Life of Dad is proud to feature another great dad today. This time it is James Hudyma from Dads Roundtable!
Aside from being a dad, husband, and elementary school teacher, James is a cofounder and social media manager for Dads Round Table (DadsRT). Before settling down, establishing a career, and starting a family, James was a professional musician. Although he no longer plays music for work, he still takes time to perform for fun as a children’s entertainer.
My first memory as a father is… I remember feeling so overwhelmed with love and relief. The love I felt was the same I would think any father would feel upon seeing his child for the first time. The relief was related to the fact our daughter was born very premature. We were warned that she might not be able to breathe on her own and that it was likely she would have to be rushed to the NICU for immediate care. Upon arrival she was able to breathe on her own and we were able to hold her and give her a proper welcome to the world. The doctors were astounded that such a small infant could be so strong. I was so proud.
The funniest thing my kids do is… My son is hilarious. When he’s in a particularly silly mood he’ll use his low voice and for a 3yo he has a very deep voice which makes it extra comical. The funniest thing he does is replace key words in songs with an absurd word. His current favorite is “eyeball” which is a welcome relief to his most recent favorite “penis”. At Christmas he entertained us with “Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny…”
How many hours of sleep do you get each night? I try to get 8 hours of sleep but it is always interrupted sleep. For whatever reason, my daughter is a terrible sleeper. She’ll be 6 in October and hasn’t slept a complete night since she was born. I’m guessing she’ll always be that way.
How many hours of sleep did you get before you became a father? Before I became a father I used to get 8 hours of glorious, uninterrupted sleep.
If you your wife could vacation without your kids, where would you go? We would go to Ireland. My wife is part Irish and both of us are fascinated with the culture and geography of Ireland.
If you could go on any vacation with your kids, where would you go? I would take them to Disneyland because I’ve never been there and I was always so jealous of the kids that got to go when I was a kid.
What’s your favorite meal to cook for your kids? I love to cook crepes with my kids. We roll them up with all sorts of fun ingredients like marshmallow fluff and Nutella. Then I slice them into coins and we call them sushi. Sometimes we’ll eat them with toothpicks and call them lollipops.
My most traumatic parenting experience was when… My daughter was only 18mo and had a severe fever that wouldn’t go down and the doctor had to perform an emergency spinal tap. I went into the room with her to hold her hand and console her and when they inserted the needle she screamed, “All done Daddy!” over and over again. It killed me. She ended up spending the next couple days in hospital hooked up to an IV. It was a viral infection.
If fatherhood was a beer, which type of beer would it be and why? Fatherhood would be a Lambic because it is unpredictable, complex, comes from the wild, and improves with age.
Describe your perfect Father’s Day. My perfect Father’s Day would be a sunny day spent at our favorite lake in Northern Saskatchewan, Waskesiu. We’d hike, swim, relax on the beach, and every meal would be cooked over an open fire.
Make sure you head over and check out Dads Roundtable, and follow James on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube!