The awesome foursome

Delighted parents, family and friends celebrated the first birthday of Bahrain's fabulous foursome - quadruplets Aidan, Anya, Connor and Rory Koohpaima - at the weekend.

Born on February 1 last year, they were the first quads to have been born in the kingdom for 15 years at the International Hospital of Bahrain.

Proud parents Cynthia and Zall Koohpaima from Janabiyah said they could not believe that 12 months had passed so quickly.

Mum Cynthia said: "I cannot believe we are already celebrating their first birthday. In some ways the past year was much as I expected it to be - sometimes it was agonising, especially the teething and when one of the boys had colic, otherwise, they have been very good babies.

"All of them have gained weight well. We get a lot of questions about whether they are normal. People assume that as they were premature and they were multiple babies there could have been problems. But, thankfully the children are doing very well.

"They are not walking yet ... they are sort of cruising! They cruise holding on to things a bit and are still trying to master crawling. They love their four walkers, which are more like bumper cars to race all around the house, banging into each other and laughing and playing, which is nice.

"I was joking the other day that when they start walking properly we will be the ones who will have to wear roller skates to keep up with them!"

Bahraini Zall, 45, and American Cynthia, 38, met while studying in Los Angeles and have been married for 19 years. They have been living in Bahrain for the past 12 years and also have a teenage daughter, Arianna, 15. After years of suffering the heartache of miscarriage the couple were blessed with the arrival of the foursome.

The parents manage their busy home and office schedule with the help of detailed planning and support from family and friends. Cynthia who manages a team of 10 and works in the administrative support services manger for a bank believes her administrative skills are helping in both areas.

Cynthia said: "I love my work. The management at work has been very supportive and I have great bosses.

"I really don't know how I manage everything. I just focus a lot. I am really, really organised and believe in planning every detail.

"We are trying to enjoy whatever comes at every moment. These days are not going to come back. The hardest thing I sometimes have to do is to leave the children at home. I enjoy my work, I love it, but, when they give me that look that says 'Mummy where are you going?' it is heart stopping.

"Coming home is worth everything because they are always smiling and happy."

The couple are pleased that their eldest daughter Arianna who grew up as a single child has now had the opportunity to become a doting sister. She is a great help in a house full of bouncing babies.

Although the family moved into a larger home before the children were born they feel that the villa has shrunk in size and everything is centred round the four little ones. As well as trying to cope with the extra expense of four new mouths to feed they also had to call on the help of two nannies, rather than one!

Cynthia says she has not put the quads on pacifiers and continues to breast feed them as she believes that mother's milk is best for the babies. Feeding, bathing, changing ... everything takes place in rotation and the children are already displaying their own little personalities.

Cynthia said: "Our girl Anya is very, very talkative. They go through periods when two play together. Lately it is Connor and Anya. Anything she does he finds it completely amusing and he cracks up. You put them together and they play really nicely.

"Connor is the deep thinker and has a crooked smile which is very cute and Aidan is the comedian - he is always laughing. Rory is always smiling and he likes to clap. He is the marketing guy ... I think he is going to be a future ladies man.

"All of them love animals. We have two Persian cats and two puppies. Anya loves the cat and says 'tat, tat' and Rory says 'og' for the dog. Some people say that we should not have pets near our kids but we believe it is good for them as it teaches them how to be kind.

"All of them look different and we are not sure who they resemble. Everyone has a different opinion. Aidan has completely white, blonde hair. Rory has these lovely chocolate curls and then Connor's hair is gold, straight and silky. Anya has cute curly brown hair.

"They work in teams too. You can't believe it until you see for yourself that 'multiples' seem to have their own language. They seem to communicate on their own. I have noticed it early in the morning when a couple of them wake up and they seem to be talking to each other. It is noises that they seem to understand and which makes no sense to anyone of us.

"Of course, the best thing is that here they are around family. My husband's family is here. His sister lives in the same compound and one of his other sisters lives down the street. There is lots of love."

Zall added: "We are really blessed and we are really lucky. Anya is the boss already. She is daddy's girl. She is the one who sleeps between us most of the time. I am very happy that she has three brothers to look after her and I won't have to worry about her."

One of the couple's challenges however, is to find time for each other ... which they say is usually at the end of the night when everybody is asleep.

Going out for a friend's birthday party or even a ride to the store to buy groceries for half an hour is considered together time.

However, a greater challenge that they are trying to solve is the prospect of going on a holiday this summer. Zall, who manages tours at Kanoo Travel, said: "We haven't travelled in a long time ... 2007 was the last time we went on holiday. So this year, we are hoping to visit Cynthia's dad in Florida as he hasn't seen the children.

"We are thinking about how we will be able to manage the logistics.

"Cynthia is more optimistic but practical application might be somewhat different. We have to have strollers and car seats. We have to rent a car but our problem is what kind of car should we rent that can hold us plus suitcases and equipment? We barely just squeeze into the SUV that we have!"

Despite all the ups and downs, the happy and frustrating moments, the Koohpaima's message for other parents of multiple births is that you can do it. Cynthia said: "For parents who are expecting more than one baby I want to say - don't worry you can have them, just have faith.

"To people who are trying to have children, don't give up. Just be patient, God will reward you. In the end it will all work out. It was scary to think how we will manage but in a blink-of-an-eye a year has passed by.

"We are also much closer as a married couple. Our marriage was always strong but now it feels even closer now. I feel we are much happier and grateful and we thank God everyday."