Nothing better than family and friends to play with

The first week home has been such fun. We've got to spend time with Gramma, Auntie Dee, Uncle's Roger (below) and Ken and have Uncle Doug and cousin Andrew over for Easter dinner... then we even met Brenda too and got the cutest little 'piggy' bank!!

We've had Cindy and Matt and their girls come over for a bit of afternoon fun and so many super cute new clothes and a musical pig that I love.

Just today we got to have Joelle and new BFF Katie over to play, not to mention getting a couple of beautiful new outfits with matching butterfly clips!

Then to top it off, a quick Skype with Auntie Cheryl, Kai and Tim. What a fantastic week!!

Not finding time to post...

but we're both doing great!
She had her first U.S. dr. appt. today and got a clean bill of health!

Her 1yr molars are coming in, so teething is likely the reason for her sometimes sudden crankiness. But overall she is such a happy girl and loves to play!

More pics soon :)

Best Easter Gift Ever!

We're still trying to adjust to the Pacific Timezone, but we got to enjoy a fun filled Easter with a basket of goodies for Baby DQ (no candy, but things we will use) that kicked off the morning. I'm glad the cute Easter dress fit her perfectly... so darling!

Then we went to church and so many of Grandma's friends got too coo over her, with lots of questions for me. Afterwards, we stopped by to "see" dad and brought him his favorite Easter chocolates - a tradition we will continue as often as possible.

Nap time was only an option for Baby DQ, but at least I got a few more things done. Then Brother Doug and Cousin Andrew came over for Easter dinner - our new tradition of Chinese. DQ loved it! She sat in her highchair without a sound other than all the laughs we had together and she ate all her 'noo-noos' so good.

Finally, we slept and made it the whole night through!

Such a Joy!

This pic sums it up...she's just so precious!

Hiatus while in China...

I didn't get a VPN package, so couldn't get to my blog or FB while in China picking up my adorable little girl. Back, and home safe now, so stay tuned for the summary of events!

She's AWESOME! Well, Well, Well worth the wait!

But we got to Skype with Gramma and Aunt Dee

Home Stretch!

We took the final 'Oath' at the US Consulate yesterday...and we get baby D's Visa later today-- yeaaaahhhhh!! This was the final appt. that was essential to schedule around for all of our travel dates. We are all soooo ready to get home!

We've just finished the traditional 'Red Couch' family and baby photo session, which means we're leaving in the morning!! Take a peek at some of the pics taken by one of the dads, it shows a bit of the chaos, but some of them are pretty cute and Danielle was one of the only babies not crying!! :) just a bit squirmy. Cheryl will be posting hers once we're back and the rest throughout our journey, so I will share once they're ready.

Red Couch photos....http://gallery.me.com/tdonnan#100063&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Back to the US with my new little US Citizen on Wednesday!
Happy, Happy, Happy!!

Great Progress!!

We can't get enough (of course) and she's very photogenic but huge thanks to Cheryl for capturing so many awesome shots!! The whole group is very grateful for the pics she's taking of their babies too, and on the way home from dinner one of the dad's asked if she's available for hire! We're all getting along really well and enjoying the time we have to see the area. This hotel (The White Swan) we're staying is 'famous' for housing all the families on their final wait for the baby's visa during the home stretch. It's quite an experience to see all the adoptive parents at breakfast at nearly every table... seems like there must be at least a hundred of them.

We're making good progress together every day. The antibiotics have kicked in and she's feeling better. We had the final dr. check up today to be sure all is well and she's healthy to fly home. Tonight we put her in a stroller, and she seemed to like it, so I'm hoping to be able to use one sooner than later....then we laughed and giggled for over an hour...and she fell asleep for the first time just laying down with me instead of me having to hold and rock her- standing up, which has been pretty hard on my back. She's definitely letting her guard down. Our biggest hurdle right now is mealtime. She's not liking the highchair and won't take food from a spoon. I figured out today that using chopsticks works much better for her so I got some noodles in her at lunch. Dinner was a different story. At least she's taking the bottle really well.

Oh, and believe it or not... some of the babies are truly already potty trained. She's not, but we did get her to go in the potty tonight by catching her in time. It was pretty great and I'm going to try to keep that going if at all possible.

Tomorrow we rest in the morning and then head out to do some local shopping, just for fun!

Hugs!

Officially a Family!

We made it official today. :)

She is already completely comfortable with me... and Auntie Cheryl too!
Tomorrow morning we see the dr. for a check up and then we have a rest day since we've pretty much been non-stop, trying to get all the paperwork and meetings done.

She is awesome!
http://cherylwelch.smugmug.com/Just-4-Fun/its-official/16579092_WL6KM#P-5-10

Gotcha Day!!

The best day ever!

Hong Kong Markets

The 'Navigator' gave us some great input this morning and pointed the way to the Sheung Wan area. We first stopped at the Western Market, but quickly ventured out to the more authentic dried fish markets and where other 'strange' items were plentiful.

Along our travels to the Man Mo Temple, we stopped a super cute kids playground/park for a rest, watched the children play and talked of Baby Butterfly...

...and lit some incense for DQ

Then stopped at a few local markets full of souvenir and other local products...

Tired, time for a swim at the hotel... wishing the time would go by faster!
But also looking forward to meeting the other families tomorrow-- enjoying some additional Hong Kong sites and talking about our excitement of the following day...

First full day in Hong Kong..

The flight was a little rough with lots of turbulence throughout the first half, so Cheryl got quite ill. She's still not 100% and hasn't eaten much since, but at least she feels better after a really great nights sleep. Our hotel is great with a fantastic view!

We took the Ngong Ping Cable Car (more like a sky tram) and went to Lantau island today to see the world's largest Buddha and explore Ngong Ping Village. It was a beautiful day with just a bit of humidity, but a very nice cool breeze that helped a lot! We took a bunch of pictures,...here's just a quick sample.

We're still a bit jet lagged, so probably won't venture out too much tonight. There's so much to do over the next few days and the real countdown to little miss Butterfly is really on now! Just 2.5 more days (today is nearly done, so can't count it) It will be late afternoon on Sunday (China's time), Very exciting!

I hope I can sleep good the next few nights, because I know I'm going to need my energy..

Itinerary to finally bringing my Butterfly home ... 5 - 10 - 15 - 20

This is the last day before getting on the plane to be one giant step closer to bringing you home! Lots of friends and family have asked similar questions about this process and the remainder of the journey... So, here's just a few highlights of the best April ever:

5th - Uncle Doug takes us to the airport to leave SFO, flying directly to Hong Kong. We'll stay to see the sights and enjoy some time in the local culture and great food and try our best to get acclimated to the +15 hour time difference.

10th - leave Hong Kong direct to Nanchang (captial city of Jiangxi) where we check into the hotel, then get to meet my darling Danielle Quin! We will spend the next 5 days together full time, getting to know each other, meeting the other families, and playing with the little ones from SWI.

15th - leave Nanchang direct to Guangzhou, where we will finalize all the visa's and physical to get clearance for departure.

20th - leave Guangzhou, fly through HK with a stopover for lunch, then directly home to SFO where aunt Cindy and aunt Alison will be waiting to pick us up and take us to Grammas for a few days.

It will be so amazing and so wonderful to finally, have you home! I know you have no idea right now that your life is about to change, drastically, but there's one thing for sure... you already have so much family and friends waiting to meet you and looking forward to spoiling you with Love!

Your bedroom and playroom are ready ad waiting!

Feeling the Love through Skype and Staff!

Both my San Diego buddies and my work friends/colleagues went out of their way to give me showers. There was no way for me to get down to SD or have everyone come up here before I leave, so with we had a shower via Skype! It was really, so much fun to see all my pals and be able to chat through the computer while they all had the chance to get together and catch up with each other, then take turns chatting with me! So awesome to have such fun and fabulous friends!

Then I took my final trip (before Sabbatical) up to OR yesterday and during our regular Staff meeting time, the team brought in cake and cards/gifts and we ooogled over Danielle Quin's pictures and talked about my journey so far along with the upcoming trip and dates of events. My previous manager and a couple of other previous colleagues even took time out of their day and joined in the fun! Then we all went to lunch!

Yes, I am very lucky to know and work with amazing people. I look forward to getting back with my baby to show her off... Skype most likely to begin with, then will plan trips out to see everyone during my time off.