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.