'A New Baby Born and Love All Around' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "A New Baby Born and Love All Around"

• Kelly and the five youngest boys arrive at Alyssa and John’s house in Clermont, Florida. “My family’s very last minute,” says Alyssa. “I didn’t find out who all was coming until literally the day before they came.”
• The following day, Kelly takes Alyssa out for some mother-daughter time. Alyssa explains that she doesn’t want a bunch of people in the room during her labor. Kelly says she was the same way and that she and Gil will wait in the reception area.
• Kelly accompanies Alyssa to her midwife appointment at The Birth Place (a birthing center). Alyssa is hooked up to a monitor for a short while after the midwife hears an irregularity in Lexi’s heartbeat, but she is relieved to find out that everything is fine.
• Gil and the rest of the family arrives, and he and Lawson lead the kids in a nerf gun war at their rental house. In the middle of the game, Kelly receives a call from John that causes her and Gil to rush over to the birthing center. Lexi Mae Webster arrives just over one hour later.
• “It doesn’t matter how many grandkids we have,” says Kelly. “They’re all special. They’re all different.”
• Alyssa is discharged just a few hours after the birth, and her siblings are thrilled to come visit, both at the birthing center that evening and at her house the next day.
• Back in Tennessee, the Bates are planning their annual I Love You Day celebration, which will be coupled with Mama Jane’s birthday party. The theme is “down on the farm.”
• When everyone arrives for the festivities, the older sisters go out for pedicures and girl talk. Erin and Carlin tell the story of how Erin set Carlin and Evan up. It’s actually quite simple. Kelly was speaking at a banquet, and Evan was sitting at a table with Carlin and Erin. Carlin explains what happened: “[Erin] is like, ‘So, you know, I really would like you to be my brother-in-law. I mean, Carlin’s single. Are you single?’”
• “Evan is perfect for Carlin,” says Alyssa. “He is so patient with her.”
• Tori drops a bombshell: She’s getting married in May! Her sisters are shocked, but then she clarifies....next May, after she finishes school.
• “I’m not planning my wedding,” says Tori. “I’ll pick my colors, and then everyone else plans it.” What if everyone disagrees? “Then I say y’all fight it out,” says the bride-to-be. “I ain’t doing it.”
• The night before I Love You Day, all the couples have a steak dinner at the rental cabin where the out-of-town guests are staying. Nathan delivers Tori and Bobby but is quickly asked to leave. “Come back when you’ve got a girl,” says Kelly.
• When I Love You Day finally rolls around, Mama Jane is shocked when Gil and Kelly present her with a new rocking chair, made by Chad, that has everyone’s signatures shellacked on it.
• “Oh my gosh!” exclaims Mama Jane. “You children are way too much! I don’t want to ever die.”
• Kelly leads the clan in a bunch of fun, farm-themed games, including a pig calling contest.
• Later, Zach, Chad, and John take Bobby and Evan shooting. They also share relationship advice. “Our boys are very protective of their sisters, and no guy is good enough,” says Kelly.
• Opening gifts takes more than an hour with so many people. Michael causes tears to flow when she passes out heart key chains with Kelly’s father’s handwriting on them. They say “I love you. In His grace, Granddad Callaham. Psalm 56:3.”

'The 'Cubs' Land in Chicago' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "The 'Cubs' Land in Chicago"

• It’s January, and the five youngest Bates boys are staying with Michael and Brandon in Chicago while Gil, Kelly, and Carlin are in Australia and New Zealand for speaking engagements. “Mom said she was leaving the country, and I said, ‘Can I have all the little kids?’” shares Michael. “And she said I could have half of them.”
• It takes the boys a few days to adjust to the Keilens’ house rules. They aren’t used to going to bed at 9:30 and waking up at 7:30, nor are they used to healthier food choices.
• Jackson’s reaction to Michael and Brandon’s breakfast crepes is priceless: “Michaela fed us pancake looking things, like a taco pancake with fruit in it.”
• Michael bakes gingerbread and leads the boys in a gingerbread house decorating contest. She makes a rule that they can’t eat any candy while they are working, which is a difficult concept for her brothers to grasp. “At our house, when you’re making the gingerbread house, you can eat the candy as you’re making it,” says Jackson. “Here…if you eat the candy, you lose the privilege of eating the gingerbread house.”
• Michael and Brandon also tell the boys the medieval story that they wrote and are in the process of turning into a picture book. Later, they take the boys to Medieval Times, a medieval-themed dinner theater that features a jousting performance.
• Although her brothers have tested her patience, Michael has had a blast and says she will cry when they leave. “They’ve been so fun, but it’s like having a full-fledged family, suddenly,” says Brandon. “They’ve been a lot of fun, but I’m not going to lie, I’m going to have a sigh of relief.”
• Back in Tennessee, Josie takes the film crew to her cosmetology school. “…It’s a very practical thing,” she says. “I could use it after I got married and do it from my home.”
• “…Being homeschooled and then going to college is a world of difference,” says Josie. “The social aspect is very different…and I guess being by myself was very different…” Courtney Green, a family-friend of the Bates, is also in cosmetology school with Josie.
• Later, Josie styles Carlin’s hair at home. Tori comes in with a bob cut died black and freaks Carlin out. It turns out to be a wig.