Jon and Kate Plus 8: 'Multiple Blessings' of Twins, Sextuplets
Jon and Kate Gosselin "show the world what it's like" with twins and sextuplets.
Oct. 16, 2008— -- For Kate Gosselin, having two sets of multiples under the age of nine wasn't enough of a challenge.
Between sending her twins to second grade and starting her sextuplets at pre-school -- not to mention filming her family's TLC reality show, "Jon and Kate Plus 8" -- Gosselin and her husband, Jon, somehow found time to write a book, "Multiple Blessings."
"In the early years, so many people would say, 'You need to write a book,' and my joke was always 'Oh yeah, in all my spare time, right?'" Kate told Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America," where she appeared Thursday morning alongside Jon and the couple's eight children: Cara and Mady, the two 8-year-old twins, and the 4-and-a-half-year old sextuplets, Aaden, Hannah, Alexis, Collin, Leah and Joel.
"Slowly [the book] happened," she said. "Our goal was to record the memories before we forgot them ... I didn't care if it was never published. I wanted it recorded for the kids, for them to know how much they were wanted and loved. "
Having become an inspiration to so many parents who struggle with just one or two children, Kate told ABCNews.com that "Multiple Blessings" is really just a compilation of lessons she had learned, put down on paper for "moms everywhere."
"We have lived through a lot -- just about every situation you can imagine," said Kate, 33, of her experience raising six girls and three boys at their central Pennsylvania home, where the TLC film crew comes three times a week for about two hours each day.
Often criticized for inviting cameras into their living room, Jon and Kate defended their decision, explaining that because they knew their unique family would garner attention no matter what they did, they opted to let the public into their lives on their own terms.
"Even if we would just go out in public we would be stared upon and looked upon," Jon, 31, said. "It was an opportunity for us to show the world what it's like."
"To the critical people, a lot of times, we just say the major blessing to us that we never could have predicted or planned or worked toward was the fact that we can both work from home and have eight kids and provide for our family," Kate added.
The show began when producers contacted the couple through their Web site. Two hour-long documentaries followed, and then, "Jon and Kate Plus 8," now in its third season.
"Instead of people contacting us and doing news report after news report, why not let them into our house and let them see what it's really like?" Jon said.
As for how long they'll keep the cameras in their home, Jon said it's up to the family.
"It's always been a season-by-season decision," he said. "We have a family meeting and we all vote on whether we want the cameras to stay."
"Their childhood comes first," Jon said, adding that as soon as the kids get sick of the limelight, they'll kick the cameras to the curb.
