First Impressions….
At first glance, most people think I am a 16-18 year old and when I tell them I have 5 kids…those shocked faces get even bigger! It makes me giggle. Now here is to the real me.
Welcome to my blog! Hey Y’all!!
I’m Anna!
I got married on September 26, 2015 to the love of my life, Jacob! This year will be 10 years of marriage! 
We have 5 beautiful children pictured above. Taylor is the oldest and is 8. Belva is the second born and only little girl, and believe me she lets you know it! She is 5 years old. Maverick is the third and he is 3 years old. Last but not least, we have our sweet twins, Walker and Wyatt, who are 18 months old. With 5 kids comes so many memories, a lot of laughs, and crying, and the CHAOS is ENDLESS but so is the LOVE and CARE we have! Along with every day life of 5 kids who have school, and activities, and then trying to keep all the schedules straight, have come other bumps in the road that we weren’t expecting and prepared for. Disorders, Special Needs, lots of therapies, lots of doctors, medical equipment and so much more. All of this hit us head on when I went into labor at 28 weeks with our twins due to COVID and a uterine infection. September 2023 brought us 2lb identical baby boys that we would soon find out have special needs and a lot of medical disorders. Both boys have lungs issues, and are fully dependent on a feeding tube. They have been diagnosed with hypotonic cerebral palsy, and are currently undergoing testing for muscular dystrophy. Life has changed drastically for all of us in the family. It’s taken adjustment for everyone in the family including the three older kids. Through all the tears, questions and unknowns though, I wouldn’t change it for the world!
Before having the twins, I was a registered nurse. I had worked since 2018 as nurse on a stroke and orthopedics floor in our local hospital until 2022, when I felt God was calling me to take my nursing career in a different directions. In 2022, I went from working in the hospital to working for a hospice company, assessing patients for need for hospice and teaching them all about what it truly is! I loved every minute of it. I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do. In March of 2023, I started having some heart issues with getting too hot and passing out easily. Except what I wasn’t expecting is to be told that the heart issues were coming because I was not eating or drinking enough being 10 weeks pregnant with twins! Fast forward to September 2023, when the boys came at 28 weeks. They spent 70 days in the NICU, after coming home, I went back to work in January 2024. I never realized that 11 work days later, I would be going back out on leave to be a stay at home mom to our medically complex special needs twin boys! In April 2024, I was told I had no more leave time and would have to resign or be terminated. I chose to resign from my position due to needing to be the full time caregiver for my boys!
Here we are a year later, finally sitting on our own when sat up, still feeding tube dependent, still staying home as a full time caregiver and mom, but THRIVING! The last year has taught me so much about myself, my husband, my kids and the village that has stepped up and helped us through it all. I have been pushed to my limits so many times this last year. I have cried so many tears and also had so many celebrations and laughs. I have learned to advocate more for what I believe in and to fight for those that aren’t heard! I have learned to ask for help and find people who understand that makes it not feel as lonely of a place. This has lead me to learning about specials needs and different disorders. I have seen that there are so many moms and caregivers out there who don’t have anyone who understands them or to talk too, moms that are fighting hard for their children and the doctors won’t listen, moms that don’t know what to fight for or where to start. There are moms that don’t ask questions and don’t talk to others and start keeping to themselves causing more loneliness and depression. Seeing these moms and the need for help and education on special needs, but also experiencing the ups and downs of having special needs children, having older ones without special needs, and living life with them all, I wanted to start a blog so that other moms, caregivers, families could read and relate too. Somewhere to get information on special needs and see how it has changed our life, but also I hope this helps other moms not feel so alone in this. I want to encourage others that yes life may not be perfect, but it is what you make it. I also want people to see the honesty and truth behind just everyday life with 5 kids and lots of medical needs! I hope to encourage people that no matter what God has you going through, He will bring you through it!! I truly hope that this will help someone in life, no matter how it helps them exactly!
Life is hard, but if we stick together, Love and Care for each other, the Chaos is nothing to handle!