Surgery

Lauren's surgery went well. While closing the VSD they found she had a small ASD as well so they closed that hole too. She did very well. She has been out of surgery for 2 hours now. She is off the ventilator but still has some O2 by way of a nasal cannula. If all goes well she will have the chest tube out tomorrow. Thank you all for your prayers and help with the McKenna and Brynlee. We so very much appreciate it.

Surgery Date

We have set Lauren's surgery date for May 6th. She will undergo an open heart procedure to fix her VSD. I will be spending the next few days stressing over everything that could be stressed about (sometimes ignorance is bliss). She will be in C.I.C.U for a few days and then in the hospital for a week. The doctors say that she will be back to her old self in about 4-6 weeks after the procedure. p.s for those of you who are interested here is a you tube link to see the procedure. It is an actual procedure so if blood or anything medical makes you squeamish you should pass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9crkTBuHbc

Pass

Such a wonderful word!! When you hear the word pass you may think of many different things. Some may think of a pass as something you would do with a football, soccer, or basketball. Depending on where you live you may think of a road with a 10% grade covered with snow and ice, no guardrail, and only 12 feet wide for two lanes of traffic. Pass may be something you would like to do when stuck behind a school bus. At our house it means Brad has PASSED his Dental Board Examinations and can now be a lisenced Dentist.

Lauren 9 Months

Lauren is getting so big!! She is very mobile now she crawls, pulls up onto furniture, and moves along the furniture (although very wabley). She smiles easily, has a fabulous laugh, and is so fun to have. She says a few things, the usual, mom, dad, and up. Up in this case is Jump and she loves to jump. She will spend hours in the jumparoo jumping away. The new love of her life is Cheerios. She has a little friend at daycare named Brooklyn and they are two of the cutest little baldies ever. This week she just learned to clap and wave. She is one tough cookie! I went and got this photos taken of her today and they all turned out so cute. I really liked the ones with the blue flowers they really made those blue eyes pop. The pink and red outfit was sent to us by my grandma.

They really do love each other

Lately I feel like Brad and I need to wear Black and White shirts and have whistles around our necks. We are spending a lot of time refereeing fights between Kenna and Bryn. Most of the problem comes from Kenna wanting to boss Bryn, and Bryn not wanting to be bossed. They play well for a little while and then end up fighting. This is how they fell asleep the other day after an evening of fighting over couch territory.

1. As my time in Philadelphia is growing to a close, (105 days at time of this post), I am finding myself a little torn. Part of me can hardly wait to get out of here and start the next phase of our lives as contributing members of society, receiving a paycheck rather than a quarterly interest statement. While the other part is a little sad to leave. I have learned a lot, met a ton of wonderful people that will be life long friends, and have enjoyed all that the east side of this wonderful country has to offer. This is my top 10 things learned in Philadelphia.

• Speed limits are merely suggestions
• Green means go and Yellow means GO FASTER
• You have 5 solid seconds after a light turns red to still go through it.
• Never for any reason park in the city.
• No matter what you hear about Pat's or Gino's the best place to get a cheese steak is at Old City Pizzeria
• Rita's Water Ice is the best thing ever on a nasty humid hot day.
• WATER is said ouwader
• A Broadway show at the Kimmel Center is every bit as good as a Broadway in NY
• Lancaster has some the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen
• All cities should be set up on a grid system with all streets running N,S, E, W. As this is not the case the team that put together the Garmin GPS is all going to Heaven.

Her Royal Highness

Kenna thought Lauren needed a crown. As Lauren is a needed child and demands a lot of attention we have nick named her "Her Royal Highness".