About Not Quite Nuclear
Franii Cayley rewrites the stepmum narrative in her hilariously entertaining, deeply insightful and beautifully brave storytelling as she shares the journey of living in a blended family with two adults, six children, and two dogs. Going from single to stepmum, Frances found herself faced with a whole new world of love and challenge and said ‘Yes, I choose you… all of you… I’ll just need a bigger day planner’.
Meet the Cayleys
Have you ever found yourself wondering what it’s like to be part of a “not quite nuclear” family? The one where there are bonus parents, bonus grandparents even, some of the adults don’t seem to like each other, there are kids with different lineage and there seems to be a lot of people under one roof?
Meet the Cayleys! We’re a family of 8 humans and 2 four-legged rascals based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
I’m Franii Cayley; the wife, mum, stepmum and furmum leading the storytelling behind Not Quite Nuclear. Mal is my husband, the dad and furdad.
Madi is the eldest of the kids; 18, independent, intelligent, sociable, driven and beyond gorgeous in all ways.
Conor, the eldest of the boys, is 17, unpredictable, funny, compassionate, loving, musically gifted and the one who has taught me the most about parenting so far.
Asher is the second eldest of the boys; 15, logical, practical, dry-humoured, worldly, curious, doesn’t suffer fools and likely to conquer the world with ease.
Judah is next in line; 13, thoughtful, huge-hearted, witty, pensive, and has a smile that lights up the most loving eyes I’ve ever seen.
Luca, the youngest of the boys, is 11, light-hearted, street smart, hilarious, still cute, whole-hearted-loving, cheeky and wise beyond his years.
Mykenzie is last in line. She’s 3, the only one from my womb, the binding agent of the family, a miracle, a one-off, our live-in entertainment, the youngest of 6 and an only child.
Matilda is our first fur child. She’s 5, fiercely loyal, protective and beautiful.
Minnie is the latest addition. She’s 1, huge, often misunderstood, completely unaware of her size, loving without boundaries and mischievous.
We are the Cayleys. And we are Not Quite Nuclear.
Why I created Not Quite Nuclear
Sometimes when two worlds collide, the gift of love is unwrapped. It can feel as though there is no one in the world but the two people absorbed by the feeling of finding their true soul mate. In my case, my new love bubble included Mal… and his five kids. Not only was I navigating through this unbelievable and unexpected new relationship, but I was also getting to know five other amazing humans and what would become our dynamic. This is not the love story I thought I would write, but, well, here we are! While every moment isn’t rainbows and unicorns, every day is a blessing.
We’ve since added a little lady of our own, and two dogs to the mix of love and marriage, working full-time, running businesses, volunteering with local community groups, and trying our best to meaningfully participate in our local and business community… so it is safe to say our life is more than a little busy and yes, our family day planner is massive.
For me, the work and volunteering stuff is manageable because it’s what I’ve always known. But stepparenting… well, I’m into the second half of a decade in that role and it is still a new game that rewrites rules every. single. day. It would be rude to keep all the joy, rage, laughter, screaming, cup-filling, soul-destroying, moments of insanity to myself.
Not Quite Nuclear unveils the mystery of the family that is very common in today’s world. It’s my platform to show what’s behind the front door of a family like ours, to share situations we’ve survived, to normalise the feelings of coming up short that come with not nailing stepparenting (and parenting) every day (or any days), and to put one foot in front of the other in a life where you don’t always feel in control of what’s happening around you and to you. I can’t promise you’ll be better at stepparenting because you play along at home with our Not Quite Nuclear adventures, but you’ll work out very quickly that you are not alone. You’ve got the Cayleys.
