Father's Day

I love my dad. He's been an incredible source of strength throughout my whole life and especially in the last year. Since last August, he's listened, asked questions, supported us when we've needed support, and loved us when we've needed love. It's hard for me to imagine someone being as good a dad as my dad, but I think Greg is ranking pretty high on the Dad List. This guy has been amazing. Imagine the stress he's been under this year...now imagine it while being married to me. Doesn't sound so easy, eh? I have to say that he's managed it incredibly and he's been such a good husband and such a great dad to Alex, Evelyn, and Clara (and Ripley - more on that later). He single parented while I was in the hospital. He's done way more than his share of taking care of the babies since their return. And he's done everything with an ease that shocks me. So to my dad, to Greg, and to all other dads - Happy Father's Day!

In other news - Ripley's little eye got really bad last night and started to bleed. I took her to the ER where the vet had, "never seen anything like it." She was concerned about the eyeball getting pushed too much and is worried about long term damage (i.e. blindness) because of the pressure and the dryness from not being able to close her eyelids. Greg took her to a veterinary ophthalmologist this morning who suggested continuing the massive amounts of antibiotics and waiting on the MRI to try to save some cost. He doesn't think it's cancer - the onset is a little too sudden. The question remains as to whether or not there is debris stuck in there somewhere. If there is, the antibiotics won't do much and we'll have to prepare (in the vet's words "emotionally" and "financially") for risky, specialized surgery to remove debris. Fun for us. We also found out that Ripley has minor cataracts in both eyes and a detached retina in her left eye causing a blind spot. He doesn't think any of this is related to the recent eyeball gooiness. I changed my mind about posting photos of the nastiness....they're all the way at the bottom, so don't scroll all the way down if you don't want to see it :)

Okay, a few more photos of the past week. Enjoy! Well, you probably won't enjoy the photos of Ripley. Sorry.

Father's Day trip to the zoo

Alex is now into flossing his teeth.

The girls going on a walk with me (Evelyn left, Clara right)

Alex, babies, and I had a picnic lunch. He looks like he's on vacation in the Bahamas.

***************Ripley photos*****************