McKenna, Teagan, Callie and Sawyer Davidson made history when they entered the world Jan. 21, 2017, at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. On Wednesday, the hospital’s first-ever set of quadruplets adds another page to the family history book as they head to their first day of kindergarten.
Bound for Banks County Primary School toting backpacks and lunch boxes adorned with Disney princesses, cheetahs, flowers and Spider Man, the Davidson Quads, as they’re known on Facebook, won’t be in the same class — another first for them — but they said they aren’t sweating it because their classrooms are in the same corner of the school.
As for their parents, Justin and Julie, the excitement is coupled with a tinge of nervousness. Being on an all-day schedule as opposed to the partial days they attended as preschoolers, the girls’ absence during the day will take some getting used to, according to Julie.
“I’m sure there will be tears Wednesday morning,” Julie said. “Tears from me — they’ll be fine. It’s bittersweet. It’s weird; it’s real school now. I don’t even know what to do with myself. It’s going to be so different. It’s going to be a lot to keep up with, I think.”
More than anything, the foursome said they’re excited to learn how to read and write letters and numbers, although Teagan’s already gotten a bit of a head start.
“She’s caught us spelling things to each other a couple times,” Justin said.
The sisters will be packing their lunches, according to McKenna, who has a penchant for peanut butter and jelly, while Teagan favors a mayonnaise sandwich with chips on the side.
“They’re very excited,” Justin said. “They do really good in school and they’re excited for it.”
As the oldest of the four, McKenna is “definitely the bossy one,” according to her mom. “She always thinks she’s in charge.”
Teagan may be the most analytic of the group, gravitating toward math and the way things fit together. “She loves to take things apart; anything like that is up her alley. She thinks about everything,” Julie said.
Sawyer, the youngest, is the pet lover of the bunch. “She would stop traffic to save a rodent,” Justin said.
And Callie personifies “pure, genuine happiness,” according to her dad. “She looks on the bright side and she’s happy with whatever.”
When asked what it’s like to have so many sisters, McKenna said it’s mostly fun, but it can be a little annoying, too, because “sometimes they snore at night.”
An obvious highlight of having quadruplets, according to Julie, is there’s no shortage of playmates in their household. However, ensuring there’s always four of everything manages to keep the parents on their toes.
“That sounds kind of obvious, but one of them will want something and literally the next one wants something and by the time I get the fourth one done, it starts all over,” Julie said. “It really is always something. It was a while before I could eat warm food again.”
“You’ve got something and they’re like, ‘I want one.’ You give it to one and in just a couple minutes, you’re going to have three more hands reaching in your pockets,” Justin said.
According to both Justin and Julie, it’s hard to believe just how quickly time has gone by.
“When we sit back and start thinking about all the stuff that we’ve done, it makes more sense,” Justin added. “But when you just think about it, it does not seem like it’s been five years. (There’s) always, always something to do — always something interesting happening. They’re super sweet, then they also fight like cats and dogs. They’re really awesome. It’s really cool seeing (how) they can all see the same thing but they all four have a different story to tell about it and a different perspective.”
