Hello! We are Co and Suzy from Oakland, CA. We know you are likely in the middle of making some difficult decisions and we commend you on your courage and selflessness. We hope, after getting to know us, you think we may be able to help you. We are a family of 3, hoping to expand and are excited to do so through open adoption. We have a 5 year old daughter named Lexi who is SO ready to be an older sister.

We both come from large families. Suzy has 5 siblings and Co has 7. We are used to loud, bustling, fun and loving family get-togethers and we just always assumed we would keep up the tradition and have at least 3 kids to join in on the fun. Unfortunately, it’s been a lot harder than we expected. We started with Lexi and then hit a roadblock. During four years of frustrating fertility treatments and heartache, we have had to stop and reassess many times of what we truly want and it’s always this: a bigger family. We want our daughter to have siblings and our big house to be full. Adoption was a natural choice for us, as both Co and Lexi have cousins who are adopted. We are positive this is the intended future for us.

We just want you to know that we would love your baby as humanly possible, if not more. And we’d always be grateful to you for making our family more complete as we have always dreamt of.

About Us

We met thirteen years ago in medical school, when Suzy took one look at Co and thought “my Mom would love him.” Suzy practically stalked Co and eventually asked him out, finding a way to trick him into inviting her over to dinner. Co was hesitant because Suzy was just starting medical school and he was on his way out, but her persistence won out. It took a few months of dating to actually realize that Suzy’s instincts were spot on. We dated for years, including surviving one year of long distance, to finally marry in 2008. We moved up to the Bay Area together at that point to start our lives together, eventually starting our family when Lexi was born five years ago.

Today, we have really settled into parenthood. Our sometimes stressful jobs as medical doctors have made us appreciate the little things like eating dinner together every night and maximizing our weekends doing everything under the sun that we can like hiking, camping, visiting Lexi’s grandparents who live 1 hour away, having playdates with friends, or just working on projects at home.  We love being parents and can’t wait to add to the family!

Travelling is our family tradition

A few times a year, we do our most favorite thing: travel. Because most of our many siblings (Suzy had 5 and Co has 7)  live in other cities, we make an effort to visit them as much as we can. At least once a year, we get together during the holidays. Suzy’s side of the family travels to atends to do a destination where all 6 families will stay in the same home or hotel forat one home or a hotel during Thanksgiving or Christmas. The twelve grandkids have a blast playing together, whether that year it’s in the snow or on a beach. Each year, there tends to be a new addition (grandchild) and we hope we can have our new baby will join us all next year, destination to be determined.

Co’s family gets together during the holidays, often in Southern California, where most of his family lives. We will often meet up at someone’s house and stay there for lunch and dinner and into the night, playing games and catching up. There are 14 cousins on that side and despite many of them being teenagers, they’re all wonderful with the younger kids. Lexi and her future sibling will have tons of fun with their older cousins.

Every year, we also travel with our second family - our closest friends who we’ve known for many years, who also have kids now. We end up doing big group family vacations at lake houses or in Puerto Rico. It’s a blast to get our kids together, plus to interact and they get a chance to see us adults at our most relaxed states. It’s going to be great to have our second child meeting and bonding with our second family.

About Co (According to Suzy)

Co is a great father. He’s an extremely easygoing guy who manages to juggle work and family well, which includes keeping me calm with all the excitement that comes with abehind a large family and aging grandparents.

He’s naturally curious himself, which makes him a great teacher to Lexi. He also has the uncanny habit of being good at everything which was made even more obvious when we moved into our home; from making furniture, fixing plumbing, raisinge chickens to handling our finances, you name it, he can do it!

Away from home, he works as a doctor in a sports medicine clinic. It’s a perfect field of work for him because he loves sports. He enjoys spending his free time working on his golf game, or playing basketball with his friends or watching sports on TV. He extends this love to Lexi, teaching her about sports, keeping her active and helping her to hone her athletic skills. Adding another child will just make the outings more fun and give him even more variety in what sports they can play.

Each night, Co is in charge of the bedtime routine: bathing, brushing & reading Lexi stories. He can’t wait for another baby so we can watch Lexi read to her new sibling.

About Suzy (According to Co)

Suzy is funny and sarcastic and full of love. She has made a very warm home for me and Lexi, with her constant baking, home cooked meals and this crazy need to constantly entertain, any excuse to cook a big feast for other families and to let Lexi have her friends over to play.

Suzy works as a family doctor in a community clinic, which also includes one day a week at the high school clinic. She sees babies, grandparents, pregnant women and a lot of teens. Suzy is dedicated to working with the underserved population of the Oakland community we live in. We often run into her patients while we shop or eat or walk, which makes me both proud of my wife and makes us feel rooted in the community.

Luckily, Suzy has recently cut down her hours and that gives her extra time to spend with Lexi. It’s been a great having the chance to take Lexi to ballet class or the library.  Suzy plans to cut down work even more when we have a new addition to the family. She wants to be able to stay at home more with the new baby. Then, when both kids are in school, Suzy hopes to have a work schedule where she can pick up both kids from school and take them out to whatever sports or music lessons they have or just bring them home to help cook dinner with her.

About Lexi

Lexi is 5 years old and is happy and silly and uniquely her. She’ll shake her booty to about any song and just as happily help daddy with his gardening, as long as she can eat as many of the fresh tomatoes that she can get her hands on. She loves everything arts & crafts, ballet, and riding her bike around. Lexi is so ready to be a big sister and has been asking for a sibling for years.

Our Home

We have been in the Bay Area for 7 years and plan to stay here long term. We live in the Oakland hills area. Our neighbors are friendly and we are surrounded by nature. There’s a great park within walking distance that’s got a terrific playground and is perfect for bike rides. We’re up the street from an award winning public elementary school and we are looking forward to being able to walk to school together!

Our house is on the side of a hill, so we have 2 large decks for the kids to run around on, or where we can eat outside and watch an amazing sunset over the Bay. The yard is has little flat land, but Co has made gardening magic in our backyard, producing fruits, veggies, and herbs. He has also built us a chicken coop to house our hens that provide us with fresh organic eggs. Lexi is going to love showing her new sibling how to pick the ripe strawberries and how to collect eggs from the coop.

Our home has large windows with lots of sunshine filling the rooms. It’s very spacious with plenty of room for us to grow. Our new baby will have their choice of bedroom, or can even bunk with Lexi. Our favorite room in the house is where we spend most of our time – a large ‘family’ room, where we can prepare dinner while still keeping an eye on (one day!) the kids playing together.

Thank You

We are a family that is happy, family, financially stable, and healthy, and, though we are grateful, but we still feel incomplete. Family is the most important thing to us, which is why we and we work hard to keep our friends and family close to us through big family vacations and holiday gatherings, even when they live so far away from us. We can’t wait to add to our family through open adoption, to give our love to your child, to see our daughter Lexi form a unique bond that comes with a sibling, to see her and your child grow together and learn from one another.

Should this be the dream you have for your child, we’d love to hear from you – please contact our agency:

Adoption Connection at [email protected] or text/phone 415.355.4636.