Devereaux Tae-Jin Dumas Is Town’s First Baby of ’08

It seems as if Devereaux Tae-Jin Dumas is destined for good luck. Born to Gregory and Soo-Young Dumas, he is the first Pacific Palisades baby of 2008. Born on January 2 at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, Devereaux weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces and was born just shy of 1 p.m. He is the Dumas’ third child and was welcomed by big sisters Zoe, 3 and Mikah, 2. Since Devereaux would have to be born via C-section, the Dumases were given three birthday choices. Simply attempting to avoid giving birth on a holiday, they had all but decided on January 2. A quick discussion with Soo-Young’s father, who is well versed in Chinese astrology, solidified their decision, because he assured them that January 2 was the best date. However, he specified that the baby would have to be born before 1 p.m. The morning of January 2 went quickly, noon passed and baby Devereaux was still in utero. ‘I was running around everywhere, saying ‘We’ve got to get in there now, this baby has to be born by 1 p.m., or I don’t know what’s going to happen,’ Gregory recalls. Fortunately, Devereaux arrived at 12:54 p.m. on his lucky day, in the year of the golden pig. ‘The golden pig only comes around every 100 years so he’s supposed to be very blessed. Between that and looking at the [Chinese astrology] charts, the naming and winning the Palisadian-Post contest, maybe it’s true, maybe it’s all coming true,’ Soo-Young said of Devereaux’s early good fortune. The baby’s name was decided on just three weeks before the due date. Tae-Jin, which means ‘grand’ or ‘bigger than life’ in Korean, was suggested by his grandfather. Devereaux was chosen by Gregory, who had been given full naming rights by Soo-Young after a naming mishap with their second child, Mikah. The couple had decided on the name Mikah months before her birth. Then three days before she was born, they changed their minds. A month after she was born, Soo-Young sent Gregory down to the courthouse to have her name officially changed. ‘We got her social security card and everything, but within a month decided it wasn’t her name, so I convinced him to go to court and get her real name,’ Soo-Young said. ‘Because of that, I got first dibs on the name,’ Gregory said. ‘I could have named him Cletus Sue, and she couldn’t say anything.’ However, Gregory came up with the name Devereaux, which they both loved. The Dumases have lived in the Palisades since 2001. The two were looking for houses on the Westside and wound up having dinner randomly at Terri’s on Swarthmore. ‘We were sitting on the sidewalk and thought, Wow, this is like Mayberry, such a homey little village and we thought, Oh my god, we want to live here,’ Gregory said. After looking at nearly 20 houses the couple settled into their new home on DePauw in July 2001, shortly after their July 3 wedding. In March 2004, first daughter Zoe was born and second daughter Mikah followed in September 2005. ‘We really like the small-town atmosphere that you can’t get anywhere else in L.A., that we know of,’ Soo-Young said. Still, despite loving Pacific Palisades, the Dumases spend much of their time traveling, all over the world. As the owner of his own Internet marketing company with many international clients, Gregory has many opportunities to travel, and he usually brings his family with him. ‘When Zoe was born I was afraid to cross the street with her,’ Gregory said. ‘A few months later, we were in the Middle East with her.’ Last November, Gregory and Zoe went on a special trip, just the two of them, spending six days in Paris and six days in Dubai, where at one point, they even found themselves lost in the desert. Still, they won’t be deterred from traveling, as the couple agrees that it is important to teach their children about all the different people in the world. The Dumases are looking forward to future trips and plan to visit Asia soon, particularly Korea, where Soo-Young was born and raised until she was 7.