As the first born of ELEVEN children this has been the question of my life. Most people assume my parents are divorced and remarried. After all two people in this day and age couldn't possiably have ELEVEN children. Well my parents have been married going on 27 years this September, and yes we are all theirs. Yes they are also Catholics and Irish. No we have never been poor, and no we are not from some small town.

We are from a posh suburb of Chicago. Growing up in a large family often brought about many questions from those trying to figure us out. My mom has always been a stay at home mom, she even has time to bake! My father has always been in the car buisness, running his own company and taking care of all of us. Even now that a few of us have flown the coup our father is always trying to take the financial burden off of us. Our mother happily offers to watch her growing number of grandchildren, or asks you to all come to dinner. Which I might add dinner at moms makes my life as a busy mom a lot easier.

Funny though is I have been pregnant at the same time as my mom and my sister. My youngest sibling is the same age as my own children! It is great. My little boys love playing with their "uncle" even though he is three years old!

Learning how to share, how to deal with a crowd, and pitching in are big lessons one learns growing up in a big family. I must admit I wasn't nurvous bringing my first baby home, as I already knew what to do. I have never run out of people who love me. support me, or would give up their lives for me. I always know if my day is bad and my husbands out of town I can go over to my parents home and they still like me. I know one of my brothers will come over and do the heavy lifting or mow the lawn when I am 9 months pregnant for nothing more then a thank you. Once at mid-night, when my husband was out of town, I heard a noise. One phone call and I had three burly teenage boys rushing over to investigate! Of course the noise turned out to be the furnace and nothing threatning.

My husband and I have made the choice to have a large family as well. We want our children to have the same sense of belonging and family.

Learn more about this author, Danielle Wetenkamp.
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