Duggars to Kendra Caldwell: No College For You!

It’s been two months since Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell welcomed their first child, and the young couple has been keeping a relatively low profile as they focus on their new family.

In many ways, Kendra is the ideal Duggar wife.

She’s happy to be subservient, marry young, and start popping out kids.

But in some ways, she represents a challenge to the Duggar way of doing things.

While Kendra was homeschooled by her mother and preacher father, her family reportedly places a higher emphasis on formal education than the Duggars.

In fact, before she met and married Joseph, Kendra was reportedly planning to attend college.

Those plans have now been scrapped, and some fans feel the Duggars are to blame.

As evidence, they point to a video that appeared on the Duggars’ Facebook page just before Joseph and Kendra’s wedding last year.

“We are so excited about our wedding day. It’s coming up quick, so we’re super excited,” Kendra said of her impending nuptials.

While many fans shared in Kendra’s excitement, others were not so thrilled.

“She doesn’t get to pursue an education or explore other avenues,” one fan commented.

“She has been raised to be subservient to a man and to be nothing more than a breeder. It isn’t something to celebrate. It’s incredibly sad.”

Another described Kendra as a “poor, young, brainwashed girl.” 

As The Romper points out, the video was recently deleted from the Duggars’ page, seemingly in response to the negative comments.

Not only will Kendra never attend college, it looks as though she may have never received a single day of formal education, other than “taking a Bible college course” at the church where her father serves as pastor.

Many fans have pointed out that if Kendra wanted to attend college, Joe and his family would have ample reason to dissuade her.

For starters, as a Duggar wife, she’s supposed to devote the entirety of her adult years to being a mother.

On top of that, the Duggars would likely not be thrilled by the idea of a wife being more highly educated than her husband.

So for the time being at least, it seems Kendra will be forced to say goodbye to whatever dreams of college and career she may have once harbored.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Wedding: First Kiss (and More) Revealed!

ReadMore…

Kendra Caldwell Duggar: No Longer a Teen Mom!!

Willing Duggar bride Kendra Caldwell, a.k.a. the wife of Joseph Duggar, celebrated a personal milestone over the weekend.

Turning 20 years old, the mother of one was feted by family and friends in what we can only assume was a wild b-day bash.

Just kidding.

The couple is extremely private, compared to his siblings – so much so that fans have wondered if Joe and Kendra are hiding something.

Neither of them has an Instagram page, and for the most part, they tend to keep to themselves (besides the whole reality TV thing).

From the moment he bumped out Jedidiah and claimed Kendra has his own, though, Joseph has been smitten with his fair maiden.

“There was something special about this girl,” he wrote in a blog post describing their story (omitting that he stole his brother’s girl).

“From the time of our very first long and in-depth conversation, I could see that we had a lot of common goals and interests.”

In other words, baby-making.

“The more we talked the more we could see that this was the direction the Lord was leading us,” the love-struck Joe added.

In other words, baby-making.

No, but for real. He goes on:

“We had truly become each other’s best friends! It’s amazing how similar our families were, but even on a personal level, we were very similar.”

“As time went on, we realized that each of us had been praying for someone with the very qualities that we both saw in each other.”

“Without knowing who the one was that the Lord might have for us to marry,” he says, they still found each other.

How very touching!

The mother of baby Garrett Duggar also received a very special shout-out on Facebook from her famous Arkansas in-laws.

“Happy Birthday Kendra!!”  Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar wrote. “We are so thankful to have you in our family!”

Michelle and Jim Bob added:

“You are a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, and sister! We pray for God’s blessings in this next year and we hope you have a great birthday!!”

We’re sure she did. Has anyone ever seen Kendra not smiling ear to ear? Even when she was about to give birth on Counting On?

The couple tied the knot last September, then had a kid almost exactly nine months later, so safe to say Joe is pretty into her.

And likely still is.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Wedding: First Kiss (and More) Revealed!

The only downside of turning 20?

Kissing her chances of being cast on MTV’s Teen Mom franchise goodbye! Just kidding, they wouldn’t cast a reality star / celeb anyway.

Oh wait.

ReadMore…

Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell: Are They Hiding Something From Fans?

It’s been almost a year since Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell got married, and for the most part, the young couple has stuck to the Duggar script.

Kendra got pregnant on her honeymoon, and she’s happily played the role of doting wife in a number of promotional videos the Duggars have posted online.

The couple even participated in the making of a TLC special about Kendra’s delivery, granting more access to the network’s camera crews than any of Joseph’s siblings ever had.

But even though Joe and Kendra haven’t shied away from participating in the family business, they don’t seem to enjoy the spotlight as much as other Duggars.

In fact, the newlyweds have raised eyebrows with their refusal to interact with fans on social media.

For past Duggar couples, Instagram profiles have been regarded as a sacred privilege.

Duggar kids aren’t permitted to engage in social media until after they’re engaged, and usually, they take advantage of their new freedom as soon as possible.

But Joe and Kendra have yet to create accounts either as individuals or as a couple.

And fans can’t help but wonder why that is.

The answer might have something to do with the fact that Joe and Kendra are deeply conservative in their beliefs — even by Duggar standards.

Like his siblings, Joe is an adherent to the teachings of disgraced minister Bill Gothard and his Institute for Basic Life Principles.

But unlike the others, Joe took his devotion to the organization step farther in his youth by attending the Gothard-founded ALERT Academy, a sort of faith-based boot camp for fundamentalist young men.

“This drove me to depend even more on God,” Joseph recently wrote of his experience.

“As a young man, I can say this was one of the greatest things God used to strengthen and build my faith in Him.”

Joe is commonly regarded as one of the more practical and serious Duggars and his stringent devotion to his parents’ belief systems was evident during his courtship with Kendra.

The Duggar courtship rules are already notoriously strict, but Joe and Kendra held themselves to an even higher standard of behavior.

Joe recruited his siblings to serve as chaperones and ensure that he and Kendra stuck to their own rules.

The couple limited themselves to periods of physical contact that lasted no longer than three seconds and only allowed themselves to “side-hug” and say “I love you” after they got engaged.

For all the recent talk of “Duggar rebels,” it looks as though at least one of Jim Bob and Michelle’s offspring has gone in the opposite direction by being even more conservative than his parents.

Watch Counting On online to get caught up in time for tonight’s season premiere.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell: The Newest Counting On Couple!

ReadMore…

Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Finally Answer Questions About Difficult Delivery of First Baby

It’s been less than one month since Kendra Caldwell welcomed her first child, but as is customary in the Duggar clan, she’s already been extremely forthcoming about all the joys and challenges of new motherhood.

While most reality stars prefer to keep things under wraps until such time as they can cash in on a TV special about the delivery, Kendra and husband Joseph Duggar have already shared most of the important facts about their new addition.

Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell Introduce Baby Garrett

We know that Kendra and Joseph’s baby boy is named Garrett, and the young newlyweds were clearly eager to share photos of their bundle of joy.

But while they’ve been happy to keep fans up to date on Garrett’s development, Kendra and Joseph have chosen to keep certain details about his birth under wraps.

Until now.

TLC announced this week that Joe, Kendra and baby Garrett will star in their own half-hour special that’s set to air on Friday, July 6.

While Counting On won’t officially return until later this summer, it seems the Duggars didn’t want to wait that long to address questions about Kendra’s allegedly difficult delivery.

Within hours of when little Garrett entered the world, it was rumored that Kendra had given birth in a hospital.

This was an unexpected development, as Duggar women generally give birth at home, and Kendra had already announced her intention to do exactly that.

Rumors about unexpected complications began to make their way across the social media landscape, and Kendra and Joseph were understandably reluctant to talk about exactly what went down in the delivery room.

Now, it seems they’ve decided to let footage of the delivery speak for itself.

And TLC has already answered some pressing fan questions in a press release about the special.

“In the first glimpse, Joseph and Kendra Duggar are ready to welcome their baby. With 10 days to go until her due date, Kendra goes into labor and heads to the hospital,” the description reads. 

“Only a few hours later, she gives birth to their baby boy, Garrett David Duggar.”

So it seems that Kendra was hoping to give birth at home but called an audible when she started having contractions well ahead of schedule.

It’s not the first time a Duggar woman has made such a last minute change in plans, as both Jill and Joy-Anna Duggar gave birth in hospitals after experiencing unforeseen complications.

The important thing is, Kendra and Garrett are both happy and healthy — and ready for the spotlight.

Watch Counting On online top get caught up in time for another season of fundamentalist shenanigans.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell: The Newest Counting On Couple!

ReadMore…

Joy-Anna Duggar & Kendra Caldwell: Check Out Our Matching Babies!

Folks, a full-on Duggar baby boom is in effect.

In case you’ve been having trouble keeping up with all the births, pregnancies, and rumored pregnancies, here’s a brief rundown.

Back in February, Joy-Anna Duggar gave birth to her first child, a boy named Gideon Forsyth.

Earlier this month, Kendra Caldwell and Joseph Duggar welcomed their first, a boy named Gideon Duggar.

The upside of so many births taking place in such rapid succession is that the kids will never want for companionship as they grow up.

The downside, however, is that these babies better enjoy being the center of attention while they can!

Currently, Jinger Duggar is expecting her first child, and there have been rumors that Jill Duggar is pregnant with her third.

By our estimation, the planet will be roughly 73 percent Duggar by the time you finish reading this sentence.

We kid, of course.

It’s a wonderful thing that the Duggars are welcoming so many bundles of joy these days.

And, of course, fans get to share in the baby bliss thanks to photos like the one above.

That’s Joy on the right and Kendra on the left, both with G-named babies in arms.

Now, we’re sure there are parents of newborns who are currently zipping down to the comments to inform us that there’s a world of developmental difference between a four-month-old and a two-week-old baby.

But what seems like a chasm now will be a microscopic fissure for most of the boys’ lives.

In all likelihood, Gideon and Garrett will be in the same grade at the same school.

(We suppose it’s possible that their parents might relocate, but we all know Jim Bob bribes his kids to stay in Arkansas.)

For the most part, it seems that the new generation of Duggars will be maintaining tradition by sticking close to one another and raising cousins like siblings.

Of course, it seems that in some ways, they’re already doing things their own way.

For example, Kendra gave birth in a hospital, instead of at home with a midwife, as is customary for Duggars.

If you think that doesn’t sound like a big deal, clearly you don’t remember the uproar when Jinger started wearing pants.

These people aren’t exactly huge embracers of change.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

View Slideshow: Duggar Family Members: The Official Power Rankings!

ReadMore…

Joseph Duggar: Did He Impregnate Kendra Caldwell BEFORE Their Wedding?!

On Sunday, Kendra Caldwell and Joseph Duggar welcomed their first child.

It was a joyous occasion, of course, but based on some fan reactions to the announcement, the Duggars may be experiencing an unwelcome case of deja vu.

Back in August of 2017, Joy-Anna Duggar announced that she was pregnant with her first child just three months after she married Austin Forsyth.

Fans believed she looked like she was further along in photos, and it wasn’t long before “shotgun wedding” rumors were everywhere on social media.

The family managed to avoid commenting on those reports, but now it seems they may be in for a second round of uncomfortable questions.

The Duggars announced the news that Kendra had given birth with an ecstatic Facebook post.

“No matter how many times we’ve experienced the joy of babies born in our families, there’s nothing comparable to the joy in our hearts today!” they wrote.

“Children truly are a gift from God. We are so thankful for his safe arrival and this new journey as parents.”

Most of the comments from fans were congratulatory, but as In Touch Weekly points out, a few followers pointed out something that they found rather suspect.

“Baby was born exactly [nine] months from their wedding date. Kinda suspicious,” one fan tweeted.

“All the grandchildren (the first ones of each couple at least) minus Jinger’s child are wedding night babies,” another remarked.

Jinger famously waited more than a year to get pregnant after marrying Jeremy Vuolo, an extremely uncommon practice in the Duggars’ community.

Obviously, it’s impossible to know exactly when the other Duggar couples conceived, but they all started families very soon after marrying.

Joseph and Kendra married back in September of 2017 following a very brief courtship.

The family announced that Kendra was pregnant less than three months later.

Anyone who’s familiar with the Duggar courtship rules knows that couples aren’t even allowed to kiss before marriage, much less engage in actual intercourse.

And it’s for that reason that these situations are regarded with such suspicion.

It’s not uncommon for the Duggars to abruptly change the date of a wedding, a practice that they claim is an effort to protect their privacy, but which fans believe is the result of premarital pregnancies.

Whatever the case, the fact remains that the majority of Duggars get right to the business of making a family after they say “I do.”

Of course, we suppose that’s not terribly surprising.

For one thing, the Duggars are forbidden to engage in premarital sex, and they’re not permitted to use birth control.

Add to that the fact that women are taught from an early age that procreation is pretty much their sole reason for being, and it’s not hard to see why Duggar babies tend to arrive about nine months after their parents get hitched.

As for whether or not said parents tend to jump the gun a bit … well, it’s hard to say.

The Duggars will never admit to a premarital pregnancy and for a family who’s famous for putting their lives on TV, they do an impressive job of guarding their privacy.

Watch Counting On online to remind yourself of just how strictly and creepily Jim Bob and Michelle govern their kids’ sex lives.

ReadMore…

Kendra Caldwell Scandal: Is Her Sister SECRETLY Dating a Duggar?!

If you follow the Duggar family closely, then you’re likely aware Joseph Duggar married Kendra Caldwell last year in front of about a thousand of the couple’s closest friends.

In most respects, it was the typical Duggar wedding – a chaste, dry affair attended by just about every fundamentalist in a hundred-mile radius.

But in one very scandalous respect, Joseph and Kendra were entered uncharted territory when they said “I do.”

The problem, it seems, is that Joseph is not the first Duggar to catch Kendra’s eye.

No, before she began her relationship with Joe, Kendra was courted by Jedidiah Duggar.

Someone (read: Jim Bob) decided that Kendra was better suited to Jed’s older brother, Joseph.

Apparently, they hit it off, because these days, Kendra is pregnant with Joseph’s baby.

So the situation worked out for everyone … except poor Jed.

Jim Bob was then left with a disgruntled incel son, and naturally, he decided to appease the 19-year-old with a comely maiden.

Of course, the Duggars live in the middle of nowhere and fundamentalist virgins of virtue true can be hard to come by.

Which is why many fans believe that Jim Bob has returned to familiar hunting grounds and set Jed’s sights on Kendra’s younger sister, Lauren Caldwell, who just turned 18 this month.

Lauren has reportedly been in attendance at recent family gatherings, which wouldn’t be that strange on its own.

After all, her sister recently married into the Counting On clan.

But as commentators in the Duggar-focused corners of Reddit have pointed out, it’s a bit strange that Lauren started showing up so soon after her 18th birthday.

In a conversation about which one of the Duggar men will end up with Lauren, the majority of the votes went to Jed:

“Jedidiah. He couldn’t get Kendra so he’d probably go after her younger sister,” one user commented, In Touch Weekly points out.

But there was some dissent among the ranks:

“Not sure who, but she will be a Duggar because her teeth are nice and straight and she has fundie hair! She is in for sure,” another wrote.

A third had a different theory altogether:

“Lately how all the older guys keep getting with barely-legal girls, I’m gonna say JD.”

Since there have been rumors that John David is secretly courting, we suppose that’s a possibility, but the ten-year-age difference likely wouldn’t fly with Duggar fans.

We’ll keep an eye on the situation, but for now, just expect a Jed-Lauren courtship announcement n the very near future.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Wedding: First Kiss (and More) Revealed!

ReadMore…

Counting On Recap: Joseph Duggar Marries Kendra Caldwell!

Last night on an emotional Counting On Season 6 Episode 5, Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell geared up to marry each other.

Spoiler alert: They got the job done.

Watch Counting On Season 6 Episode 5 Online

Even if you don’t watch Counting On online, you’re likely aware that Joe and Kendra wed last fall, and are now expecting a baby.

Things move quickly in this family.

Monday’s season finale marked a fun behind-the-scenes look at how it all unfolded, though, and there were even a few surprises.

“I am feeling really excited and kind of looking forward to seeing how everything’s going to play out in the rehearsal,” Kendra said.

At the rehearsal dinner, plenty of crying took place; Kendra’s little sister made the 19-year-old bride-to-be tear up hard during her speech.

Unmentioned during this episode was the little-known-fact that Joseph bumped out Jedidiah, who had his eye on Ms. Caldwell first.

Check out the link, it’s good. Just saying. Anyway …

Joe’s sister, Joy-Anna Duggar, then took the mic for her speech, saying, “First of all, I want to say, Joe, I’m so thankful for you.”

“You really did change my life. Just through my teen years, I was having a hard time taking my parents faith as my own.”

“You really befriended me as an older brother.”

Joy-Anna admitting the Duggars’ religion is too strict? Talk about burying the lead, TLC! Joy then told Kendra she loves her, too. Aww.

“The night before my wedding, I was excited,” Joe later said. “I was hoping I could just go to sleep. That makes the night go much faster.”

Hashtag facts.

The day of the wedding, Caldwell said she felt “amazing” but was “nervous” for her first kiss. Those urges were getting so strong.

“I didn’t have the urge to kiss him for a long time, but once the wedding got closer, I kept thinking, ‘I can’t wait to kiss you,’” Kendra said.

Joe said the feeling was mutual: “I love everything about Kendra,” he gushed. “I don’t know if there’s anything I don’t love.” Aww.

Kendra’s minister dad, Paul, was moved by the wedding day as well. “We raise our kids for this moment but it’s still surreal,” he said.

“It happens sooner than you think.”

Of course, the most emotional moment was when the bride walked down the aisle. Joe cried, even though he said he doesn’t.

“I lost it. I’m not a crier,” Joe said.

“No one sees me cry ever.”

Kendra added, “As I was making my way down the aisle, I realized he was bawling. I was totally shocked. It was such a sweet moment.”

“It started making me emotional.”

Then it was time for the kiss.

Not just any kiss. The first kiss of their LIVES, the one that signifies the end of side hugs and courtship rules and everything else.

And it was worth it.

“When I kissed Kendra, it was everything I ever hoped for and more,” Joe explained. “It was the most amazing thing ever,” she added.

Win-win then.

Of course, this is just the beginning. When Counting On returns this summer, we’ll see their honeymoon – and her pregnancy!

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Wedding: First Kiss (and More) Revealed!

ReadMore…

Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell: Did They Break the Rules of Courtship?

It’s been six months since Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell got married, but today, many Duggar fans are thinking about the last days of the couple’s courtship.

That’s because Monday night’s episode of Counting On featured the couple engaging in behavior that doesn’t quite align with the Duggar rules of courtship.

A joint bachelor/bachelorette party allowed the young couple to – gasp! – engage in premarital physical contact, and being human adults with genitals, they took advantage.

“We were on John’s boat and whenever we were back on the tube he was definitely working pretty hard to get us off the tube,” Joe said in a voiceover.

“It was pretty tough not to break the rules of engagement just for the fact that when you’re tubing your closer than you normally would be,” he added.

“When they put you in a turn, you’re trying to counter for the turn so I had to move from side to side so therefore I was crawling over top of her and definitely in close quarters.”

It was a nice attempt at explaining away behavior that would have gotten a female Duggar locked in the basement until her wedding day, but fans weren’t buying it.

On social media, viewers expressed shock that Joe and Kendra allowed themselves to be shown “climbing on top of one another.”

Many pointed out that Jim Bob and Michelle appear to be getting more lax with age, as physical contact of the variety that Joe and Kendra engaged in last night would have been the stuff of scandal a decade ago.

One of the downsides of making such a big deal of your ridiculous dating guidelines is that millions of people now know the Duggar courtship rules by heart.

Not only are Duggars forbidden to engage in premarital sex, they’re not allowed to kiss or hold hands for a period of time exceeding 15 seconds.

In order to maintain full compliance with Michelle and Jim Bob’s rules, unmarried Duggar couples can’t even hug face-to-face lest their fully clothed genitals come into contact.

Fortunately for Joe and Kendra, their scenes were overshadowed by the news of Joy-Anna Duggar’s pregnancy.

Still, the fact that such a racy (by Duggar standards) scene was permitted to air is a sign that either Jim Bob is desperate for ratings, or he’s finally easing up on his beleaguered adult children.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell: The Newest Counting On Couple!

ReadMore…

Counting On Recap: Joe Duggar Cannot Wait to Bone Kendra Caldwell!

This week on Counting On, Kendra Caldwell headed to Kentucky to pick out her wedding dress in anticipation of her special day.

She and her husband-to-be were also focused on other aspects of tying the knot, though … specifically what comes after that.

Watch Counting On Season 6 Episode 3 Online

As Joseph Duggar and Kendra’s wedding day quickly approached on Counting On Season 6 Episode 3, the anticipation began to build.

Sexually. We’re talking about temptation.

Yes, the couple’s sexual desires were running ever so high as they geared up for their impending nuptials, but this is par for the course.

In this family, patience is a virtue.

Joe’s sister Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth, her husband, interestingly talked about getting through the challenges of waiting.

It was this couple that allegedly engaged in massive amounts of courtship rule-breaking and didn’t delay physical intimacy until marriage.

Of course, a lot of that speculation was just that – speculation. Talk of Joy-Anna having premarital sex made for great gossip, but that’s it.

The birth of Joy and Austin’s son Gideon did nothing to disprove her consistent claim that the couple got pregnant on their honeymoon.

In any case, Joe confessed to Austin that as he gets closer and closer to his wedding day, it’s impossible not to think about Kendra.

He means in a sexual manner.

“I spend the evenings with Kendra and then during the day I’m just working. It keeps me busy and not thinking about it,” Joe admitted.

The 23-year-old Joseph later added that “Joy and Austin have been a great example for us as far as relationships.”

“They say when you get closer to the wedding it’s always so much harder,” he said, and in his estimation, “it’s true.”

For her part, Kendra chimed in:

“You just start loving each other more and more and you just get excited about the wedding but I think having chaperones allows us not to fall.”

Joe spoke about the “physical boundaries” he and Kendra set, and they are strict … think side hugs and not a whole lot else.

“We’re not kissing before we get married, we’re just saving ourselves for each other,” he explained, and that’s not out of the ordinary.

The Duggars’ upbringing basically forbids all types of contact pre-engagement and marriage, even unsupervised alone time.

Of course, without a lot of practice beforehand, there’s going to be a learning curve of sorts after they do finally get married.

Not that he’s not up for the challenge.

Challenges and lessons don’t get much more entertaining than this one, and besides, his siblings seem to have figured it out.

Still, a Counting On producer continued to press them on the subject, probing for cringe-worthy details and asking awkwardly:

“What have you guys done to prepare yourselves for the physical side of marriage, as far as education on such things?” 

Joe’s response?

“At this point, we figure that we don’t have to educate ourselves completely … if we had questions we can ask people who we trust.”

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar & Kendra Caldwell Wedding: First Kiss (and More) Revealed!

“I know there’s a lot of books out there, a lot of things you can read,” he said, though it’s unclear what things he meant.

Given the family’s limits on media consumption (see below), we’d be interested to see the reading material in question.

It’s a moot point anyway.

“We don’t want to make it harder on ourselves thinking about all the things we can’t actually carry out,” Duggar added.

“Also, I think that in marriage, I think it’ll be fun understanding more as we go along and just learn together.”

View Slideshow: 21 Insane Things BANNED By the Duggar Family

Clearly it worked out in the end.

Soon after their wedding – VERY soon after their wedding – we learned that Kendra Caldwell is pregnant with their first child.

Who needs books anyway?!

ReadMore…

Kendra Caldwell: Pregnancy Struggles Revealed

When Joseph Duggar married Kendra Caldwell back in September, it was widely assumed the couple wouldn’t wait to start a family.

And sure enough, Kendra announced that she was pregnant with Joe’s baby just three months after tying the knot.

Kendra and Joe both seem genuinely excited about the prospect of becoming parents, and their marriage has thus far been free of the strife and controversy that’s marred previous Duggar unions.

But no relationship is entirely without hurdles, and it seems like Joe and Kendra were recently confronted with their first challenge.

Kendra is known as an optimistic, uncomplaining sort, but she recently opened up about some difficulties she experienced in the early days of her pregnancy.

In a recent TLC promo for the new season of Counting On, Kendra revealed that she experienced intense morning sickness during her first trimester.

“During my pregnancy, I’ve had a lot of morning sickness and I think it’s slowly subsiding. But other than that, it’s been good,” Kendra told the camera.

It’s the first we’ve heard from the couple, who initially seemed to be taking Joy-Anna Duggar’s lead and keeping a relatively low profile during Kendra’s pregnancy.

Of course, unlike Joy-Anna, Joe and Kendra haven’t been forced to contend with any “shotgun wedding” rumors.

But while they’ve laid low for most of the past three months, the newlyweds have been interacting with fans more than ever over the past few days.

Last week, Joe and Kendra revealed that they’re having a boy in a video that appeared on TLC’s website.

“I’m excited about all of the little outfits you can put on him and the little bowties,” Kendra said about the idea of raising a son.

“I think the thing that most excites me about having a son is that I’m going to be able to raise him up, teach him a lot of things that I do and I think that a lot of our interests will probably be similar,” Joe responded.

What’s a little morning sickness when you’ve got a future full of bowties and “similar interests” to look forward to?

Our sincere congrats go out to Joe and Kendra.

It’s looking like 2018 will be another year of aggressive expansion for the Duggar clan.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

View Slideshow: Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell: The Newest Counting On Couple!

ReadMore…