Julia and Kerry and …

… Baby Chaplin!

We’ve revitalized our 6-year-old wedding page into our growing family page. It’s been a long, challenging five year journey to and through pregnancy. From IUI to IVF and back, from one uterus to another, from one coast to another, many of you have supported us as we have bounced up-and-down and all-around on the fertility rollercoaster. We’re so relieved to be off the ride, and to celebrate with you and brand new Baby Chaplin.

And if you want to know more about how we became Julia and Kerry Chaplin, we’re leaving up our original wedding post:

We met in 2009 at Camp Courage, a training for marriage equality activists in Oakland, CA. At the time, we were both working for organizations seeking to overturn Prop 8.

Julia immediately had a huge crush on Kerry and naturally, Kerry barely remembers their first meeting. We stayed in touch the new-fashioned way through Facebook and gchat. But it wasn’t until Meet in the Middle — a big rally in Fresno, CA following the CA Supreme Court verdict on Prop 8 — that the relationship really began. There was a memorable rugby tackle, a prayer circle and some serious flirtation. Sounds about right.

At first we dated long-distance, Julia in Sacramento and Kerry in West Hollywood. It wasn’t long before Kerry convinced Julia to pack up her car and her cat Louie for a “trial run” at living together. Kerry began rabbinical school at the Ziegler School and Julia started a few new jobs. We started playing rugby together for the Santa Monica Women’s Rugby Club, making nationals and having too much fun in Arizona (sarcasm). Now, we live in a lovely apartment in the “chood,” a.k.a. Pico-Robertson, and continue to fall more deeply in love.

In February, Julia’s beloved Steelers made it to the Super Bowl. With our friends over to watch the game, Kerry came downstairs in her Heath Miller jersey carrying song sheets. She proposed to Julia with re-written lyrics to the Steelers fight song, got down on one knee, and offered her a ring pop in exchange for the rest of her life. Shockingly, Julia agreed to that deal.

We can’t wait to share our love with all of you at our wedding. We’re looking forward to bringing together both of our incredible families and beginning our own family together.