S09.E15: Dishing With the Duggars

[joanofarch4]

The Star Spangled Banner, according to an older semi-professional friend of mine, is one of the hardest songs to sing with the notes jumping all over the place.

I thought Josie was cute, but I winced thinking at the idea that they have a 4yr old acting like a trained monkey.

Most kids on reality TV are given (at least a loose) script to follow and often -- it seems obvious -- lines to parrot.  I don't see that singing would be any more of a "trained monkey" act or "singing for one's supper" than being forced to act as oneself in a contrived manner, as they all do, even on the most popular shows with the so-called best families.  If anything, singing is more legitimate...

 

I, for one, was happy to see Josie -- after such a rough start to life -- excel at something for once; she IS a little fighter, and I'm rooting for her!

[RazzleberryPie]

I'm beginning to think Anna has Michelle beat in the baby-crazy department, however she tried to play it down that one time by saying she's content with what she has - I wondered who she was trying to convince; probably herself - it's clear when watching reruns that she's all about being the next "19 Kids" star.  Wonder if Jillard will give her a run for her money?  

Anna is as a bad as Michelle with obsessing with babies. When they showed her with her own babies, saying she couldn't wait to have another one, when (I don't remember which one) her baby wasn't even walking yet. showed me she's nuts. Also, on Jill's wedding episode, Anna was the one who kept talking about now they can have sex/fellowship or whatever and make babies. Seriously, she's obsessed as Michelle is.

 

Most kids on reality TV are given (at least a loose) script to follow and often -- it seems obvious -- lines to parrot.  I don't see that singing would be any more of a "trained monkey" act or "singing for one's supper" than being forced to act as oneself in a contrived manner, as they all do, even on the most popular shows with the so-called best families.  If anything, singing is more legitimate...

 

I, for one, was happy to see Josie -- after such a rough start to life -- excel at something for once; she IS a little fighter, and I'm rooting for her!

Eh, most parents teach their kids something cute to show off to people, so no biggie.

[gunderda]

I have a lot of friends/family members who LOVE being pregnant. (i think they're nuts)  but it just goes to show that any normal person can be baby crazy.  Most just know their limits. Although i might have a family member that doesn't.  They had 4 kids all under the age of 6 and got the tube tied and then decided they wanted more so they went and adopted 2 other young kids. But whatever works for them!

 

I would also think that bringing young girls into a birthing experience would not be the best thing if you want them to have a bunch of kids. It might create the opposite reaction and make them scared to have babies. 

[luna70]

Knowing, well, from what has been seen from this family.. one of the parents.. most likely MICHELLE.. noticed that JOSIE could carry a tune.. She of course, being a woman, could not say ANYTHING outright , NO! but what she did was WHISPER to her JBOOB that JOSIE was sooo sweet when she sang.. (whatever!) and wouldn't you know it BOOB.. but she was totally on tune and she remembered the words JUST LIKE THAT!! (yeah, right after Michelle had one of the 'GIRLS' sit with JOSIE for a WEEK, ALONE, and teach her that 4 verse song.. Jboob of course did not notice because he was  off, working. not that he has a job -and that 'real estate' does not come to more then a few properties that he has his kids do the work on.)

 

WELL, of COURSE! jbOOB gets the IDEA! Lets TRAIN..UHM teach! Josie to sing a VERY VERY HARD SONG!!! (although JBoob does lack at times in brains, ok, most of the time... he DOES know what will SELL in front of audiences .. religious audiences!! ) so, they sat down.. and thought..(I will hold my tongue on how LONG) BUT probably MICHELLE, or even WHOEVER plays the PIANO came up and said 'The Star Spangled Banner  is one of the hardest songs to sing, even for an adult' . and of course JB said.. 'Youknow..I want Josie to learn the S.S.B.' and probably just left for work.. and Michelle probably told whoever plays the piano that their 'zone/district' -whatever they call it has been changed and it is now teaching Josie the S.S.B. and for the next whatever time period, every day until this girl's hands bled, or until JOSIE could not talk.. they practiced the S.S.B...

 

AND I would doubt that when they went to that HOMESCHOOL thingy in JULY JOSIE was the CENTER of attention witH her OPENING it with the S.S.B  followed by prayer.. and now, whenever they appear at ANYTHING.. JOSIE is probably at the center of the group.. She opens the 'affair with the S.S.B. /PRAYER.. and of course, MICHELLE goes into that long singasong ABOUT how JOSIE is a miracle.. blah blah blah....

 

As for Josie seeing her birth on the screen, she is what 3? It is DIFFERENT then seeing it in person. ALSO, the person on screen is HERSELF, a disconnect.. -EXTREMELY hard for any child, but especially at that age-for someone to say-THAT WAS YOU!!! Besides, how many times has MICHELLE dragged Josie TO THAT Hospital? Probably tried to bring her INTO the neo natal ICU! (UNTIL they were kicked out!!) For all WE KNOW.. Josie has gotten USED TO SEEING those tubes on babies!!

 

 

I do want to know what has HAPPENED to JOSIAH? AMY?

 

Wasn't JOSIAH the one who WALKED OFF when Michelle announced her 20th pregnancy? When he was back with the family, he could be SEEN RUBBING HIS ARM.. people speculated. that JBoob gave him a pinch.. I think some saw a RED mark on his forearm.. That TRAINING thingy he goes to.. does not LAST that long! THE 1st one(there are different courses) is, if I remember, 3 weeks long). The next one, of course, is longer.. and is for FIRE TRAINING.. (From what their website says.) But a Anti Quivering site said that families send children to this place if they think their kids are 'straying ' from the 'GOTHARD' ways.. and the camps do have graduation pictures.. and various 'DUGGARS' have GRADUATED.. and the GIRls who have GRADUATED.. well, are the ones who we have considered the MORE SPIRITED?? -I.E. JESSA, JOYANNA.. and some speculate that JINGER has gone.. recently.. (because of the FREE JINGER campaign and her saying that she wants to be a professional photographer, and live is a large city, shop.. and THAT was very quickly CORRECTED by JBOOB.. that WE, the viewers MISUNDERSTOOD what JINGER said.. -she had MEANT to say that she wanted to be near stores like KMART so she could BUY clothes. YEAH , right!)

 

John David.. to me, doesn't seem COMFORTABLE with being on air.. I am not saying ANYTHING about his sexuality. because, I HAVE NO IDEAL.. but, he is VERY uncomfortable , as with the other son-do not know which one it was.. when JBoob said it was TIME FOR BOTH OF THEM to start to consider courting! -BOTH shook there heads and JD said he was NOT interested in doing that yet! GOOD.FOR.HIM.!! -DOES he 'RUN'? that used car lot now, or does he still do the towing? If he tows.. maybe he has gotten a BETTER view of the world?

 

and FINALLY AIMEE.. I really really WISH.. we had gotten to hear her sing at Jill's wedding.. I do not believe, for a NY  MINUTE.. that she is OFF in NASHVILLE .. singing professionally!! On the show, some producer had told her she NEEDED!!! lessons.. GRANDMA.. and she.. did not believe it.. so I doubt she went ahead and did it. (next to the Duggars, she sounded great, but that is next to her cousins.. she was not at a professional level!!!).. I believe, like others.. that that show was AIMEE'S swan song.. either JBOOB did not like $$ LEAVING the family.. (you RARELY saw his sister, AIMEE'S MOM on.. ) AND/OR... AIMEE did a NO NO according to -most likely JBOOB.. she has had... BFs.. AND probably has KISSED them in front of the family! She was never baptized, her parents never picked a church.. so I believe that jboobs parents were NEVER that religious.. it was JBOOB that FOUND GOD.. (he went to, If I remember right, regular school until h.s., then for H.S. he attended a CHRISTIAN school.. he was NEVER homeschooled.. so, his parents were never strict followers on evolution, etc..)..

 

So, I, we, need to find pics of these religious outings.. see if JOSIE is in the front.. and DO A WHERE''S WALDO for Josiah, and Aimee, and yes, John David...

 

BTW.. who.. in the world would do ALL THOSE RELIGOUS APPEARANCES when your daughter is getting married on that Saturday? They, the duggars were off on the BUS.. AT VARIOUS PLACES.. uncluding N.C. on the Wednesday before JESSA'S wedding! Now, maybe, just maybe, they had ALREADY made these dates..i.e. ELECTION DAY.. but in that CASE-I would have told JESSA, BEN.. to keep their undies on and they would need to WAIT for another week, two .. BUT, I guess, they CALLED in all those VOLUNTEERS AGAIN.. and had them (200 plus for JILL!) DO THE WORK??) Jill's was in the summer though.. -actually WORSE in ARKANSAS-OUTSIDE, NO SEATING.. but, it appeared to last less then an hour.. Jessa had NO CAKE, BUT ICE CREAM sundaes.. MAYBE if she did the same thing?? What was the temp this past weekend in their hometown?

[awaken]

Eh.  Boring rehash episode.  I didn't watch through the end.

 

When they replayed Josh & Anna's wedding, I thought it was Boob who announced that Josh could kiss his bride. I thought it was Pa Keller's responsibility to do this as father of the bride. Did I see correctly?

I thought the same- JB had to announce permission for Dill to kiss- why was he ALSO the one to announce that Josh could kiss Anna and not her own father?  I would honestly like to know.

 

Bear in mind this is the family who thought it would be a good idea to have the older girls (who looked to be tweens/early teens) in the room watching while their mother give birth.

 

[snip] That's pretty commonplace, and used to be even more commonplace before birth moved into hospitals.  My older kids were at my younger kids' home births. a majority of people who give birth out of the hospital have their kids there for all or part of the birth.  For many families it's a special family event and quite normal that kids would be a part of it.

I'm beginning to think Anna has Michelle beat in the baby-crazy department, however she tried to play it down that one time by saying she's content with what she has - I wondered who she was trying to convince; probably herself - it's clear when watching reruns that she's all about being the next "19 Kids" star.  Wonder if Jillard will give her a run for her money?  

I do wonder about Anna and Josh...normally I don't ever speculate or ask about when people are going to have babies because you never know what they're going through.  I myself lost a couple pregnancies and we waited almost 10 years to start having kids, and the constant questions about when we were going to finally have babies were excruciatingly annoying.  But, I only speculate about them since they've made it so public that they want as many as God gives and talk about it any chance they get!  I am curious if they're having struggles, have decided to use natural family planning to space things out a bit, if her fertility hasn't returned yet as she's nursing Marcus, or it simply hasn't happened yet.  I think they've set it up themselves to make everyone wonder if they're pregnant again once the baby is a few months old!  

 

Loved when she said they don't always need to be pregnant and they want to enjoy the kids she has.  But I don't know if that is the whole truth, or if she's trying to convince herself that she's ok with it.  

Edited November 8, 2014 by Rhondinella

[joanofarch4]

I think Anna used up about a hundred pregnancy tests trying for an announcement during and right after the Asia trip, and then -- after making poor Amy (or the crew) create that cantelope baby in a carriage "hint" -- couldn't even wait for anyone to guess it, but blurted the news right out before they even had it turned around.  Baby-crazed much!  I suspect Josh would be genuinely content with the three they now have.

Edited November 6, 2014 by joanofarch4

[NausetGirl]

It reminded me of how my mother was the most God awful cook who made the same four dinners on rotation for fifteen years. To this day, certain dishes make me pale because they're all I ate during my childhood. Ironically, both my siblings and I grew up to be avid cooks and Foodies. I think we're trying to overcompensate or something:)

 

Four meals on rotation? Oh, that is sad, Bitter Apple. I know how incredibly lucky I was. My mom was a great cook - she'd often say how much she loved cooking and especially baking.  And we'd would go months without a repeat meal. Even when we'd ask for A or B again soon because we liked it so much.

[GEML]

I think that Anna really had drunk a lot of kool-aid, and Josh is slowly bringing her around to a world where her identity isn't formed by how many babies she has and being pregnant.  And I think she likes it, but it is an ENORMOUS identity change for her, and it's not unreasonable that it's going to take time.  And it's not as though they will have only three children - I expect they will have anywhere between 6-10, depending on a number of things.  But it's really fascinating watching her mind becoming Anna Duggar, and not Anna MOTHER.  She's doing great, and I'm really glad they've had a chance to become something more.

[Darknight]

Once the show ends and Josh loses his job then what? Josh is educated like those DC people. Anna can say she wants a ton of kids but she can't even take care of the three she has now

[GEML]

Josh's job is very specific, and as long as he is able to bridge the gap between the world he grew up in and DC, I think he will be fine. All the education in the world isn't going to get you access to certain fundamentalist groups who, even now, and not insistently reliably Republican voters. (One of them even ran as the candidate of the Constitution Party in 2012.). In a world where in 2000 the presidential election was decided by the Supreme Court and many elections at the state level can be decided by a recount, a third party drawing off a few thousand votes matters.

Josh has a real job. A lot of us may not like what he does or who he works for, but we need to stop kidding ourselves that he's there just for show or because of the show.

[roamyn]

Thank you, GEML, I never used to care all that much for Josh, but now that he's on his own & away ftom the family, I find he's not all that bad (beliefs notwithstanding). He's not my favorite, but he's okay.

[cmr2014]

 

I think that Anna really had drunk a lot of kool-aid, and Josh is slowly bringing her around to a world where her identity isn't formed by how many babies she has and being pregnant.  And I think she likes it, but it is an ENORMOUS identity change for her, and it's not unreasonable that it's going to take time.  And it's not as though they will have only three children - I expect they will have anywhere between 6-10, depending on a number of things.  But it's really fascinating watching her mind becoming Anna Duggar, and not Anna MOTHER.  She's doing great, and I'm really glad they've had a chance to become something more.

 

I think it's entirely possible that Anna has changed her mind, too, and that Josh didn't bring her around at all.

 

Anna made that comment about wanting another baby just after they moved to DC. They had just left Arkansas where they were swimming in the kool-aid, and I think Anna desperately wanted to belong -- and talking about wanting dozens of babies was the right thing to say (and she may have wanted dozens when she only had two).

 

I think that both Josh and Anna have grown and matured since moving to DC. I think they are communicating more honestly with each other now, and may be having real conversations about how many children they can realistically support financially and emotionally. Maybe they'll go on to have a dozen kids, but I don't think so. 

[Barb23]

I'm watching Dishing... again & they are laughing at their out of date hairstyles. MEchelle explained her "old style" of pulling her hair back so the babies wouldn't get their hands in it. That mop looked better pulled back than hanging loose.

[cereality]

Any idea if the Duggars make their daughters watch births live after a certain age? I have a feeling they may do that -- after all a girl's reason for existence is to marry and pump out as many blessings as possible so they want their daughters to know what's coming. If they "required" that during Michelle's child bearing years, I consider it downright mean. To the poster above who said that most families have all their kids at every birth, I'm not sure that's true; after all the average American family has about 2 kids and the older kid is like 4 yrs old when the younger comes along. Sure the older may visit mom at the hospital if she has some pain control and isn't screaming, but I'm not sure that many let kids be in the room to watch mom push.

 

I mean for a daughter like Jill who was always into births, babies etc., I'm sure she was excited to be in the delivery room. But I have a recollection of Jana at one of the births completely wincing and looking like she needed to sit down or leave -- but she probably knew that would earn her time in the prayer closet for being so disrespectful of a miracle. I know the Bates had a couple daughters at one of their first hospital births and Kelly had an epidural so she looked to be doing ok pain-wise, even then when it came time to push -- Erin went and stood behind a curtained off section in the room so she would not have to watch. Somehow I could see the Duggars saying "no choice -- all eyes better be focused on mom's vag."

Edited November 7, 2014 by cereality

[Carolyn15]

I was only half watching....did Josie sing the Star Spangled Banner, or did I dream it?

 

If so, my theory about the mix-up at the fertility clinic and her being the bio-spawn of Art Garfunkel is true.

She did a pretty good job, I was impressed.. She did a lot better then some of singers I have heard sing it..LOLO -Art Garfunkel .

[Kiss my mutt]

Maybe Josie is some sort of savant?

[joanofarch4]

I'd say she definitely has an "island of ability" -- not to say God-given gift -- there; pretty amazing!

[GEML]

I do think Anna loves young babies and wants to have more, not only to fit in and because that is what is excepted of her, but because, like Jill, she is a natural nurturer and teacher of young minds. Even if she hadn't grown up in the culture in which she did she likely would have been drawn to professions which bring that out in her.

It's not having many children that I have any problem with. It's that reasons I feel too many women in this world are having them. There are, however, a few who are fortunate to have the temperament, skill set and personality that fits the culture. It's not all that different from a quiet, bookish child who liked to write and draw being born into a family of college professors.

[Chai]

I liked watching the older episodes of 14 kids and pregnant again, the kids were so young! (the parents, too)

 

Listening to JB talk about "the mess" when Michelle was going to make when she was in labor and he covered the floor in plastic?!  and the hall, the stairs etc ugh! did he deserve a slap! its amniotic fluid, you idiot! He made it sound like toxic waste!

[WTFFF]

All I can think of is laboring Michelle trying to maneuver plastic-covered stairs and falling.  Did he think she was going to flood two levels of the house?  I know some laboring people like to walk, but really, the whole house? 

[ktwo]

Literally they have to replay the last episode shown less than an hour ago.

Seriously. In what was advertised as a ten-year retrospective, there was precious little of the first seven-eight years. I should not have to watch that guy sing DerickandJill's engagement song for what seemed like the tenth episode in a row, show! As someone who has never re-watched the very early specials, this was a total waste of time.

[GEML]

Can't. Stand. That. Engagement. Song. Fast. Forward. Whenever. Guy. With. Guitar. On. Screen. Send. Help.

[Micks Picks]

I had this show on while I was making dinner so saw some but not all of it.  Certainly was repulsed by JB and his covering everything with plastic sheeting in anticipation of a mess.  But was delighted by the kids in previous years and even liked Michele again.  It seems she has gotten progressively worse and more dowdy as the years pass.  Too bad.  She should be lightening up and enjoying her life and children more, and be talking like an adult.  From the clips I saw, she was much more personable in earlier years.  It's only in the last few years that I seem to be annoyed by her, and now I see why.  I've also purposed to be kinder in my thoughts of John David.  I'm slapping myself in the face for saying that word.  Not JD, "purposed".