What are your names and your child’s name and age?
Patrick (the one wearing Mickey) 30, Joel (Donald) 31, and Greyson 2.
How did you decide on your son’s name?
Greyson came from a family name of a TV show that we were obsessed with, Revenge. Greyson’s middle name, Eli, is my first nephew’s name (Elijah). When we first met, Joel said that he knew he always wanted to be a parent but it wasn’t until he saw how close my nephew and I were that he realized he wanted to be a parent with me. That’s when we were 17 and 18.
How did you decide what Greyson would call you?
We actually struggled with this for a long time. I wanted to be Daddy and Joel was going to be Dad. After a lot of talking we decided that Joel would be “Daddy” and I would be “Papa”. Papa reminded me of what I called my grandfather, “Paw-Paw”. My Paw-Paw was my hero and if Greyson loves and respects me even half as much as I loved that man, I’ll have won as a parent.
How did you decide his last name? Is it hyphenated? Only after one parent?
I changed my name when Joel and I got married. I didn’t want our son to have a hyphenated name or a name that was different than my own. I moved my last name “Angus” to middle name and took Joel’s last name.
What were you most afraid of about becoming a parent?
That I would suck at it. Being a father is the thing I’m most proud of but I was horrified that I would some how not live up to our son’s expectations or inadvertently fail him.
What is the most rewarding part of being a parent?
Raising a confident, strong-willed, affectionate, and fearless child. He walks into a room and isn’t shy or afraid. He hasn’t met a stranger (which will make the “stranger danger” conversations difficult in the future).
What do you do for fun as an entire family?
We spend a lot of time outdoors either playing in the water with super soakers or sprinklers or just rolling down the hill and getting covered in grass. I think Greyson could stay outdoors the entire day if we let him. His face gets super red when he’s hot so we’ll usually transition to his play room to cool down or our back porch with the fans on. We stay very active but even just cuddling inside while reading a book or watching Blippi YouTube videos is fun because we’re together and our son is full of personality.
What was a “must have” item you used when Greyson was little? Or now that they are older?
The Baby-Breeza (basically a Keurig for formula) is the greatest thing we had. You’d push a button and a perfect heated bottle of formula would be filled and ready for feeding within seconds. It made those 12, 3, and 6AM feedings so much easier. They’re pricey but thanks to points that we accumulated from our Babies-R-Us (RIP) registry, we got it really cheap. The other thing is our video monitor. You can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind that a video monitor brings. I wish we wouldn’t have purchased a diaper genie or wipe warmer. The diaper genie was more hassle than what it’s worth and the wipe warmer crippled us for the longest time because how often do you have warm wipes available when you need really need them.
Describe your parenting styles. Is one parent stricter?
Unfortunately, many fathers have assumed the labels of part-time parents. This is evident in ALL books about raising a child, potty training, feeding, scheduling, etc. To this day, we still get comments like “Oh, dad must be giving mommy a break” or “It’s daddy’s day”. We decided early on that we were equal parents with equal responsibilities. I primarily do baths and laundry and Joel focuses on education (thank God he’s a teacher) and keeping our social calendar full. Other than that the workload is split. We both have an equal responsibility in ensuring that Greyson is raised to be a well-mannered, respectful child. We don’t play “good cop” or “bad cop”.
Finish this sentence with one word… “To me, family is….”
To me, family is everything.
