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Most people give at least some thought to how many kids they want to have, but for Hilaria Baldwin, having four kids age 6 and under with husband Alec [3] "kind of crept up" on her. When the pair got married in 2012, Hilaria was 27 years old and wanted to hold onto married life with her new husband for a bit before welcoming kids. It wasn't in her plan to be a mom of four (five soon [4]!) and stepmom to 61-year-old Alec's daughter Ireland all in a seven-year span. However, the couple's first child, Carmen, 6, was a bit of surprise and set the tone for her three younger brothers — Rafael, 4 Leonardo, 3, and Romeo, 1 — after her.
"It was one of those things where it kind of crept up on me a bit."
"When we got married, Alec was clear that he wanted to have kids right away, but I was 27, and I never really thought of it," Hilaria told POPSUGAR in an interview through her partnership with Tom's of Maine [5] (she loves the brand's natural deodourant [6]!).
"I'm not a big planner. It was important to him to have kids soon, which I think was mostly because of our age difference. After we got married, I originally said, 'Why don't we wait, we just got married.' Then five months into our marriage, I found out I was pregnant with Carmen, and of course, I was really excited to be a mom. It was one of those things where it kind of crept up on me a bit. I was breastfeeding when I found out I was pregnant with Rafa, and the same happened with Leo. It caught up with me quickly. And then all of a sudden, we had three — it wasn't really a plan. Once you get to three, it's wild all the time, and we embraced the wildness and decided to try to have another baby. And we had Romeo — a third boy!"
"The hardest thing [about having four kids] is feeling like you're never enough. You always feel like you're going to disappoint somebody.
Although it wasn't planned this way, Hilaria and Alec are making the most of the chaos that comes with having small kids. "The hardest thing [about having four kids] is feeling like you're never enough," Hilaria said. "You always feel like you're going to disappoint somebody. I have four babies, and they want me at the same time. Now that I'm pregnant, I'm tired, and it's harder for me to lift them and hold them, but I try explaining it to them. I have to tell them, 'Mommy is tired right now, and I have to hug you from sitting down.' It's good to teach them to care for other people. Everyone is doing something different, and I want to make sure I'm as present as possible for them. It can be challenging for anyone who has any number of children."
However, any struggle that the mom of four is experiencing isn't deterring her from growing her beautiful family. She's pregnant now with her fifth child after vulnerably opening up about experiencing a miscarriage this past Spring [8], and apparently, this little one may not be the couple's last!
"It has now been a mission to give Carmen a sister," Hilaria said. "She loves Ireland, but she wants a baby sister. Basically, my mission is I'm going to keep having kids until it's a girl [9]!"