My Life

Hey everyone! I have been getting a lot of questions about my childhood and my life before I started this blog, so I decided to make a post about it!

I was born August 16th, 1975. My 39th birthday was actually yesterday! I was born in Orlando, Florida. I was the second kid in the family, my sister Amanda was 4 when I was born. I loved having a big sister and have amazing memories with her when we were kids! When I was 5, my mom and dad told Amanda and I that they were expecting another baby! We were so excited and I remember the first time seeing my baby sister, Allysa, in the nursery. Sadly, she passed away a few days after she was born due to heart and lung failure. None of the doctors saw it coming, and our family was devastated. A few years later, when I was 8, my parents tried again and had my twin brothers, Alex and Tyler! We were all so happy and I loved playing with my baby brothers.
As a child, I went to a public elementary school. I remember absolutely loving elementary school. I had a lot of friends until the middle school, when I was made fun of because of the way I looked. I was never the skinniest girl, but I was in no way overweight. I was bullied and it led to an eating disorder. I overcame it before it got terrible, but it was hard to deal with without friends. I finally made some friends who didn't care how I looked, and they are still my best friends today! Then, in high school Iwent through a tough time when I was taken advantage of by my friend, Jeremy. I was only a freshman and it traumatized me and I wouldn't have been able to get through it without my 2 best friends, Jess and Sophie. They always stuck with me! Then, my sophomore year, I met Jeff and we fell in love. He was just a few months older than me, and we had so much in common. He was so kind to me after what I had been through. I had a great high school experience with him as my boyfriend! I was on the school yearbook committee for 3 years, and I also played tennis all 4 years! Overall, I had so much fun in high school.

Jeff and I got married after my first year of college. I was 19 and so was he. It was August 16th, on my 19th birthday! Now, 20 years later, we are still such a happy couple! We had an amazing college experience, we went to the same college and roomed together after we got married. When I graduated, we decided to try for a baby. It took us 8 months to get a positive pregnancy result, and we were so happy! We were both out of college and had jobs and were financially stable. Sadly, 13 weeks in at my ultrasound we found out that my baby had no heartbeat. We were so upset. After I was recovered physically and emotionally, we were trying again. We spent a year trying to get pregnant, and nothing happened. We had a visit with a fertility clinic and I was deemed infertile. With the news in hand, Jeff and I decided to adopt. Within a few months, we adopted Adrian. She was 3 and had come from an unstable home and we were so excited to be parents! We loved Adrian so much and a few months later we got a call from the adoption agency, letting us know that Adrian's biological mother was expecting a baby and didn't want her. We, of course, agreed to adopting the baby. We were able to take home Braylie when she was 4 days old. I loved having a baby in the family, and Adrian loved playing with Braylie! Some of the best days of my life were with baby Braylie and Adrian.

When Braylie was 4, I found out that I was pregnant! I was so completely surprised, because I thought I was infertile. Apparently, my doctor had made a mistake. I had a very hard pregnancy, and it made me never want to be pregnant again. I had morning sickness 24/7 and developed preeclampsia. I had Gage 8 weeks early because I went into pre-term labor and had an emergency c-section. Gage was in the NICU and it was completely awful. I visited him every day but wanted him home with me so badly. When he was 7 weeks old, we took him home for the first time. He was so tiny, but he was a beautiful baby boy. I loved having a boy, and wanted another one to even out our family. We adopted Jamie 4 years later. The adoption agency contacted us and we couldn't say no! Jamie was the sweetest, easiest baby I ever had. He was so easy, but adorable! A few years later, I was late and took a pregnancy test. I was pregnant! At our 8 week ultrasound, we found out that it was twins! Jeff and I were thrilled, we always wanted 6 kids! My pregnancy with the twins was much easier compared to my pregnancy with Gage. I still had a c-section, which I didn't like, but I'm just glad that they got here safe! Now, I love my life, and I wouldn't change it for the world! Jeff and I feel like our family is complete, and we love it just the way it is :)