Another pic with a bit more information...

She laughs outloud! :)
She eats 3-4x a day and has a good appetite. -- Girl after my own heart!

She can distinguish between acquaintance/stranger.
She likes quiet, likes music (great since that is her middle name), and has a ready smile.

She is a moderate sleeper,She goes down at 6:30 p.m. and wakes at about 5:50 a.m., with a 1.5 hour nap

She likes to play outdoors, likes blocks, toys that make noise, and has a favorite cloth doll.
She can crawl, can hold her head up while on her tummy, she can roll over, sit alone by herself,
She can grasp toys, look for a dropped toy, move head to follow movement, move toy from hand to hand.

She's so cute!!

I am now spending the week in Lake Tahoe for some excellent skiing while I finish up the paperwork to get my final Travel Approval (TA) and Consulate Appointment... which clearly can't come soon enough for me!

I'm so in LOVE and over the MOON!!

It's a girl!!! And she's precious!! I am ecstatic!!
I'm very proud to introduce Danielle Quin Davis

Her Chinese name is Long, Chu - translates to clear/neat
and middle name is Qin - translates to musical instrument ~ I will include a 'u' in her middle name (to make it Quin) which translates to "music"
Her B-day is Feb 7, 2010, so she's just over 12 mos now.
She's from the Province of Jiangxi

As of Dec she was
26.5 inches and 18.7lbs

16.9" - head circum
17.3" - chest circum

How will I get through the day, until the call comes in??

I'm so completely emotional and excited... today is going to be tough to try to concentrate on anything until that phone rings!! Will post more once I hear something. Happy Dance!!

I'm stunned and I'm shocked... it has been sooo long coming- tomorrow is the first really BIG day!!

I just finally got a chance to get on the RQ site tonight and haven't been on for a couple of days... Things have been very busy and I've also really thought there's no way we would hear anything until next week or the week after! First, I'm seeing that referrals are coming in and then I go on my agency site and see this--- I'm getting my call tomorrow!!!

2/24/2011
Great News Matches Arrived!

Great News! We just received a group of matches from the CCAA. We received matches for families with the log in dates of June 5, 7 and 8, 2006. At this time, we do not know the official cut off date for this group of matches as the CCAA has not updated their intranet website.

We will call all matched families tomorrow! We are so excited for all of our families who were matched in this group!

We will update this website when more information becomes available.

Baby "Stuff"

I took some time to check out Babies R Us this past weekend... I looked mostly at car seats and strollers and stayed away from all the cute little outfits. I've decided to wait until I find out her exact age/size before I actually purchase since there could be a big difference in needs if she's a tiny bean vs. a little chunky monkey.

Not sure what others in my situation are doing, so am looking through the RQ Forum about how to best plan for getting the right sizes... or if it really is best to just wait until knowing more.

I'm also starting to stress a bit on what other baby stuff I'll need to be sure I have before leaving for China and to have waiting when we return!

I look forward to going to register... and getting to have a real baby shower!

Shopping for "Stuff"

I took some time to check out Babies R Us this past weekend to look at car seats and strollers. I've decided to wait until I find out her exact age/size before I actually purchase since there could be a big difference in needs if she's a tiny bean vs. a little chunky monkey.

Not sure what others are doing, so am looking through the RQ Forum about how to best plan for getting the right sizes... or if it really is best to just wait until knowing more.

I'm also starting to stress a bit on what other baby stuff I'll need to be sure I have before leaving for China and to have waiting when we return!

School is officially done and good things are coming!

So glad I've turned in my final paper and have now completed my Masters Degree in Information Management! It's super exciting that I have a breather to really focus my extra time on getting ready for the big days ahead... first the 'call', then the paperwork, then the consulate appt, then finally planning the actual travel.

I'm very lucky to have understanding management who is willing to be flexible as to when my time off will need to begin. Right now, I keep telling them I'm targeting for mid-end of April, and worst case, beginning of May... so we'll see how close that ends up being to the real dates!

If there's one thing I've learned is that my original plan for going with China, based on many factors, to include the fact that they had a very "predictable" process, went out the window a very long time ago. The only thing that's been predictable throughout, is that nothing is certain and I have to continue practicing/trying my patience. My heart strings have always pulled me to China, so luckily the one thing making it easier is that there's never been a doubt that is my path to little miss Butterfly.

It's been very interesting how my nightly dreams are being ruled by this topic throughout the past week. The uncertainty and the excitement both, are clashing during my REM sleep. I wake every morning to the reality that my true dream has not yet been realized, but at the same time I'm having some pretty fun and interesting moments with my dear Butterfly every night. It's a different situation, a different baby (last night it was two) and very bizarre circumstances, but so far nothing that has left me feeling frustrated.

I'm so looking forward to so many fun times ahead!

Making New Friends!

RQ officially updated the matched dates, so have added the updated version to this site. So awesome to see June dates in that box...!

Super excited to have a bit of time do some reading and learning more about the 'Junies' group who have been waiting just as long as I have. Some really great, and supportive women/men going through the same thing. Yesterday, I had a couple of quick emails with someone only ~30 miles from me! Our login dates are a day apart, so it seems very likely we will travel together as long as CCAA get through at least the 6th.. some are predicting through the 7th or even the 12th!

I can't wait for next weekend to begin doing some 'baby stuff' shopping that I'll have time for once my final paper is in! Got my last round of comments back from the instructor tonight, and I have very little to change...Yep, things are lookin' up!

Reading about the personal stories of the latest referrals

I'm in tears reading all the stories... so amazing, and so exciting -- now just feeling a bit more anxious that it could still be another 2 months before I get the call! I keep hoping to be surprised with the great news sooner. It seems that there aren't any LIDs on June 3rd or 4th (at least on the RQ site polls), so that just has to mean that June 5th is FOR SURE in the next set... right??!!

One more week of school, then I'll be D-O-N-E and have waaaayyy more time for some long awaited reading, prepping, and all the other little things that I've been putting off in place of homework.

Keep all those good vibes coming for a quicker announcement for the next set!

Kung Hei Fat Choy / Happy Chinese New Year!! It's been a Busy Week!

Lots going on this past week... turned in the near final version of my Capstone (e.g. Thesis) to graduate with my masters degree and celebrated my 15 year anniversary at my company with a couple of special gifts for myself... the rings I've been wanting to symbolize all the accomplishments of the past few years while waiting for my Butterfly!

I had a last minute change in plans to go up to see my team in Oregon and ended up going a day early to join a team of others who were already there and went straight out to a great chinese dinner... no, my fortune cookie did not include the one I had hoped for, but at least the rumors turned out to be better than expected prior to CNY for those with LIDs through June 2nd!  It's been a roller coaster this past couple of weeks, but this next couple of months waiting for the next set of referrals is going to be torture!! I'm not sure how much  more behind CNY is going to put the next announcements, but I'm going to expect about a 2 months wait for the good news and hopefully be pleasantly surprised if it comes sooner. 

I just know my Butterfly is going to be here soon, and CCAA is sure to get through June 5th, with only 3 days in between this latest batch... please, oh please, oh please!!!

Here are some of the sites posted through RQ of those who received referrals through June 2nd:
Go to http://chinaadopttalk.com/2011/02/02/7779/ view blogs that have pictures of some of the very cutest babies!