Farr quads head to high school!

Farr quads’ first day of high school It’s four times the nerves and excitement as the Farr quadruplets head off to big school

When Woman’s Day first met Karen and Kelvin Farr back in 2004, they had just welcomed four beautiful bundles of joy – Emily, Braydon, Savannah and Jarrod. Now, 13 years later, the quads are off to high school, and the Farrs are celebrating once again.

“It does make me a bit sad they’re growing up,” admits Karen, 45. “But I’m excited for them, too – it’s the next chapter in their lives.”

“They’ll still always be our babies when we look at them,” adds dad Kelvin, 43.

The couple had been trying for a child for seven years when they finally hit the jackpot and welcomed four at once. After suffering two miscarriages, polycystic ovarian syndrome and a blocked fallopian tube, Karen’s last resort was trying the follicle-stimulating drug Gonal-f to help them conceive. To her delight, it worked, and the quads were born at 32 weeks at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, weighing 1.4kg-1.8kg.

“I still remember the tears,” says heavy plant operator Kelvin, who left his job in Dubbo so he could help Karen look after their newborns.

“When they first came home I was just so overwhelmed,” Karen recalls. “We both stayed home for the first couple of years.”

She says sticking to a routine and always working as a team helped them get through.

Since then it’s been an “enjoyably hard” journey, and the parents have loved watching their foursome grow up into four very different people.

Emily was born first, and seems to have taken on the role of leader. Braydon is the joker, and loves a prank or two. “He jumped out and scared me yesterday,” says Savannah, the quiet one. And then there’s adventurous Jarrod, who everyone says is the noisiest and most active. “I’ve done over 7000 steps this morning!” he says, pointing at his fitness tracker.

“It’s certainly never dull,” laughs Kelvin.

When Woman’s Day visits the family home in Condobolin, NSW, it’s obvious the quads share a close bond. They agree it was great to always have someone to play with while growing up, though they admit there are downsides, such as sharing rooms and waiting in line. “Like for the toilet, to get dinner, use the shower, opening a present at Christmas… There’s a lot of waiting,” says Jarrod. For Karen and Kelvin, it’s business as usual. Sending the quads to high school has meant buying four new backpacks, four new lunch boxes and 14 books each – that’s 56 books to cover with contact! And of course there’s the recess and lunch snacks. “Groceries cost us a fortune, it was cheaper when they were in nappies!” laughs their stay-at-home mum. There are plenty more milestones to come. Karen admits she’s not looking forward to the kids going for their driver’s licences. “That’s 120 hours each of teaching!” she says. Even so, the proud mum can’t promise she won’t shed a tear when her brood walk through those school gates – much to the quads’ amusement. “Imagine how you’ll feel when we all start moving out, Mum!” says Jarrod with a cheeky grin.

‘There’s a lot of waiting… like for the toilet, to open presents’