Lauren and Kai

Last Saturday was my good friend Terri's baby shower...she's hopping on a plane very soon to get her beautiful daughter Gwyneth! Below are a few pics of Lauren loving her new friend Kai! As Mary can attest, the carpool trip to the shower was a little rough, but we survived and it was so nice to see Lauren and Kai becoming sweet friends!

Zoolights with Lauren!

Well, for YEARS Dan and I have talked about taking Lauren to our annual tradition of Zoolights and we finally were able to experience seeing this amazing night through her eyes! Below are a few pic's...Now, I know my Midwestern family and friends are going to say...you're in arizona and she's dressed like it's the tundra! hehe..it really was a little chilly this evening. :)

Halloween!

I'm a little late posting our Halloween pic's, I've been out sick since Halloween with the dreaded H1N1. Wow, is it good to be feeling myself again today! Lauren and I had a breakfast date and then went to play at the Gymnastics arena for preschool power hour today. I am more amazed each day by this amazing gift that has been placed into my arms. Lauren is such an incredible little girl.

She loved Halloween, she only went to our 2 neighbors homes to say "trick or treat", and then spent the night excitedly giving out candy. She LOVED passing out candy. We sat in the driveway with Dan's parents and had such a nice night. Gosh, how many YEARS I had been waiting to experience Halloween with my daughter! It was everything and more than I dreamed it would be. It's so fun to be experiencing all of our first's together as a family.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Finally!!!!!! It's raining Babies!!!!!

Congratulations to all you wonderful mommies who are seeing your long-awaited daughters today!!! I am over the moon excited for you all and cannot wait to follow you on this exciting journey.

This is sweet little Zoey, her mommy designed my blog and has been a friend from the very beginning. If you go way back to my first blog post, you will see a post regarding a poem she wrote for her Zoey, so many years ago.



This is Terri's beautiful Daughter..Terri is one of the original Arizona Adoption Mama's! Our group has grown over the years and I have been so fortunate to have met this beautiful person during our journey to Lauren.





Terri, Sooze, Steph, 3D, Kelly....I am soo happy for you.

Kayce...you rock and you are next!!!!

Three Months Ago Today

Today...

Day at the Zoo

Last Thursday was my first birthday as a mommy and wow was it wonderful! We went to the zoo for the first time and Lauren had a blast! She loved feeding the Giraffe, Sam, and clapped each time after she fed him. The train ride was another big hit, she loved yelling "choo choo!" throughout the zoo. The animals were really active and it was just such a fun day!

To all my friends who were anxiously awaiting referrals only to find the CC*A*A did not send them in September....I am truly sorry. It's so hard to take off the armour only to have put it back on again. Just know you all will be holding your daughters and enjoying times like these very soon. I have felt since having Lauren that somehow she knew she was waiting for us. Also, from our experiences in China, I believe your daughters are safe, cared for, and being told mommy and daddy are coming soon. They are anxiously awaiting you just as much as you are awaiting them. I look back on our whole experience and look into Lauren's eyes and just think...what a miracle. Only God could orchestrate something so beautiful.

It's the Craziest Time Ever, It's The Most Wonderful Time Ever

Life is like I've never experienced before. Lauren brings such joy into my life. Her hugs melt away any anxiety or stress I have. As I see more and more of her personality, I am amazed at what an incredible little girl she is. I am so grateful that God placed her in my life.

School right now consists of 3 (soon to be 4) full days of clinical, a Capstone research project, weekly discussion boards, 2 research papers, 6 practicum expanded clinical notes, 2 clinical papers in APA format, 4 specialty rotations (some are 2 hour commutes), and a partroge in a pair tree...I mean and I work three 12 hour shifts a week! Can I say...I cannot wait until December 18th! Graduation day!

Some days I feel paralyzed by the weight of school and wonder how it will all be done, but Danny keeps reminding me to take one day at a time. He is my voice of reason lately. I love him so much. As I am taking on this mountain, he is being such an amazing Daddy to Lauren (and tutoring part-time). They read, sing songs, go to the mall, play at the Children's Museum, etc. She loves her daddy so much and what is encouraging to me is that despite my busyness, she has attached to both Danny and I. Whenever she sees one of us after being away she smiles so big, jumps up in our arms, and squeezes our necks soo tight! It's the best. :)

Lauren just loves dancing, singing, and climbing anything in site(I see gymnastics in her near future) :). She recently started to take an interest in books too. She is saying more and more words every day. Last night as we layed in bed together reading, she pointed to my nose and said, "nose", and then my chin and said, "chin" and so on. Her little, sweet voice is just too cute. She also has surprised us in how she loves to pray. She will say "pre!" grab both of are hands and close her eyes and whisper her words only she understands. Then she says "ameen" and claps her hands so excitedly! I really need to get it on video. :)

This week is such an exciting week because many, if not all, of the March LIDers will be matched and receive referals of their little long-waited gifts! It brings back memories of our referral day and I am so excited for you all. It's been a loong wait and it's finally your turn. I love you all and am so thankful to have met such amazing friends like you on this journey to our daughters.

Our first post-adoption visit was last week and it was nice to see our SW who we've gotten to know over the years at our yearly homestudies. Lauren showed off for her the whole time and brought out every toy we own and kept walking through the living room with her doll in the baby stroller and saying "hello". :) We have two more post-placement visits and then we are done with the paperwork process of our adoption.

Well, I better get back to my work. It's been nice to have some extra time today. When I got to my clinical, my preceptor was off for a conference, so I got a surprise day off! ;)

I'll try to update again soon.

West Fork Trail w/Lauren

Last weekend we headed up north to our favorite hiking trail with Lauren for the first time. Lauren had so much fun and,as Dan and I said while we were hiking,as good as it was with the three of us before, it's even better with the four of us now.



Half way through the trail there is a swimming hole where the creek gets deeper and we sat in the shallow end with Lauren. She had so much fun, she didn't want to get out!


Bailey also had a great time and I think it made her feel a little more like things were going to be okay in this new life with our newest addition.

One Great Day

We recieved Lauren's official U.S. Citizenship document today and it was such an awesome feeling seeing this document with, "Lauren Elizabeth Yu Davenport, US Citizen" written on it. She's official! :)

We all had the day off together today as well and since Lauren has been starting to run we decided it was time for her first pair of running shoes! Uncle Larry, we thought of you a lot today and these pic's are especially for you. :)

I also brought out the rebounder today and she had a blast jumping on this with her new shoes. Today was just one of those days that I know I will look back on as some of the best times in my life. As I rocked Lauren to sleep tonight, I put her in her crib, and then sat back in the rocker and just watched her. She is so beautiful inside and out. I am just amazed that I have been chosen to be this incredible little girls mommy.

I also found out today that referrals from China have been sent out and they are now up to the LID of March 24th. This means many of my fellow March LIDers are NEXT in line! I am soo excited and am looking forward to the day that I am able to see all of you with your daughters. Take it from me, as hard as it is to believe right now, this wait will be a distant memory very soon. :)

Love to all,

Goodnight :)

Birthday Party Pic's

Hi everyone,
First of all thank you so much for all the gifts, cards, calls, etc. We are just amazed at what an awesome family and group of friends we have. Life continues to be the best of our "golden years". It's been hard going back to work and school, but it makes me just that much more happy to pull into my driveway each night.

We are really excited to be going to welcome Kailahni Schneider home! She arrives tonight on the same flight from China that we arrived on just 3 weeks ago! We are soo excited for Mary and it's awesome seeing our March LID group coming home with our daughters! Terri will be at the airport as well and I can't wait to be greeting her soon with her new daughter! Kayce, Steph, and Sooze, you're soo close!! I'm rooting for a big batch of referrals and cannot wait to follow you all on your journeys. We will definetly all have to get together once we are all back from China.

Love you all. Hi to my Michigan family. You are such a blessing to us and we are praying you are able to come visit at Christmas!!

Happy Birthday to My Angel!

It's been a wonderful day again with my sweet girl. It's nearing the end of her 2nd birthday and I wanted to have a post for her special day. Right now she is enjoying a bowl of ice cream on daddy's lap watching Noggin TV. I start back to my schedule of clinicals and work tomorrow and it is going to be so hard to be away from her sweet smile.

Goodnight everyone!

10 Days @ Home

Our first time in the pool. We went to a community Aquatic Center and Lauren had so much fun! She took it slow at first, but then started splashing and screaching with laughter! :)


She actually prefers chopsticks! I was eating with chopsticks one day and she kept reaching for them, so I gave them to her to see what she would do with them...she went to town on her noodles! She's a pro! Steph, I thought the little chopsticks you had sent years ago were so cute, but I never dreamt she would be using them regularly! :)


Ahhh...there's nothing like a yogurt snack just after a nap.


Lauren has come to LOVE bathtime. She especially likes her Duck bathtub and how she can make it quack by pushing it's nose.



It's funny what she will do without any prompting. She loves to put my shoes on and walk around the house. She thinks she is just something else in my shoes with a purse on her arm!

The past 10 days have seemed surreal. The Jet lag took a pretty good toll on all of us, but we are finally coming around. I felt like a zombie the first few days. Sleep was a definite issue for Lauren the first few days. She has now adjusted to her crib, but she continues to fight pretty hard to not go to sleep. She has a tantrum each time she starts to get tired, she can be smiling and playful one minute and as soon as she feels she is drifting off, she screams, stiffens and throws a tantrum. Some nights it's been as long as 2 hours. The good news is, she is doing this less and less each time. We just keep doing all we know to do and praying God will comfort her.

Ove the past 10 days she has just amazed us each new day. She learned to give hugs and she gives the sweetest hug I have ever received. She puts her arms out and ever so lightly tap, tap, taps you on the shoulder. Her smile is all I dream about as well. She is just a sweetheart. She also has such a sense of humor! She cracks Danny and I up all the time. Last night we were at the mall and she made friends with this little boy who she walked up to slowly and softly patted his hand, she then tried to hold his hand and smiled at him. It was so sweet! Funny thing was, they were the same size, but he was only 8 months old! :)

Well, I could go on forever about Lauren. It's amazing how fast she felt like "mine". It feels as if I have known her forever. When we were coming into the US, the customs person directed us to the immigrant line and said, "just adopted your daughter?", for a split second I thought, "oh, how could he tell?". I forget she doesn't look like me. All I know is we were created for eachother.