Remember in January 2009 when Nadya Suleman, aka Octomom, caught the attention of the world because of the extraordinarily large number of babies she carried in one pregnancy (she was pregnant with eight!)? As a matter of fact, it was, in many ways, a record-breaking pregnancy and many were surprised by the methods she and her doctor employed to make her pregnant, with some criticizing her and others adoring her. One thing is certain, though – America couldn’t help but watch Nadya Suleman and her growing family. Keep reading to see what Octomom and her family are busy with these days.
Octomom- What Are She And Her 14 Kids Up To Now?
Dreams Of A Big Family
It was always Nadya Suleman’s dream to have a big family as she was an only child (she has immigrant parents – her father is from Iraq and her mother from Lithuania) and she really wanted an emotional attachment to others. Nadya’s biggest dream was to start her own family one day and develop really deep connections with her children. She had no idea that in her journey for a large and happy family, her life would be flipped upside down by something completely unexpected. It was something nobody could possibly foresee – something that would be miraculous and contentious.
Dreams Of A Big Family
The Road To Becoming A Mother
Nadya Suleman’s quest toward motherhood started as soon as the arrival of adulthood at her doorstep. Not long after she finished high school (she was raised and went to school in southern California), despite the fact that she was single, she set out on her journey to starting a family. Even though she also had plans to attend college like many others who were her age, for Nadya, becoming a mother was of utmost importance. However, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because the young and (some people would argue) naïve Nadya got what she wanted – in a big way – but her method of acquiring it would end up baffling the world.
The Road To Becoming A Mother
First Love
During her early twenties, Nadya Suleman met Marcos Gutierrez, a produce manager. Gutierrez must have been quite a charming produce manager since Nadya felt an instant yet deep and meaningful connection with him, and the two fell madly in love. Needless to say, from the start, Nadya specifically told him that having children was the most important thing for her and it didn’t appear as if it were an issue in the beginning, because Gutierrez also wanted to become a father to their children. Nadya had no idea that there wasn’t the slightest chance she and Gutierrez would have their own children together.
First Love
A High-Risk Job
In the same year she married Marcos Gutierrez, Nadya Suleman earned a license as a psychiatric technician from Mt. San Antonio College and she started working at Metropolitan State Hospital, a psychiatric facility located in Norwalk, California. Even though working with patients who are mentally troubled is rewarding, it is nowhere near simple and it was as strenuous as it sounds. Despite the fact that family life was her primary purpose, she always planned to have a meaningful career as well. Unfortunately, there was an incident at that facility, which became a harrowing experience for Nadya and resulted in her life becoming a roller-coaster ride.
A High-Risk Job
Right In The Middle
On September 18, 1999, a really bad incident occurred in the psychiatric facility where Nadya Suleman worked, and she was caught in the middle of everything. Because of some patients, a riot broke out and Nadya, being quite dutiful, intervened but during the chaos, a female patient flipped over some wooden desk which landed on Nadya’s back. As a result, she suffered a herniated disc, so she reported her injury and filed a claim, which earned her $170,000 in workers’ compensation benefits. Even though the money helped Nadya get by for some time, as you will soon find out, the injury was actually the last thing that concerned her at the time.
Right In The Middle
A Dream On Hold
Her work-induced injury affected Nadya Suleman’s ability to work as well as caused her a massive amount of physical pain and distress. Even though the compensation she got helped her in getting by, there was a burning issue at hand – Nadya was struggling with a difficult thing which threatened her legacy. Despite her and her husband’s efforts in fulfilling Nadya’s dream of growing their family (they had been married for three years at the time), somehow things simply didn’t work out. They tried to get pregnant many times, but nothing happened, so they decided to see a doctor and find out the reason behind this.
A Dream On Hold
Unfortunate News
After visiting many doctors, Nadya Suleman and Marcos Gutierrez got tips on what to do to better conceive and since they were set on having a child, the pair took all the necessary steps, just as they were instructed by various doctors. Despite doing all of that, the two still didn’t have any luck and Nadya’s morale started to go down due to the constant failure. The whole thing was really frustrating for Nadya and she became depressed but eventually, the hard truth was revealed to them. The two weren’t doing anything wrong, but Gutierrez was actually sterile and when they realized that the conventional way wouldn’t work, the two started to discuss various options.
Unfortunate News
The Final Straw
Nadya Suleman pressed her husband about the issue since she very much wanted to have children, and if they couldn’t have any kids employing the traditional method, then they’d have to find an alternative– at least, that was Nadya’s opinion. However, her husband didn’t quite agree and their different views on the matter was beginning to drive a wedge between them. The final straw for Marcos was when Nadya suggested in vitro fertilization (IVF), which is a procedure where an egg cell is fertilized by a sperm cell outside of the body, most often in a test tube. Marcos warned that if Nadya went through with it, he would surely leave her.
The Final Straw
Nothing Is Free
Even though in vitro fertilization isn’t really a complicated process and it is becoming increasingly popular, the method doesn’t have a success rate of 100 percent. Another reason the general public hasn’t widely adopted it is the particularly hefty price tag the operation comes with, but none of these fazed Nadya Suleman, who had gotten tired of failure. It is usually recommended by medical experts to include more than one egg during IVF since some of the eggs sometimes don’t succeed in the fertilization process. This means that there was another risk involved in the procedure and one which would turn out to be particularly relevant to the case of Nadya Suleman.
Nothing Is Free
A Risk Worth Taking
There was one other factor that Nadya Suleman had to consider before going through with IVF and it was one that could completely change her life. Since multiple eggs are placed in the woman’s uterus, it is possible that not just one egg will make it during the fertilization process, which means the mother may give birth to multiple babies. The prospect didn’t faze Nadya one bit since it seemed that her motto was “the more, the merrier.” Some people might argue that she should have been at least a bit scared of the possibility of raising multiple children but at this point, Nadya didn’t have any idea about what was to come.
A Risk Worth Taking
Welcoming Her First Child
The possibility of having multiple pregnancies isn’t always thought of as a risk – for example, it can be quite a useful tool for a person who wants to have twins or triplets. Nadya wasn’t really expecting anything of the sort, but her IVF procedure’s results were surely astonishing and they led Nadya down a rabbit hole, where she struggled to escape. It was a successful procedure and in the year 2001, Nadya gave birth to her first child, a cute baby boy named Elijah. At long last, after many years of struggle, Nadya’s dream became a reality and she had become a mother, but she didn’t stop there.
Welcoming Her First Child
Not Enough Children
One year after she gave birth to her first child, Nadya Suleman welcomed her daughter Amerah into the world. The IVF worked really well, but Nadya’s desire to have babies wasn’t satisfied yet. Her experience with IVF was so positive that, after some amount of time passed, she made a decision to carry on with the treatments, eventually having fraternal twins plus two more children, which means she is now a mother of six! Now, for a lot of people in different countries, six children is actually more than enough – with emphasis on “more than.” However, somehow even then, she still felt that she would like to have more children, and what she did next baffled millions.
Not Enough Children
An Extremely Difficult Decision
Nadya Suleman was left with an extremely difficult decision to make – she loved her husband but she also dreamed of having kids all her life. She considered staying with her husband, even if there was a risk that she would never have the type of family that she dreamed of, but in the end, she decided to go with her calling instead. It was really difficult, but Nadya broke off the relationship with her former husband Marcos Gutierrez.
An Extremely Difficult Decision
A Decision That Shattered The Ceiling
In 2008, Nadya Suleman did something that transformed her from being a single mom of six to a national celebrity. She felt that her six existing children weren’t enough, so she went to the doctor that had overseen all the IVF procedures she went through, Dr. Michael Kamrava, and asked for one more IVF treatment. Actually, Nadya still had six eggs that were left over from the last treatment which were frozen, and since she is staunchly pro-life, she said she didn’t want the eggs to be wasted. For her, it was important that they were used, so she told Dr. Kamrava to implant them into her all at once!
A Decision That Shattered The Ceiling
More Babies?
According to Dr. Michael Kamrava, he hesitated to comply in the beginning, but he ended up implanting all the six leftover eggs because of Nadya Suleman’s request. She was persistent and adamant since she didn’t want the embryos to be wasted under any circumstances, despite the fact that she might have multiple babies. However, the part of this story that a lot found most baffling is that Kamrava took a step further and injected twelve eggs in total, even if the recommended maximum is only two. It was a really radical move, which was very likely to have unparalleled consequences, but Nadya was ready to face them.
More Babies?
Pregnant With Eight
When Dr. Michael Kamrava implanted such a large number of embryos, his action was actually unprecedented and a significant departure from the standard practice in the medical community, but Nadya Suleman didn’t have any regret about it. While others would be really scared, she was actually excited and since eight of the embryos stuck, Nadya ended up pregnant with eight babies at once. However, there’s a difference between what someone desires and what the person is actually capable of handling and that became the central question. Would Nadya Suleman be physically able to have eight babies at the same time, after having given birth six times before?
Pregnant With Eight
Dubbed ‘Octomom’
Nadya Suleman’s strenuous nine months of pregnancy definitely affected her body since eight babies at the same time is obviously much more than a typical woman can handle. As expected, the story reached the media rather quickly, and Nadya turned into a viral sensation, earning her the nickname, “Octomom.” Even though some people may think that the pregnancy of a Californian single mother doesn’t seem newsworthy, there was a reason behind Octomom’s notoriety. Her pregnancy turned out to be record-breaking and carried implications for the future – some of which weren’t so positive.
Dubbed ‘Octomom’
Gave Birth Successfully
Soon enough, the fateful moment arrived for Nadya Suleman and when the time came for her to actually deliver, her pregnancy proved to be healthy and all her eight babies were born safely. Nadya must have felt quite relieved. The entire world watched as this particularly impressive thing happened, since it was the first time ever that all octuplets were born alive and not one passed away within a week of their birth. Nadya was extremely happy to hold all of her eight little angels and really excited to introduce the babies to their six older siblings, but to the rest of the world, there were questions which loomed large.
Gave Birth Successfully
Getting A Ton Of Attention
Nadya Suleman’s amazing story captivated the watching world, especially the medical community, and soon after she had her eight adorable babies, many doctors from all over tried to have a piece of her. Dr. Kamrava walking Nadya through IVF wasn’t common knowledge yet, and there was great interest in the fact that the body of a woman had been physically capable of managing quite an onerous pregnancy. Questions like ‘How could she successfully have eight babies at once?’ or ‘How did she succeed in doing the impossible?’ abounded, and researchers dug deeper into how Nadya Suleman’s case began. They wanted to know how it was physically possible for one woman to have so many babies.
Getting A Ton Of Attention
The Media Hype
By the time she gave birth to the octuplets, Nadya Suleman had already become a media sensation as newspapers, news channels and websites reported on her uncommon pregnancy. The whole country recognized her face and everyone knew her nickname: Octomom (though some didn’t know her real name). Her plan was to try and control the story and capitalize on the attention as she wanted to make sure that she’s shown in a good light, considering all of her toil and sweat. Soon after she recovered from giving birth, she hired a team to handle public relations in order to spread her story but not lose control of it, which turned out to be more difficult than she’d expected.
The Media Hype
A Persona That Is All-Consuming
They say that fame changes people – even if they don’t like it – and in Nadya Suleman’s case, the media attention didn’t really let up. Nadya’s critics argue that she wanted the spotlight on her from the start – that it’s her reason for having all her children – but Nadya needed to balance her Octomom persona and raising her 14 kids all the same. Over time, however, her persona started to consume her and her pregnancy itself turned into a controversy, as some Californians assailed her, saying that she embodied irresponsibility, taxpayer waste and basically everything that was wrong with modern American society. Nadya even received threats but still, there were others who adored her and her kids.
A Persona That Is All-Consuming
Beginning To Feel Worried
Actually, the media circus began getting out of control once it started – it was very different from her goal at first which was to control the coverage. Nadia Suleman didn’t succeed in controlling the narrative, so she decided to take some drastic measures in order to make her side of the story known to the public and she opened up about the struggles she was facing. When People magazine interviewed her, Nadia Suleman talked about the caricature the public had of her, “I don’t get much sleep, about two or three hours a night.” She added, “But I’m continuing to move forward with my life and trying to be the best mother I can be,” yet her apparent embrace of the attention she was receiving from the media led many to be skeptical about Octomom.
Beginning To Feel Worried
The Low Point
Even years after she gave birth, Nadya Suleman remained the subject of major interest and America just couldn’t get enough of her and her kids despite how loud her critics got. However, the spotlight was actually beginning to bring her down to the point that it diminished her ability to bring up her children. According to several reports, Octomom was at a low point in life, was struggling to raise her 14 kids, and couldn’t help but accept welfare. It appeared as if she was against the world and even with all of her children, Nadya felt all alone but unfortunately, soon enough, she faced a challenge which government assistance couldn’t really solve.
The Low Point
Problems At Home
Throughout the national scrutiny and relentless media coverage, rumors began to spread that Nadya Suleman was mistreating her kids since she was, after all, a single mother and couldn’t possibly raise all her kids by herself. Child Protective Services even got alerted and looked into whether Nadya was actually neglecting her kids. When they investigated her property, they found out that the rumors which had been circulating were not true and said her home was perfectly suitable for the children. Unfortunately for Nadya, someone else who held the power to transform her life strongly disagreed with their claim.
Problems At Home
Notice Of Eviction
Just because Child Protective Services found her home perfectly suitable didn’t mean everyone thought so too – her landlord, for example, disagreed. He apparently accused her of not complying with the terms of her lease. He discussed Nadya Suleman’s living situation with the media and in the end, evicted her. Throughout her life, she aspired to become a good mother, but now Nadya was about to become homeless and she couldn’t allow that to happen, so Octomom had no choice but take desperate measures to make sure that she and her family would have a home.
Notice Of Eviction
Acting Fast
Nadya Suleman soon found out that her landlord could not be convinced: she and her children needed to get out and she needed to find a new place for her many children to live! Even though the media may have caricatured Nadya, in her personal life she was actually a loving mother. The problem was that Suleman’s money simply wasn’t enough (she was in dire need of some), so she ended up going into the film world and trying her luck there. She also dove into some other business ventures, including a music career that was short-lived, but was it any help?
Acting Fast
Making A Fresh Start
The spotlight’s pressures definitely got to Nadya Suleman, but when she eventually recognized that, she made a decision to depart from the limelight. The caricature that she became was very different from the real her and she couldn’t recognize herself anymore. So, she decided to make changes in order to become a better mother to her kids and lead a happier life. As Nadya Suleman made the changes, she was able to impressively turn her life around and the first thing she actually changed was her first name, from Nadya to Natalie, a symbolic move. After that, she finished her degree in college and started her part time job as a therapist for families, but what about the children, you ask?
Making A Fresh Start
The Children Today
Nadya Suleman’s octuplets are 9 years old now and doing quite well – particularly when it comes to food, as all of them have a strictly vegan diet and appear to be really loving it, which is surely not easy to do as kids constantly dream of candy and chocolate milk. The children’s mother, who now goes by the name Natalie Suleman, has said that she doesn’t hide anything about her journey from her children because she believes being a straightforward parent is healthy. According to her, everything that she has done from when she entered quasi-celebrity status, even if some might think of it as bizarre, was for her children’s sake. She believes that this lifestyle is essential in making sure a household is healthy and she shares that with their followers on Instagram, an account which she created and called the Solomon Family.
The Children Today
An Angel With A Message
Now in her early forties, Natalie Suleman has been able to get her life back on track plus she has ditched her questionable jobs, something that she attributes to a meeting she had with a “guardian angel” whom she got the strength from to move forward, ultimately leaving her “seedy” life in the past. As she told different news outlets, when Natalie was working in the movie industry in February 2013, she saw a really tall man come into the Florida club where she was. “He walked straight to me and looked straight into my eyes. He took my hand and grabbed my arm and said in a very gentle, but firm way: ‘You don’t have to do this.’ He repeated it several times.” This moment was the turning point for Natalie Suleman and she said, “I knew I had to be my healthy self again.”
n Angel With A Message
Looking Back
Because of her major life overhaul back in 2013, Natalie Suleman has admitted that having brought a lot of kids into the world despite not thinking things through carefully had been very “foolish, immature and selfish” of her. Even though she admits she didn’t really reflect on the potential consequences during that time, in saying that, Natalie doesn’t regret it one bit. In addition to this honest confession, Natalie is concentrating on taking care of her children and they are her biggest priority, which means she isn’t really interested in finding love and she feels content leading a lifestyle of celibacy for the moment. Through her pages on different social media platforms, she is able to show how much change she has gone through and what is making her family busy at the moment — including the wonderful values she instills in all of her 14 kids.
Looking Back
Leading A Modest Life
Raising 14 children alone is definitely not a walk in the park, but Natalie Suleman seems to be handling it all quite well in the family’s two bedroom apartment, living on food stamps and from paycheck to paycheck, and she has even changed her office into another bedroom to make the apartment a three-bedroom. Natalie told Daily Mail she feels “at peace” now after enduring the hardships of raising so many children on her own, and she also feels at peace whenever she shares her controversial story with women, hoping that she inspires them to wisely decide for themselves and their kids. What’s more, “Octomom” is not something Natalie likes to be referred to any longer because she feels the persona nearly destroyed her as well as her family life. “I didn’t want to live. I felt less than human as that character I was pretending to be, to survive and provide for my family.”
Leading A Modest Life
Becoming A Mom The Kids Can Be Proud Of
Raising 14 kids, Natalie Suleman is definitely in a better place now as she enjoys quality time with the youngest children, her octuplets Isaiah, Jonah, Josiah, Makai, Maliyah, Nariyah, Noah, and Jeremiah. Natalie hopes that all of her children are proud of their mom and the woman that she has become and she wants them to forget her “Octomom” persona which she adopted for many years. She bemoaned to Daily Mail, “I was forced into doing things I didn’t want to do because I was so terrified I couldn’t support them and give them the life they deserved.” After Natalie Suleman overcame the trials and tribulations of raising 14 kids as a single mother and making ends meet, she is now really happy and enjoys all the little moments she has with her vegan octuplets who are nine years old and her six older children from her other rounds of IVF: 11-year old twins Caleb and Calyssa, Aiden (12), Joshua (14), Amerah (16), and Elijah (17) — whom she calls “omnivores.”
Becoming A Mom The Kids Can Be Proud Of
Like Any Normal Family
Natalie Suleman moved her family back to Laguna, Orange County, where she grew up, so that she could provide them a stable upbringing but she has no social life because all of her time is spent on being a mother who is very hands-on and tries to get to know each of her children very well. “They fight, play, fight and play again like any normal family,” she told Daily Mail and she said some of her children keep to themselves and are shy taking after her, whereas others are outgoing. Even though Aiden is autistic, this challenge doesn’t put his siblings off from caring for him at all times and as a matter of fact, Makai and Aiden have a remarkably strong bond. All of her 14 children know that the home life they have is quite different from the average household in America but Natalie teaches them that being different is okay and there is nothing wrong with it.
Like Any Normal Family
Lessons For The Holiday Season
In spite of having to endure a lot of hardships, Natalie Suleman and her children are one happy family and she teaches each kid good virtues and values by giving each child only one present for Christmas as well as other holiday seasons. She told US Weekly, “I’m focusing on raising the kids to focus on serving other people, to get out of their own head.” Natalie believes that when her kids get just one Christmas present, it teaches them to value things, even the little ones, and it teaches them they should earn things and not just expect gifts. Aside from that, Natalie Suleman needs to keep things quite simple during Christmas with the financial situation she is in now, but she still feels blessed that her kids are extraordinary.
Lessons For The Holiday Season
Children And Schooling
When Natalie Suleman needs to send all of her children off to school, especially during the first week, it’s highly likely way more stressful than when one or two children are sent. The 43-year-old went on social media and shared a photo of her octuplets just before the start of the school day, showing off their smiles and carrying their satchels, with this as the caption: “Any other parents exceptionally stressed and overwhelmed by the first week back to school?” She calls herself the “official bus driver” since she drops off and picks up so many children from school and she spends most of the day doing this. In addition, she joked that the six older kids didn’t want to pose for a photo for the first day of school even if she begged them but luckily, they smile for the camera in other milestone events and just for everyday family moments.
Children And Schooling
Ways To Cope
Being a mom to 14 children, especially if most of them are quite young, is definitely no mean feat, and dealing with all the stress and pressure, Natalie Suleman likes sharing one of her coping mechanisms, which is setting aside one hour or two to go to the gym and work out. She posted a picture of herself on Instagram with the caption, “I would like to share how I cope with inordinate stress, after being asked how I stay sane lol.” She added that one way she channels her stress has always been through exercise. “The stress literally drips off of me, as I’m drenched in the end. Being physical has significantly helped me cope with so many challenges I’ve struggled with throughout my life,” she said.
Ways To Cope
Bonding With The Girls
Even though Natalie Suleman is a strict mother, that doesn’t mean she’s not fun either. One pastime she really likes is spending time with her daughters enjoying a spa night in and documenting all the fun that they have trying out new skin care products and face masks. Since Natalie has 14 kids, she tries her best to give all of her kids love and attention in equal amounts, so whether it’s a girls’ night in or spending time with her sons watching a scary film, she is down for all of that. Her children come first, and Natalie is proud to show that to the world.
Bonding With The Girls
Chatting With Dr. Oz
In May 2018, The Dr. Oz Show invited Natalie Suleman to come on the show and share the story about why she made a decision to have in vitro fertilization and how she was implanted with 12 fertilized embryos. In addition, Natalie discussed the evolution she had, from Nadya and being “Octomom” to the healthy and happy dedicated mom she now is. Natalie opened up about the transformation she went through and her self-made journey from being a desperate single mother to now happily raising her 14 children, whom she dubbed the Solomon family and posts about on all the social media pages she has. She also grabbed the chance to talk about her new YouTube channel which she launched together with her kids.
Chatting With Dr. Oz
A Game Of Chance
If you’ve ever thought about why you and your siblings don’t look alike, that’s because of genetics, which are quite fascinating yet pretty tricky – more like a game of chance as some would say. Also, if you have 14 children, the chances are high when it comes to your genes being passed on to your progeny and Natalie Suleman calls it dichotomous genes and her diverse family. She simply adores all of her kids and she feels blessed that each of them inherited different genes and look unique. The best thing is that Nariyah and Noah, these two kiddos here, are two of Natalie’s octuplets.
A Game Of Chance
Living Healthy
Natalie Suleman’s set of eight are raw vegans, love leading a healthy life, and are even super down for participating in marathons. In this picture, you can see Natalie’s octuplets after they completed the Russ Miller Memorial 5k Run in February of 2018. The children love taking part in worthy causes that raise money for remarkable initiatives and Natalie aims to instill these key virtues and values in her children from an early age, which she appears to be doing an awesome job at. All the kids look happy after they finished the race hand-in-hand, which just makes the fans of Natalie even happier.
Living Healthy
Hardworking Kiddos
When they aren’t participating in races to raise awareness and money for important causes, the octuplets work tirelessly on the other projects they have for school. The children had received instructions to make a poster of their heroes and they created projects that looked very creative but the photograph’s best part is probably Caleb’s photo-bomb. Even though Natalie Suleman doesn’t like showing off the things her talented children do, her fans like seeing what they are up to, so Natalie shares these moments and also to prove that raising 14 happy kids is something anyone can do if he or she just puts his or mind to it. Her kids clearly appreciate her dedication as what you can see in what they made for her.
Hardworking Kiddos
Putting It On Paper
For Natalie Suleman, everything is worth it because of the love that her kids give her on a daily basis and on special occasions like Mother’s Day, as what you can see in this photo of the handmade gifts and special cards she got from her children – little things which make her feel really blessed. Actually, Natalie has been inspired to author a book about her 12-year-old son Aiden (who thinks like an 18-month-old and is non-verbal and still in diapers) and the challenges of raising a child with Autism and 13 other healthy children. She is open with her kids about autism and enjoys teaching them about the condition, so she hopes to have the book published so that she can share with others what challenges she faced. “It’s a story that needs to be told and I think it will encourage a lot of women to draw up strength they didn’t know they had,” she said to Daily Mail.
Putting It On Paper
The Girls In The Family
Four of the 14 children that Natalie Suleman has are girls. She absolutely loves bonding with all of her girls and she loves it when the girls spend time together in spite of their age differences, as Amerah is 16, Calyssa is 11, and Nariyah and Maliah are nine years old. This photo was taken during Amerah’s birthday celebration and this moment is really picture perfect, with the astounding resemblance between the Solomon family ladies clearly showing. Natalie tries her best to instill girl time and boy every week, but what she loves the most is when all of her children hang out, which is not always possible.
The Girls In The Family
Traditions In The Family
Natalie Suleman holds family traditions very dear to her heart, so she always tries to keep them, which means Saturday family night is taken really seriously in the Suleman household. Natalie and her children created this tradition and they dubbed it “Family Fun Night.” Every week, the family dedicates Saturday night to spending quality time together playing board games, conducting stimulating and educational discussions, or watching documentaries and scary movies, and some of the family’s favorite activities are playing chess and watching The Shining. The older four children “cringe” at the family tradition now that they’re teenagers and usually hang out with their friends, but as it stands, Natalie’s 10 other children love the fun nights with the fam.
Traditions In The Family
Embracing Uniqueness
All of Natalie Suleman’s children know that they are different from other families, but their uniqueness is something that the octuplets embrace and the children enjoy fun activities and school together just like any other child. As a matter of fact, they’re all really talented and Natalie is definitely proud about that. Here are Natalie’s eight adorable kids having fun at an Orange County school play and they’re all posing beautifully here, but this isn’t always what happens and sometimes they get failed pictures, which still make for wonderfully captured memories.
Embracing Uniqueness
Going Vegan
This was posted on Natalie Suleman’s Instagram with the amusing title “Could we be anymore vegan?” Even though her older six children are not vegan, the octuplets have a diet consisting of some raw vegan items like organic kale, collard greens, chard, red or golden beets, bell peppers, health shakes, and some home cooked vegan meals with sprouted lentils and quinoa, and they also love dessert which is usually green apple with some raw almond butter. Growing up an ethical vegetarian, Natalie Suleman didn’t find it so hard to convert to a vegan lifestyle and the diet switch has also helped in handling the medical conditions that she endured from getting pregnant with the octuplets for nearly eight months. Natalie believes living this way makes the family treat /cheat meals and nights more worth it.
Going Vegan
The Whole Family
Capturing the entire family in one photo — all of her 14 children and mama bear Natalie Suleman — is definitely no mean feat, so when the whole clan were almost all present and were snapped laughing away and smiling, it’s certainly an extraordinary achievement. Natalie decided to caption this Instagram post with this: “So THIS is what happened when we attempted to take a fun family photo with as many family members as possible. Per usual, Elijah, Amerah, and JJ are absent from the pic.” Fortunately for Natalie, she can share a lot of special family moments on social media. What’s more intriguing, however, are the everyday moments that she shares which really capture what it’s like being a single mom of 14 and raising all of the kids as healthy and happy individuals.
The Whole Family
Starting Her Own Youtube Channel
Since she is a part-time counselor, Natalie Suleman thought of launching her own YouTube channel to help people who are suffering from substance abuse. The first thing she uploaded was a video of Amerah, her eldest daughter, reading a letter that she wrote for Mother’s Day for her mother at an event for women in Long Beach, California. When Amerah finished her speech, all of Natalie’s kids lined up and presented their mother with a gift. Even though Natalie made the channel in order to share things about her life, she said that her plan is to let her children manage it and upload vlogs of vegan food challenges, grocery shopping, fun activities, and just about any creative ideas that they can come up with.
Starting Her Own Youtube Channel
Turkey Trot
Even on Thanksgiving, the holiday many people associate with overeating, Natalie encourages her children to stay active. On Thanksgiving 2018 she and 10 of her kids did the Turkey Trot, a 5k family run, raising money for a good cause. Can you believe that Josiah, Isaiah, Maliyah, and Noah won the race in their age groups? They each went home with a pumpkin pie! What a fun way to spend the holiday with the entire family.
Turkey Trot
Uphill Battle
Although she may not show it, Natalie goes through a lot of pain on a daily basis. Carrying the octuplets physically affected her in numerous ways, including four ruptured discs in the lumbar spine, sacral damage that is irreparable, bilateral sciatica, and peripheral neurophathy. Natalie enjoys exercising and says it combats the pain she feels. Natalie has a membership to a women’s only gym because she suffers with severe social anxiety, and has since she was a child. Natalie posted this picture to her Instagram, thanking the people who donated new workout clothes to her.
Uphill Battle
Baby Natalie
This photo was taken of Natalie in 1978 on Halloween — we love the clown costume and especially the smeared lipstick! Natalie wants to make it clear that although she did change her name, it does not mean she wants to erase her past, quite the opposite actually. She is a great mom to all of her 14 children, it is far from an easy job and we have to say, she’s doing a great job!
Baby Natalie
Boots The 50 Lb Cat
Natalie practiced mothering skills as a child, owning 12 of her own cats! She was able to express motherly love to these animals while growing up. Natalie did have a favorite though, he was 50 pounds and his name was Boots! Natalie’s kids are very fond of this photo of her, especially Calyssa who is also a big cat fan.
Boots The 50 Lb Cat
Way Back When
Natalie’s son Caleb surely resembles his mom…just look at this photo! This photo was taken of Natalie at just 2 years old when the family was living in Germany. Seeing photos of her past makes Natalie ever more grateful for the big beautiful family she has now. Natalie raises her 14 kids amazingly while always maintaining a positive attitude.
Way Back When