“Come heeere!” Kate Gosselin squeals giddily, as the tiny feet of a toddler scamper toward the spectacle du jour. “Is that your poopie right there? Oh my goodness. Sit there. I’m gonna go get the camera.”

 

It’s a day of intensive potty training at the Gosselin home and TV production crewmembers are there to capture what turned out to be an unexpected milestone. They’ve been documenting the daily happenings of this young family in Central Pennsylvania, which have included visiting the zoo, taking formal portraits, and in this smile-inducing episode, lauding little Alexis’ entrance into a diaper-free world.

It’s ordinary stuff that normally might not make for good TV, but as fans across the country know, this is no ordinary family.

 

Sitting side-by-side on a couch in the small set built into a corner of their basement, Kate and her husband Jon review the events of the day in an intimate, “Real World”-esque interview session. When prompted, Kate defends her eagerness for getting that “first poop” snapshot, citing what seems to be a household tradition: “I got Cara sitting by her potty. I got Leah and (now) Alexis. I’ve missed Hannah and Mady so far, but don’t worry — I’ll get all the boys.”  

 

Jon’s take? “I think it’s gross,” he scoffs.

 

Jon and Kate are the stars of TLC’s hit reality series “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” which provides an uncensored, barely scripted glimpse into their lives with eight children. Yes, there are eight Gosselin offspring. One set of 7-year-old twin girls and a set of sextuplets — three boys and three girls — who turn 4 on May 10. And with Jon being of Korean and French/Welsh descent (his mom is Korean), the clan is also probably the most recognizable multiracial Asian American family on prime time TV.

 

How they wound up with eight is summed up in the cheery introduction of every episode: “It all started with the two of us. Then we had our beautiful twin girls, Cara and Madelyn. We were so thrilled, we decided to try for just one more and ended up with six.” Now, viewers get to watch — in awe, in amusement, in pity — as this parental duo sets out to create a sense of order amid the never-ending chaos. From the look of things, they’re doing just fine.

KoreAm had the opportunity to chat with Jon and Kate separately over the phone (during naptime) about their romance, their views on family, and how they manage a very full house.

 

“Hold on. I’m trying to do Jell-O math,” says Kate in the middle of the interview. “OK. Sorry.”

 

Meet Kate. She’s known for her short blonde ’do, Type A personality and self-diagnosed “germaphobia.” The 33-year-old, stay-at-home supermom does up to five loads of laundry and rips through two rolls of paper towels each day.