Our Letter To You

Dear Expectant Mom, 

Thank you for reading our profile. We are honored you are taking the time to learn about our family. We look forward to the chance to meet you and learn about you. In the meantime we wanted to share a little bit more about ourselves and our community.

We live in Saint Pete, Florida. We chose Saint Pete as our home because it has everything we love: the longest number of sunny days, beaches, arts and parks. It is also a close drive to Allison’s family (with enthusiastic, loving grandparents) in the Orlando area. 

Our dream as adoptive parents is for this child to be loved, cared for, and given every opportunity our daughter has already gotten. Allison spent a lot of time researching lived experiences of adoptees and her biggest hope is that each of our children know and feel they are infinitely loved. While we both have advanced degrees and professional careers, we fully support our children wherever their life choices take them in their pursuit of happiness. 

Due to severe health complications (endometriosis) Allison needed a hysterectomy at 35. We knew forever it seems that we wanted to grow our family and the decision was made to start the process to adopt. Neil has always embraced the big tent approach to family.

We both value the bond that siblings share. Neil is the youngest of three and Allison is one of four children in her family, she has a twin sister, and an older and younger brother. We stay in constant contact throughout the day sending each other silly memes and photos, and they dote on our daughter. Allison was the go-to neighborhood babysitter in her younger years.

One thing that makes Allison most happy is being able to drive our daughter, Ada May, to preschool. She loves the morning chatter in the car and song requests. Our 4 year old has some wild music tastes ranging from Chappell Roan to The Clash. After drop off, Allison hikes along the water almost every morning before starting work. The best mornings are when she spots a manatee, dolphin or cute dog. 

Neil is a bit nerdy, likes reading The Hobbit to our daughter, playing video games, legos, board games, puzzles, and Star Wars. Ada describes him as “so silly” and he is phenomenal at identifying with and captivating children. Neil decided to support my career goals and be a stay at home parent for our daughter’s first 3 years. Neil’s dad is moving to be closer to his grandkids and visits for weeks at a time. In Allison’s wedding vows to Neil she said “I will always wonder how it is that you know so much about so much”.

We understand the challenges pregnancy and parenting bring, it is not always easy. Our 4.5 year old was truly the surprise of a lifetime, and we faced a lot of complications. When the going gets tough, we remind ourselves how lucky we are. Speaking of our daughter, she is brilliant, relentlessly helpful, curious, has an extreme love of babies, and unafraid of getting messy. She loves being outside making potions with flowers or mud cupcakes and swinging on the swing set. We love her spirit, and she is so incredibly thrilled to become a big sister. We practice kind discipline, we hold space for our feelings and talk about them. Both of us work remotely, and Allison hopes to stay home focusing on caring for our baby for as long as possible, ideally at least 6 months.

Our hope for you is that you feel peace, comfort, and confidence in your decision.  If you chose to place your child with us, we would like to build a relationship with you for the remainder of your pregnancy and have an open relationship following delivery.

With all our love,

Allison, Neil & Ada May