry44262426918: Don arrives in Utah; Jen goes for a hike
#entry440170154Is feeling "wrung out" by a book she's reading...it's about divorce by Glennon Doyle.
#entry44017602126:
Shitquote about boundaries.
27:
Moar shitquotes.
Late August: Fires Judith
#entry442466353 ”(
"How I Cope With Anxiety")
QUOTE
I didn't really foresee all this unfolding or maybe I would have made a different choice, I don't know; but basically I ended the therapy relationship commitment I have been in for, I don't know, seven plus years [...] in late August [...] It was time to end that relationship because I felt like I couldn't be a 100% truthful [...] I don’t know if I really want to get into this right now [...] I went like six, eight weeks almost without anybody and that was tough [...] especially in the past month
(The contempt on her face!)
Late Summer/Early Fall
separated (per Jen):
QUOTE
”I completely stopped memory keeping, like, midway through December Daily, which is a project I do in December, of 2019. And that was about three, four months after...I had separated from Don...that was after the dust had settled from that”
(
"New Years Goals & Reflections | 2022")
#entry455724073September
2: Jen spends Labor Day with her parents,
an emotional mess ("OLW 2019")
4: Poor Donny starts school
10: Anniversary. No IG post. Does
post a Q&A where she says being a SAHM is her #1 priority.
16:
"Travel Favorites": "She opens by apologizing for not sharing more over the summer. It's just that they have been busy having a blast. Then, she says it's been the greatest summer of her life. She is such an unbelievable Liar"
#entry45118551520-22: Ali Edwards Story Camp in Eugene. Cries all night the second(?) night. (
"Travel Vlog | Story Camp | September 2019")
"I am caged."
#entry440708567Describes Donny's birth as the
“final piece of our family puzzle”.
25: Emily sits away from Jen at SK meeting
#entry440770490October
1: Don's bachelor pad lease starts. Jen will
later say he moved out in the fall.
3: Don is "out of town". Could be true. Could be a lie because he's moved out.
#entry44081227710-14: Williamsburg. Jen doesn’t vlog because it’s “family time”. We get a couple glimpses of Don. He's gone completely gray.
#entry441008540
15: Office Meltdown. "I'm not really in a good place emotionally right now" and "I'm needing to putter, and what better place to putter in than in my garbage heap of an office--literally it's just become a dumping ground. It is this total metaphor for my emotional state right now." Filmed before Williamsburg. (
"Home Office Overhaul | Intro & Before Tour")
#entry44107525922: Essentially announces her divorce without announcing her divorce: “cannot share totally transparently right now”. Has been buying hoodies to cope. ("Anxiety")
26: Don is NOT present for Pancake Saturday
#entry44124370431: Fam Jam together for Halloween. Jen gets her own minivan
#entry441336930November
3: TINDER DON outed on the bakery - claims to be rapidly shedding his dad bod, among other things. He deletes.
#entry4413714354: Jen blows up IG with Winnie DITL stories
#entry44139453412: Displays Mickey Christmas tree with "Ross" hat turned backwards (
"Vlog | Cozy Snow Day At Home | November 2019")
25-30: Don and Jen with her family in St. Louis for Thanksgiving
December
2: "change is inevitable"
from her blahg7: Watches White Christmas without Don
#entry44191714615: The kids are in a nativity play at Suze's church. Jen skips for Werq.
#entry44203017917: Announces a YT break to "focus on family time"; kids-only Christmas card.
#entry44206395425: DEATH STARE
#entry442176707
26-2: Annual Utah trip
SPOILER (click to view)Growing Family, Growing Tension
