Baby Boom: Firefighters With Their Babies Are Seriously Adorable

GLENPOOL, OK — Seven firefighters at the Glenpool Fire Department in Oklahoma became daddies over the past year, so they got together with their babies Sunday for a photo shoot that is the sweetest thing you’ll see all day. The love just jumps right out of the photos and into your heart. Seriously, you’re likely to swoon.

One of the moms, Avery Dykes, took the photos, one showing the firefighter dads holding their babies. Another shows the infants on the firefighters’ jackets. In another, they’re seated at their fathers’ feet.

The birth of the firefighters’ babies — five girls and two boys — just months apart was pure coincidence, though as a group, the men and their wives are very tight-knit and spend a lot of their time off duty together.

“We all just happened to have kids right under a year,” firefighter Mick Whitney, who became a father four weeks ago, told CBS News. “It’s a pretty neat deal.”

Dykes, who said the idea came from a photo one of the moms saw on the social media site Pinterest, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” the last year has been “just crazy because we kept having pregnancy after pregnancy.”

Dykes, an experienced photographer and mother of four, said the babies didn’t always cooperate. Still, she told GMA, “they were cute no matter what.”

The photo shoot produced some jokes the babies may never outgrow.

“Honestly, it was difficult to get seven babies to cooperate for a picture so we all had some good laughs,” firefighter wife Melanie Todd told CBS. “We all joked about knowing which kid not to let theirs hang out with.”

She added: “We're a really close group so we were glad we took the time to capture the babies with their daddies. Now we just look forward to seeing them all grow up together.”

Here, in birth order, are the new darlings of the internet and their parents:

Jovie Gray Dykes, daughter of Kendall and Avery Dykes, born Feb. 7, 2017;
Cohen Miles Todd, son of Dusty and Melanie Todd, born May 26, 2017;
Saylor Rene Shanks, daughter of Sam and Allysa Shanks, born July 31, 2017;
Bodie Owen McMurrian, son of Kyle and Amber McMurrian; born Oct. 27, 2017;
Henley Noel Hutchinson, daughter of Dusty and Sarah Hutchinson, born Jan. 8, 2018;
Kadance Joyce Groom, daughter of Darin and Miranda Groom, born Jan. 12, 2018; and
Gracie Lynn Whitney, daughter of Mick and Carrie Whitney, born April 20, 2018.

All photos courtesy of Avery Dykes, used with permission