UPDATES 5-20-2008

Thank you for visiting our site and welcome to our weekly update on Lauren.

I think that Lauren was so happy not to have any doctor's appointments this past week. She was very upset at one of my doctor's appointments though until she realized that I was the one the doctor was interested in seeing. Then, she visibly relaxed. She is still moving around a lot and enjoys trying to climb on top of all of us when we are sitting or laying down on the floor. She pushes off of us to stand and really likes when we hold her hands to help her keep standing. When she topples over, she just laughs. Although, it still makes all of us a little nervous.

Lauren still loves Barney! "Barney" is definitely one of the clear words that she says. She points to the television and says it repeatedly. She has taken to the baby swing at the park this past week and luckily, we have one on our swing set. She is still a little too thin to keep a solid position in it, but it is huge progress for her that she will even tolerate this for a few minutes. In the past, she started having a fit even as I was trying to put her in the swing. I think that the fact that Lauren is so much more tolerant of movement is a huge gain for all of us. Now, we can take her out more often without her stressing so much. It helps Katelyn as well. We were able to stay at a birthday party that Katelyn was invited to for the whole time. In the past, we might not be able to be there for long because Lauren would have a tough time with an unfamiliar and / or loud environment.

Lauren doesn't have any doctor's appointments this week. We are busy with therapies every day though. She will have more spinal MRIs at the beginning of June to see if she will need additional surgeries this summer or if the shunt is doing enough on its own. She also has a hearing test and 2 more steroid injections around her g tube to look forward to in the near future.

Thank you for taking the time to read about Lauren's latest adventures and we do hope that everyone enjoys Memorial Day week