The Spohrs, Part III

Follow the links for Part I and Part II.

Last week we finally got the NICU parent kits put together and ready to roll. The delivery date was Wednesday. (Hey Melissa, as fate would have it, I got your package on THURSDAY. Of course, that just means that I'll have to do this again :)) I really enjoyed putting all these kits together, the shopping, the organizing, and the delivering, oh, the delivering. It just felt so good to know that someone would benefit from these bad boys. I guess the local NICU has a lot of babies in there right now (18, including 5 sets of twins), so I think the bags were appreciated. On to the photos:

Here they are, all lined up in a row. We did 5 bags, and I brought that stack of magazines in as well. They were from my neighbor. What a good idea, sending your parenting magazines along to new parents. I think I'm going to save mine for that purpose from now on.

Aren't the bags themselves cute? My friend Holly made them. You have no idea how glad I was when she volunteered to help, because she is one cute, crafty woman. The purple button is for Maddie (whose favorite color = purple). And now for some more details on the contents:

Included in this kit:

• kleenex
• water bottle
• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• lotion
• hand sanitizer
• wet wipes
• gum
• hair clip
• journal
• pen
• crossword puzzle book
• parenting magazine
• disposable camera (so people can take pictures when you aren't there)
  
• chapstick
• granola bars
• trail mix
• chocolate
• pink grapefruit tic tacs (don't those sound awesome?)
• a light, zip-up jacket that could be used for kangaroo care.
  

Cute jacket, no?
I especially liked the hood. Gives it that extra class.


Aside: A) My pants are looking baggy. Apparently I need to go shopping. I hate shopping. Help. B) Julia couldn't stand it when I was taking these pictures. Here are these highly intriguing bags that have been sitting on the couch for a few days, just out of reach, and I'm opening them, and pulling all the contents out, and she STILL can't touch ANYTHING. Tears ensued.

I also made some oatmeal raisin cookies for the kits (that didn't look like cookies so much as large, extra-flat blobs. Apparently I need to work on my cookie making skills. By making lots of cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. OK, Clark?), and some treats for the nurses, in the form of mini-cherry cheesecakes. I only thought to take a picture when I was in the parking lot for the hospital, so here they are, covered in plastic wrap:
Here we are, all loaded up and ready to go:

This is my friend Holly, and her 2 boys, Jack and Noah.

Ah, it was such a great experience, and like I said, I can't wait to do it again. My heart aches for all NICU parents , and lately it's especially been aching for the Spohrs. So it was nice to do something, instead of having only great intentions. How about this, I didn't realize until about a week ago that my parents were NICU parents for a while, too. I mentioned this project to my mom, and she said that it was such a good idea, and that when you are in the NICU, you are just grateful to know that someone is thinking about you, that you are loved.

If any of you want to help with the next batch, just let me know!