Emily & Peter

Emily Peter Cover 00
Mother to be Father to be
First Names Emily Peter
Religion Catholic Catholic
Ethnic Background Caucasian Caucasian
Education/Degree M.A. Theatre M.S. Information Security
Profession Stage Manager Information Security Mgr
Ages/Names of Children Noelle Leilani – 1yr (adopted)

Our Story

Hi we are Emily, Peter, and Noelle!  We met at a Freshman orientation dance the first weekend in undergrad.  We talked a bunch at the after party and started dating soon after that.  We’ve been together since then, 18 years total and married for 8.  We’ve spent most of our lives in the mid-west and moved to the NYC area due to a job opportunity for Peter, and to allow Emily to work in theater in New York.  We’re currently spending our time living in NJ, working in NYC, and enjoying the zoos, theater, and other aspects of metro NYC living (when COVID protocols & common sense allows).  We routinely return to the mid-west to visit family, as well as the Baltimore area, where Peter’s sister and her family live.  Our goal is to stay in the NYC area for the foreseeable future, as Peter continues his work and Emily progresses her career.

We adopted Noelle in March of 2020 and were able to take her home directly from the hospital.  We’ve spent this period of COVID chaos wrapped in our apartment bubble with Noelle helping her learn to eat, sleep, and not torment the cats too much. It’s been a real blessing that Peter’s work was able to continue uninterrupted via work from home, and so he’s been able be home for Noelle’s entire first year.  Emily’s work had to take a hiatus as live theater performances were a “no go” during COVID lockdowns, but she has recently been able to start prepping the theater for re-opening once it’s safe to do so and is really excited to be back at it.

Aw, aren't we cute?
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Family Life

We both value honesty and openness in our relationship.  This will continue to drive future decisions and activities.  We regularly discuss impacts to our family life, and work to make sure we are both informed and prepared for upcoming plans and deadlines.  As Catholics, we would raise our child with a deep understanding of religion’s importance in forming moral and spiritual foundations, and if they so choose when they are old enough, will support them wherever they find that they belong.  We have two cats currently (Penny – an orange Siberian, and Leonard – a silver Bengal) who are both 9 years old.  Leonard is a curious cat who is always interested in whatever is going on around the home.  Penny knows the home is her kingdom and enjoys reminding us humans of the pecking order.  Both are spoiled and loving life.

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Lifestyle

Besides working downtown, we do a variety of different activities.  We like zoos and aquariums and are members at the NY zoos (WCS).  We also have active memberships at a Life Time Athletic club, where we take Noelle to swim and play in the water.  We attempt to be creative when cooking dinners at home and ensure we eat dinner together as a family.  Our apartment complex has a nearby park where we do bike riding and enjoy the waterfront views.  Noelle is also just recently learning what a playground is, and deciding if she likes it.  Emily’s hobbies include sewing, reading, and genealogy.  Peter’s hobbies include pretty much anything electronic, watching hockey, and attempting not to burn down the kitchen with his cooking mishaps.  Our apartment is a 3-bedroom unit in a park-like complex.  The facilities include jungle gyms and play areas for the kids, and has several common events throughout the year, including Earth Day and spring kick-off with a petting zoo.

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Adoption

We would love consistent contact with you (such as at the annual picnic or similar) as we understand adoptive children need a sense of identity and feel that contact with their birth family helps keep their sense of self strong and healthy.  Regular updates and photos are definitely welcome in both directions, especially if there are any siblings involved.  We continue to text and share pictures/videos with Noelle’s birth mother on a regular basis, including major milestones such as first steps, birthdays, and other fun and entertaining anecdotes.

We both have experienced highly diverse environments throughout our lives.  As such, it has been important to us as we started down the adoption path that we were open to our family becoming diverse itself.  With the adoption of Noelle, who is Jamaican and African American, this has presented us with numerous learning opportunities.  For example, we’ve had to re-learn all about hair and skin care to keep Noelle radiant.

We have a couple friends that are adopted transracially that we’ve discussed this with and we feel that helping the child understand their origins is more than just knowing who their birth parents are.  The sense of community that being immersed in a specific culture provides is something that cannot be taught.  Our apartment complex is highly diverse, with strong cultural ties to several different ethnic backgrounds.  Additionally, we both have friends that we lean on to help gain better exposure as a family and act as resources for questions or complex concepts as Noelle grows. Art, literature, music, and theatre will be additional tools we plan on utilizing to continue to make cultural immersion fun and meaningful.

Emily Peter Adoption 01

Favorites

Mother to be Father to be
Genre of Music Country Alternative
Childhood memory First trip to Florida with aunt and grandparents.  Dad surprised me by visiting during the trip. Summers at the lake with family.
Quote “Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” “Be kind to dragons, for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup.”
Subject in school English Physics
Magazine National Geographic Scientific American
TV show Gilmore Girls NCIS
Movie A&E’s Pride & Prejudice Real Genius
Hero My Dad Kip Thorne
Holiday Halloween Halloween
Bedtime story The Hobbit Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Dessert Angel Food Cake Cheesecake
Actor Adam Pascal Ryan Reynolds
Video Game World of Warcraft Minecraft
Sport to watch or play Watch (Hockey) Watch (Hockey)
Author J.R.R. Tolkien Terry Pratchett
Gadget KitchenAid Stand Mixer Raspberry Pi
If your life was a theme song what would it be? Imagine (John Lennon) Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Monty Python)
Mac pr PC PC PC (although work forces cooperation with the Dark Side)
Beverage Diet Coke Lemonade
Eat in or Dine out? Eat in Eat in
Early Riser or Night Owl? Early Riser Night Owl

Best Wishes

Thank you for visiting our page!

To your child:

“We want to help them be their best,
Family dinners and game nights and pets,
They’ll be encouraged to learn,
And we’ll grow in turn,
Together we’ll conquer life’s quests.”

(Bad puns are not a required part of the child’s skillset but may be inflicted on them throughout their lifetime.)

Emily, Peter, and Noelle

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