Fun Cleaning!

It seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? How can "fun" and "cleaning" go in the same statement, and end with an exclamation point? Well, the cleaning I did last night turned out to be FUN! I started by going through all the toys in our house that seem to be multiplying daily. I threw away several and gathered more for a consignment sale.

I then decided to tackle the changing table. It was packed with baby blankets, bibs, diapers, and supplies. I came across all of these medical supplies (in clockwise order) - a hospital mask, a pulse oximeter, an ng-tube, a nasal cannula, a g-tube extension set, a tool to adjust the oxygen tank, and a sign the hospital gave us to remind people to wash their hands before touching the babies. I held each of these items in my hands for a while thinking back at how far they have. As I held the pulse ox, I thought, "I hated this thing; it never stayed on right and then the alarm would go beeping scaring us nearly to death in the middle of the night." Holding the ng tube I remembered how it took two of us to shove that thing down their noses with them screaming and squirming and looking at us with pitiful "Help Me" eyes and hoping we, somehow, after all that, managed to get it into their stomach and not back up through their mouth or worse, in their lungs! Thank God we are done with that! Looking at the g-tube set reminds me how thankful I am that Cade is now eating!

I was more than thrilled about throwing these things out with a thankful heart that we have passed all that. I threw it in the trash bag and took it to the garage. Later, I dug it back out - not because I wanted to keep it, but I thought the babies might like to see it when they are older. When I explain to them all they went through, they might be curious about what these things looked like. So, I guess it will be put in the box in the attic with all their tiny preemie clothes and other NICU memorabilia.

Here's the best part. Our basket of supplies now looks like anyone else's ordinary baby stuff with lotions and diaper creams. Isn't that beautiful?