Lauren in the hospital

It's been almost FIVE months since our last post (sorry!) and a lot has happened in that time, including two more hospital visits, one more surgery (on Lauren, poor girl), morning sickness, and moving apartments.  Over the next week or so, hope to catch-up on what's been missed.

Below are photos and videos of Lauren's hospital visit where a lump on the side of her neck was surgically drained and removed.  (I also spent 4 days in the hospital due to morning sickness in March.)

See Video 383 of Lauren one-day fresh out of surgery and already adapting to her new bandages and IV by playing with one hand.

See Video 384 of Lauren just day 2 after surgery.  The swelling on her face is already going down and she is beginning to look like herself again.  Also, she continues to learn and tries to click her tongue with us.

See Video 385 of Lauren sitting up, playing and smiling.  Because we were in the hospital for so many days, the IV has changed hands again and is back on her right hand.  She was a real trooper about it.

The below photos are of Lauren and her new friend -- "the lump".  As we get closer to the day of her operation, you can see the lump grows quite quickly, her face begins to swell, and we begin to think her friend has become a bad influence on her and must go.

The below photos are of Lauren after surgery.  Kids are amazingly adaptable and you can see she quickly returns to her cheerful baby-self again.  Two tubes remained in her cheek (which the doctor drained everyday) and so we stayed in the hospital for almost a week afterwards to ensure all the infection was gone and that she was recovering smoothly.

Lauren's Antics

Now that she's almost 1 year and 4 months old, Lauren has been learning and doing a lot more.  A big milestone she's finally reached is... she can walk!  Below are videos and photos of Lauren.

VIDEOS

See Video 378 of Lauren smiling and walking.

See Video 379 of Lauren dancing with her cousin Michael.  There's swaying, twisting, clapping and pelvic thrusts.

Also see Video 380 of Lauren laughing manically at Mud, one of the two cats we babysit for a few weeks.

At this age, Lauren loves to make a mess.  Watch Video 381 she throws and scatter markers on the floor and laughs about it.

Also see Video 382 of Lauren laughing while Clark motorboats her chubby neck.

PHOTOS

Lauren now likes to sit at the "kids table" with the other kids as opposed to being confined in the highchair.  Here, the kids enjoy breakfast with their Porpor.

Sometimes Lauren likes to fuss at the dinner table.  When Carol Yee-yee firmly told her "no more complaining", Lauren put on her sad face and looked around the room for support (she did this for about 30 silent seconds). When she got no support, she resumed eating.  

Lauren lets Serena Yee-yee hold her and even gave us a little smile.

Ignorance is bliss: Lauren cheerfully playing at the docs, waiting for a shot (MMR vaccine).

It hit 7 oC in Hong Kong a couple days ago.  Brrr!  To stay warm, Lauren wore Clark's hat and put on a pink faux fur shrug.

Here is Lauren posing and fascinated with Mud the cat.  She was constantly following Mud around.  The cats have since returned home with Keiko, Jas, Tristan and Tyler.

Natalie puts one of her necklaces around Lauren's head like a headband.  Lauren didn't quite know what to make of it, but didn't mind it.

One of Lauren's funny faces. 

Happy and Healthy

Over the past few weeks, both Natalie and Lauren went through a period where they were  both sick.  Lauren had a cold / flu and Natalie's fever was so high that she was admitted to the hospital for 4 days. 

Our sick girls sitting together on the sofa, looking sad. 

Natalie was diagnosed with severe sinusitis and was required to have her sinuses surgically flushed and grommets inserted into each ear.  Here we've just checked into the hospital.

 Natalie gets ready for surgery by wearing socks, a gown and a funny mushroom hat.  She lost so much weight over the past month that she looked super skinny in the thin gown.

Big smiles on our way down to the operating theater.

Ready for the anesthesiologist!  I accompanied her inside the operating theater, but was required to leave after she was asleep. 

Natalie looking dopey after the surgery.  It was a success!

 Natalie's room overlooks a perfect view of the Happy Valley racecourse.  It was a Wednesday night, so we were able to see the horses race that night (good timing!)  Here Porpor came by for a brief visit and enjoyed the view.

Just a couple hours after the surgery, Natalie is looking cheerful and energetic.

And she had a BIG appetite, eating congee, noodles, peanut butter bread and a whole bowl of steamed eggs. 

We are so happy that our girls are happy and healthy now :)

Nainai and Yehyeh

Safe travels to Nainai and Yehyeh who flew to Taiwan on Saturday.  It was soooo nice to have them with us  in Hong Kong over Christmas and New Years.  Natalie and Lauren loved spending time with their grandparents and we all enjoyed we hanging out together!

Little Wangettes securely hugged in a taxi on our way to lunch with Clark.

While waiting to be seated, Nainai and Yehyeh take the matching sisters n for a walk around Jardine House's lobby.

Natalie was such a great big sister holding Lauren's hand and trying to encourage her to walk more.  Lauren was so excited to be wearing shoes and walking around.

Everyone was so happy to be out and about.

 Grandparents and grand kids pose by the Christmas tree.  What a merry Christmas!

We look forward to seeing Nainai in March!

A Family Christmas Eve

On December 24th, we rung in Christmas together with dinner at our apartment.  Some photos below.  To see all photos, click here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150546058535590.431130.556630589&type=1&l=25fa418c90

Clark and the kids post in front of our very first real Christmas tree in Hong Kong.  Nice earrings, Natalie!

 My turn with the kids.  Natalie looks super excited :)

We had 8 kids from 1 to 5 years old hanging out at our place before dinner.   Here they are playing together in the kids room.

Later, the kids eat together, a yummy Christmas feast!

The feast of ham, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, veggies, rice and noodles laid out for us to share.

Lisa, Yehyeh, Nainai and Carol dig in.  Yum!

After dinner, the kids enjoy a dessert of home-made hot chocolate with whipped cream.

And even later, the kids are made to entertain the parents with Christmas carols before they are allowed to open their presents. 

The Ng Thing. 

The Wang Gang.

The Su Family

The Chen Den

And finally, it was time to open presents!  We had a great time everyone, thanks for coming over and celebrating Christmas together!

Lauren is 14.5 months old now and super cute.  She's learning to say words now (her current favourite is "cat" since we're babysitting two cats for friends for the next few weeks).  She's also growing quite quickly... debating whether we need a new crib for her or not.  (See photo below.  What do you think?  You know what they say about small space = small people.)

Lauren standing up by herself

About three weeks ago, Lauren learned to stand up by herself. See Video 377 of Lauren showing off her new skills and being super pleased about it :)