Memory Boxes for our Twins

I've written before about how I was expecting twins, how one was stillborn, and how our other little one was in the NICU. He came home about 2 months ago, and we ended up collecting a lot of stuff from his stay in the NICU. Stuff they were just going to get rid of. If a binkie fell on the floor, they would throw them away. So they gave us about 5 binkies as keepsakes. When we brought him home, they gave us the blood pressure cuff they had been using for him and an extra set of leads from his monitors. Things like that. Once they started sending things home with us, I decided I would save things to put in a memory box.

 

That little teddy bear between them is the one the hospital gave us in the memory box for Jack. He also appeared in quite a few of Emmett's newborn pictures.

I also decided that I would make one for Jack too. His isn't filled with his first outfit or medical supplies, but it includes things like the pamphlet from his funeral services, his hand and foot molds, and pictures from the nurse and photographer. Not quite as happy, but it was quite healing to work on it. There were only 6 of us (not including the doctor and nurses) that held him, and it was nice to have a collection of tangible things from his life.

 

 I found these boxes at Michaels for buy one get one free and grabbed some pearlized pins to hold everything together inside the box.

 

I played with the layout quite a bit, trying to get everything to look right. I didn't want it to just look like things were thrown together, but rather I wanted there to be something cohesive about it. I love that I was able to fit in the hand and foot molds. Until I put them in here, they were stored away in a box, and I felt so sad every time I thought of them. Having them out to see makes me much happier.






I absolutely love them. I especially love the 2 photos of Emmett. One is from after he was first born, weighing around 2lbs 11oz. The second is a couple of days before he came home when he was about 5.5lbs. It's such a sweet reminder of our little miracle.

These will be displayed in my little guy's nursery, which I'm slowly finishing. I've got a few pieces of décor finished that I'll be showing off soon!