Being first-time parents, the last thing Janell Scott (Moeller) and Weston Scott expected was to not only have their daughter born on Jan. 1, but also for her to be the first baby born in Santa Clarita in 2026.
Still deciding names, and leaning toward Marlowe Elizabeth Scott, Janell knew for certain that she wanted to give her newborn the middle name “Elizabeth” to honor her grandmother.
Born at 6 pounds and 8 ounces at 4:57 a.m., “Baby Scott” arrived earlier than expected to ring in the new year.
“I really wanted her to have her own birthday, and not share it with the holiday. She came earlier — a week early. And honestly, it’s kind of cool. I think the birthday ‘1-1-26’ is super cool. I just really did not want her to be born on Christmas,” Janell said. “I wanted her to wait until 2026, and she kind of laughed at us and came right on the first day.”
Weston and Janell discussed what they look forward to the most as a new family, as they have already reached what some might call a major milestone for the new year.
“I’m looking forward to seeing who she looks like in the family, because we are a very mixed-race family, so I’m curious to see what traits she has. I’m looking forward to also feeding her different foods and seeing what she likes to eat. Later on, I want to go camping a lot. My family likes to go camping, so I’m looking forward to doing beachside s’mores,” Janell said. “She’ll probably be pretty smart.”
“I’m excited to see her be a dancer and a soccer player,” Weston added, alluding to his experience as a soccer player and Janell’s experience as a dancer.
Janell, who’s a director of data and analytics for a marketing company, and Weston, who’s an artificial intelligence architect, met in San Diego and moved to Santa Clarita as a couple in 2021. The Valencia residents already see the similarities in how Janell and her daughter were born.
“I was born in this hospital, and today my mom helped me deliver her. My brother and his wife are having their first baby [a boy] in two months, so we’ll be raising our kids together. My parents are already calling them the ‘grandtwins’ because they’re born super close together,” Janell said.
As a local resident who went to Valencia Valley Elementary School and later graduated from Hart High School, Janell is excited for her daughter to grow up in the same area she did — alongside the rest of the family.
“[Weston’s] parents moved from New Jersey, and they live three minutes away from us. My parents live three minutes down the street from us. My brother is also three minutes away from us,” Janell said. “We have both sets of grandparents and my sibling and I are just [going to be] raising these two grandkids together. We’re very excited.”
