A mom of 10 told how she is raising her biological son and his twin brothers as triplets – and if you say they aren’t the little lads will “tear you apart.”
Alicia Dougherty, the matriarch of the Dougherty Dozen, left people smiling when she shared the news on her TikTok page – largely because the youngsters are different races and heights.
The boys are all the same age and are all in second grade which is year three in the UK.
And we couldn’t imagine three prouder siblings.
Alicia, who adopted six children and gave birth to four, was responding to a person who had queried her “triplets.”
She said: “Our adopted twins and biological son are all born in 2014 and in second grade and have been raised as triplets most of their lives.”
She added: “Don’t tell them they’re not triplets or they will tear you apart.”
People were quick to praise Alicia and the boys who look utterly devoted to each other.
“Doesn’t matter about the skin color you can see how much love they have for each other… triplets for life,” said one person.
“Look how proud they are!” added another. “Such beautiful triplets!”
“They can be whatever they want to be!!!!!!” said another.
Alicia previously told how she’d been trolled for her mammoth brood but ignored it.
She said: “People keep trolling on my videos that they hate our smiles. I guess I’m biased but I think they’re all 100 percent.
“Happiness comes from knowing we are worthy of being our true, authentic selves.
“We see the negativity. But we brush it off.
“Because we know it comes from other people’s insecurities and triggers. It’s not on us. It’s on them.
“I appreciate those of you who have checked in on us over the past few weeks as we’ve been massively trolled by unhappy, insecure people.
“I promise you, we are good.”
Alicia regularly posts updates on them on her popular Instagram pages.
But when she showed off her food haul, she was also slammed.
A weekly shop including 25 bananas, 12 pounds of chicken and 191 bags of chips was mocked by trolls.
The total cost of the mountainous food shop was $1,094, adding up to around a hefty $56,000 food bill.
In the short clip she said: “The following will last us for almost one week plus I had to get supplies for the boy’s football party later today.
“I did not get apples we’re going to go apple picking for those later. I did get produce including 25 bananas.”
She continued to move her camera around the huge stacks of food explaining what she had purchased.
She said: “Some snacks including 191 packs of chips. Bread for the week, a few boxes of cereal.
“Dairy for the week including 14lbs of cheese, lunchables, coffee, some canned goods, meat including 12.5lb chicken. 6lb of pasta and a few random things and that’s all for today!”
In a 2018 interview with People, Alicia and Josh explained that all six of their adopted kids have behavioral issues and suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) – making family life a little more challenging.
Although they weren’t aware of this when adopting their first son Alex – who was four at the time, the parents threw themselves into helping him – and went on to help other kids with “difficult behaviors.”
“We became known as the parents who could handle the difficult behaviors,” Alicia said, and now, the power duo share insight into their hectic family life in TikTok and Instagram.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.