A family of 9 you say?

 
       Now a days, bringing up 7 kids is some serious business. When we first started our family we always discussed having a big family. We never imagined that we would actually achieve it. So here we are now with 7 kids whom range from 5 to 17. We have 2 boys and 5 girls. Our biggest challenge is when we go out on outings. When we step out with our very own Lopez bunch, people can't help but stare. Sure we get the same question all the time of Are those all your kids? Nosier people actually ask Are they all from the same father? Not that its any of their business, but yes they are, thank you very much.  The greatest disbelief is when I share the detail that my husband and I got together quite young, got married and then had 7 kids by the time he was 28 and I was 30. We got ahead of the game some may say, but we had a different perspective of what we wanted out of life. While others our age are getting educated and having their families later, we decided to take the opposite route. We started our family young and went back to school later.

Christmas Family Portrait 2011

      Lets go back to 1995. That's when our first son was born. Things didn't go as we planned. After only 31 weeks he was born. Julio Anthony, in honor of his father, came to the world at only 3 1/2 lbs. It was unexpected, heartbreaking, unreal yet at the same time it was a miracle. A miracle that God entrusted to us. After dealing with many medical issues he overcame most of his delayed development by the time he entered kindergarten. The first 5 years of his life is a whole other article!
     By 1998, our 2 princesses joined the family. They are exactly 1 year and 6 days apart. These girls were like having twins. They learned how to do everything at the same time. Having a double stroller was Godsend. Had I been older I don't know if I would have been able to keep up with 3 very small kids, but I think I had an advantage. Part of the reasoning of having our family young. Two years later we had another little girl and in 2004 we were given our 4th daughter. We were beginning to think that we were only going to have our one prince. That was until 2006 when we got the great news that we were expecting a little boy! We were so thrilled and so excited! In our culture to have a boy is big deal. After much anxiety we decide to have our last baby the following year and we ended up having our last baby. She made the family complete and we were finally done.
     Having a big family was our choice. Its a choice that we don't take back. We have always held our heads up high during tough moments and we have always managed to stay on track. We are a family of 9....and we love it.