We love to go on adventures together and cannot wait to share these experiences with our future child. Some of the various adventures include traveling, hiking, swimming, playing sports, and going to amusement parks. One of our first dates was going to Lake Compounce amusement and water park enjoying time together on roller coasters and water slides.

Some of the activities that we enjoy include going to the mountains in the winter. Erick loves to ski and Chris enjoys spending time in the lodge with his hot chocolate and ventures out for snow tubing. In the summer we both enjoy going to the beach and participating in water sports like jet skiing. We love to take our dog, Cosmo for long hikes in parks and trails.

Our favorite places to travel were Niagara Falls, Puerto Rico, and Greece. The natural beauty and environment in each of those destinations was spectacular. We love to encourage each other to take on new adventures, try new foods, and experience different cultures.

Our dog, Cosmo, is an essential part of our family. He is a Bernedoodle, which is a mix of a Bernese Mountain Dog and a Poodle. We fell in love with the breed of dog and especially loved that he was hypoallergenic. When we took him home as a puppy, it felt so natural having this bundle of joy fill our house. As he grew, we learned about the shared responsibility of taking care of him. We love to take him for walks, hikes, and play fetch in our yard. He also loves car rides, so most of our family parties and trips always include him.

Cosmo is amazing with people, small children and other dogs. He spends a lot time around little kids as our nieces and nephew love to play with him. Cosmo is very well behaved and trained to do all the commands such as sit, stay, come, lay down, and roll over. One of our favorite things to have him do is to give us kisses. Cosmo loves to cuddle and give kisses.

Before we got married 6 years ago, we already planned how we were going to join our families together and incorporate traditions that we both had since family was so important to the both of us. Chris was raised primarily in an Italian-American household with family traditions like Sunday pasta dinners over at grandma's house with all his aunts, uncles and cousins. Erick grew up in Ecuador where he used to get together with all his cousins every Saturday while his grandmother made beef stew. We realized that food and family were integral parts of our upbringing.

Now we have hosted Christmas holidays in our house with our families sharing the meals that we created and continuing the traditions. We have alternated between meals such as lasagna or shrimp ceviche bringing memories of our past into our present. We also have created a tradition of doing secret Santa every year for Christmas. We both value keeping traditions from the past alive but also are open to creating new traditions.

We have lived in our house in Shelton, Connecticut since 2020 and have loved the beautiful neighborhood in which we reside. Our home is a three bedroom, two bathroom ranch style home with a complete finished basement separated into a work from home office for Chris and an additional family room. Our favorite room is the kitchen where we enjoy making our meals and spending our evenings catching up after each day. We have a large deck right off the kitchen with an outdoor seating area that leads into a large private yard.

Our neighborhood is safe and quiet and we enjoy walking our dog Cosmo around the circle of the street. We are great friends with our neighbors on our street and usually get together on weeknights to let Cosmo hang out with his girlfriend Vivi, the neighbor's dog. We love to grill and invite the neighbors over. We made so many memories here and cannot wait to have a little baby join the neighborhood crew.

Our town is a very family oriented community that has weekly concerts in the park during the summer and an annual carnival as well. The schools are very good with a balance on academics and athletics. Our niece is going into first grade in the same school that our child would be going to. That elementary school has an amazing playground that the kids love to use. We cannot wait to take our child there.

We both spend a lot of time with each side of our family almost every week. We are lucky to have our family close by in Connecticut with Erick's brother's family of 5 living in our same town and Chris' family only a few towns over. We also have family in Ecuador with Erick's parents and younger brother living there.

Everyone is so excited for us during this adoption journey. We have 6 nieces and 1 nephew who are thrilled to have another cousin to play with and take care of. Our siblings cannot wait to care of this baby as we have helped care for their children. Chris's parents cannot wait to become grandparents for the first time. We love to get together for holidays, birthdays and just fun weekends too with all of our extended family which typically totals over 20 people. Some of our most joyous moments and funniest times come when playing board games together. We love to take family trips to the beach in the summer and the mountains in the winter.

In addition to all the family love, we have a close group of friends we have known for years that we spend time with regularly for barbecues, restaurants, and movies. They can't wait to have another little friend join our group because we all consider family not just an important thing but everything.

We want to thank you for considering our family and wanting to share a bond for the rest of our lives. You making this decision must be incredibly difficult and we want to make it as seamless as possible for all of us involved especially the child. We are grateful that you want to learn more about us and get a glimpse into our family. This will show you how we want to raise our future child.

Our love story began seven years ago when we went on our first date and knew right away that we saw a future with each other. Erick likes to joke that he felt Chris put a spell on him. Early on in the relationship both of us shared our intentions as a gay couple to get married and start a family. We got married a year after in a small ceremony with our immediate family and then planned a bigger wedding celebration with all of our friends and family the following year. We both have large families and always had the desire to have children. We felt that adoption would be the best way for us to grow our family as we saw an exceptional example with Chris's dad being adopted many years ago.

We are excited to offer all the opportunities that we have had to our future child. We cannot wait to share family experiences with the child doing things we love. Living in an area near the ocean but also a short train ride to New York City, and even just a few hours from some of our favorite mountains where we enjoy winter activities such as skiing, snowmobiling and tubing. We love the fact that we get to experience all four seasons and have plans to take advantage of all the activities that accompany them. By being close to the ocean, we can introduce to the kid to swimming, kayaking, and sailing in the summertime. In the fall, we can go pumpkin and apple picking and enjoy the leaves changing and harvest time.

While we love to travel and create amazing memories, the most meaningful time is spent in our home as a family. We are lucky to have dinner with each other every night and get to chill out relaxing at home. It is the quality time that helps us strengthen ourselves as a family unit. We love to cuddle with our dog, Cosmo. Once we are fortunate to add a baby to our family, we are looking forward to spending the simple moments such as reading stories, playing, and instilling our family values.

We want you to know that we plan to be as transparent with the child about their life story including how much love they have from you and from us. We plan to update you through pictures, letters, and are open to emails, calls and visits to keep you connected in their life if that is something you would want as well. Our hope is that we can create a life for the child that develops independence and confidence while also raising them to be a honest, compassionate and loving human. We want to respect their heritage and allow them to be proud of who they are and where they came from. We want you to know that we will make sure the child has a strong connection to you and their story including how important you are to this baby's life.

Our unconditional love is destined to be shared forever with our further child as well as the birth family that helped us to make the dream of becoming parents a reality. Whether or not we get chosen by you, we will always be grateful for your consideration. We genuinely wish you all the best in this meaningful journey fulfilled of love to find the right adoptive family for your child.

Love,

Chris & Erick