How many kids you want to have, or if you want to have kids at all, is a personal choice. Some parents love having one child, others love the dynamic of three, while some think six is the magic number! This spectrum varies from person to person, from family to family, and even from region to region.

And the Cason family is at the top of that spectrum.

Christi and Dave Carson have 16 children together. This wasn’t a long series of surprises or something that was done for religious reasons, the couple just sincerely wanted a large family – and we think they certainly got their wish. Their kids range from ages 2-23, and their oldest daughter just had a baby, making them grandparents, too.

Besides their oldest, the other 15 children live under the same roof, which means their parents have to run a tight ship. Christi keeps home while Dave works, running the household, shopping, and arranging everything from haircuts to school field trips. She also budgets every inch of the families’ life and does strenuous chores ( including about seven loads of laundry a day) until Dave comes home to relieve her.

Christi estimates they go through 14-21 gallons of milk (depending on whether or not the kids are in school), seven pounds of chicken, and six loaves of bread a week, as well as 300 diapers a month.

Despite this hard work and high expenses, the couple couldn’t be happier with their large brood.

In fact, the Carsons love having a big family so much that they decided they wanted to try for number 17! It might seem odd to some, but expanding their loving family just made sense to Christi and Dave, and they were eager to have another baby in the house.

Unfortunately, this time around was not as easy for the couple as their previous attempts. Over the course of 20 long months, the couple had a total of two miscarriages and many painful weeks. Christi started taking fertility treatments to encourage pregnancy, but for a while, they didn’t even seem to be helping.

Finally, after nearly two years of trying for baby 17, Christin discovered she was pregnant. Although this was certainly not her first experience with pregnancy, Christi admits to having a huge mixture of feelings about this latest pregnancy.

“How do I feel about being pregnant again?” She says to Barcroft TV. “Scared, excited. I can’t believe it, I’m still in shock. A lot of people think I should be used to it, but especially this time…there was a long time where we didn’t think we could have anymore.”

Clearly, the nervous excitement of knowing you’re going to have a baby never gets easier to contain! Especially not for someone like Christi who loves the experience of pregnancy, giving birth, and raising children.

Although the couple already has four children under the age of six and now a newborn on the way, no one is more equipt to handle the life of a parent than these two; with 23 years of continuous parenting experience and a passion for raising kids, we wouldn’t trust anyone else to add another baby into the mix.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about baby 18 and beyond, you’ll have to watch the video below!

What do you think of the Carsons unusually large family? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.