Mom's viral photo of her blended family inspires what it means to co-parent
"It was really hard at first, though."
A photo of one mother's blended family sums up the true meaning of co-parenting.
Madison Holley of Corunna, Ontario, shared an image of her former partner and current fiance exiting the hospital hand-in-hand with her toddler son, along with her newborn.
"It made me really happy," Holley told "Good Morning America." "It's two people that I guess mean a lot to me. Both of them are the fathers to our children. The fact that they can get along and all four of us could sit in the hospital while I have another child with someone else was just really amazing."
Holley and her former partner, Tyler Mcilveen, share their child 3-year-old Cade. The two separated after nearly three years together, and Holley is now engaged to Cody Pietz -- the father of her now 2-month-old son Waylon.
"We broke up probably a little after Cade turned 2," Holley told "Good Morning America." "He's always been a really good father, but I think emotionally we were in different places."
"One thing we agreed on was doing what was best for Cade," she said. "We were really mature in the way we left off. It was really hard at first, though."
Holley said she and Mcilveen have always vowed to stay civilized and put Cade before anything else. The two parents share custody of Cade and never had to go through the legal systems to work out their issues.
Holley said Mcilveen is now in a relationship with a woman named Karin, who was a key factor in the two couples getting along.
"She's the biggest reason why the four of us could co-parent the way that we do," Holley said. "She invited us over for Easter and sat us down to talk about how we could make it work. She became a really good friend."
Karin Gray told "GMA" that Holley is a "strong woman" and she has a great relationship with both her and Cade.
"She cares so much for her boys," Gray said of Holley. "I love the new family I have acquired, despite our rough start, and I hope once Tyler and I have kids that we can all get together as a family..."
Holley and her now-fiance, Pietz, welcomed their son Waylon on Aug. 9.
She snapped a photo of all four of the guys in her life the day Waylon was born and shared it with Love What Matters. The Facebook post received 100,000 likes and prompted others to share photos of their own blended families.
Holley's advice on co-parenting is to always "stay honest" with one another.
"If we left for the night and we're going out in the city, we're honest," Holley said. "Basically communication is the biggest thing. We're honest with everything about Cade and that's really it."
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