A fish back in water. Max's first swim class.

Jeff took Max to his first swim class yesterday. This is the initial entry. Max hasn't been in a pool since our trip to the Caribbean, but he took to it again happily. He's got a mean dolphin kick and he's already climbing out of the pool and jumping into daddy's arms from the ledge from a sitting position. All while Jeff sings every nursery rhyme under the sun. Max had his own poolside cheering section with Meme clapping and giggling throughout.

Baby Mozart

Nonna shows Max how to tickle the ivories on our last trip to Florida. So far, it sounds more like Stravinsky than Mozart. 

Angels and Demons

Our little angelic ray of sunlight.

This is actually the expression that Max makes when he is really excited about something.

Max is warming up to the swing, and his outfits show how the weather in New York is warming

Nothing better than a sleepy cuddle

Team Edward

Our baby vampire and beet lover

Going sporty for spring weather in New York

I'm eight months old and I wear big boy pajamas now. Hanging out on Great Great Aunt Louise's homemade quilt.

This swing thing is overrated

Second-parent adopted. Now he's really stuck with both of us!

Alicia, Max and his daddies, and Judge Lopez Torres

We had our second-parent adoption hearing on February 27. All went well and the adoption is complete. We now have an adoption order, which is portable nationally and internationally, and it establishes that Jeff and I are equally the legal parents of Max. The court required that we bring Alicia to New York and that she participate in a separate surrender hearing (surrendering her presumed parental rights). All this despite the fact that Alicia had already done what is sufficient in any other New York adoption our lawyer had heard of -- sign and notarize a surrender of parental rights form. Though it is difficult to believe, we were told that we were the first couple to be adopting a child in Brooklyn who had been born through surrogacy.

The judge met with Alicia for over an hour. While intense for Alicia, it was a wonderful opportunity for Alicia to have a dialogue with the judge about how some people happily create families through surrogacy. We could not have had a better advocate for the process than Alicia. Then in the afternoon we had the adoption hearing. The judge was very nice. She had clearly spent a lot of time reviewing our petition. She cited the home study and letters of recommendation that friends had written on our behalf and spoke about the love that Jeff and I have for each other and the strength of our relationship in finding that Max's best interests are served by the second-parent adoption.

With the adoption complete, it feels like the culmination of a huge journey -- all the contracts, agencies, medical hoops, and legal work that went into creating and protecting our family. A happy day in the end!

Our attorney, Anthony Brown, and us with the judge and her clerks

Alicia and Sawyer's visit

Alicia came to visit us last weekend. She brought her oldest -- Sawyer -- and we had a wonderful time. We had our adoption hearing on February 27, and the judge required Alicia to be present in connection with that hearing, so we all decided to make a weekend out of it. There were trips to Toys R' Us, FAO Schwarz, the M&M store in Times Square, to Mood Fabrics of Project Runway fame, and wonderful meals. In this picture, Max had recently finished a meal of beets, which appear still to be on his cheeks and shirt.

Max hoodie

Katie and John bought Max this gorgeous hoodie in Paris. Fancy pants!