Our visit to the NICU

A few weeks ago, on one of my sister's 5:00 am trips to Wal-Mart, she bought a bunch of preemie clothes that were on clearance. Obviously Ava doesn't need those anymore, but Erin remembered how hard it was for me to find preemie clothes and even to find the time to go shopping while Ava was in the NICU and she didn't want other parents to have the same problem. So, she bought 17 onesies and 2 pairs of pants for us to donate to the NICU!

We braved the cold, rainy weather and finally brought them the clothes. I didn't think that any of the nurses or doctors would remember us, but they did. One of the nurses even said to a doctor who was trying to remember our story, 'Ava was the one in the back room that took forever to start eating.' (It's true...we decided it's because she just wanted milk right from mommy, not from a bottle.) It was so great to see Ava's other 'mommies' that took such amazing care of her. One of the doctors took Ava from me and then said to a nurse, 'you have to hold her, she just feels so good.'

Ava, who had just woken up from a nap and was still in a daze, just stared at everyone. She was such a good little girl, getting passed around to be held by everyone. They were just in love with Ava and they loved her little outfit, of course. We actually kept getting stopped throughout the whole hospital with people commenting on her little boots and sweater. The staff were all very appreciative of the clothes and they loved seeing Ava. It was a fantastic visit and I'm glad that we finally did it.

Here is the always fashionable Ava in her cute outfit.

And here she is before we left, relaxing in her glider with her bunny slippers on.