How I Chose the Size of My Family
5 Families Share How They Decided How Many Kids They Wanted to Have
Why We Decided to Have 4 Kids
For one blended family in Navarre, OH, the choice to parent four children was all about keeping things even.
Kellie James, 37, was already the mother of two boys — Mason, 14, and Michael, 12 — when she married her second husband, Ben James, 42, the CEO of a fabrication shop, in 2009. Together, the couple had two sons: Benjamin, 9, and Beau, 7.
Kelli and Ben talked about having kids right away once they got married, because they wanted the kids to be close in age. "I never would have thought I would have four kids. I mean, it's a lot! But Ben comes from a big family. He is one out of five siblings," she said. "We knew we wanted to have more than one but five was just too much for me." They also wanted to keep the family at an even number, and six was out of the question. "So we agreed four was perfect," Kellie said. "And now that it ended up being four boys I definitely wouldn't want to change that. I love being mom of boys!"
As for Kellie and Ben, having two children together in addition to the two Kellie already had was a purposeful choice, and that's the absolute max for them. After their youngest son was born, both Kellie and Ben had surgeries to prevent getting pregnant again.
"When I was younger, I never imagined myself having four kids," Kellie said. "Now I cant imagine my life any other way. I just think everything happens for a reason."
