Everything Started With Kickball (Sort Of)

Today, we’re the couple that brings people together. When COVID kept everyone apart, we hosted virtual trivia every week so our friends had somewhere to feel connected. In October, our house turns into a haunted mansion and everyone is coming over to carve pumpkins. For Christmas, we’re hosting the gingerbread house decorating competition. And don’t even get me started on all the game nights.

We love to live life, and we love doing it with the people we care about most. That instinct to create connection has become one of the defining parts of our life together. When we picture raising a child, we picture raising them with that same spirit of connection. We imagine how our family traditions will evolve and how we will surround them with love. For us, becoming parents feels like a deeper expression of the life we’ve been building together all these years.

Here’s What You Need to Know About David

David is quick-witted, deeply curious, and much more of a goofball than he gets credit for. He’s an amazing singer, makes me laugh every day, and the kind of person who dives deep when something catches his attention. If it’s coffee, he’ll spend weeks perfecting a ten-step brewing method. If it’s a new car, he’ll watch every video on YouTube and make sure I know about every bell and whistle.

Beyond his curiosity, David keeps our home running smoothly. He jumps in whenever something needs to be fixed. He puts my vitamins beside my breakfast every morning. He makes our home feel safe and warm in a hundred small ways.

I’ve also had the joy of watching David become an uncle. I was with him on the day he learned his first nephew was on the way, and today I’m lucky enough to be an uncle alongside him to five beautiful kids from his two siblings. David has a special way with them. He speaks to them as equals, asks thoughtful questions, and actually listens to the answers.

I know he’ll bring that same curiosity, humor, steadiness, and care into fatherhood. I can already picture him answering endless questions, explaining how things work, and singing lullabies with the same commitment he usually saves for karaoke.

Let Me Tell You A Bit About Dominic

Dominic is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. He’s enthusiastic, ambitious, and has a passion for living life to the fullest. His mind and his heart are always open to new experiences and new challenges. I’ve never known anyone so eager to make the most of life.

He’s also endlessly creative, and that shows up in everything he does. From trying out new recipes in the kitchen to designing his Halloween costumes with friends, he’s always working on some new project. (Since Dominic entered my life, it’s no longer uncommon to find stray glitter around the house.) Something Dominic would probably never tell you is that he’s an incredible balloon artist. While putting himself through school, he spent several years twisting balloons at children’s parties. He’s still pretty great at it.

But the thing I love most about Dominic is his light. He brings an energy and joy into a room that never fails to draw people in. He’s deeply empathetic, can connect with just about anyone, and somehow still gets choked up watching movies he’s already seen a dozen times.

Watching Dominic with our nieces and nephews has given me an entirely new appreciation for his playful side. He meets kids in their world. He gets on the floor and plays whatever game they ask for. He loves storytime with the kids, and whenever the family sits down for dinner, they always want to know who gets to sit next to Uncle Dominic.

Those are the moments that make it easy for me to imagine Dominic as a dad. I can already see him sharing family recipes in the kitchen, creating unforgettable Halloween costumes, and filling bedtime with stories and laughter. Our child will have a father who brings creativity, empathy, and joy into their world.

The Family We Share

Family is a huge part of our lives. Dominic’s parents and sister live just a few blocks away, so dinners, movie nights, coffee dates, and spontaneous visits happen often. David’s family is split between Idaho and New Jersey, but we FaceTime almost every day and take trips whenever we can to spend time in person. Just this past summer, we met up with David’s brother and his family in Croatia!

When everyone gets together, there’s usually food, something festive, and a creative project involved. Between family paint nights and gingerbread decorating parties to the monthly family potluck, we enjoy any excuse to sit around the table and make memories. Our next big event: the Cinnamon Roll Challenge. (Dominic is convinced his Fruity Pebble cinnamon rolls will take 1st place.)

Our friends are folded into these traditions too. We have a “more-the-merrier” approach to bringing people together. If we hear about a friend with no place to go on Thanksgiving, they’ll have a seat at our table. We love that our family has never been limited by geography or biology. It’s made up of people who stay connected, show up for one another, and genuinely enjoy being together.

We Take Celebration Seriously

We believe life is worth celebrating! Halloween usually involves turning our entire house into a haunted mansion. During the holiday season, we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah to honor the traditions of both our families. Then there is the greatest White Elephant gift exchange ever. Thirty people. Several rounds of stealing presents. Rules that change every year. It’s wild.

When it comes to Easter, Dominic and his sister Corinna never stopped asking their mom for an egg hunt. With no grandchildren on that side of the family (yet), this tradition has turned into a cutthroat competition with fully grown adults on their hands and knees reaching into the bushes for the Golden Egg. (David often wins.)

One of the things we look forward to most is watching these traditions grow and evolve as we become parents. We can already picture walking our little one to their grandparents' house, watching them take over the egg hunt, hopefully with a little cousin running beside them.

Regular Life

As much as we love a big celebration, that’s not every day, of course. During the week, we’re both working. David is the CEO of a company that provides safety training to the motion picture industry, and Dominic runs his own company providing growth support to HR professionals. Thankfully, we both work from home and manage our own schedules, which gives us a lot of flexibility. Between calls, Dominic tries to squeeze in a yoga class or go rollerblading, and David might use this time to experiment with a new recipe or find something around the house that needs fixing.

On the weekends, we wake up to David’s homemade pancakes and sometimes ride bikes around the lake at a park near our house. In the evening, we’ll host friends for dinner and play board games in the living room (current favorite: Rummikub). Movie nights are a big part of our life, sometimes with friends, sometimes with family, and sometimes just the two of us. Lately, Dominic and his sister Corinna have been introducing David to the movies they watched growing up. (We’re proud to report that David thoroughly enjoyed The Lizzie McGuire Movie.)

What We Hope to Give a Child

We hope to give a child the space to be creative, the curiosity to explore, and the security that comes from a strong sense of belonging.

Dominic grew up in a blended family and was adopted by his step-dad when he was 13. He learned that family is how people show up for one another, and he often says that being a parent is a verb, not a noun. It’s something practiced through love, care, and consistency.

As parents, we want to take our child’s thoughts, feelings, and interests seriously. Whether they love the same things we do or introduce us to an entirely different world, we want to become curious alongside them.

Dominic will bring affection, creativity, and the occasional overly ambitious art project. David will bring steadiness, thoughtful questions, and a desire to understand exactly how everything works. Together, we hope to create a home where a child knows they are loved for exactly who they are and never has to question whether they belong.

A Walk Around Our Neighborhood

We live in a quiet, walkable suburb of Los Angeles with our favorite spots just a few minutes away. Dominic’s parents, who are *very* excited to become grandparents, and his younger sister live close by. We regularly ride our bikes around the lake (it’s full of ducks!), and on Sundays we often visit the local farmer’s market to pick up some ingredients for dinner.

At home, we have a spare bedroom and bathroom ready to become our child’s space, along with plenty of room to play, create, and grow. Outside our living room windows, a family of squirrels has taken over the trees. We hope our child will love these little neighbors.

Honoring Our Child’s Story

We want our child to grow up with a connection to their story and an understanding of where they come from. That means talking about adoption openly and honestly, and also exploring the culture, food, traditions, and history that are part of their background, especially if those traditions are different from our own.

We know every adoption is unique, and the right level of connection with a birth family may look different in every situation. When it feels appropriate and respectful, we would welcome sharing photos and updates, phone or video calls, visits, or shared milestones. If more privacy is best, we would honor that, too.

What matters most to us is that our child never feels disconnected from where they began. We want to give them the space, information, and support to explore every part of their identity as they grow.

Thank You for Getting to Know Us

There’s no way to fit an entire life into a profile, but we hope this gave you a real sense of who we are and the life we’ve built together.

We hope you can picture the people who will surround our child, the kind of home they will grow up in, and how we plan to show up as parents. We take this responsibility seriously, while still leaving plenty of room for silliness, curiosity, and self-discovery.

Thank you for spending a little time getting to know us.

David & Dominic

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