Colleen & Andy In California

After matching online and on our first date, we realized we share the same birthday. Colleen didn't believe it until Andy showed her his license! We married just a few weeks before the pandemic started and joke that we have a Covid marriage. Now, we have fun trying to 'one up' each other with our birthday gifts every year. The timing was right when we first met and we feel the same way about growing our family through adoption.

Colleen grew up in the rural Midwest with 3 siblings and a family dog, a Great Dane named Dinky, on 1.5 acres. Given all 4 seasons, she learned how to swim, rollerblade, bike, ice skate and ski. Colleen worked while putting herself through college and grad school. She enjoys marketing for a startup and thinks of nonprofit as her passion and side gig. This allows her to work remotely and she loves the flexibility it offers.

Andy was raised in a bustling city in southern India and grew up in one home with his aunts, uncles and cousins. His father worked hard so he and his brother could attend the best school in the area. He emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in his twenties to work in tech. Andy has happily worked for the same company for nearly 20 years and recently made Group VP. His work is done remotely and he travels at times for his role.

Your child will grow up with two role models, both of whom are smart as a whip: Andy's son Vikram (16) & his daughter Anika (13) who live with us part time. Both have known what a blended family looks like from a young age, as they have 2 stepbrothers on their mom's side. Colleen calls herself a bonus mom with bonus kiddos and loves being a part of their life.

We can’t forget Vader, our 5 year old rescue dog who makes us all laugh and de-stress! He follows Vikram and Anika around the house and often sleeps next to them at night. He is their biggest fan and will no doubt have a special bond with our baby.

We live in a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom, split-level home at the top of a hill in a suburb of the East Bay of San Francisco. Our future nursery is just steps from our master bedroom. Vikram and Anika both have their own bedrooms. Our home backs up to pastureland and a regional park where we can hear wild turkeys and see cows and deer. Our neighborhood is quiet, has its own park and a fantastic view from the walking trail behind us. Our yard is completely fenced in with two patios, a grass lawn in the back and a lemon tree on our side yard.

Our city and neighborhood is diverse, as is the Bay Area in general. We have access to highly rated public and private schools in the nearby area. An environment which shows children how to care for others, their community and their culture is very important to both of us. We know our future baby may come from a culture different than ours and we will celebrate their culture along with ours from then on.

We have family nearby, across the U.S. and in India. Colleen’s immediate family lives in Chicago and New Orleans, so we travel to see them as much as we can. Her 6 year old nephew will be very excited to have a new baby in the family. Colleen’s niece who is almost off to college will no doubt ask to babysit the little one.

Last year, Colleen’s sister and cousin flew in to celebrate a birthday. We spent the weekend in San Francisco and wine country. Her parents also regularly fly in for an extended stay a few times a year. Once our little one comes along, we may not be able to convince them to fly home!

Andy’s immediate family lives in LA, so we take turns driving back & forth to visit each other. Sometimes it’s for a birthday, or holiday or just because we haven’t seen each other in a while. We use WhatsApp regularly to keep up with each other in between visits. Andy’s parents spend a few months living with and cooking for us each year.

We both have friends whom we consider family nearby. A large number of Andy’s college friends have settled in the area, and we see each other weekly. Colleen’s friends have known each other for a decade or more and the majority are nearby. All these ladies have little kiddos at home, so her circle of support is a solid and experienced group of gals. Her best friend lives in Minnesota and just had her second child and it’s been our dream for our babies to become besties.

Before she met Andy, Colleen became scuba certified and it’s an activity she looks forward to enjoying her whole life. She also loves snow and skiing, so driving to Lake Tahoe is the one road trip she doesn’t mind taking. In her free time, Colleen enjoys running or rollerblading as a workout. Her favorite genre to read is biographies and she keeps every book she reads. Andy gifted Colleen a book on the complete works of her favorite artist, Gustav Klimt. She also enjoys indoor rock climbing and running while on vacation.

While at home, Colleen enjoys creating makeshift Jeopardy or trivia games for the family to play. Sometimes all 4 of us will sit downstairs and create a queued playlist where we each get to submit our favorite songs to enjoy and sing to. At home, our TV is on the lower level and we play music often in our kitchen and living room upstairs.

Andy loves watching and playing cricket, the most popular sport in all of India, but also follows football and basketball. He enjoys playing racquetball and working on his golf swing alongside his college buddy who lives nearby. Andy’s favorite way to workout is a brisk run around Lake Elizabeth. He reads up on the latest tech and gets excited about hooking up every single light or switch to one app so our home can be a true “smart home.”

As a couple, by far our favorite thing to do together is travel. We were engaged in Morocco, where our first purchase was a traditional Moroccan rug we hope to use as inspiration for the baby’s nursery. Our honeymoon took us to a tea house in Japan and a hotel you can only reach by boat in the Philippines. Having Vikram & Anika join us when their school schedules allow is great. We all have so much fun swimming and taking family golf lessons together. Should you choose us, your little one will see as much of the world as possible.

As individuals and as a couple, we have always believed in adoption as a loving way to build a family. Like many folks, we have been trying to have a baby for a few years without any success. We know every child deserves the very best chance in life to thrive and we are fortunate enough to be able to provide that to a little one. We love our kiddos Vikram and Anika very much and are beyond impressed at what wonderful human beings they’ve grown to be. Both of them are just as excited as we are to grow our family!”