Mark + Cailean
Hi I’m Mark.
Cailean and I met in 2014 at a gig in London on Valentine's weekend. Both of us went to the gig but neither of us were supposed to be going. We both got dragged along by friends, thankfully! I think after we both went and met each other's families and friends, we knew it all fitted together and everybody got on like a house on fire. Pretty early on we both agreed that we would love to have children. By 2014, it was clear that lots of gay couples around the world were having kids. And so, we went to California in the USA to embark on a surrogacy journey.
Anybody who’s been through a pregnancy or a surrogacy journey will know that it’s a rollercoaster ride, but one with the best ending anyone could ever hope for! Of course pregnancy and birth in any form are super exciting, but also a nervous time too. Words cannot describe the feeling when our child was born… we were both crying - it felt like being reunited with a long lost friend. It felt like Layla was out there in the universe and that we were on a quest to find her and bring her home. She is perfect!
Layla is 23 months old now and is independent and strong- both physically and in mind! She is also chilled and inquisitive. She sings all day every day, we don’t need an alarm clock as she wakes us every morning serenading us with her smooth tones live from the cot. She is not that into dolls at the moment. Right now she loves wooden building blocks, she also has a little tambourine that has to come on every walk with us and she gives passers by a little drum beat on the tambourine as she rolls past in the buggy.
Currently Layla calls us Daddy and Daddy - somehow it’s not confusing, we still melt every single time she says “Daddy” and when she’s happy she sometimes just sings “Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy” on repeat... it’s gold dust! For me, the best part of being a parent is having a new best friend, taking care of her and witnessing all her little developmental achievements and milestones…watching her grow and seeing her singing and dancing and learning all these new things and words. All of it! She gives us both such a huge sense of purpose and responsibility. The pride you feel seeing her running around the park is immense. It’s the best thing we’ve ever experienced!
As a family, we love going for walks. Layla loves the train and looking out the window at the world whizzing by so we bring her on the train a lot and she also loves the swimming pool. She loves visiting her grandparents and cousins too…she’s so happy go-lucky and she brings a big sense of sunshine into any room she enters- as children tend to do!
We love our child as all parents love their children…with all our hearts and souls. Please can we immediately change this glitch in state legislation that quite literally puts children all over this country in danger. Also, when the new legislation is put in place it is crucial that it covers ALL children and not just SOME children. All children deserve and have the right to be protected and looked after by their parents.
