Hopefully you read that title and heard the thunder crashing and a dramatic “bum bum bum” like I hear in my head when I think of it. :)

So Riley is going to be ten in about six weeks. I’m trying not to dwell on that because it literally doesn’t seem possible. Like many kids, Riley started planning her “next birthday” as soon as the last one was over. At some point in time, she decided that for her tenth birthday, she wanted to something for the NICU. Then in October (after going to DC for the March of Dimes), she decided she wanted to do a “baby shower” for the NICU and have everyone bring something to the party that could then be donated.

Fast forward past phone calls with contacts and we finally settled on what she wants to do. She wants to have a big party (probably at church) where we can make gift bags for NICU families to get when they “graduate”. This will help us bypass some hospital regulations and also have it be an “ongoing” project. Gift bags will contain a blanket, a toy and a card from Riley. I’m also contemplating dropping in an encouraging note of my own along with some literature to help with the transition from hospital to home. We think the blanket project is perfect because her Granny Great made hundreds of isolette blankets in the years after Riley’s birth. So it seems perfect that Riley would pick up that project and run with it. She already has raised $80 to help buy supplies. We’re looking at buying fleece to make “tie blankets”.

So anyway, we spent an hour or so this evening checking prices and trying to figure out what we could get. For $10, we could make a pretty good gift bag. Fingers crossed that come March 2, we’ll have everything a little more organized.

Today’s picture is from our shopping trip.

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