Allison Whaley is a teacher, bowling coach, youth leader, wife and mother 0f seven children. She has purple hair and three master’s degrees and loves ’90s rap.
But to her, she’s just a normal mother.
The Whaley family begins every day at 6 a.m. in their home in Jeffersonville or, as they call it, “the real country.” Allison wakes the other eight members of her family, and, if she has time, she makes breakfast for everyone.
Allison describes mornings as an “everyone for themselves,” situation. If her girls get ready in time, she braids their hair while her husband, Jason, changes the youngest two’s diapers.
Allison met Jason while attending Montgomery County High School where she now teaches. Jason was attending Morehead State University, and after Allison graduated, she followed. While they were both undergraduates, Allison got pregnant. Their oldest, Jacey, was born 16 years ago while the couple were still in school and working. They married in 2002 during their college spring break.
Three years later Jaxon was born, then Macy, Keightley, Marlowe, Nixon and WillaGrey, who’s 10 months old. While increasing her family, Allison graduated with a bachelor’s degree and has completed three master’s degrees from Morehead State.
“I didn’t just want to be a statistic or just another teen mom,” Allison says. “I wanted to show my daughters that I didn’t just quit after having a kid.”
After she earned her second master’s degree, she applied for a job as an assistant principal. During the interview, she says she was told, “You have five kids at home that need you.”
“That really broke me,” she says.
In addition to the usual Whaley family chaos, 2017 brought serious hardships.
Last October, Nixon became deathly ill with a ruptured appendix. At first Nixon’s illness was misdiagnosed and his condition worsened. Nixon spent six months in and out of the hospital. Allison, who was pregnant and gave birth to her youngest while Nixon was ill, slept in the hospital bed with Nixon and then with both her ill child and her newborn while Jason was at home managing the rest of the family.
They took another blow when Allison’s grandmother collapsed and died suddenly. Allison is still dealing with grief.
“Do you ever feel like someone has to die for someone else to live?” she says.
Soon after Nixon recovered, Allison resumed her usual duties as a teacher, coach and mentor. She never stopped being a mom.
“Sometimes I feel like I do so much I half-ass everything,” she says.
Although she’s often pulled in dozens of different directions, Allison wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s a crazy life, but it’s our life. I love it.”
