When Natalie Suleman (aka Octomom) gave birth to octuplets back in 2009, the story shocked the world. It seemed like nothing but negative news followed her and her family of 15 for years after that.

Today, Suleman – who’s dropped both the first name Nadya and the nickname Octomom – has shared that she and her kids are thriving. On January 26^th, the octuplets celebrated their 10^th birthday. My, how time has flown!

The six boys and two girls marked the milestone with a birthday party at an air jumping facility. From the looks of it, they are super happy and helpful in the home. Suleman became famous after news of her in-vitro pregnancy hit the media and the subsequent births.

Already a mother to 6 children, Suleman admitted that she and her family have faced financial hardship on and off through the years. She’s done various things to earn money and says that she has made poor choices , but she doesn’t regret having her babies in her life. She adores them.

Speaking of the octuplets as being “angels”, she coincidentally gave them all the middle name of “Angel.” She drives a mini-bus to shuttle her teen and pre-teen brood around and works part-time as a counselor helping people with drug and alcohol problems.

Now, the family lives in a California townhouse where the children help out with chores and often eat in shifts. Previously, Suleman has said that she and her children endured harassment while living in a different area, including death threats, paparazzi, and vandalism to their home.

She has had to take out restraining orders and gone into hiding due to such treatment. According to her, she takes responsibility for her life and everything is much better now. Part of that had to do with her leaving the character of “Octomom” behind.

As a single mom, she felt overwhelmed with caring for her children, but dealing with media attention made things worse. In an interview with ET, she said she suffered for it:

“I have PTSD from all the reporters coming in over the year. I would take whatever I could back in the days, and I would let them in. I was spiraling down a dark hole. There were no healthy opportunities for Octomom. I was doing what I was told to do and saying what I was told to say. When you’re pretending to be something you’re not, at least for me, you end up falling on your face.”

With a quieter life these days, Suleman focuses more on work, family, and health. Gone are the endless tabloid stories and struggles with drugs and alcohol, and for her, the nickname Octomom doesn’t have any power over her.

Check out the video to see how much the octuplets have grown and learn how they manage to run their ship. As you can imagine, it’s not easy but there is a system in place. And Jonah, Makai, Noah, Nariyah, Josiah, Jeremiah, Maliyah, and Isaiah are all smiles.

Have you been keeping up with this family’s story? What do you think of how much everyone’s grown?

Source:

New York Times