Jess & Rob
Dear Birth Parent,
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at our profile and read our story. We know your mind is probably swimming with lots of different scenarios, and we can only imagine how overwhelming this must be. We are sending love and support as you take your time to figure out what is best for you and your baby.
We hope that our book gives you a sense of who we are as a couple, and who we want to be as a family. We want to raise your child in an open, accepting, and loving home where we provide them with opportunities to explore all of their passions in a safe and supportive environment.
You have our commitment – not just as parents to your baby, but to you as well. We are here to answer any of your questions and hope we can go down this path together with you.
Here’s a little more about us!
With love and gratitude,
Jess & Rob
Our Adoption Story
When we started talking about having a family, adoption was immediately something we wanted to learn more about. We both grew up surrounded and supported by our “found” family, and know the strong bonds that can be built from people not related by blood. We did end up trying to conceive naturally, but after going through fertility issues, we knew that adoption was the right option for us all along.
Our Promise to You
We first want to tell you that we will honor you by raising your child with openness and honesty. Your child will always know how much love surrounds them, and that starts with your love. If an open adoption is something you would like, we would welcome that with open arms. We want to work with you on coming up with a plan you feel comfortable with.
We want to support your child and their passions, no matter what they may be. We live in an amazing community filled with music, art, and plenty of workshops and classes for any interest your child may have. We are committed to giving your child an excellent education and supporting their life’s dreams. And most of all, we are ready to shower your child with unconditional love and support and provide a safe space for them to talk about anything, and really be themselves.
About Us
We love spending time exploring the city and can’t wait to share all that New York has to offer with a little one. From incredible museums, fun restaurants, and so many amazing parks (including the beautiful and unexpected Green-Wood Cemetery – who knew?!), there is so much to see and do in our backyard.
We love traveling as much as we can. We have been to 26 states and counting, and over a dozen countries since we started dating! Our goal is to visit all 50 states, and Rob wants to go to every baseball stadium in North America! We want to get to all of the national parks but we are saving that for when we have kids. We plan to show your child as much of the world as possible. We are big fans of mini golfing and love trying new courses when we travel!
We enjoy hiking in the spring and fall – we are lucky to be close to so many great trails in the NYC area, and have been to state parks including Shenandoah River Valley and Minnetonka.
Another thing we bond over is our love of movies. We love spending time watching new releases, revisiting classics, and even working on some short film projects together.
We both play music (Rob plays guitar and Jess plays piano) so we have a very musical and creative home!
About Jess
Written with love by Rob
Jess is an amazing woman and my best friend. Ever since we first met, I knew that she would make a great mother one day. She has such a powerful ability to care for those around her. She is amazing with kids and is very hands-on when it comes to spending time with her best friend’s little girl. Jess is a true peekaboo master who can make any kid laugh. And I know she will be the kind of mom who can talk about anything with your child because that is just who she is.
She is trustworthy and just a really good person. And her caring nature shines through when it comes to our pets, as well. She is already a great mom to our two cats, and our cat Buckley before that. I have seen her sit in an uncomfortable position for hours just because one of the cats is settled in, resting in the crook of her arm.
She empathizes deeply with the people who are important in her life, and is the most loyal friend and partner that you could imagine. More than that, she goes out of her way to celebrate them on special occasions – birthdays, holidays, and everything in between. She always makes an effort to reach out and keep relationships going because her loved ones really matter to her.
Jess has turned her passion for reading into a career by using her marketing skills to get the word out about the books that she works on and cares deeply about. She uses her creativity to work on hobbies outside of her career. She has written several screenplays and produced several short films with me. She has rediscovered a passion for playing piano, and we even moved her childhood piano into our apartment.
Jess has a wonderful, dark sense of humor, with a knack for cutting sarcasm. She can also be very competitive when it comes to board games, and I can see a lot of family game nights in our future. Her family always makes time for a traditional card game when we get together at holidays, and we can’t wait to share that with your child one day!
About Rob
Written with love by Jess
When Rob asked me out on our first date in college, he really didn’t have a plan. He just asked me to go on a walk. And on the walk, we ended up covering a ton of ground, going through Chinatown, South Street Seaport, and finally ended at the South Street Diner for some Nutella French Toast (yum). It was an amazing date that took up pretty much the whole day, and for a person like me (read: very type A, lol), it was so refreshing to see how much fun we could have without any set plans.
That date really captures Rob’s personality. He will go with the flow in any situation, and makes it enjoyable, and relaxing. He still has a child-like sense of wonder that I know will come in handy when we are parents one day.
He is up for anything (I am not sure he has ever turned down a plan or a vacation!) but he also knows when to slow down and take time to relax at home.
He is an absolute superhero when it comes to household chores, always keeping our sink free of dirty dishes (I make up for it by doing the cooking).
The most important thing to know about Rob is that he loves, and he loves hard. He always shows me how much he cares, in small and big ways. And he has so much love to give your child.
Where We Live
We live in a warm and cozy home in Brooklyn. We love all the beautiful flowers outside, which change with every season. Our neighbors are so kind and there are tons of kids in the building. There is always lots going on for the kids, including fun sing-alongs. We are just steps away from some fantastic parks surrounded by big Victorian houses that are perfect for tree-lined walks (especially during Cherry Blossom season!). In the summer, artists are out playing music and there is always a local festival to check out.
One neighborhood fun fact: every October, a house in Ditmas Park goes all out with decorations. The night of Halloween they host a neighborhood dance party with the streets blocked off with a local DJ. It’s really fun!
There are also a ton of great family-friendly restaurants in our neighborhood and no shortage of different cuisines to try – I am pretty sure you could find food from nearly every country! Needless to say, we live in a vibrant, multicultural neighborhood with a lot to offer.
We are also immensely grateful to live a short walk to Prospect Park. From feeding the ducks in the summer, to sledding down the big hill in the winter, there’s endless fun for kids.
When we are hanging out at home, we spend most of our time in the living room (where we get the most spectacular sunset views), and play a lot of games, including Scrabble, backgammon and the occasional Mario Party match on the Nintendo Switch.
Binx & Baloo
We are so excited to introduce you to our two cats, Binx (6) and Baloo (5). They are both very affectionate, loving, and people-friendly cats who can’t wait to have another human to love on! We are very aware about keeping Balooa Little Dream of Me”, and Baloo the early days, but are looking forward to introducing them when the timing is right.
Here are two fun facts about our cats. Binx can play fetch like a dog. If you throw him a ball, he will catBaloo, she is our music lover. One year during the holidays, Jess started singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me”, and Balooa Little Dream of Me”, and Baloo went crazy and started purring and giving biscuits. Turns out she has a varied taste in music and likes everything from The White Stripes to Beyonce, to holiday carols.
Family & Loved Ones
Our families are very supportive of our decision to grow our family through adoption. As you can probably tell, we are very close with them and they will be here to help us with whatever we need, especially in the early months. Everyone is ready to welcome your baby into our lives and shower them with unconditional love and attention.
Jess’ best friend, Sarah, has a daughter Hazel, who will be an instant friend and playmate! She is also expecting her second child, and we visit with them a lot at their home in Saratoga Springs.
We have a tight-knit group of friends in NYC who are ready to pitch in and help out when we are lucky enough to welcome a little one home. Your child will have so many aunts and uncles and be the shining star of attention in our group! We also have a few friends in the city starting to have children, and we foresee many a Prospect Park playdate!
Holidays & Traditions
One of the things we love most about our relationship is how we blended our family traditions together to create new celebrations.
Jess’ family are big fans of Christmas, so every year we get the biggest tree possible that will fit in our apartment (we have really tested the limits!). Her brother, Chris, hosts Christmas with his wife, Kelly, and the whole extended family comes for a celebration with good food, lots of games, eggnog (spiked and au natural), and great conversation. And is it even Christmas if we don’t watch A Christmas Story?
When Jess was growing up, her parents took her to spend a weekend in New York City at Christmas each year, where they saw Santa at Macy’s, went ice skating, and went to a Broadway play. We are really looking forward to continuing these traditions when we have a family one day!
Rob’s side of the family has wonderful meals and events for the Jewish holidays, including Seder dinners with lots of singing, eating and wine, and dreidel spinning competitions, delicious latkes, and donuts for Hanukkah. We also celebrate Passover and Hanukkah with Jess’ best friend’s family each year, who are like an extended part of our family.
We love hosting our own holiday party with our friends in NYC. Being with our chosen family is important to us and the holidays are a really special time for us to all be together.
Fall is also one of our favorite seasons. Without fail, every year we go apple picking and pumpkin picking. There is nothing like apple cider donuts and hay rides on a fall day!
Thank you for taking the time to read our book. We hope that with this, you can get a sense of what we would be like as parents, and how excited we are to take that next step.
If you have any questions for us, we are an open book. We hope to get to know you soon!
Sending love,
Jess & Rob
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