Life with one baby is challenging enough now imagine having five.Robin and Troy Smith are the parents of the Island’s only quintuplets, who were born 20 years ago today at Howard University Hospital in Washington DC.One of the babies Makesi died when he was 21 months-old due to complications relating to premature birth. But the four surviving siblings said they were looking forward to the milestone.Makiri, Dakarai, and Marjani are overseas in university and will be celebrating their birthday together in the United States. Their sister Riziya, is currently on Island searching for work, and will be honouring the occasion with friends and family.Father Mr Smith will most likely be sending them birthday greetings over the phone. He said not a day goes by where he doesn’t talk to at least one of the youngsters.The proud parents talked to The Royal Gazette about the challenges and rewards of raising multiple babies at once.Mrs Smith, a teacher at Francis Patton Primary, said she received heaps of support when she brought the children home from the US.“I wasn’t scared because I had so much support from family, friends and neighbours [and the children’s very special godfather]. Just the community support was like ‘wow’; it was so amazing.“I never felt any stress of having these children when they were young, but now it’s just us doing what we can for them.”Mr Smith wasn’t daunted either by the mammoth task. He said: “When you get in that position what can you do now? The babies are here so you have to live now.“There is no more thinking ‘what I am going to do?’. You have to live with it. Whatever comes your way you have to deal with it, just one day at a time.”The parents, along with their support team, had to change about 25 diapers a day, prepare more than 100 bottles of milk each week, and tend to several crying babies at once.“When you have four there is always one that’s going to be up so there are few times you catch them asleep at the same time.“There are a few times you catch them all in the same [good] spirit. There was always someone getting into mischief,” said Mr Smith.According to his wife, raising quintuplet children was also a lot of fun. She remembers taking them fishing, on ferry boat rides, and even to classes with her while she was working towards her master’s degree in college.“Them growing up, to me was easy. I enjoyed it more than now because then it was quality time; just doing children things with them and talking to them, but now we are preparing them for life and it’s a much bigger task.”She said it was difficult trying to find cash to put them all through college and preparing them for life’s realities, such as work and bills.But Mr Smith said the hardest part of raising quintuplets was learning to treat them all fairly.“When we first brought them home everyone was excited so life was easy in the beginning, but life got harder when they were older.“The hardest thing is you have four children and they have all different personalities and are all different so we have to learn how to deal with them on their level because they all want to be number one.“That was the hardest thing, treating them all the same and teaching them that no one is better than the other.”He said the boys shared a bedroom and typically had to watch the same television shows; the same went for the girls.The siblings also had to share two bikes between them when they turned 16, but the problem became deciding who would get the bike and when so the family eventually got four.“It was less arguments, less headaches,” Mr Smith said.He admitted he had many special moments with his children growing up: holidays, family trips to the United States and local sporting outings.“I was a coach for Boulevard [Blazers] with the boys so that was good. The girls were always there. They didn’t play football but they were always there watching.”Reflecting on the past 20 years, the parents said they were both hopeful their children would finish their education and become stable adults and citizens of the world.Mrs Smith also said she was proud of what the quintuplets had accomplished so far.“My girls are more interested in their education and they haven’t had [serious] boyfriends. Most of their peers have had babies, but they have kept on their right path and I am really proud of them.“My boys have not been in any trouble and gone off to school and they have been really focused. I think they all are good children.”Raising Makiri, Dakarai, Riziya and Marjani has given her strength and motivation in life, she said.“I want my kids to have the same drive and hope I have set an example for them,” she added.