In 2009, Californian Nadya Suleman, AKA Octomom, caught everyone’s attention when she got pregnant and delivered the most number of babies in one pregnancy – eight kids! Nadya Suleman and her doctor made unpopular decisions and took specific risks in the mentioned pregnancy, which made the controversial and got them heavily criticized, but many people still showed their support and affection. All the same, it seems that America was pretty curious about her big family. Get to know more about Nadya Suleman and her many kids, how she became Octomom, and the things that are keeping The Suleman's busy these days.
A Big Family
Nadya Suleman always wanted a big family of her own, having grown up as an only child, she desired to have the emotional attachment she didn’t have growing up. In fact, Nadya’s biggest dream was to start a family and develop a relationship with her own future children. However, what she didn’t know was that her strong desire to raise a large and happy family would put her in challenging situations where she would have to make difficult and life-changing decisions. Nevertheless, due to her great determination to fulfill her dream, a miracle happened and the world witnessed it.
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Becoming a Mother
After graduating from a California high school, Nadya Suleman set out on a journey to fulfill her dream of raising a family, now as an adult woman. She also hoped to attend college similar to others her age, but Nadya still thought that the most important thing for her was her dream to become a mother. She was quite young (others even said that she was a little too green for the world) when she got the thing she had always dreamed of – in a huge way! Everyone ought to be careful when it comes to wishing for something.
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Nadya’s First Love
Not long before she turned 21, Nadya Suleman, and produce manager Marcos Gutierrez met. He must have been a man of considerable charm seeing as she instantly felt a connection with him – something that grew deep and meaningful. Nadya was really honest with Gutierrez about her hopes of becoming a mother. At first, there weren’t any issues because Gutierrez also wanted kids as well as he was madly in love with Nadya and vice versa, but fate, unfortunately, had other plans.
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A Risky Occupation
Nadya exchanged vows with Marcos Gutierrez in 1996, which was the same year when she got her license as a psychiatric technician from Mt. San Antonio College. Also, she also started working at Metropolitan State Hospital, a psychiatric facility located in Norwalk, California. Even though the job was rewarding, it wasn’t easy and even proved to be dangerous for her. Aside from Nadya’s main goal of starting her own family, it was also her aim to have a meaningful career, though something unfortunate occurred in her workplace and her life became a long roller-coaster ride because of it.
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Tragedy Strikes
On September 18th, 1999, Nadya Suleman found herself in the middle of a horrific event that happened in the psychiatric facility where she was working. A riot erupted at the facility because of twenty patients, and Nadya immediately attempted to intervene. However, during the commotion, one female patient threw a wooden desk in the air which unfortunately landed on Nadya’s back, causing her herniated disc injury. Workers’ compensation gave some assistance and Nadya received $170,000, but the money just helped her manage to live for a while and was actually the least of her problems.
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A Goal Delayed
Nadya’s work-related injury caused her not only physical pain but also emotional distress. Even though the compensation she received helped her face these things, at the time, she had another more important problem. After the incident, Nadya was still having difficulty fulfilling her lifelong dream in spite of the effort she and her husband had made. For three years, the two had been doing their best to make Nadya’s dream of becoming a mother come true, but even if they tried many times, they always had the same result – no baby.
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Harsh Truth
To know what was wrong, the couple made a decision to consult different doctors and they were able to gather a lot of advice and tips regarding how to become pregnant. Because Nadya and her husband desperately wanted to have a child, they made sure to follow every single instruction they were given, yet even after everything, they were still unable to conceive. Failing every single time caused Nadya to lose hope in conceiving and eventually made her feel depressed. Then, they found out the bitter truth: there wasn’t anything wrong with their methods but Marcos Gutierrez was in fact sterile. Conceiving the natural way was impossible for them and other alternatives should be explored.
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The Limit
Nadya’s strong desire to have kids and her opinion that other methods should be tried as the traditional way didn’t work made her press the issue, but Marcos was absolutely against the other options. Their opposing views created a gap between the couple, but the thing that pushed him over the edge was her suggestion of undergoing IVF (in vitro fertilization). This medical procedure involves fertilizing an egg cell outside of the body and then implanting it into a woman’s uterus. Marcos specifically told Nadya he would leave her if she decided to push through with the procedure.
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A Difficult Choice
Nadya was now faced with a difficult decision – choose her love for Marcos and forget about having children or choose her biggest dream of becoming a mother and lose her husband. In the end, Nadya decided to go after her lifelong dream and took a big leap of faith. Although it was really hard for Nadya to do, she got divorced in the year 2000. Since her former husband was no longer part of the equation, Nadya decided to pursue IVF to start the family that she dreamed of, but things didn’t quite turn out the way she wanted them to…
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There’s No Such Thing as Free Lunch
Despite the fact that IVF (in vitro fertilization) isn’t exactly complicated, its success rate isn’t 100% and it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. However, these factors didn’t discourage Nadya one bit as she was already sick of failing at this point. About the procedure, most doctors recommend having several eggs fertilized to have a higher chance of success in the process of fertilization. Actually, the procedure entailed an additional risk that would be significant to her, but would Nadya take it?
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Worth It
Nadya Suleman also needed to consider one extremely important thing before she went through the IVF procedure – the prospect of having multiple babies in the pregnancy due to the possibility that all the multiple fertilized eggs implanted would survive. As a matter of fact, this makes a pregnancy really dangerous, but Nadya was intent on having her own family and her mantra seems to be “the more, the merrier.” Having said that, some people still believed Nadya should have felt scared, even just a bit, about being pregnant with multiple babies at one time. Looking back, one could say the outcome was anyone’s guess.
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Welcome to This World, Elijah!
Not everyone regards the possibility of carrying more than one baby in pregnancy as a risk, especially if twins or triplets are what they are hoping to have. Even though Nadya didn’t really hope for twins or triplets, the IVF procedure’s outcome was still amazing. It was definitely a success and back in 2001, Nadya gave birth to her child, a cute baby boy whom she named Elijah. Finally, after the struggles she had to face, Nadya had achieved her dream, yet she didn’t end there and was actually just getting started.
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Babies, Babies, And More Babies!
A year after giving birth to Elijah, Nadya gave birth to another IVF baby, a girl she named Amerah. Many people’s desire for having children would be satisfied after giving birth to two babies but not Nadya – her positive experience with IVF somehow fuelled her desire to have more children and encouraged her to undergo more treatments. Eventually, she had a pair of fraternal twins and two more children, which means she had become a mom of six at that point! In countries like the US, six kids are definitely more than enough, yet for some reason, Nadya still desired to have even more children after she welcomed her sixth child.
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An Extreme Decision
Nadya Suleman’s next move certainly shocked everyone and in 2008, her decision made her a celebrity overnight. Seeing as she wasn’t completely satisfied with having only six kids, she went back to Dr. Michael Kamrava, the one who did all her IVF procedures. She wanted one more IVF treatment and this time, she decided to have all six unused eggs from her previous treatments implanted so that they would not go to waste. Nadya, who is pro-life, asked Dr. Kamrava to do all of this but the story didn’t end here.
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More Babies?
At first, Dr. Kamrava hesitated in complying because he was aware of the extreme danger the mother might possibly be in if six eggs were implanted at once. However, he said that he ended up implanting all the six eggs mostly because Nadya insisted even though she knew she might get pregnant with multiple babies. Having said that, the most intriguing thing about this whole situation is that Dr. Kamrava actually implanted twelve eggs, way more than the number that is recommended! Such a massive risk was likely to have quite a significant result.
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Eight Babies on The Way
Nadya Suleman and Dr. Kamrava’s move was pretty bold and unprecedented seeing as they radically deviated from what is the norm in medical practice when they implanted twelve embryos, though Nadya doesn’t regret anything. Other people would have been completely terrified, but Nadya was absolutely excited about it. Eight of the embryos that they had implanted stuck and she conceived eight babies at the same time. However, what a person wants isn’t always something that they can handle, so Nadya was faced with a very big question – if she was still capable of delivering eight babies after having borne six children previously.
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Mother Of Eight – Octomom!
Nadya’s body was surely under so much strain being pregnant until term with eight babies seeing as one is already difficult and eight is way more than the average. Before long, the media got hold of her story and Nadya, plus her kids became sensational. It was at this time when she started to become known as “Octomom.” Not all single mothers in California are featured in the news, but Octomom’s notoriety didn’t just come to be without reason – Nadya had a record-breaking pregnancy.
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Childbirth Success
Soon, Nadya Suleman AKA Octomom had to face the moment of truth as the time had come for her to give birth to her babies. Fortunately, the delivery of all her eight babies was safe and they were all healthy when they came out, most probably a huge relief for her. It was certainly an awesome sight to see, with the world definitely taking notice, since there hasn’t been anything like Nadya’s case before and it has gone down in history. The octuplets Nadya gave birth to set a record for being born alive and having survived longer than one week after being delivered since no other set of octuplets managed to do this.
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All Eyes On Her
At that moment, Nadya was simply happy to see and hold her new babies and she couldn’t wait for her six older children to see their new younger siblings, but the world continued to watch her, skeptical of her ability to manage the situation. Having said that, her amazing story became so sensational that everybody, especially those in the medical community, was itching to get the full details. Many doctors attempted to talk to Nadya soon after her octuplets were delivered because her pregnancy was an extraordinary feat that she and her octuplets managed to survive. So many questions were asked and people hounded her for answers.
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Her Growing Fame
Even before her octuplets were delivered, Nadya had already been a media sensation, with news channels, websites and newspapers all reporting about her rather unique pregnancy. She started getting recognized by people and in spite of some people who didn’t know her actual name, practically everyone knew her as Octomom. Nadya made attempts to control the story and the different reports about her, and she considered using the attention to financially support her quite a large family. She hired a team to handle her public relations after the delivery of her octuplets, thinking that she would be able to control the story that about her that was shared with the public, but this task proved really difficult.
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A Pubic Persona
Nadya received the same media attention after giving birth to her octuplets, and this gained her plenty of critics that often accused her of craving the spotlight and even said this was the true reason why she made a decision to have all her children in spite of the risks she took. Meanwhile, coping with her now public persona and raising fourteen kids kept Nadya busy! She found her fame getting more difficult to deal with as time went by. Her pregnancy and delivery were controversial enough, but Californians also assailed Nadya for wasting the money of taxpayers and embodying practically everything negative about modern America and she even received threats!
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Too Much
Even though she was getting a lot of negativity, some people still supported Nadya and her kids, though she eventually got to the point where the media attention was too much for her. She didn’t achieve her goal of getting out ahead of the story and when this dawned on her, Nadya made a decision to open up about her struggles. When People magazine interviewed her, she gave her reaction to the caricatures which were created about her. “I don’t get much sleep, about two or three hours a night. But I’m continuing to move forward with my life and trying to be the best mother I can be,” she explained but her attitude to the attention that she was receiving still made plenty of people skeptical about Nadya.
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A Grim Situation
Even years after giving birth to her kids, Nadya Suleman was someone many people still speculated about and despite the fact that many in America adored her and her many children, her critics didn’t back down and went on sharing their skeptical remarks. This, unfortunately, started affecting her ability to rear her children and multiple reports said that she was in a grim situation and was at a really low point in life. It’s quite possible she felt like she was going up against the world and despite being a mother of 14 kids, she might have felt alone. Nadya was struggling to bring up her 14 children, so she had no choice but to accept welfare, though she had to face another challenge that government assistance couldn’t help her with.
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Problems At Home
In all that time she was in the spotlight, rumors went around that Nadya was mistreating her kids. It somewhat made sense since being a single mother of 14 children would surely be challenging and it must take a lot to fully address the children’s needs. Child Protective Services was even brought into the mix and looked into the matter. They carried out an investigation on whether it was true that Nadya was neglecting her kids but when they went to her house, they didn’t see any signs of negligence and saw that the rumors were actually baseless – they even claimed that her home was quite suitable for kids.
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Forced to Move Out
Unfortunately, another person who had the actual power to significantly affect Nadya’s life strongly disagreed that her home was suitable for her children despite what Child Protective Services said. Her landlord didn’t like the idea and so he told Nadya that she violated her lease’s terms. What’s more, he told the press about Nadya’s situation and then evicted her along with her 14 kids. Nadya simply desired to be a good mom for her kids, but they were all about to become homeless, so she resorted to measures.
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Dire Situation
To Nadya’s dismay, nothing could change her landlord’s mind, which meant she and her 14 kids needed to move out! Although her image in the media was bad, as could be seen in caricatures, Nadya Suleman had always been a mother who deeply loved her children, and she always maintained this was the real her. However, the problem was she didn’t have money to keep herself and her children out of the streets. Seeing as Nadya needed money and fast, she tried venturing into the movie industry, some businesses, and even the music industry.
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Starting Anew
It is really stressful to be in the spotlight and all the stress ultimately got to Nadya Suleman, but when it dawned on her that this was happening, she decided to let everything go and start anew. She made sure to change and become someone really different from the caricatures that people created of her. She knew that changing her life would help her become a better mom to her children and lead a happier life, which is why when she made the decision to change, she managed to turn her life around quite impressively. Initially, she had her name changed to Natalie, then she got a college degree, then she began working and now she is a part-time family therapist.
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The Solomon Family
Nadya Suleman’s octuplets are now nine years old and doing quite well. They seem to like their vegan diet but it can’t be the easiest thing to have for children since most youngsters dream of eating candies and chocolates. Natalie (previously named Nadya) mentioned that her kids are aware of the journey she has had because she thinks straightforward parenting, as well as openness, are good for her kids. She thinks that everything that has happened, even her strange relationship with the media, turned out well in the end. Also, Nadya thinks that the lifestyle her family has now is the way to achieve the goal of a healthy household and her fans on Instagram are all too familiar with this idea.
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Her Guardian Angel
Now in her 40s, Natalie Suleman’s life is going quite well these days and she’s quite the questionable jobs she had before. When she was asked about the cause for her decision to change, she explained that she met her “guardian angel” back in February 2013 and he gave her strength to stop leading a “seedy” life. Natalie explained that one day when she was still in the film industry, a very tall man happened to walk up to her inside a Florida club and this happened: “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.” Natalie felt that the moment was really trying and the waterworks continued flooding but she said it was that moment that her new life started.
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Looking Back
Natalie Suleman began her major life overhaul in 2013 and she made the honest admission of the fact she was “foolish, immature and selfish” in the past for having so many kids without putting much thought into it. Also, she admitted that she hadn’t really thought about the possible effects of her choices during that time, but she added that she doesn’t regret anything. Natalie presses on with focusing on raising her kids since they are her number one priority and she has also said she isn’t interested in finding love as of the moment as she is fine with her celibate life. People can see on her social media account the kind of life she is leading now together with her family and also some wonderful lessons and values she teaches her fourteen children.
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A Humble Life
Raising fourteen kids is surely not easy, but Natalie Suleman seems to be doing it pretty well. She’s currently renting an apartment with two bedrooms and the whole family survive living paycheck to paycheck and on food stamps. According to Daily Mail, Natalie said that after all the hardships she endured taking care of so many kids on her own, she feels “at peace” now partly because she can use her story to encourage and inspire women to decide wisely. Natalie doesn’t even like being called “Octomom” anymore and she said, “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.”
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No Social Life
As a mother of 14 children, Natalie Suleman feels much happier these days as she enjoys life, spending quality time with the youngest of her children, the octuplets Nariya, Noah, Makai, Maliyah, Isaiah, Josiah, Jeremiah, and Jonah, and enjoying all her moments with her older children: 11-year-old twins Caleb and Calyssa, 12-year old Aiden, 14-year-old Joshua, 16-year-old Amerah and 17-year-old Elijah. To give her kids a more stable life, Natalie decided to move back to her hometown in Laguna, Orange County. She mentioned that she hopes she makes her kids proud. Talking to Daily Mail, she said, “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.”
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A Normal Family
Natalie Suleman is quite a hands-on mother and she has opted to give up her social life totally, which means she and each of her kids have a pretty close relationship. She mentioned to Daily Mail, “They fight, play, fight and play again like any normal family.” Natalie is also faced with an additional challenge, Aiden’s autism, but her kids aren’t deterred and they take care of their brother all the time. All the 14 Suleman kids are aware their home life isn’t really the same with other typical families in America but Natalie has made it a point to teach her kids that being different is okay and that there isn’t anything wrong about it.
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Fun During Holidays
Things may not be easy for Natalie Suleman and her brood, but they are one, big happy family and she makes sure that her kids learn good values, such as being content with receiving only one present at Christmas. “I’m focusing on raising the kids to focus on serving other people, to get out of their own head,” she told US Weekly. Natalie believes that when she does this, she is teaching her kids the lesson of valuing every little thing they receive and not expecting free things in life, meaning they should work to get the things that they want. Apart from these reasons, Natalie’s finances just cannot sustain an extravagant lifestyle, so she keeps things simple during Christmas.
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School
The first week of class is stressful enough for a parent who has one or two kids, so Natalie must have plenty of stress at this time seeing as she’s a mother of fourteen! The 43-year-old mother shared on social media the anxiety she felt by uploading a photo of her octuplets smiling for the camera before the kids went to school. Natalie’s caption for the photo was: “Any other parents exceptionally stressed and overwhelmed by the first week back to school?” Natalie joked that her older children didn’t want their photo to be taken and refused in spite of their mom begging them.
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Beating Stress
Raising fourteen kids can’t be easy, but Natalie has found a way to handle the stress and pressure despite her really busy schedule – she works out at the nearest gym, setting aside an hour or two for herself. Her fans on social media surely know about this and she posted a snapshot of herself exercising with the caption: “I would like to share about how I cope with inordinate stress, after being asked how I stay sane lol.” Natalie also added that exercising has always been her method of fighting stress. She explained, “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.”
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Girls’ Night
Natalie Suleman isn’t only a strict mom but she’s also a really fun one. Having fun with her girls like having a spa night with them is among Natalie’s favorite pastimes and she likes to document the fun they have when trying various skincare products and different face masks. Because Natalie wants to give each of her kids the same amount of time and love, she also makes sure that she bonds with her sons and she does this by watching scary movies with them. Her kids are definitely her top priority and she isn’t afraid to show it to the world.
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Interview with Dr. Oz
In May of 2018, Natalie Suleman received an invitation to share her story on the Dr. Oz show and she was asked to talk about how she made the decision to go through several IVF treatments and why she ended up having fourteen kids. Also, she talked about her transition from being Nadya to becoming “Octomom” and finally changing to the healthy and happy mother that she is now. She spoke about her journey, what it was like, the challenges she faced, and even the times she felt the desperation in giving her family their needs. She also got the chance to let people know about her channel on YouTube that she and her children launched recently.
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The Genetic Game Of Luck
If you are wondering why you look nothing like your siblings, the primary reason behind the variation is genes. Much like a game of luck, some children get a specific genetic attribute, while other children don’t. If you are like Natalie and have 14 kids, your different genetic attributes will most likely be expressed. Natalie loves all her unique kids and feels lucky that each kid inherited different genes and that they don’t look alike. For example, Noah and Nariyah, who are two of her Octuplets, look quite different from each other.
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Active Lifestyle
The vegan octuplets like to eat raw vegetables, enjoy living healthy and have quite an active lifestyle, taking part in marathons together. This photo shows Natalie’s octuplets having completed the 5-kilometer race Russ Miller Memorial back in February of 2018, but they actually do more than just run races as they help in raise money for different causes as well. The children love taking part in activities that help others most likely because even when the kids were very young, Natalie already started to instill in them that it is really important to help others, which appears to be paying off. It is a delight for Natalie’s fans to find out that her children are becoming more and more caring as they get older.
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Contemporary Heroes
The octuplets have a really healthy and active lifestyle, and they also work very hard on their projects at school. This photo shows the posters that the children made for a task they were given at school. Natalie doesn’t like boasting about her kids’ accomplishments, but the fans really want to know what is keeping the kids busy, so Natalie shares photos to update fans and to show that anybody can raise 14 children. Needless to say, her kids appreciate all the effort and dedication she puts into raising them and you will see that in the next thing they have prepared for Natalie.
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Handmade Cards
Natalie believes that all the things she does for her children are worth it owing to all of the love that she receives from them, especially on days such as Mother’s Day. Natalie snapped a picture of the gifts, the handmade cards, and the handwritten dedications that her kids gave her on that pretty special day. On another note, Natalie got inspired to share her experiences being a mother to an autistic child (Aiden) and 13 other healthy kids in a book and she hopes her book will someday get published. When she was interviewed by the Daily Mail, she explained, “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.”
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Sisters
Out of Natalie’s fourteen kids, only four are girls, so they are very close in spite of their age gap, and Natalie enjoys spending time and bonding with them. This picture shows her daughters Maliah and Nariyah (9), Calyssa (11), and Amerah (16) at Amerah’s birthday celebration. You can see in this picture a perfect moment that Natalie shared with her girls as well as their obvious similarities. Actually, Natalie tries her best to set aside time every week to bond with her boys and girls separately, but she especially likes the times when she is together with all of her children, which isn’t always possible.
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Family Fun Night
Natalie stresses the importance of family traditions all the time, which means that the Suleman household takes their family night on Saturdays pretty seriously. The whole family created this tradition and they even call it “Family Fun Night.” On Saturday nights, they spend time together, though they have different activities. Sometimes, they play a board game, watch horror movies or documentaries, or talk about various educational subjects, but the thing they love doing the most is playing chess and watching the film The Shining. Although her teenage children cringe at family tradition and prefer to spend time with their pals, the tradition remains and Natalie’s other children, especially the ten younger ones really like their “Family Fun Night.”
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Dressing Up
Natalie’s kids know that they aren’t really the same as other families, but they always embrace the unique qualities they have and like doing school activities together. Needless to say, Natalie is really proud of her really talented kids. This photo shows the children after they have taken part in a play at their school in Orange County and you can see how much the kids have grown. They look beautiful and handsome, don’t you think?
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Raw Veggies
Natalie Suleman posted this photograph on her Instagram account and her caption was: “Could we be anymore vegan?” Her six older kids aren’t vegans, but her eight youngest children like eating raw greens, so they regularly have health shakes, golden or red beets, bell peppers, chard, and organic kale, aside from eating meals with quinoa and sprouted lentils which they cook at home. The desserts the kids eat are also vegan, such as the green apple raw almond butter combo that they usually have. Natalie was raised as an ethical vegetarian, so she was able to adopt the vegan lifestyle quite effortlessly, which helped her body recover from the different physical conditions brought about by having been pregnant multiple times.
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Complete Family
Getting Natalie and her 14 children together for a family picture is no easy feat, so any time that they are together in one place, it is surely worth taking a photo of them laughing and smiling. Natalie posted Instagram a photo and captioned it 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.” These days, thanks to social media, Natalie can easily share plenty of special moments just like this. Actually, her posts are more interesting when we can have a glimpse of the life she leads as a single mom who is raising 14 children all on her own.
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YouTuber
Seeing as Natalie only works as a counselor part-time, she came up with the idea of making her own channel on YouTube to have a wider reach and inspire more people. The first video she posted featured her daughter Amerah, who was reading the letter that she penned for her mother on Mother’s day, and it was a six-minute video that was taken in Long Beach, California at an event dedicated to women. After Amerah’s speech, the other Suleman children went up to Natalie and gave her gifts. Natalie has gone through a lot and the reason why she made her own channel is to be able to share her story, but her kids also help her manage it and they post videos of fun activities, grocery shopping, vegan food challenges, and plenty of creative ideas.
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Thanksgiving
Natalie continues to encourage her kids to stay active and carry on making a difference even during special occasions like Thanksgiving, so ten of her children took part in a 5-kilometer family-run called the Turkey Trot. Their team spirit can be clearly seen in their matching t-shirts. There is so much that Natalie can be thankful and celebrate on Thanksgiving and one of it is her kids Noah, Maliyah, Josiah, and Isaiah winning the race in their respective age groups. Their prize was pumpkin pies and since most of Natalie’s children are vegan, we bet they ate those pies instead of eating turkey for Thanksgiving, which is a special holiday to them.
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The Struggle Within
It may not be obvious, but Natalie Suleman has experienced a lot of difficult times, struggling both emotionally and physically, and she continues to struggle with pain that she incurred while carrying her octuplets to more or less full term. If you look at her, you would never guess that four discs in her lumbar spine were ruptured, she has irreparable sacral damage, and she suffers from bilateral sciatica and peripheral neuropathy. Because her pregnancy-induced injuries cause her pain, she uses the stair master machine and climbs 10 miles daily to fight the pain. Ever since she was a young girl, Natalie has had severe social anxiety, which is why she goes to a women-only gym, and she took this photo to thank those who gave her free workout clothes (they noticed that she couldn’t afford to get herself new ones).
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Young Natalie
Natalie Suleman posted this throwback picture on social media and you can see the cute little Natalie wearing a messy clown costume and smeared lipstick for Halloween back in 1978. Despite the fact that she has changed her name, it doesn’t mean she would like to forget her past or erase parts of it. There is only one thing she wants to let go of – her Octomom persona which nearly destroyed everything that she values. Natalie has proven that she is an awesome mom to her six older kids and her octuplets, which can’t be an easy thing to do but she seems to be doing quite well.
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Cat Lover
Before Natalie became a mom to her kids, she first expressed her motherly nature and love to a cat when she was growing up and despite Natalie having had over a dozen cats, only one feline stole her heart – Boots. In this photo, you can see Natalie and her cat Boots and the picture was taken in the year 1975 when she was only a toddler. Natalie’s children adore this picture, especially her daughter Calyssa who also loves cats just like Natalie. The children were surprised that Boots was really fat, was over 50 pounds, and was used to dragging her belly on the ground as she walked.
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Throwback Picture
This incredible throwback picture is from the ‘80s and was taken in Germany. This photo shows a two-year-old Natalie and she looks like her son Caleb. This may be the explanation for the fair complexion some of her kids have, though others have a darker complexion. Natalie really likes showing these beautiful photos from her past, and they make her appreciate her family more. While raising 14 children is certainly not easy, she makes sure to have a positive attitude and appreciate the blessings she receives every day.
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Nadya’s Background
A lot of Natalie’s followers have asked her about her background, so she decided to clear everything up in this post which she captioned with: “Happy Father’s Day to my dad “Eddie” (a nickname he adopted to sound more American since emigrating from Jerusalem, Palestine fifty years ago).” One of her followers commented “Love this. But why have you given your kids Jewish names when your father is Muslim?” We’re sure many have been wondering about the same thing, but she cleared everything up with this reply, “Yes absolutely, and when my father immigrated to America, he befriended many Israelis and loved all people unconditionally.” Natalie also added this: “This is how I grew up, loving all human beings, and embracing differences. Sad how America is so polarized in recent years. I pray one day we will all unite”.
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Why We Don’t Hear So Much From ‘Octomom’ Anymore
Natalie may have experienced being in the media spotlight and she may have been in the public eye for years, but we actually don’t hear much about her in the press these days. One reason could be the fact that Natalie has hired a PR agency and she has been more careful with the things she shares regarding her family. Another is that she makes sure that she doesn’t ‘exploit’ her family and she explained this in one of her recent social media posts: “I have always been against exploiting kids on a “docu-series” or “reality” type show (am aware consistent filming can be deleterious to a child’s developmental process); and all the documentaries we have done have been filmed and aired only in international countries.” All the same, she said that since her kids are now older, “At this point in time, my family and I would be open to an American documentary.”
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Animal Loving Family
On her different social media accounts, Natalie still shares snippets of the different family moments that they have and it appears that her motherly instinct has already rubbed off on her kids. Not content with just fourteen kids in one household, Natalie’s children love adding animals to the family. She posted this recent photo of her daughter Maliyah with her cat, whom she refers to as “her BIG baby Penelope”. Similar to how careful Natalie is in ensuring her children’s diet is healthy, she also makes sure that the animals are as healthy as her kids.
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Veggies For Dinner
The shopping list in Natalie’s house must be really amazing – like shopping for one big army! Some mothers may settle for fast, microwavable, or unhealthy food, but Natalie always makes sure to teach their children to make healthy choices. In a photo that she recently posted, her son Jonah can be seen holding one giant green chard which is nearly as big as the child and she captioned it with: “Jonah sharing the soon to be devoured forest before dinner.” People often ask Natalie questions on her Instagram, one person asked her how much shopping she does, and the healthy mom replied, “Every two days! In all honesty, shopping for fresh organic produce is the only shopping I love!”
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Is A Cookbook On The Cards?
Natalie’s regular posts on social media are usually about the healthy, vegan, vegetarian and organic meals she prepares for her family and she has started to create a stir in the social community. Her posts about a delicious-looking and healthy meal have earned her a lot of positive attention. One fan recently added this comment: “You are an inspiration and should do a cookbook!” Natalie signaled that she is considering exploring this in the future when she replied, “The kids would love to help create a cookbook!”
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Kids Will Be Kids
Natalie has lived a high-profile life, but she does appear to be a mother who is down-to-earth and lets her children enjoy being kids. She recently posted this cheeky picture of three of her kids monkeying around outdoors and captioned it, “Three little monkeys hanging on a tree, sharing with you all to see” She has probably attracted a lot of fans because she keeps things real and her children always look really happy, playful and healthy. When she uploaded this photo, she received more motivational and positive responses from her many followers such as “You are doing an amazing job raising beautiful children!” and “I love seeing kids being kids!! Outside! Stay strong Mama”
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A Birthday Surprise
Natalie does a lot for her kids, so it’s quite heartwarming to see her kids sometimes surprising her and showing how much they appreciate their mother too. Natalie recently shared this incredibly cute photo of the surprise birthday breakfast her kids prepared and she said, “Awoke this Sunday morning to 8 amazing kids surprised me with the best early birthday (big omg) breakfast!” the amount of thought and effort the children put into the whole thing is really touching. Needless to say, the breakfast was vegan organic, and healthy and came with a vegan pancake, maple syrup, peanut butter, vegan mac and cheese, organic fruit, and coffee that was in her favorite mug!
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Busy But Healthy
Most busy mothers only have time for some cereal or toast in the morning, but Natalie still makes sure that she finds time to be healthy. She recently posted this photo of her enviable, healthy, delicious-looking, and vegan breakfast and captioned it with: “Sometimes breakfast and lunch look like this”. There are so many ingredients in it, including oats, apple, banana, Moringa Powder, Maqui Powder, Mulberry Berries, Golden Berries, Goji Berries, Fresh Blueberries, blackberries, and even pineapple. We seriously don’t know how Natalie finds the time to do this and one person commented on her post, “I love that you and your family are vegan and so healthy! I’m a single mom too, your story inspired me to keep my eyes focused on the babies when there is so much to distract us in the world.”
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Is The Diet too Vegan?
Natalie received a lot of positive comments for raising her younger kids on such a strict vegan diet, but there was a comment that expressed some concern about how it might not be very good for child development to have a vegan diet at such an early age. Natalie must have gotten used to criticism and replied,” Yes the little kids and I are vegan! Their pediatrician said they are some of the healthiest kids she has ever seen in her practice.” One of her followers gave her encouragement by writing this comment, “Good job momma influencing your kids to lead the healthiest (and most compassionate) lifestyle!”
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Pre-Workout Food
One reason why Natalie puts a lot of effort into stay healthy and only eats organic and raw vegan meals is that the meals are part of the pre-workout food she eats. She usually gets asked what she eats every day to be healthy, so she replied with a post detailing her “Pre/post-workout, breakfast, and lunch, in addition to 2-3 gallons of Alkaline water.” She also added this: “For dinner, I eat raw vegetables such as organic kale, chard, collard greens, bell peppers, and red or golden beets (plus a cooked vegan dinner such as organic sprouted lentils or quinoa).” She said she follows a strict diet because of this: “I grew up an ethical vegetarian (was an animal rescuer with my mom and adore all living things); therefore going vegan was not a challenging transition. Becoming raw has only enhanced my health, clarified and strengthened my mind, and helped heal my broken back (from her earlier injuries).”
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Not All Vegan
Natalie posts a lot of pictures of her younger kids enjoying a vegan diet and a very healthy lifestyle, is very open about being quite a vegan activist and shares vegan recipes. However, her older kids don’t share her views. Recently, she posted a photo that showed one of her younger children happily enjoying buying some fresh veggies at the supermarket but she also posted another picture that showed her daughter Amerah with a stubborn look on her face and captioned it, “The look my daughter gives me when I educate her on the benefits of being vegan.” All the same, both her older and younger children look like they’re growing up to be healthy and happy young adults.
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Spreading Kindness
Natalie loves to instill good values in her kids, and she hopes they will get inspired to spread kindness. She posted this for Amerah’s birthday and Natalie commented, “One of the most important lessons I try to teach you all is that every person that crosses your path is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, compassionate, and patient with people always; and aware that sometimes the brighter the smile the deeper the suffering. By looking at your beautiful smile no one could imagine the struggle you face, that we all face, daily. We are going through challenges for reasons God only knows, yet those challenges are meant to forge, shape, and strengthen our character. We have to be patient, continue to pray, and never stop working relentlessly and consistently at achieving our goals.”
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Where Are The Big Kids?
Natalie often shares photos of her younger kids on her social media accounts but she often says that her older kids don’t like the spotlight that much, so they aren’t usually in her pictures. She cleared this up in a post about her daughter Amerah. “I am often asked, “where are your big kids” lol…well they are all healthy, thriving, caring, compassionate towards others, focused on succeeding in school (a priority), and very busy socializing with friends (who I must know). I know where each and every one of my 14 children is 100% of the time, as I am a very over-protective parent. This is the closest Amerah will get to allow me to show her off on social media and I respect her choice. (my oldest girl). My kids are very modest, respect themselves, and others, and I admire and love them all more than words or pictures could possibly express.”
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Time To Appreciate
Natalie has mentioned in one of her posts that she has struggles raising a lot of children alone, but she does take the time to appreciate the things that she has. She shared this adorable picture of two of her lovely daughters and she captioned it with, “Couldn’t help but pause and take a picture of my little angels”.
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School Life
This looks like just a regular photo of a group of children starting third grade and it’s unbelievable that they are all related, much fewer siblings of the same age seeing as they make up nearly half a class! However, it’s nice to see they all look really excited to go back to school after the break, and we think that it’s pretty fun to have a lot of best friends even if it’s just the first day of class. Natalie shared this adorable photo and captioned it, “Had to share the first day of third grade! Caleb and Calyssa didn’t want me to “embarrass” them by taking a pic lol.” She added that all her children were quite excited for the first day of school and but we bet Nadya was also pretty excited since she can now finally enjoy some peace and quiet with her kids at school again!
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No Time To Share
Even though Natalie is quite active on social media, with fourteen children, she most likely doesn’t have a lot of time to post all the things she does. In one of her posts, she commented on how hard it is to find time for it and she added, “I wish I had the time to share more!” Natalie did add that looking after her “severely autistic son and all the kids monopolize most of my time so social media is neglected.” She added that “posting twice a month is a good month lol,” but the photos she does post are definitely adorable!
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An ‘Insta-Inspiration’
Natalie has gotten a lot of media attention, both positive and negative, for her life choices, but her fans on social media lookup to Natalie as a strong and inspiring mother and they consider her as an ‘insta-inspiration.’ On her page, Natalie has gotten encouraging comments, such as “I love how you have changed your life and continued college through it all and I absolutely adore that your kids are vegan! You’re an inspiration now as a mother of one I need to continue with my masters and or to a Ph.D.” Another person wrote this: “Your dedication and love to your kids are something half of society lacks. I have 3 in a row as a single mom and I feel sorry for myself. I enjoy learning from your story and truly feel more positive about things. Keep fighting the fight.”
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Happy And Healthy
In all the pictures that Natalie shares, her children do look look happy and healthy all the time. They also seem picture-ready, appear to have a lot of energy and ready to flash the cutest smiles. Natalie shared this picture that was taken one summer at a friend’s pool and she commented, “It seems like they were just born..Good looking group of kids..” Natalie often posts about the way she makes sure her kids enjoy eating a vegan diet and how they often participate in 5K runs together. This is probably the secret to the happiness they have…. In any case, Natalie looks like she’s doing an excellent job bringing up happy and healthy children!
