A woman with seven sons under the age of seven may not have finished yet as she longs for another set of twins. The Mirror reports Jo-anne Ellis, 30, who has two pairs of twin boys already, gets through 175 nappies a week and does three loads of laundry each day.
But the mum-of-seven cherishes every hectic moment of her life with Charlie, seven, Riley and Lucas, four, Joey, three, Freddie and Ryder, 18 months, and eight-month-old Mikey.
Jo-anne said: “People think I’m holding out for a girl but I’m honestly not. I love being a mum to so many boys - I can’t see myself with a girl!”
After having an ovary removed 10 years ago, Jo-anne and her partner Charles, 31, were warned she was unlikely to be able to have children. But the nursery worker always dreamed of having a big family.
After having Charlie she got pregnant with another boy, Thomas, who she tragically lost at 36 weeks. When she got pregnant for the third time, she discovered she was carrying twins. And she later got another double helping with Freddie and Ryder, who were just three weeks old when she fell pregnant with Mikey.
Jo-anne said: “Because it was lockdown and we weren’t seeing anyone, we decided to keep the fact we were having twins a secret from everyone. It was so hard, but worth it to see the look on their faces."
The twins were just months old when Jo-anne became pregnant with Mikey - and the tiny age gap means people often assume the youngest three are triplets. “My dad is one of nine and I have loads of cousins,” she said.
Jo-anne added: “We get stopped a lot by strangers. People often ask how I do it, but I actually find having twins easier than singletons - both sets have a wonderful bond.
“Because they always have someone to play with, I actually have time to fold clothes, put the washing away and cook.”
Jo-anne, who is still on maternity leave, says the key to a happy family life is being organised. Her day starts at 6am with two sittings for breakfast and she then uses a wagon to take the youngest four on the school run while the older ones walk.
While Charles, who works in distribution, is out of the house during the day, Jo-anne looks after Mikey and does the housework before the 3pm school run.
Jo-anne, from Baildon, West Yorkshire, used to spend £300 on the monthly shop and £80 a week on top-ups but this has increased to £450 a month and £130 in top-ups due to the cost-of-living crisis. She also batch-cooks family favourites such as spaghetti bolognese, chicken curry and shepherd’s pie and on Sundays, everyone sits down to eat a roast together.
Jo-anne, who admits the family home is often “hectic”, said: “Sometimes I think, ‘I can’t wait till bedtime’, but then it’s so boring. There will be plenty of ‘me’ time when they leave home.”
The children are especially precious to Jo-anne and Charles, who has an older son from a previous relationship, because of losing Thomas in 2015. “Time passes so quickly,” she said. “I want to treasure these moments.”
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