Quads are 'more and more fun'

Grace is a little princess, always smiling and easygoing.

Until she doesn't get her way. Then watch out.

Joseph is still the biggest. He usually wakes first and easily entertains himself until everyone else is up.

Jack is tallest and already has had a couple of haircuts. He loves water but doesn't like binkies.

Noah, the littlest, is also the most observant and is interested in new things. But the first spoonful of food had better be his.

The Moore quadruplets, now more than 8 months old, are no longer tiny babies. They're becoming little people.

The World-Herald has followed their progress since their January birth.

Parents Aaron and Tina Moore said they are discovering new things about their amazing children every day.

“They're getting more and more fun,” said Tina during a recent walk around Faulkland Heights Park in Bellevue.

Born about 10 weeks prematurely, these kids definitely are growing. Joseph is up to 21 pounds and just switched to a bigger car seat. Jack weighs 18 pounds, Grace 16 and Noah 14.

All four are aware of other people and smile readily. They usually sleep through the night and like getting baths in the sink. They are eating baby food, which has been introduced slowly to watch for allergic reactions.

Everything is baby-normal except it's all multiplied by four.

There have been a few bumps in the road. Jack had to have a shunt put in his head to drain fluid from his brain and now has to wear a helmet so his skull forms correctly. Jack and Noah had hernias that were surgically repaired. Jack still is hooked up to an oxygen tube at night.

Aaron, a nurse, can't take the quads into work to show them off. They would be exposed to too many germs in a hospital. He has to take a shower and change his clothes before he comes home.

Tina chafed at being stuck in the house the first few months.

But on the whole, having quadruplets has been surprisingly pain-free and — dare they say it? — easy.

The children don't cry in church. Even when they were baptized at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, none of the babies cried. (However, Jack did spit up on Mommy.)

They are healthy and within normal parameters for their age. While all four came down with colds one time, the colds were mild and lasted only about four days. They all had flu shots and didn't shed a tear.

“I'm kind of feeling more normal now,” Tina said of life these days. “I can take a shower every day!”

Aaron added: “We can run errands now.”

Tina, pretending to knock on wood, said she knows she and Aaron are going to face a crisis of some kind or a really, really bad day eventually, but it hasn't happened yet — and she hopes saying that out loud isn't bad luck.

The couple try to take at least one of the kids along whenever they go shopping or to an appointment. They are no longer tied down to the four walls of their home. And Tina's mom can spend more time at home in Sloan, Iowa, than here.

The Moores take the kids on a walk almost every afternoon. They said the recent jaunt in Faulkland Heights was typical. Noah watched everything, really focusing on trees or people. Grace was happy for two laps around the park but fretted a little on the third; a binky settled her down. Jack was happy and talked quite a bit. Joseph, like always, conked out on the first lap.

Other walkers smiled when they passed the family. Two women stopped to chat when they realized they were seeing quadruplets. Aaron and Tina have even gotten used to that.

After the stroller ride, Aaron and Tina spent a few minutes taking the babies on the slide and swings. Everyone had fun.

It was another “normal” outing. Which led to a typical evening: walk, bath, eat and sleep.

Part of what has made it easy for the Moores, they admit, are the two daytime nannies and, especially, the evening volunteers. Friends old and new still come every day to help out.

“We've really come to appreciate the community,” Aaron said. “They are always there to help us.”

“It's something we can tell the kids about someday,” added Tina.

With their helpers in mind, Aaron said, they already are planning a party to celebrate the quads' first birthday in January. “It's going to be a BIG party,” he said.

They will invite doctors and nurses, volunteers and relatives — everyone who has played a part in the lives of Joseph, Jack, Grace and Noah.

But first, there's the babies' first Halloween and then their first Christmas to look forward to.

It's all exciting and “we're so blessed,” Tina said.

Contact the writer:

444-1067, carol.bicak@owh.com