With the start of the new school year kicking off, spare a thought for frazzled parents Alise and Todd who face four times the stress when their kids start classes!
With four rather enthusiastic and excited 5-year-old boys, the Andrews’ Sydney home is anything but quiet.
“It’s exhausting!” smiles Alise, 42, mum to tireless quads Bailey, Ethan, Mitchell and Nate, 5. “But it’s getting easier as they get older.”
“When they were babies, I needed constant help. There was no leaving the house, going for leisurely walks or meeting girlfriends in a cafe for coffee.
“Now we can venture out as a family to restaurants but it’s generally not enjoyable for me.”
Slightly darker-haired Mitchell, who’s fraternal, will start school with his identical brothers at Wakehurst Public School in Sydney’s north.
Alise and their dad Todd decided it’d be best to split the boys into pairs in two classes: “We decided who’d go together based on their personality – and their personalities are all completely different.”
Bailey, Ethan, Mitchell and Nate were conceived via IVF. It was Alise and Todd’s fourth attempt to get pregnant.
After five years raising their miracle babies, Alise is now getting ready for the challenge of wrangling four boys for school each morning.
But as excited as she is about some “me time”, she confesses to a growing anxiety.
“If one gets upset, the others will feel that and be upset, too. It’s not going to be easy if that happens at the school gate!”
Read more about Alise, Todd and the story of their miracle quadruplets only in Woman’s Day, on sale 26th January.
