Quad mom's day hectic but loving

As a mother of four first-graders, Beth Goodman's mornings are nothing short of hectic.

Up at 6 a.m., the 45-year-old single mom of quadruplets gives herself an hour to relax before the kids rise from their bunk beds. Then it's making sure teeth get brushed, hair gets combed and backpacks aren't forgotten.

Goodman shuttles the kids to school, and if she's at her desk by 8:30 a.m. it's a “personal triumph,” she said with a laugh. “I keep thinking (one day) my life won't be a marathon with flat-out sprints.”

With her dark hair pulled back neatly in a clip, the slender mom didn't look hurried on recent afternoon when the Yuma Sun made a visit to her family's home. An adopted stray cat – the quads named him Jacob Michael Jackson — slept in front of the unlit fireplace on the hot August day.

At home for lunch, the floral designer-turned-Realtor still had a full day ahead: two contracts to write, a house to show and a “meet the teacher” event on the night before the first full day of school. On the palm of her hand, she'd written: “My life is a prayer.”

“I stress out,” explained Goodman, who said she often writes spiritual messages on her hand as a reminder to calm down, everything is all right.

In the kitchen, 6-year-old Barrett, Cason, Luke and Laila sat at the breakfast bar eating peanut butter sandwiches and grapes with baby-sitter Cheryl Goss.

“In the first grade you don't get naps,” Luke said as talk turned toward school. At Yuma Lutheran, the four will be split into two different classes.

Luke and Cason – the identical twins of the group – have the same dark blond hair, but Barrett's is a shade lighter.

Laila, petite and dark-haired, stopped cutting out her drawing and pointed to her loose front tooth. Barrett then grinned, revealing what his mom calls his “jack-o'-lantern” smile.

Barrett said he likes football. Cason's favorite sport is hockey. Laila, who is artistic like her mom, prefers ballet.

“Luke has some really loose hips,” his mom said. “He can really shake it.”

Goodman, for years unable to have a child on her own, became pregnant by way of in vitro and an anonymous sperm donor.

In 2005, the Goodman family moved from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Yuma after Goodman's boyfriend got a job transfer. But not long after they arrived, the relationship unraveled.

Goodman found herself unexpectedly single and without a job just days before Christmas.

She was stunned when members of the church she had started attending – Yuma Center for Spiritual Living — showed up at her doorstep to help her move to a rental. Goss, her first neighbor, and Goss's daughter, Keri, quickly stepped in as baby-sitters. Remembering those acts of kindness, Goodman's eyes watered.

“This has been our great haven,” she said. “A place where we didn't know anyone initially.”

Rather than move back to California, Goodman wanted her kids to feel settled. Yuma was also less expensive. She got her real estate license, eventually buying a 1939 cottage-style home in an older area of the city.

Living on one income is hard, but Goodman is grateful for friends, family and her bank's line of credit for helping her over the years.

She found someone to put in a simple pool for the kids on her tight budget. They've also got a jungle gym, which they have named “Goodman Park.”

Family photographs line the hallway of their cozy three-bedroom. The quads share a large bedroom where two sets of bunks beds line the wall. In their playroom, toys are organized onto shelves.

From the living room Goodman called out to her daughter: What's mom going to do when they get their driver's licenses?

“Eat bonbons!” Laila hollered back from the kitchen.

Sometimes Goodman longs for a slower-paced life. One where she can spend more time with her kids.

She recalled lying in bed one night, close to tears after a stressful day. Then she heard her children in the room next to hers, quietly talking to each other as they lay in their beds.

Just like that, her mood lifted.

“I think I am the luckiest person. I can't believe that it's that good.”

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Click here for a slideshow of Beth and her kids now

Click here for a slideshow of the quads' early years