DENVER — Members of the 9NEWS team welcomed eight new babies in just over a year -- including six in four months. That means a lot of new fathers celebrating their first Father's Day Sunday.
Recently, we brought a group of these new parents together to talk about their new roles.
"My favorite part is the first thing in the morning when she's in her crib, coming up from a nap or coming up from sleep. And just like, she'll stare at you," Pippa's dad, political reporter Marshall Zelinger, said. "And until she smiles, I'm like 'she's still sleeping. She's sleeping with her eyes open.' And when she smiles, it's like 'there it is.'"
Together, these dads have juggled the changes and challenges of parenthood. Thanks to paternity leave and some flexibility in workplaces, they're embracing their roles in raising children.
"I will say it's really cool to see -- I know a lot of us work nights, and so our husbands have to be the ones to put the babies down at night and have that bath time, storytime, bottle time routine," Summer's mom, meteorologist Danielle Grant, said. "And we're not there, but to see our men step up in such a big way and be just the best dads ever has been really cool."
"It's a generational thing, because like growing up, that's not what our family dynamic was like," Riyaan's mom, anchor and reporter Anusha Roy, said.
"It is so hands-on and caring," she said. "He cooks him, like, special meals for breakfast. He gets up early to make him little breakfast sandwiches and they play."
Babies of 9NEWS
Paternity leave has changed everything.
"It was just crucial to be able to take time and learn how to take care of a baby," Summer's dad, Bill Reddick, said. "The best I can, anyways. So it was huge. I mean, it's crucial to help with Danielle. I mean obviously it was a lot for both of us. But it's been good."
"My life is centered around him now. Especially with being kind of solo dad at night during the weekdays," Connor's dad, Kevin Larson, said. "It's fun to have that time and get to see him grow up. You know, you just want to try and turn him into the best possible human being that he possibly could be. That's the ultimate goal, right?"
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