When Charli and Cullen announced their first pregnancy, the reactions stunned them. Instead of congratulations, they faced intrusive questions about their decision to have children. Both have dwarfism, and suddenly everyone seemed to have an opinion about their family planning. “People acted like we hadn’t thought about the challenges,” Charli remembers. “But we’d spent years preparing for this.”
They turned to social media to share their real story, not the assumptions people made about them. Charli’s Instagram became a window into their lives – the genetic counseling appointments, the specially adapted nursery, and eventually, the joyful chaos of raising their daughters, Tully and Tilba. Both girls have forms of dwarfism, but as Charli shows in her posts, their childhood is filled with the same scraped knees and bedtime stories as any other kids.
Their third pregnancy tested their courage like never before. The possibility their baby could inherit both parents’ genetic conditions meant waiting weeks for test results, not knowing if they’d face heartbreaking news. When Rip was born healthy, their relief was overwhelming.
Today, Charli’s posts show the beautiful normalcy of their life: grocery trips with three kids in tow, movie nights piled on the couch, the occasional toddler tantrum. “We want people to see that our family isn’t defined by dwarfism,” Cullen explains. “We’re defined by love, just like everyone else.” Their journey stands as powerful proof that every family’s worth is measured in love, not inches.
