Extreme Reproduction

I was first introduced to the Duggar family by TLC during my third month of pregnancy. The Duggars have become famous because they are big-time breeders – 16 kids at last count. They live out in the countryside of what must be West Virginia (where else can you find a kid named Jebediah Duggar?) in a home that they began building themselves until TLC swooped in and finished the construction, decoration, and furnishing of the house.

The Duggars are apparently enjoying some more screen time, since I found the following message from my former friend, Clay, in my inbox this morning:

Have you seen that lunatic family on TLC called the Duggars? They are supposed to be building their own house and the mother is pregnant again. Either it is all an act and the lady is not really pregnant and those aren't her kids or you are a big wimp. She has 15 other kids that she takes care of and she is building her own house while pregnant. Have you built a house recently? That's what I thought. :)

Clay was also kind enough to supply a visual of what the Mayes family could one day look like, if only we apply ourselves to baby-making and embrace the fashions of our Puritan ancestors. It seems like the hairstyle I’m sporting in this photo would be effective birth control all by itself, but it clearly hasn’t deterred Papa Duggar.

The photo actually raises some interesting possibilities. TLC has created a whole line of programming around people who do normal, everyday things (having kids, eating, dressing and decorating poorly), but to the extreme. Perhaps my own dream home is just a case of manic, incessant tooth-brushing away.