Our Real Modern Family
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while now… I guess ever since we decided to bake up a couple of twins from scratch using borrowed eggs and my forty-seven- year-old oven. My daughter once called us the “Real Modern Family” – and you know, she’s right. I’m a Southern woman married to a half-Korean, half-Italian/Slovenian Yankee man twelve years my junior; I have two beautiful twenty-something daughters, an arthritic dappled dachshund and a morbidly obese cat. And now, after much thought and consideration — and then funding and injections, vaginal suppositories, and appointments — I have started motherhood all over again. This will be the story of us: our real modern family. Or maybe, more appropriately, our postmodern family. Postmodern, as in “radical reappraisal.” And our story is, indeed, a radical reappraisal of how to make and nurture a family.
Many things have changed since that summer almost three years ago when we began our in-vitro journey… I will do my best to record current happenings, as well as flashbacks to those glory days of post-modern fertilization, pregnancy pillows, and preeclampsia. I’m hoping our story will be an inspiration to those battling the frustrations of infertility, to those navigating the beautiful and rugged territory of twindom, and to those who decide to either start a family or do it all over again at a rather ripe age.
Even as I try to type this, I question why I’m doing it. I have nothing special to say. I’m nothing special. I nearly stop before I’ve begun, but then I think… I’m nothing special, true… but I do have something different to offer. I can’t imagine there are too many forty-nine year olds out there lactating. Not too many women out there with twenty-three years difference between their last baby girl and their most recent baby boys, not too many women who, as my father says, “ran the engine and the caboose when it comes to supplying grandchildren.” Not too many women out there who just suffered through a sixteen-month stint of extreme sleep deprivation. If nothing else, I can be a freak show for people to point at and ridicule. Still, I hope I can inspire a few to give postmodern family planning a go.
June 6, 2016 at 5:26 pm
Can’t wait to learn more about this journey … You are a pretty special person with an amazing heart and you will absolutely help others by opening up about ‘the new norm’ when it comes to all different types of how families are grown!
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June 9, 2016 at 1:29 pm
Thanks, Molly. You are a pretty special person yourself. I’m so glad you’re in our lives. You have such a special place in Mike’s heart, and by extension, in mine. We love you!
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June 6, 2016 at 9:12 pm
Love this! You go girl and what a beautiful story you have to offer. Many will be blessed.
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June 9, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Thank you, dearest cousin. I truly believe your special prayer helped bring these little guys into our lives. We are truly blessed. Our family is the greatest.
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June 8, 2016 at 11:20 am
I’m so glad you’re writing this! Beautiful first post, looking forward to more! ❤️
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June 9, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Thank you so very much.
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June 8, 2016 at 11:54 am
Super excited that you are doing this. I love your little family and can’t wait to hear your story. Since having Reese, we’ve struggled with infertility. We’ve been trying about 9 months and numerous doctor visits and crazy nutritional diets all in the hopes of something working. Thanks for the blog post and inspiration. Love ya!
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June 9, 2016 at 1:31 pm
Thanks, Brittany. I’m praying for you as y’all go through this latest journey.
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June 15, 2016 at 6:02 am
My brother chose well. Your family looks like magic from where I’m sitting. Can’t wait to learn more about you guys. So pleased to see that Tate is already showing a healthy appreciation for the absurd! 🙂
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June 15, 2016 at 12:52 pm
We are crazy magic — we love the absurd and we love the quirky. We also love each other. And we love you. Thanks for reading. And we can’t wait to see you in August!!!!
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