It began one day in April...
| I cannot count how many times I have been asked to recall how or why I began Lotsofkids.com. I always feel that such a tale would bore the listener to tears. Why would anyone really wonder or care about such a thing? I suppose it is like most anything else, human nature gives us that urge to know, and I guess being a bit nosey has something to do with it too. With this being the first anniversary of the site, someone suggested that perhaps I should recount the tale in an article for all who are interested. I reluctantly agreed. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it. |
It was early 2002. I was pregnant with my fifth child when the thought of starting a website for large families first teased me. A common question asked of parents to several children is what child number was hardest to deal with. For me, that was number four. It was not a matter of not wanting the child, or feeling overwhelmed, but the fact that people started to realize that I was serious about wanting a large family. A columnist by the name of Betsy Hart wrote a wonderful article entitled Is having four little ones gauche? In that article she notes how number four is almost a dirty number to society. I felt very much that way. When mentioning I was pregnant with my fourth child, I almost had to apologize in order to keep the nasty comment and dirty looks away. People just couldn't seem to fathom why I would do that to myself, why I would cross over from normal motherhood to a fanaticism of sorts. It was a hard and lonely time. So, when less than a year passed before I was pregnant with number five, I realized I was going to find little support from my friends and community, so I turned to the Internet. I was able to find several message boards where other parents met and shared their stories of large family life. It was a blessing joining those groups. They helped me learn I was not alone in my trials; I became more confident in my decision to have more than 1.8 children. I continued to search and stumbled upon several personal family websites, people who had a crew at home and shared their own experiences. However, as much as I looked, I just couldn't find a site which dealt with the particulars of maintaining a large household. Even the numerous get-organized and parenting sites just didnt seem to fit. They were all catered toward small families, and much of the information just didn't work when you had 4 or more children. I learned of a few magazines in actual print, but nothing I could access easily through the Web. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. I realized that if I couldn't find it, then perhaps I should do it myself.
I'd like to say that I became so motivated and fired up that I immediately began work on the idea of a website, but that's not the case. I started work on one article, jotted down ideas for things I would like to see. I would periodically go back to my notes, tweaking them and imagining my future website. Before I knew it, I wasn't simply pregnant, but had given birth to my third son. I kept thinking and dreaming, but it never really went anywhere. It was amazing how quickly a year went by.
I would have liked to think that I would have eventually gotten around to getting the site up on my own. That wasn't quite the case, either. In early 2003, there was a shake-up on one of the message boards I frequented. The owner's decision to change the format caused quite an uproar, and many of the people who had regularly visited the site made the difficult decision to leave. The idea of a large family site, which for over a year had only been a fantasy and dream, was suddenly pushed to the forefront and I was faced with the decision of quickly making it a reality.
Lotsofkids.com was not my first foray into world of the Internet. In early 1999, in the midst of the big Internet boom, I had opened a small online store selling hand-made items. And, like so many other businesses and sites of that time, I fell victim to a glut of other e-shops. The experience taught me a lot about business, but even more about web design and operation. It was amazing how far technology has come in just a few years. As I looked into options for my newest endeavor, I learned the cost of hosting was about a fifth it had been in '99, and there was just so much more available.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that my husband was an active participant from day one. Any decision which would require an investment of not only time, but money, and could not be made by me alone. I had never shared my dream with Jim earlier, but when I mentioned the idea, he was very supportive. It truly was a whirlwind. In a little under 72 hours, I went from being another mom of a large family to pursuing my dream of opening large family website. URL, web host, scripts, HTML and the like. We worked so furiously...it was almost a blur.
On April 2, 2003, Lotsofkids.com went live. In the beginning, it was simply a message board and promises of more to come. Of course, the "more" would take time, and plenty of it. My husband began work on a new, customized message board system that would be a strong foundation for the site. I will admit, I've been very fortunate to be married to a computer programmer and probably would not have been able to do half of what I wanted to do otherwise. Jim worked countless hours on the system, which was received with warm reception by our visitors. The main site was designed. I wanted something that would show the levity and fun of having children, and decided on the stick figure designs of artist Amy Dott. I began work on articles and features and creating the site I had always sought in years past. Fortune was with us that we were able to find several wonderful and loyal volunteers who offered to write articles and assist with the day-to-day operation. With a large family, and both Jim and I working full-time jobs, there was not a lot of free time to do the extensive work. Most was done in the wee hours of the morning, kids asleep, and us drinking pot after pot of coffee. One and two hours of sleep a night were not uncommon in those early days. The hard work paid off when on June 23, 2003, the main website of LOK premiered. A major endeavor, it was still a work in progress and over the next year we would continue to build and add onto it.
The first year of LOK has been filled with joy, and heartache. I knew when I dreamed of starting the site that there must be other people who were looking for the same thing. I never realized how many, though. In a matter of a few short months, our viewship grew leaps and bounds. We continue to get new visitors each and every day, and our growth has been steady and consistent. The demands of providing new and informative content at times proved overwhelming, but with support from volunteers and our family, we have managed to keep going. We have experienced the good and ugly sides of Internet life. We have made many friends and have received countless emails from people who have found the site a safe-haven where they can feel good about having a large family. We have also experienced attacks from hackers and trolls which have forced us to educate ourselves and become cutting edge in Internet security and operation.
It has been an exciting year, and we are looking forward to what the next year holds. We continue our commitment to providing a place where everyone who loves the idea of a large family can feel at home and find the support they need. We appreciate your being a part of our little slice of the Web. We thank you for sharing this reflection of the past year and hope you will continue with us on this journey for many years to come.
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Article by: Michelle Lehmann
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