It is very important to us that adoption is an open and honest discussion in our home. We feel that our child's adoption story is something that they should know from as early on in their lives as possible. Our son, Finn, is currently about 18 months old and we discuss adoption and his birth family with him frequently. We have an open adoption with Finn's birth mother who lives in Florida. We have visited her twice since Finn was born and we Facetime with her every few months. Finn knows that she is his birth mother and we have pictures of all of us together in his room. As a toddler, he doesn't fully understand what this means yet. However, we creating an environment in which adoption and his birth family will be a comfortable topic of conversation in our home. We know that there may be periods of time when our children have tough questions about their adoption stories. We are prepared to help our children process these questions and help them to know who they are and where they came from.

During our free time, we love to spend time together and with our family. Our neighborhood has the most amazing walking trails with boardwalks along a peaceful river. We are always finding new places to explore and be outside in our community. After our son, Finn, joined our family in April of 2018, we have found a lot of family friendly places to explore! There are many state parks within an hour of our home and we love to go hiking or spend a day at the beach in the summer.

When we are at home, we love to experiment with cooking new recipes (especially things that our toddler will eat), binge watch a series on Netflix, or just relax in our living room and play with our son. We also love to read as a family. We have read to Finn every day since he was just a few months old. We love it when he goes over to his bookshelf, picks a book, and crawls up on our laps to read. Alex and Nicole are also avid readers. A few years ago, Nicole's dad made us a "little library" box for our front yard. We love to go out and see which books our neighbors have added to the shared box. It is such a great way for us to share our love of reading and connect with people in our neighborhood.

As a family, we have a goal of visiting all of the 30 Major League Baseball Stadiums in the United States. As a couple, we attended games at 10 out of the 30 stadiums in the past few years. We enjoy trying new foods and exploring the different stadiums! Last summer, our son, Finn, joined us on his first baseball stadium visit at the Minnesota Twins stadium! We take a picture at every stadium and it is fun to see how we change from year to year. It will also be fun to see our kids grow up in those photos!

One of our favorite parts of this adventure is not necessarily the stadium itself, but the opportunity to visit and explore different cities! Each stadium is in a unique location and we love trying new things! We always visit fun restaurants, museums, beaches, and now, we are always looking for kid-friendly fun for our son and our future child!

We live in a small rural town outside of a larger city in Wisconsin. We truly feel that we have the best of both worlds with our safe, peaceful daily life in a small town and a half hour drive to a big city with unique restaurants and lots of events for families. The cultural diversity in our town is growing, which is very important for our family as we are a trans-racial family.

We've lived in our three bedroom home for 5.5 years. We've worked hard to fix it up over the past few years to turn the house into a home for our growing family. We enjoy spending time in our living room which overlooks a peaceful pond in our backyard. Our son loves to look out the back window and see animals and birds! You will often find us reading books together on the couch or building a block tower in the middle of the living room floor! We love that special time together as a family!

We love the community that we live in. Alex plays home talent baseball in the summer for a local team and we spend a lot of time at the ballpark. Our son, Finn, loves running around the ballpark and watching Alex play baseball. We also love taking family walks to the park down the street and enjoying the peaceful wooded trails nearby. Our community has great schools and lots of opportunities for families and children.

We are so lucky to have wonderfully supportive families. We both grew up with a lot of love in our family homes. Our parents live within one mile of one another. They are close friends and we all love getting together.

One of our favorite things to do with Alex's family is to spend time at the family lake house. Alex's parents, his brothers, and their families spend several weeks during the summer at the lake house. The lake house is a unique, historical place about an hour from our home. The lake house used to be an ice company and has ten bedrooms so there is plenty of room for cousins to play and run around. Our son, Finn, loves to spend time with his older cousins at the lake! Laughter fills the house! During the day, we spend time boating on the lake or playing with the kids in the water. In the evenings, we roast marshmallows on the campfire or curl up inside to watch a family movie.

Nicole's family loves to travel as a family. Recently, we traveled to Ireland and Australia together. There will be many more trips in the future for us, our son Finn, and our future child! When we aren't traveling with Nicole's family, we love to get together to play board games and enjoy family meals.

Our families are so excited for us to grow our family again through adoption. Their hearts are already filled with love for your child.

We are so humbled and grateful that you are taking the time to learn more about us. We hope that by reading about us, you will be able to picture the nurturing, loving, supportive, and laughter-filled home that we will provide for your child. We also want to thank you for your strength and we admire your courage in choosing adoption for your baby. Please trust that we will care for and love your child with our whole hearts.

We've been together as a couple for about 11 years and married for 7.5 years. We know very soon after we met that we were meant to be together. We feel that we have the perfect balance of similar interests and personalities while each having our own strengths in our relationship. Alex is caring, consistent, and light-hearted. Nicole is kind, compassionate, and driven. We love to make one another laugh and we truly are one another's best friend. From the very beginning, we know that we would be parents someday and the day that our son was born was the most special day.

We tried to conceive a child naturally for about two years before considering other options for growing our family. We were immediately drawn to the idea of adoption and knew right away that is was the right choice for us. Our feelings were 100% confirmed when we adopted our son in 2018. We felt an instant connection to him and to his birth mother. We can't imagine our lives without both of them. We know that the love that we will have for our children will be no different than if they were biologically related to us. There are many years of fun family events, adventurous vacations, quiet evenings at the ballpark, cuddles on the couch, and laughter around the kitchen table in our future. We are excited to share those special, everyday moments with your child.

We recently spread the news to our family and friends that we plan to grow our family through adoption again. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our loved ones and we know that love for our future child is growing in their hearts as well. While our son is too young to understand what it means to have a baby brother or sister, we know that he will be the best big brother to his future sibling. Finn is a gentle soul and one of the most caring toddlers we have ever met.

In choosing adoption as a way to grow our family, we also have open minds and hearts about accepting our child's birth family into our lives in a way that you are comfortable with. You are important to us and to our child and we will always care about you as well. We will be thrilled to send you emails or texts with updates and photos of your child. We would love to send you handmade cards and art projects in the mail. We would love to connect with you and your family over videos and make plans to visit if that is something that you are interested in. Please know that regardless of your preferences for contact with your child, we will always honor you in our family and make sure that your child understands your reasons for placing him or her for adoption. We believe that you have made such a brave and selfless decision in choosing adoption for your child and we will always be grateful for your choice.

We are excited at the possibility of getting to know you and feel so honored that you are reading about us. We will be thinking about you and wishing you the best as you make a tough decision about what is best for you and your child.

Take care,

Alex & Nicole