Cook Children's has a Build-A-Bear Workshop inside their hospital. Build-A-Bear is literally one of Halley's favorite places.. she has about 15 bears she made from there! Halley really wanted to make one for Lauren to have, so we let her on this date last year. We put a heart from each of us inside her bear, we picked out her dress, her bear says "I Love You" whenever you touch her hand, and we chose the name Hope. This was Lauren's Hope Bear. We planned on leaving it by her bedside so she would always have us near, and it stayed her entire hospital stay. Cooks also has a child life department, and one of Lauren's nurses called one for us to meet with, when she saw Halley was visiting. This was actually the 1st day Halley got to meet Lauren, so this was an extra special day. It turned out that the lady we met with was named Vicky, which was also my mother's name (spelt differently). I knew that was a sign that my mother was at the hosiptal with me that day; It actually brightened my day a little. (If you look closely you can see that I was crying that day, because the doctor had not said very good things that morning.) Also that morning, Lauren had a lot of visitors. Brandon's parents and my sisters got to visit Lauren. (Not for the 1st time, but the 1st time at Cooks). Brandon's parents left before we met with Vicky, but my sisters were still around, so Vicky went back down stairs, got her camera, and took a ton of photos for us. At the time I did not know how precious they would be to me. I love that she captured Halley's huge smile while being with her sister, and also took photos of Lauren's Hope Bear, and all of them together. I love that she was there for us that day, so we would have photos to remember that bond that Halley and Lauren had. I love both my girls and wish I had them both at home with me.
