Heavy/Getty Maks and Peta talk about baby Rio.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd have been adjusting to being a family of four after welcoming their son, Rio, in June 2023.
Ahead of the season 32 premiere of “Dancing With the Stars,” Heavy caught up with the couple to ask them some questions about how life has been with a newborn. When we asked what the couple’s favorite moment has been since bringing Rio home, they found it hard to choose just one.
“I think the difficulty in getting here. You know, just publicly documented that we had with all the miscarriages and stuff. So, that, in itself. Bringing him home was the moment,” Chmerkovskiy responded.
“Being on this side of the rainbow, it was amazing. And bringing him home was like a moment. ‘Damn. This is really happened,'” he continued, saying that “every moment since has been a beautiful moment and we can’t be luckier.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Maks Chmerkovskiy Talked About Adding a New Family Member to Their Brood
In chatting with Heavy, Chmerkovskiy mentioned how people always say that having more than one child is fine because you already have one, but he notes that you’re not replacing the first one — you’re “adding” a second one, which isn’t always easy.
“There’s a lot of adjustments,” he admitted. “But we love our tribe. We feel like we’re making a little village over here,” he added.
Murgatroyd agreed with her husband, nodding and smiling.
A couple of days later, the mom-of-two shared a post in honor of Rio’s 3-month birthday.
“Happy 3 months earthside my little Rio. You are my light, my joy, my world. Be still my heart, I thank god for you everyday….Pop is watching over you xo,” she captioned some sweet snaps of her little one.
Maks Chmerkovskiy & Peta Murgatroyd Were ‘Convinced’ That Rio Was Going to Be a Girl
Later on in our interview, we asked Chmerkovskiy how it felt being a father of two boys.
“I think the best part of being a dad to two boys now that they’re boys? It’s a boy gang. I mean, I love it. I love it. It’s a tribe. We have one Peta in the house. We have two boys and an incredible dog who’s also a boy,” he said, looking at the family’s dog, Hachi. “I love it,” he said again.
Chmerkovskiy then embraced his wife. “This is all her doing. She made all these things,” he said. “What father doesn’t want sons? I’m the luckiest,” he added.
Chmerkovskiy also said that he just loves to be a dad and it wouldn’t matter if he had two girls or a boy and a girl — in fact, he says that he and Murgatroyd really thought their second child was going to be a girl.
“Oh, we were convinced,” Murgatroyd said.
Chmerkovskiy said the same thing happened when his mother was pregnant with him. They thought that he was going to be a girl and his parents were going to name him “Maria.”
Chmerkovskiy also shared a fun tip for new parents. “Just black out everything in your house,” he said. “Do not get white furniture!”
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