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Friends are seeing doubleFor two Omaha men who waited until their late 40s

to become fathers, life has never been better — or busier

Friends since grade school, two Omaha guys waited until theirlate 40s to become fathers, and then both their wives becamepregnant about the same time. • A nice coincidence — butwait, it gets better. • Both couples had twins, just 10 days

apart, both at Methodist Women's Hospital. Though not at the same time,the mothers happened to stay in the same room.

To top it off, it was as if mater-nity created a fraternity. Both setsof twins were boys — and frater-nal, or nonidentical.

The coincidences have causeda lot of good-natured banter andteasing from the couples' mutualfriends. But there had been noplan, no consultation, no conspira-cy. It happily happened.

And now "changed" has becomeprominent in the couples' vocabu-laries — changed lifestyles andlots of changed diapers.

"I always wanted to be a father,"said Mike Moylan, 48, "but time

just got away from me. I think Ihave more to offer, though, as aperson and as an older father."

"It's just exciting for me," saidBill Honke, 47. "They're greatkids, and they're healthy. That'sall you want."

The babies were the first fortheir moms, too.

Sigrid Moylan, 37, deliveredLuke and Jack on Dec. 4. MollyMaguire, 46, Bill's wife, gavebirth to Liam and Aidan on

Dec. 14.Sigrid and Molly have been

friends for a number of years,too, though not nearly as long asMike and Bill.

As couples, the four have trav-eled, partied, skied and attendedhorse races together. They takevacations next door to each oth-er at Lake Okoboji, Iowa.

The Moylans had announcedSigrid's pregnancy first and in-vited Bill and Molly over. Askedfor a drink preference, Mollynoted that Sigrid's was nonalco-holic.

"I'll have what she's having,"Molly said with a smile. Thenshe broke the surprise: "We'rehaving twins, too!"

The laughter and hugs led to a

summer and fall of checking inon each other.

"We were fortunate to havehealthy pregnancies," Mollysaid, "but it was nice to havesomeone to commiserate with

and to ask, 'Is this normal?' "Friends threw a joint baby

shower in October, calling it the"Noah's Ark 2X2" party. Neithercouple, though, knew in advancethe babies' gender.

Another coincidence is thatall four boys weighed within 14ounces of each other.

For the record:Luke Thomas, 6 pounds,

7 ounces, 18 inches. John Wil-liam "Jack," 7 pounds, 2 ounces,19 inches.

William Edward "Liam,"6 pounds, 4 ounces, 19 inch-es. Aidan Michael, 6 pounds,10 ounces, 20 inches.

Buddies from birth, intimatesfrom infancy, these guys maybecome — if not college frater-nity brothers — a lifelong golffoursome. Maybe they'll playthe infield on a baseball team. Orhands of bridge at the same ta-ble. Perhaps they'll form a sing-ing group like the Beatles.

Luke, Jack, Liam and Aidanmay not make the world forgetJohn, Paul, George and Ringo,but the rest of the 21st centurylies ahead for the new Fab Fourto make their marks — each inhis own way.

Their parents are already do-ing so. Bill is a senior vice presi-dent for Bank of the West, andMolly is a proposal managerfor the HDR architectural-engi-neering firm.

Sigrid first knew Bill whenthey worked at a bank togeth-er, and she met Mike when shesubbed on the guys' coed soft-ball team. Mike is president ofShamrock Development Inc.

All are involved in civic andcharitable activities.

The mamas give the papas

good grades in helping with thelittle guys. With two parents andtwo babies each, the couplesplay man-to-man defense.

If two babies are up at night,Sigrid said, "it's pretty much allhands on deck."

At a recent photo session forThe World-Herald, the dadspulled some antics behind thecamera as they tried to make theboys smile.

"They crack me up," saidMolly.

Asked Sigrid: "The babies? Orthe fathers?"

The boys were baptized lastmonth — in a joint ceremony,naturally — at Sacred HeartCatholic Church, 22nd and Bin-ney Streets. Officiating was Fa-ther Tom Fangman, a longtimefriend of the couples who tookpart in both weddings.

Because one set of twins isnamed Luke and John, someoneteased that it would completea biblical set if the other twowere named Matthew and Mark.No, William and Aidan are finenames, thank you.

Four is a number that emerg-es often in world religions aswell as in biology (chambers ofthe heart), astronomy (rockyplanets) physics (fundamentalforces), games (suits of play-ing cards) and music (commonbeats in time).

For two Omaha couples, fouris a perfect number.

If you doubt that, just look attheir smiles — and put two andtwo together.Contact the writer:402-444-1132, michael.kelly@owh.com