Quad life is the best for Timaru mum Kendall Macdonald.
There will be tears on the first day. Big emotions and feelings of abandonment and separation.
But it won’t be from little Hudson, Molly, Indie and Quinn – the quads are more than ready for school.
It’ll be mum Kendall Macdonald who will be in bits.
“I will definitely cry,” says the mother of New Zealand’s first quadruplets since 1993.
Molly, her fraternal twin brother Hudson, and identical twin sisters Indie and Quinn were born at Christchurch Women’s Hospital at 28 weeks and four days.
On August 15, the famous foursome will turn 5.
And six days later, they will start school in their home town, Timaru.
Macdonald, 32, admits to having mixed feelings about them heading off to primary school.
“On one hand, I’m really excited for them – they are excited and really ready, especially the girls,” she says.
“They’re at that stage where they need to move on. And they’ve also seen all their friends leaving too and feel too old for kindy now.
“But then, I’m also really sad that they’re 5 and it’s gone so fast. They’re not little children anymore.”
The kids have been having weekly school visits lately and love it so much they don’t want to leave.
The girls especially love wearing their school uniforms and Macdonald has trouble getting them into their normal clothes.
However, they won’t be all in the same class.
“I thought that would be too mean for the teacher - they would probably rule the class,” Macdonald smiles.
Hudson and Molly are in one new entrants’ class and the identical twins are in the other.
Although the kids are extremely close and share many things, they each have their own distinct character and personality.
Molly is the youngest but the leader, Macdonald says. She is “strong-willed and stubborn” but also hugely kind-hearted and there to look after her siblings.
Hudson has “a few challenges” but is super-smart and taught himself to read.
Indie and Quinn are identical twins but they are “completely different”, Macdonald says.
Quinn is an extroverted “girly girl” who loves singing, dancing, and being a princess, while Indie is a quieter, reserved “tomboy” who is also “so funny... she’s like our wee clown of the house”.
They’re now at the age where they realise it’s not normal to have three siblings with the same birthday.
But they have embraced it and like being known as the quads.
Quinn and Indie especially enjoy being identical twins and tricking people to their advantage.
Even Macdonald sometimes gets caught out.
“You’d think that as a mum you’d know who your child is but sometimes it’s not that straightforward,” she laughs.
“I rely heavily on what they are wearing but especially with Quinn who is always changing her clothes it catches me out.”
They are having separate kindy birthday celebrations and on August 15 they’ll spend time with their dad Josh before they all go out for dinner together. A party will follow at the weekend.
While they live close to school, they’ll be driven in the winter until it warms up later in the year and then they can walk or perhaps scooter.
And Macdonald plans to go inside their classrooms with them for the initial morning drop-offs, at least until they are settled.
But she knows she will struggle to contain her emotions.
“I was a mess when my oldest [Brooklyn] started school and I know that I’ll be the same this time.”
Macdonald, who works for a sports club and a painting business doing admin and accounting, isn’t looking forward to the quiet daytime periods and isn’t sure what she will do with herself.
“I’ll probably get stuck into work... I’ll have to keep myself busy or else I won’t know how to cope.”
- Kurt Bayer is NZME South Island Head of News based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.
Friends and family are remembering the award-winning reporter.