Merry Christmas from the NICU

The NICU staff are truly amazing people. I've never seen a group of people more dedicated to their jobs, who sincerely LOVE all the babies they take care of, and their mommy's and daddy's too! On a daily basis, we marvel at what great care our boys are getting and of how much love they receive from the staff. All the little "extra" things they do to make the babies more comfortable, or to make the parents feel more at home, are so appreciated.

Christmas Eve was a particularly special day. All the babies got these amazing gift bags filled with all kinds of great stuff. These bags were HUGE and I was blown away by the amount of effort it must have taken for the staff to organize it all. In our bags, were stuffed toys, handmade quilts and blankets (each baby got three), and best of all: pictures!!!!! The staff did a Christmas photo shoot with each baby to give to the parents. We got a framed photo of each baby, and then a cd with the all the photos on it.

Oh my goodness. When we got home and looked at the cd, I couldn't believe it. You won't either. It seems impossible that any baby could be as cute as ours are.

Just a warning: what follows is so ridiculously adorable that it may drive you to do something silly, like for example: get pregnant (in an attempt to create a child as cute as mine are). Or, if not, you may just call me up and ask if you can come cuddle mine for awhile. Anyways, the point is, I have never seen anything quite so heart melting in my life as these pictures. I'm sure you will agree:

Garrett

Rhys

My favourite. The definition of "precious". Rhys on the left, Garrett on the right. I love how they are holding hands and looking at each other. I wish I could have been there to see this. I have been eagerly awaiting when the brothers can be together again :-) 

 
These pictures were so welcome on a day that was actually pretty crappy for us. Rhys was extremely sick in the days leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve he was at his worst and it was very stressful and upsetting for Mark and I. He was very close to being intubated and on a ventilator and they weren't exactly sure what was wrong with him (and therefore unsure of how to treat him). These pictures totally lifted our spirits. We had a good laugh at some of them. The nurse that took the pictures warned us "Garrett didn't like the camera". She was right! Most of Garrett's pictures seem to look as if he has just been awoken the morning after a really awesome Christmas party where too many cocktails were consumed. Like this one for example:

Rhys on the other hand, seemed to be out to prove he was indeed a baby model. Every picture of him was downright perfect. Like this one:

Don't we make the cutest children ever???? :-)

Sorry for all the bragging, but these pictures really made my day. It was such a great idea for the staff to do this for all the parents and really proves how dedicated they are to making life a bit more bearable for the NICU families, especially during the holidays.

I will post more about Christmas later on. But just wanted to get these pictures up so everyone can enjoy the adorable-ness!!!!