“Our life is just so inherently busy, it’s just go, go, go, go. You know, we have our oldest going into high school,” she said at the time. “My boys are in lacrosse. Sienna’s starting a new sport and going into this drama thing — there’s just so much going on with our kids and their friends and their relationships and our vacationing.”

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Gina and Travis’ lives as parents have gotten so busy that they have chosen to focus on raising their kids rather than planning their upcoming wedding. Especially since Travis has three kids — daughter Presley Mullen, and sons Bennett and Joseph Mullen — that he shares with his ex. “I like putting my focus on my kids right now because they’re at such a fun age. I don’t want to miss that because I’m stressed out because I’m planning a wedding. That’s just what life looks like for me right now,” she said.

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Gina Kirschenheiter opens up about the hardships of raising teenage children with Travis Mullen

Although raising a blended family of teens and tweens has been challenging for Gina and Travis, she told Bravo Insider that she’s proud of them for being so capable of doing so. “We’ve done a really good job. I’m proud of us that we’ve been open communicators with our kids that they now feel comfortable to come to and tell us things,” she said. “But then the hard [thing] becomes you have to hear these things that your children are telling you. And you have to be OK with it. You have to be supportive and cool and not too reactionary or responsive because you want them to continue to tell you things.”

“I think that’s a really hard part of having children that are teenagers is that they’re growing up and you have to figure that out with them. And you also don’t know if you’re doing the right thing,” she continued. “If I’m too supportive, do they take it as a green light to do more things or explore more things? It’s very scary. But my kids, I will be honest, they are turning into teenagers, but they are not turning into a—holes.”

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Gina Kirschenheiter reveals new insight into life as a mom to her kids

Gina told Bravo Insider that she is grateful for her kids because they are so sweet to her. “It really is amazing,” she said. “And I don’t know if I just got lucky with our older ones and maybe it’s coming down the pike because I’ve got a lot of kids, you know? But so far, we’ve been very lucky that our kids are just genuinely sweet. I always think that some of it has to do with the fact that my kids have the opportunity to miss me.”

She continued, revealing that her kids splitting their time between her house and Matt’s house has been beneficial for them, and has helped her to share her own motherhood experiences with her friends who may or may not be in the same situation. “I tell that to Emily, who struggles sometimes. I try to give her that, like, ‘My kids, they go back and forth, and they have the opportunity to miss me.’ And to also make her feel better,” she said. “I don’t come from a divorced household, so I don’t know what it’s like to miss my parents because they’re there every day. I think when they’re there every day, you take them for granted. And I think when you don’t have them there every day, you’re maybe a bit more appreciative of your parents.