"You have FOUR kids?"

Oh, this question and the look of shock we get never gets old, well sometimes it does. Yes, my husband Evan and I have four beautiful children. We call them our Bee Gee’s, because all their names start with the letter B. Another tale we end up telling everyone after they find out we have FOUR kids.

Our story may not be the typical get married, then start a family. My husband and I have chosen a better, more suitable route for our life. We started a family and then got married. Now this to some people is so frowned upon and I just can never get over why. This is our story, not yours. Let me share a little bit about how we grew such an amazing family in six short years!

We got pregnant with our daughter Blakely in March 2016. We were young (23 & 24), scared, and very surprised by this. But we were also overjoyed and in love with what was to come. We both worked day and night shifts, lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, and knew we had to do what we had to do to support our new growing family. We had Blakely in December 2016 and let me tell you the love we felt for that little girl was immeasurable! And there was the start of our family, OUR family. OUR story to tell and a beautiful one at that.

We knew that we wanted more than one kiddo, purely because I was an only child for 16 years and my husband had two brothers and one sister. We settled for the number two and felt happy about that. We wanted those two to be close in age, so we started trying when Blakely turned 1. Now this isn’t something women like to talk about because it’s more of a hush hush subject. I don’t think it needs to be.

I had two miscarriages trying to have another baby.

I have never felt so low in my entire life. To know you have lost a baby that you grew to love and cherish is completely heartbreaking at any stage of pregnancy. That was your baby, and you won’t ever get to meet him or her. I, to this day, still think about my precious angel babies. But once I got pregnant with our son Bentley, I knew my angel babies had sent me a rainbow. And for that I will be forever grateful. My heart goes out to all mommas who have experienced this themselves. Know you are not alone, and I am here for you.

Our son Bentley was born in May 2019. We were in love with the most perfect family that we created. Going from one to two is a HUGE difference, especially when you’re so attached to your first, it makes you wonder how you can ever love someone else just as much. You can though. I am telling you, the love you can share between your babies is huge! I have never loved more than I did when I experienced having two children of my very own. Also, seeing your significant other become the best parent to your babies is so attractive!

Then when Bentley was a short 9 months old, I knew something was off with my body. I took a pregnancy test and BINGO; I was pregnant with our third child. Now this was a huge surprise to us. We were not prepared for a third, and yes, we know how babies are made. I felt like I had messed up our perfect plan and to be honest I wasn’t happy about being pregnant. I let myself be unhappy for a couple days. But then I realized, this is MY baby in there. How on earth could I not love something that my wonderful body created? My attitude shifted, I was so ready to meet our newest addition and grow our family to a family of five! We heard a lot of talk about how we are so young, and we have so many kids and blah blah blah. Again, our story, not theirs. We had our third baby Brynn in September of 2020. Our little Covid baby! For all those mommas that have experienced a Covid birth, we did it! We protected our babies; we delivered a baby during Covid! That was not an easy time and I want you to know I am proud of you. Our little Brynn was the perfect missing piece to our family. We loved her with every ounce of our being just like we did the other two. But this time, we were REALLY done. I took measures into my own hands and got the oh so talked about Mirena IUD. This thing was made out to be so spectacular, so I was excited to get it!

Well, Mirena IUD, you failed me. I was that little percent they warn you about that gets pregnant on an IUD. Yay me! Fertile Mertle over here! The day I found out I was pregnant on my IUD; I was so worried. This wasn’t supposed to happen, why me out of all people? All the negative thoughts going on in my head and all the crying! So much crying! I rushed to the doctor, and they confirmed the pregnancy. Now, I have been down this road with a surprise pregnancy before (Ahem, Brynn) so I mentally let myself have a day to be upset about it. But I turned it around because I loved my new baby even if it meant the days and nights were going to get a little harder.

During this pregnancy we decided to make the big ole move to Minnesota! We were living in Kansas City. This move was a refreshing start for our family and now our new baby would be born in Minnesota just like her daddy! It was a touching moment that I will never forget. We had our daughter Blair, our grand finale in February 2022. When I tell you she was the grand finale, I mean it. We took care of business after her if you know what I mean. Blair was the perfect ending to our growing family. We love our little spit fire more than anything. Our family plan may have progressed a lot quicker than a lot of other plans that society puts in place for everyone, but our plan was perfect, and I couldn’t be happier with the life my husband and I have built for ourselves.

If you’re on the fence of having another baby, struggling with infertility or loss, or

if you’re pregnant and just need some wisdom that all is going to be ok, I am here for you momma. I have been through all the highs and the lows and no it wasn’t always great, but I made it and I am so dang proud of that.

In the end, I have created a family that I have always dreamed of having.