A very special Xmas party

Yesterday we were fortunate to go to the Women's & Children's Hospital Premature Bay Xmas Party...

Fortunate to catch up with the staff who helped make our journey through NICU a little less traumatic...

Fortunate to spend time with the friends we made whilst the boys were in hospital...

And fortunate to have the opportunity to celebrate Xmas with Mitch & Harry after such a difficult start to their lives...

BUT I suppose most of all I felt fortunate when I looked around at so many children and realised that Mitch & Harry could have had it so much worse. There were children with permanent feeding tubes, with oxygen, in wheelchairs, and with obvious lifelong problems.

And yet amongst all the families who had gathered to celebrate Xmas there was a feeling that somehow we had survived.

As I listened to the excited chatter of the children waiting for Father Xmas to arrive I realised how much this journey over the past three and a half years has changed me...

I celebrate the small things, rather than longing for the big things. Harry now dresses himself with just a little help. And Mitch loves to help around the house. These may seem small things to others, but to me they are a precious reminder of just how far both boys have come from the fragile beings desperately clinging to life in NICU.

I try not to sweat the small stuff (although sometimes I still do). So what if the boys have food on themselves, the table and the floor. They love to eat and for many parents of prem babies this is a dream come true. How fortunate are we that both boys eat without any pressure from us!

Most of all I treasure the special relationships in my life. There are so many people I would have never known if not for the boys' premature birth. Caring doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. And dear friends who came into my life just when I needed them. I nurture those relationships to the best of my ability and hope that those special people realise what a gift they have been in my life.

Life has a funny way of teaching us the lessons we need to know :-)

Sending lots of love to my family and friends,

Lisa