On Sunday, Robyn and the kids and I went to the annual Morristown Hospital NICU “reunion”. Chloe and Gabriel were not yet born when last year’s event was held…they were a week too late. We’re glad that they had to miss that event – if they had been born any earlier it would have been even scarier for us. It’s so hard to believe that the Houlenbabies will be one year old tomorrow.

Anyway, the reunion is to bring together all the “graduates” of the NICU with the doctors and nurses who cared for them while they were in the hospital. Unfortunately, this year we were told that things were extremely busy in the NICU and only a few doctors and nurses were able to attend the picnic. If I remember correctly, we were told the same thing while our kids were in the hospital last year as well. What is it about September that makes it so busy? Maybe it’s the cold NJ winters….

The weather was hot and sunny, but there was a great turnout at the event. We saw a few people who we knew from our time at the hospital and chatted with some others who we hadn’t met before. As parents of NICU babies, we had a lot in common and it was interesting to hear others’ stories and share our own as well as to see everyone’s children. I’ve never seen so many multiples – twins, triplets and even a few sets of quadruplets – in one place. The one nurse who particularly stands out in our minds and who was our favorite during the time the kids were in the NICU did show up and we were happy to “show off” the results of her hard work. She sat with us and talked for a while. It was nice to see her under less trying circumstances.

The food was great, too!

[b]Chloe looking cute:[/b]

[img]http://www.oninohana.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2744&g2_serialNumber=2[/img]

[b]Gabriel taking in the sights[/b]

[img]http://www.oninohana.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2728&g2_serialNumber=2[/img]

After a few hours, the kids were done – hot, tired and cranky. They fell asleep in the car and for the first time, we drove around aimlessly to let them sleep.