THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230552
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CLAUDINE R. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Sandy Taylor sits in a tall chair in her living room. A friend dapples makeup on her eyelids, cheeks and chin. Now and then she's interrupted by a baby who wants a pacifier, another who wants a bottle, a third who wants a hug or a fourth who just wants a pat on the back.
For Sandy, those constant demands are part of a typical day. She and her husband, Anthony Taylor, are the parents of 9-month-old quadruplets.
But this day is far from typical: For the first time in three years, the Taylors are getting ready to go out on the town - on their own.
The local office of WIC, a government program that provides groceries and baby formula to women with children under 5, planned Thursday's romantic and babyless evening. The Taylors were treated to hairstyles, a limousine ride, dinner at Scale 'O De Whale in Portsmouth and a movie at the Commodore Theatre. Five WIC employees volunteered to baby-sit.
``We just wanted to give them a break because it's four new babies and they don't have a sitter or anything,'' said Christine Holland, a WIC office service specialist. ``They really needed a night out.''
Sandy said she and her husband had never gone out without the babies.
``If we go anywhere we take them with us,'' she said during a morning hair appointment at Mr. G's, a beauty salon in Portsmouth. ``When I'm away from them I start to feel guilty. I rush to get home and Anthony says, `There's nothing to worry about.' ''
After running a few errands, Sandy goes home and prepares for the evening. By 3:30, Tatianah is screaming. Soon, Breanah and Shareef join in. It's feeding time. Sandy and her friend and makeup artist for the day, Monica Mitchell, put the three in walkers while the fourth, Tyreef, naps.
``Her eyes are already made up,'' Mitchell says. ``I only have to add the lipstick.''
One by one, Sandy arranges the babies in a semicircle. She rotates milk bottles, vegetables, applesauce and macaroni between the three babies.
``I think we are about done,'' she says. Anthony Taylor picks up each baby and begins to wash hands and mouths.
It's 4 p.m. Tyreef wakes from his nap. Diapers are changed, and Sandy climbs the stairs of their Portsmouth townhouse. About 30 minutes later she is dressed for the night.
``You have to put them to bed with the pacifier in their mouths,'' she tells Mitchell. ``If Breanah cries a lot either she wants to get fed or changed.''
Tatianah, the youngest of the quads, is crawling already. Every now and then a grown-up catches her and puts her back on the blanket spread on the living room floor.
``She is just grown,'' her mother says. ``They (the babysitters) don't know they are going to have to catch her.''
At about 5 p.m., WIC office service specialists Mary Ann Maurelli, Christine Holland, Jackie Green, Kathleen Walters and Debora Conyers prepare for baby-sitting duty.
Fifteen minutes later, the couple pin on corsages donated by Portsmouth Floral Garden.
``Look, we are going to the prom,'' Sandy says.
At 5:30 sharp, the limousine appears. Baby-toting sitters walk outside to watch as the Taylors wave goodbye and the limousine disappears.
Five minutes later the car reappears. ``We've changed our minds,'' the Taylors yell through an open window. And laughing, they ride away, this time for real. ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS/Staff color photos
Workers from the Portsmouth WIC office planned the Taylors' night on
the town and babysat for the 9-month-olds. Kathleen Walters holds
Tatianah, left, Jackie Green holds Tyreef, Mary Ann Maurelli holds
Breanah and Christine Holland holds Shareef.
Above, Anthony Taylor looks back at the babies as he and Sandy
prepare to leave in a limo for their first night out on the town
since the babies were born. Right, Sandy Taylor waves goodbye for
the evening to her children.
by CNB