Happy birthday, times four

Luladey B. Tadesse

When Jim Hodges comes home from work and lies down on his living room

floor, eight little arms wrap around him. His dream of having his

quadruplets grow old enough to physically express their love has come

true.

First it was in their eyes. Then it was a little smile. Now his children

are old enough to hug him.

“They are getting to an age when they can look at you and love back,”

Hodges said.

Hodges and his wife, Shelly, on Thursday celebrated the first birthday of

their quadruplets -- James, Jon, Melissa and Lucas.

The family will officially celebrate the milestone at a “quad bash,”

complete with crawling races, Sunday at the Costa Mesa home of family

friend Valerie Starn.

“Gifts from God,” Shelly calls her children.

It took the couple seven years to have children. And the process has been

both miraculous and difficult for them.

Shelly was in bed rest during her entire seven-month pregnancy -- her

children were born two months’ premature. And, she had to quit her job as

an escrow officer in Corona del Mar.

“The hardest was eating 4,000 calories a day,” she said, recalling how

her husband cooked for her and made sure she consumed enough for five

people.

It has paid off. Doctors told them their babies were the healthiest set

of quadruplets born at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. Each child came home

at a different time, beginning with Melissa, the trendsetter.

“Melissa is the independent one,” her mother said. “She is always a month

ahead: the first to crawl, the first to roll over. She is the only one to

hold her bottle. The boys are very needy.”

Since their miracle a year ago, the Hodges think, breathe and talk

babies. A typical day begins at 5 a.m. and begins to slow down at 8 p.m.,

when the babies start to fall asleep.

Each day, the babies go through 24 jars of baby food, 30 diapers and one

gallon of milk.

“There is no way one person can give the babies what they need,” Shelly

said. “You have to be organized and you have to have help. Physically and

mentally, you have to be prepared. You have to make sacrifices.”

In addition to two paid employees who help Shelly with the children

during the week, about 20 volunteers from St. James Episcopal Church in

Newport Beach have assisted the couple throughout the year.

Starn has been a close friend of Shelly’s for almost eight years. She

drops by often and brings Shelly her favorite coffee.

“The first few months weren’t a lot of fun, was it guys?” said Shelly,

kidding with her children as she spread a handful of Cheerios on a table

for them. “But I wouldn’t change it.”