Lil' grads and their Moms and Dads

On Saturday we attended our second Lil' Grad Picnic, sponsored by the NICU where the boys spent the first 5 months of their lives. This is really a wonderful event where the families of some of the sickest NICU babies come together to celebrate just how far we have come.

This year we were much more, um, interactive. Last year we were walking around, but very easily containable. This year, we were on the move. Ryan enjoyed the huge bouncy slide, Evan, preferred the hula hoops. Both boys loved the Am-ban, and the wooo-oooo-oooo. (Ambulance and Police Car)



Neither boy stood still for long, as we were leaving one of the nurses mentioned that she hadn't seen the boys in the same place all day, she wasn't kidding.

I think the only time we were together for more than, 30 seconds was when we settled down for lunch with our friends, (Lindsay, Jamie, Dylan and Tyler, Jen, Brian, Linus and Sadie) Yeah, look closely. That's three sets of ex-preemie twins and their parents, having a leisurely a peaceful lunch. Actually, it was really nice. The six kids allowed the six parents to have a conversation that lasted more than one minute at a time. (See how far we have come?) At this table alone we represent preemies born at 26, 27 and 29 weeks. Kids that have survived NEC, collapsed lungs, IVH's, infections, blood transfusions, eye surgeries and a list of many other things. Kids that were given slim chances of survival, and if they survived, well, there might be "other problems". If you met these kids on the street, you wouldn't know how sick they once were...how far we have come.