Kids have all eight great-grandparents
Carter and Lincoln Siffleet won’t be short of help, advice and love as they grow up - not with eight greatgrandparents to call upon.
‘‘I’ve never heard of anyone having eight,’’ said their 25-yearold father, Tom. ‘‘Babysitting is not a problem.’’ The sharemilker lives with his wife, Tristie, also 25, outside New Plymouth on a farm where he has worked, on and off, since he was
14.
Lincoln arrived in the world four weeks ago and the young parents gathered together their extended family for a special portrait to mark the occasion.
Tristie held the baby on her lap while Tom stood behind her with Carter, aged 23 months, in his arms and the rest of the family lined up on either side.
There was Tom’s dad, Peter, 57, accompanied by his parents Glen, 83, and Jill, 82, and Tom’s mum, Janice, 58, with her mother and father, Margaret, 85, and Alexander Sole, 87.
Tristie’s dad, Leonard Porteous, 51, was with his father, Ian, 80, and mother, Rosalie, 75, while Tristie’s mother, Shelley, 49, was accompanied by her dad and mum, Claude, 72, and Raewyn Trow, 70.
Tom, a Lincoln University graduate who is a first-time farmer, said it was good that most of their rellies lived in and around New Plymouth.
Only Ian and Rosalie Porteous live further away, in Waverley, and they still manage to visit fairly often.
‘‘It’s not very often that we get all of us together like that,’’ he said, ‘‘although we see each other pretty regularly.’’
Tom, who has three older brothers, Scott, Ben and Nick, and Tristie, who has two younger brothers, Corben and Mason, and an older sister, Shay, find there are many advantages to having a large, close-knit and expanding family.
Also, with their siblings also having families of their own, Tom said there plenty of places to visit.
‘‘There’s no disadvantages,’’ he said.