Jon & Kate + 8

When Jon & Kate + 8 first came out on TLC I loved it! I watched it every week. I thought it was so neat to see how these seemingly normal people ran their lives with 8 children (8 cute children!). I loved the sign that Kate had on the dining room table that said "Plan Ahead" but the a and the d in the ahead were smaller. I loved that they were trying to do what was right for their kids. They fed them organic food & tried to make healthy choices. I even understood why they went to TLC. I mean, lets be real- who can afford daycare for 8 kids?? So she had to stay home. And his salary as a techie guy wasn't going to support thier family of 10.

But then things got weird.

They got famous. They got famous for all of the same reasons that I liked watching their show. People liked them because they were real and they seemed like a wholesome family.

Then things crumbled.

They got divorced and it was nasty.

This post all stems from the fact that I caught the newest episode of Kate + 8 on TLC last night. In one shot she is prepping food for the camping trip that she's taking the kids on and hanging on the wall right behind her is a professional photograph of all 10 of them when the kids were little. Seeing that picture really jolted me and made me think how different their lives are and how much they have changed in the time that they've been on TLC.

Kate was always organized and stressed. She yelled. She wanted things a certain way. And in the begining I understood. With 8 kids you have to have some organization and I'd probably be stressed that someone was going to get hurt too. But last night, while I was watching them on their camping trip with friends I thought "My gosh, how does this woman even have friends?" She went from organized & stressed to dictator. She wanted to control everything that they did. She freaked out when kids took too long to pee. She got upset when people tried to take pictures of them without asking at Mt. Rushmore. She thought that clay on the river bank was poop (although once she realized it was clay, she did play in it with the kids). She got mad that the other two ladies were playing with the kids while she had to make dinnner. When one of the other ladies wanted to rip the lettus for the salad, Kate said it had to be cut.

I want a big family some day. Not as big as Jon and Kate had but bigger then what I grew up with. I only have 1 sister. I think 4 kids is a good number. But I really hope that I can find a balance between organized/stressed and fun/easygoing.

Love, a future Mrs.