Kelly O'Melia

The First 24 Hours

Can I just capture for a moment what it’s sometimes like to travel with seven children… or maybe just any number of children at all? Or perhaps this type of phenomenom is something specific to me and my little corner of chaos in this world. We left our house at 8:00 in the morning, headed…
Makinley Hope: Part One

It was May 2008 and we found ourselves flying to NYC for a consult with a cutting-edge neurosurgeon. We were desperate to discover whether our daughter Gabrielle might be a candidate for a three-stage brain surgery. A surgery that could possibly extinguish the seizures that were robbing our child of normal development. The plane sped down the…
A Scandalous Story of Love: The Year of the Rat

I had decided after taking several neuroscience/neuropsychology classes that the brain completely fascinated me. I signed up for a two-semester independent study my senior year, working in a rat lab with one of my favorite professors . I attended surgeries where probes were inserted into the brains of female rats to measure the release of dopamine.…
Christmas 2012

It is absolutely no small feat getting this family of nine packed up and ready to hit the road! Thankfully, a lot of my older children are able to contribute now. I just give them an estimate of how many pants, shirts, socks, underwear, and PJs to pack- and they go to work. Each child…
Christmas: Changing Things Up

December arrives bringing with it anticipation and dread… Anticipation for tree-covered lights, chilly air, hot cocoa, and nativity scenes. It delivers the joy of hustling-bustling shoppers, random acts of kindness, and staying up late with my hubby brainstorming gift ideas. It permits the sipping of peppermint mochas, wearing of sweaters, and singing of Christmas carols.…
Scandalous Story of Love: Jobs, Kids, and Automobiles

Junior year came to a close in the spring of ’94. Duff and I planned to spend the summer in Boston subletting an apartment with a few friends from school.* We found the perfect second floor apartment, near the intersection of Commonwealth Ave. and Harvard Ave., and moved right on in. I secured a job…
Journey into Faith

When I was pregnant with Gabrielle… I never asked for an infant with a brain malformation who would begin seizing at the age of 6 months. I never expressed a desire for a baby who would undergo 5 brain surgeries before the ripe old age of 3 years. I never requested a child with hemiplegia…
Too Much Adventure for Me!!

There was still much to be done before we could retire for the night, and all of it needed to be accomplished with one good flashlight and four mediocre ones. (I’m kicking myself at this point for not investing in a lantern.) First of all the food needed to be transported back to the van……
A Birthday Adventure

We were brainstorming ways to celebrate our eldest son Gavin’s 11th birthday. Over the last couple of years we’ve been changing our focus to giving the gift of an experience, rather than buying more stuff. I might have been the one who mentioned camping as a possible option. Gavin immediately seemed intrigued by the…
“Cheese” and Spicy Chicken

So tonight we went to Portrait Innovations for a family photo shoot. It had been almost 3 years since our last attempt at capturing the entire crew. Let me tell you, it is no small feat getting 7 little people dressed, groomed, and transported to the picture place, all the while keeping one’s hair neatly placed,…
Gabrielle Faith O’Melia

I collapsed onto my side of the master bed, exhaustion and nausea had taken their toll. It was early evening and the kids had all been scooted off to bed. I leaned against the soft pillows at my back wondering if he would eventually notice the changes, and guess the cause. I studied his face…
Happy 16th Anniversary

21 years ago I met a man who drove me absolutely crazy in the worst way imaginable. He annoyed me…and I aggravated him. He was my complete opposite, everything that I wasn’t. The only thing we had between us were differences, lots and lots of differences. But you know what they say about opposites… And…
Meatloaf: The Recipe for a Happy Marriage

The house was spotless and the fridge, fully-stocked. We (the 7 kids and I) had spent all morning cleaning house and food shopping. I scarcely had enough time to put the the groceries away, before little tummies were growling for lunch. I fed the kids something quite nutritious for their afternoon meal, got the little…
Don’t You Know What Causes That?! (How We Ended Up with 7 Kids)

Almost every time I go out somewhere with my children, I get asked the questions… Are they all yours?! or How many do you have?! or Don’t you know what causes that?! Sometimes people just stare in disbelief… or I see them counting the “stair-steps” as we pass on by. Regardless, we always seem to…
A Medicine Cabinet

Do me a favor, won’t you? Go open up the door to your medicine cabinet and tell me what you see. Does it house Tylenol and Motrin? Some cold remedies? Vitamins? Perhaps some Benadryl or allergy medicine? Maybe some basic first-aid supplies? For many years I had an ordinary medicine cabinet, half-filled with common household…