natalie Daily's Profile

I don't know if she did this, but you could easily add a shelf or two behind the curtain to add storage.

I had preemie twins as well. What they need most are things to make their lives easier. If they live far from the hospital, gas can add up, so gas cards are nice (as long as you google to find out which ones are close to her home/the hospital). Gift cards to restaurants and take out near the hospital are helpful as she might tire of hospital food. If she has other children, special toys to keep them occupied in the waiting room are nice. You could also set up an account for them on takethemameal.com, get email addresses of local friends/family that might be able to contribute to it and set up help and meals for her locally. Preemie clothes were nice to get (once they were big enough to wear them). Sometimes it is nice to have a voice recorder so that parents can record them singing songs, books, etc. for the babies to hear when they can't be there. We needed a digital camera to be left bedside so that nurses could take pictures of cute cuddling when we were gone (we have an older daughter, so we needed to keep ours with us to document her as well). I would definitely consider going to visit her (TO HELP WITH THE HOUSE!) if you can manage it, too, she has no idea how hard it's going to be to manage the house when they come (you should definitely make sure you get a flu shot, though). Also, she's going to have it pretty tough for the next year or so. Don't forget about her.

Toothpaste! Not the gel kind or anything fancy...just the most basic paste. I leave it on for a little while, and it always gives me relief.

I've been making homemade "Larabars," which are just sticky dried fruit and nuts ground in a food processor, for my kids. I coat the pan with cooking spray, cut them, and wrap them in parchment sealed with a fun sticker. Parchment is amazing!

I just bought a cherry pitter that does six cherries at once. It was the best $12 I've spent in a long time.

paint the border. get some paint for ceramics at an art store and paint a design on the tiles. you could even just do dot painting if you're not comfortable with line painting. you can use transfer paper (from a fabric store notions section) to sketch out a design to follow that you can wipe away after the paint dries.

Stand butter on its END in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, depending on the microwave. It will soften but not melt!

My twins were born at 33 weeks and spent about a month in the NICU, so your friends triplets are really there for a long while. The hardest thing about having babies in the NICU is being able to BE THERE as much as possible. NICUs often don't have facilities for parents to room-in, so anything that you can do to make it easier for your friend to be with her babies would be appreciated. Find out what restaurants are nearby and get her gift cards to them for when she is sick of hospital food. Gas cards for all that commuting are great if she's not super close to the hospital. When it gets closer to their release date, she may want to be there even more often to nurse more often (perhaps) or just strengthen the bonding before bringing them home, so giving them money for a nearby hotel would be very nice. Sending a care package with snacks, kleenex, pens, notepads, toys if they have older children, things to personalize their NICU cribs, a digital camera that they can leave for the nurses to take pictures when they aren't there, a journal or baby keepsake book, a book about preemies, a tape recorder so that they can record their voices and leave it with their babies when they can't be there, a Boppy pillow to make it easier to hold all three of them when they are ready to be held, etc. would be very thoughtful.

Is it possible that THIS is the amazing mystery fried dough stuffed with cheese, anchovy, and a hint of lemon that I had in Venice 5 years ago and still dream about?

Or, buy the Calphalon one that is cheaper than Le Creuset, works beautifully, and has a built in cast iron handle...no temp worries there! http://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Enamel-Quart-Dutch-Cabernet/dp/B000QFNY16