CarolMK

It was a full-on buddy system from the very moment they decided to follow Gothard. Look at their very first special , filmed in late 2003/early 2004. Joy is all of 6, and she's brushing one of her younger brother's hair (or teeth, I forget which) and she's also seen carrying a heavy load of canned tomatoes or soup into the house from the Aldi shopping trip. Jana, Jill and Jessa recite that pretty much the entire house cleaning is their "jurisdiction" and they also cook as well..hence the famous tater tot casserole. The only thing we saw Michelle do is homeschooling and even that was questionable (all the kids were learning about bankruptcy laws) and we also saw all the kids, but primary Josh and John David, risking serious injury in doing heavy construction in building the tinker toy house, who were 16 and 14 at the time. I was more than a little horrified at the Duggar's parenting methods from that very first special. Jana was 14, Jill 13 and Jessa and Jinger, 11 and 10. And they had 14 kids, Michelle was pregnant, and they had the kids jammed 2 and 3 to a bed with only 2 bathrooms for 16 people. I can't believe how much people loved them when that first special aired.

Is Josiah now calling himself Si? I don't mind except it reminds me of that old guy from the Duck Dynasty clan. I am wondering if this family is one that the Duggars somehow recruited into their church. Seeing that babysitting clip, it appears that the families have been acquainted for at least 6 years. So I can't see how Jim Bob would not be pleased about with a courtship involving a family that they've known for years. It's no different that one of their kids being involved with somebody from the Bates family. Also, it would be nice if this couple decided to set their own courtship rules, not follow what Jim Bob and Michelle demand of them. It's getting really ridiculous with the side hugs, first kiss on their wedding day, etc. I can't imagine all remaining 15 kids at home are going to put up with this nonsense. This might be the real reason that Jana and John David aren't courting, they simply are not interested in Jim Bob's dog and pony show and putting something so personal as their relationship with their future spouse on screen isn't something they're comfortable doing. Jana might run off and get married when she's 40 and all the other kids have left home.

The problem with that house is the lack of bedrooms. Let's say Jim Bob and Michelle did have one of the couples move in. There is no other bedroom now for them...Grandma has one, Jim Bob and Michelle have the other and then the girl's and boy's dorms. Also, where would their children sleep..in the bedrooms with their unmarried aunts and uncles? That's beyond weird. The Duggars didn't think ahead that their house would not be practical for any other family unless they have one who lives the way they do and has about a dozen kids. Doesn't the girl's dorm have 2 bathrooms? Again, not practical. I can't imagine who would want to live in that house 30 years from now, unless Josh and Anna (or Jill and Derrick) take it over, since both couples will probably end up with a lot of kids.

I think for at least the next 10 years or so, we'll be shown at least one Duggar wedding. Assuming Josiah marries next year, there are 4 others in their 20's now, and I guess the show will continue to be popular enough that we'll see pretty much all of the kids get married. Except for maybe two or three who will stay home forever, but I can't imagine that enormous house with only 4 people living in it. I guess in the next ten years, there will also be at least 25 grandchildren born. I wonder if TLC will keep it as a weekly series...the longest running reality show of all time.

So they have known each other about 3 years or so? That episode about the kids learning Spanish from her mom is at least 3 years old. Though they are young, I'm happy for Josiah and Marjorie. Her parents, while religious, don't appear to be over the top crazy the way Jim Bob and Michelle are. Also, her family is from Springdale...how far is that from the Duggars? I agree with the others upthread who stated that marriage is the only way out of the Duggar household so Josiah may try to marry as soon as Marjorie turns 18. And I bet it will be a nice wedding, too, unlike the half-baked weddings that the Duggars slap together for their daughters.

Ugh. I almost hope that Jackie loses, quite honestly. I was rooting for her up til season 6, and then last year I went the other way. Then again, in the real world, would it be possible for someone like Jackie to indeed get her job back? I thought she had lost her nursing license..if so, there is no way she'd just be able to walk back into the hospital and report for work.

The link didn't work for me, but congratulations to Alyssa and John!

I'm in NJ too, and my son did require a year of a foreign language..he's graduating hs in June and took Spanish, struggled quite a bit with it but managed to get through it. Maybe it's just our district. I'm willing to bet the special announcement is Jessa and Ben expecting their first child, due probably shortly after their first anniversary.

I can't decide if both Josh and Anna want to have as many kids as possible, or if it's just Anna who feels that way. Josh does appear to be a very involved dad and loves his kids, but I don't really see him as wanting 19-20 of his own. I do wonder if that organization that he's working for seems to demand that he have a large family himself...do this organization see birth control as evil/sinful? It's hard to keep track of what the different religions and political parties believe in regards to this.

I can't remember if this topic has been brought up already on this thread, but does anyone remember years ago, watching Michelle during her pregnancies moan and groan about having morning sickness all the time? And the only thing she could do is eat protein to help, or something like that. It's as if she was bragging about having morning sickness and was proud of it for some strange reason.

The curly haired blonde Duggar teen is Jeremiah, I think he's either 16 or 17, and the twin to Jedidiah. I agree that Mackynsie has a speech impediment, she can't prounounce r's, so she sounds like Elmer Fudd. She should really be getting speech therapy for it, my son dated a girl who had the same impediment..it's cute at 5, not cute at all by 17. Josie is hilarious. I think she's going to have an outgoing, strong personality. Heaven help Jim Bob and Michelle as they approach 60 with her as a teenager! The doggie bath proves that the producers are grasping at straws for storylines on anything that doesn't involve courting, weddings , or pregnancies/new babies. Jim Bob better find suitable mates for Jana and John David in the next 2 years if he wants the show to stay on the air. Everyone else, with the possible exception of Jinger, is too young to marry (in my opinion).

Now that he's arrived, I do think that Jill is going to love being a mom, and Derrick a dad. It's nice to see how close Jill is to her buddy group, so baby Israel will get a LOT of attention this next year. I suspect that Jim Bob and Michelle didn't have anybody else around for her kids to play with when they were young except for Amy. However, I can see Jill joining a play group, she knows a lot of newer moms whose babies that she helped deliver. It'll also be interesting to see if they start attending a different church than the "home church" that they go to now, where Jim Bob serves as the minister, although hopefully he's not the only one who is. We don't see much about their home church on their tv show, and I kind of wonder why not.

I wonder if Jill went in to the hospital yesterday morning to be induced and had a long all day labor. It happened to me with my first (minus the induction), long all day labor, 4 hours of pushing and then a C-section for me..and my eyes were black and blue. Jill looks really good if she had a long labor and possible C-section afterwards. Baby Israel does have a round head, which adds to his cuteness in my opinion.

I'm glad he was born in the hospital. Jill looks really exhausted but the baby looks great. I think Derrick is kind of in shock, happy but looking sort of out of it. I wish them the best. Now if we can keep Michelle from bringing up all of her past pregnancies during the birth special, I'll be fine with it.

I still wonder if Jana refusing all men that Jim Bob has tried to introduce to her is her quiet way of rebelling. She isn't going to fulfill her parent's chosen destiny of marrying young and having 19 children. It's too bad she doesn't have a specific career goal of wanting to do something like be a missionary , that would take her away from her home. Wasn't Priscilla Keller an employee at Gothard headquarters for awhile before she married David? It may not have been an ideal job but at least it was something different than staying home and raising her mother's children and being stuck with all the household duties.

Wow, so much can go wrong at this stage that I'm starting to worry about Jill now. I really do hope that my original guess is correct, in that the baby was born sometime this weekend but the Duggars for once are keeping quiet about it because of the upcoming tv show which will be the gender reveal. I am guessing a lot of people who watch the show don't follow them on social media and have no idea that it's a boy, so if People broadcasts it tomorrow morning, the Duggars are afraid that no one will watch tomorrow's show and ratings will drop. That's my optimistic viewpoint, anyway. I still can't remember if we found out the birth of Michelle or Anna's babies the very day that it happened but I do remember a birth special for Jordyn that was shown about 4-5 days after she was born.

I really wonder if Baby Dilly has already been born and the family is just doing a really good job of hiding the fact. Isn't this Tuesday supposed to be a gender reveal episode for Jill? They will make the announcement after this episode airs.

I read somewhere that Alyssa is due April 10. I'm wondering if she is going to have her baby the same day as Jill Duggar now.

I bet that we'll find out afterward that somewhere along the way, Jill's due date was indeed changed from March 24 to April 5 but they "forgot" to tell the public . Maybe due to an ultrasound or other test, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case. Out of curiousity, does anyone remember if Michelle or Anna had any of their babies late?

Well, Jill had her first due date of March 24 come and go and now has a secondary due date of April 5. Now I'm wondering if she's going to go two weeks past her secondary due date, which will be April 19....good grief, it seems like Jill has been pregnant forever!

I also seem to remember that Jill didn't announce her pregnancy until after Jessa and Ben were engaged. I believe they were engaged around mid-August and Jill and Derrick made their pregnancy announcement less than a week later. If Jill found out that she was pregnant in late July (say around the 25th), I can't believe that everybody managed to keep it a secret for an entire month before they told the family. In any case, I'm going with April 5 as her "true due date". I wouldnt' be surprised if she had him on Easter Sunday and the very special upcoming episode shows everybody racing out of church where Jim Bob is preaching to go to Jill's delivery. Though would they be racing back to her home or to the hospital...has the birth plan changed too?

Is there a chance that Jill conceived her baby very late in the month and that's why he hasn't yet arrived? I know how the doctors count using your the date of your last cycle, but I remember Jill saying that she had taken several pregnancy tests and they were negative until she took one of Michelle's tests. Those tests are accurate now within a few days of conception, aren't they? I think with my kids, both times I took the tests when I was 10 days late and I tested positive both times. This was in 1993 and 1997, I'm sure the tests have gotten more accurate since then.

I agree that Jim Bob is obsessed with sex, and not in a healthy way. Michelle might not be so much, but she doesn't do anything to try to stop him from smooching and groping her all the time either. I'm glad that the Bates parents don't behave this way on their show. The only time I remember seeing them kiss is when they were alone celebrating Gil's birthday, they don't find it necessary to show off in front of their kids and the cameras all of the time.

Hope this isn't too off topic but I'd love to see the Duggars watch "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" . As far as I can remember, it's not offensive and doesn't contain any cursing but was very funny. I remember the one scene of the mom peeling about 100 lbs of potatoes getting ready for the wedding dinner along with the dad spraying Windex on everything since it cured all ills. I even thought it was nice of her husband to convert to her religion before they married, and I enjoyed seeing how her parents interacted with him and his family. It was over the top and funny, but I could see how a wedding like this could happen in real life. My inlaws are Italian and they act quite a bit like this family.

If it's true that Jill had the baby today, I really hope that it's not publicly announced until after Jessa and Ben's wedding episode airs on Tuesday night. Let them have their time, and then Jill and Derrick can have their announcement in the ending credits (assuming Jill feels up to it )