Today's Sheinelle Jones Admits She Had a Cabbage Patch Kids Doll on Her Bed Until She Got Married at 29

Marriage brought change to Sheinelle Jones' life in more ways than one!

The 3rd Hour of Today co-host stepped in for Jenna Bush Hager on Monday's Today with Hoda and Jenna, where she revealed that she had a Cabbage Patch Kids doll on her bed until she her husband Uche Ojeh said their "I dos."

"When I got married, I had Lily Debbie Allen — she’s my Cabbage Patch — on my bed. And grandma said I had to get rid of the Cabbage Patch," admitted Jones, 45.

Jones and Ojeh, who turns 44 on Feb. 4, marred in September 2007 after dating at Northwestern University in Chicago. Jones was 29 at the time.

She went on to tell Hoda Kotb that the doll was a constant in her life since childhood. "She’s always been with me!" said the Philadelphia native.

The topic of Jones' Cabbage Patch Kids doll came up as she and Kotb, 59, discussed people who baby talk in relationships.

"Why? Why are you doing that?" Jones asked, mimicking someone speaking in that voice.

Asked if she'd ever done that herself to her husband, Jones insisted "absolutely not."

"No!" she stressed, when pressed again. Jones then explained she doesn't even call Ojeh by anything other than his name, rejecting common affection nicknames like "honey," "babe," "bae" or even "boo."

"We’re trying to be better," she explained.

Another thing Jones and Ojeh don't do? Public displays of affection — or, in fact, any displays of affection around other people. "It drives everyone in my family crazy," Jones said.

In her defense, Jones said she didn't grow up around parents who did that. Kotb didn't think she did either, but that hasn't stopped her from making out in a furniture store with a guy she was dating. "Sometimes you’re just lost in the moment and you can’t believe that it’s happening," she confessed.

Jones couldn't relate to that, but did spill to there was on time she did kiss a guy in public — and it wasn't Ojeh. "I broke up with Uche in college and was like, ‘I don’t need him, ha ha,’ and we’re at some random place in Chicago...," she said, adding that when she made out with "some guy.'

As Jones has explained before, she and Ojeh were long distance relationship for eight years until he proposed (in the middle of a rainstorm) during a trip to their alma mater. The pair have three children together: Kayin, 14, and twins Uche and Clara, 11.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Today with Hoda and Jenna airs weekdays at 10 a.m. ET on NBC.