Matt did such a great job with our kids while I was gone all day Saturday!  Zach has had a fever since Friday morning and he was still feeling crappy, so Matt spent his whole day with Zach and Rissa.  Playing with them, spending time with them, just being in the room with them so that he was available if needed.  Given that Mommy wasn’t home and he had a sick little boy to care for as well as a healthy little girl, it must have been a very long and intense day!  But his undivided attention and care was so good for them, so he did it!  Matt is an amazing and loving dad and our kids benefit from that every single day.

I left really early on Saturday morning to drive to Aurora.  Ryan went in for surgery at 8:30am and I arrived a little before 9am, so I didn’t get to see him until he was in recovery.  Mari and Dominic were in the recovery room waiting and we planned for a 2 hour surgery.  The opthamologist came in to speak with us after the surgery and Ryan did really well!  Everything went according to plan and it didn’t take the full 2 hours because there weren’t any complications.  Mari was amazing.  She is a rock but not a stony rock… she is strong without becoming vacant, absent, or disconnected.  I have to say, we Poulos girls (Mom, me, Mari, Rissa in the future) are strong!  We are real and we might struggle, but we are strong.  We’re strong enough to cry in front of you without being embarrassed about it!

Ryan stayed in the hospital that morning so they could monitor his recovery and then they sent him home wearing a jaunty pirate eyepatch and demanded that he lie on his back for 24 hours.  No moving around, no head turning… just stare at the ceiling and let gravity add its force to the retina reattachment in his eye.  It was awful for him, but he handled it really well.  And Mari did too… they display a quiet peace that speaks volumes to those who are louder and more frantic.  It was really good to just be with them and with Ryan’s parents and to hang out and be a family.  I enjoyed my time with them very much!  Especially snuggling Dominic to sleep for his nap… I don’t have tiny babies anymore, so that was a special treat for Auntie Jaime!

Matt called me on my way home because Zach and Rissa had been asking for “Mama” throughout the day.  He told them I was helping Auntie Mari and Uncle Ryan and Baby Dominic and would be home for bedtime.    He said they methodically walked over to the gate in the playroom, staring toward the front door so they wouldn’t miss it whenever I arrived.  The little sweethearts!  We call Matt at work whenever they miss him and start talking about “Dada” so it was really cool for me to be on the receiving end of an “I miss you” phone call from my children.  It was beautiful to hear their voices on speakerphone.  They babbled on and pushed the buttons like they always do and I was able to pick out 3 words in our conversation:  mama, ball, and bubble.  I was so flattered…. balls and bubbles are their favorite things EVER and to be listed with those two glorious items is an incredible honor from 18 month olds!  I’m a favorite too!  Whee!

I drove home in time to rush through the front door, whip off my shoes and my jacket, and race upstairs to kiss my beautiful children right before they went to bed.  Poor Zach was still feverish but I got some special snuggles from both of them anyway.  We had arranged for Nina to babysit on Saturday night so that we could go watch movies with one of Matt’s friends.  She still came and was a big help to Matt and the twoddlers!  She handled dinner with the kids (she now has an intimate understanding of just how frenzied the Feeding Frenzy can be!) and was so helpful!  Once I arrived and we got the babies into bed, she scooted us out the door and we were able to still go to the second half of the movie night and just have fun time together.  Meanwhile, something magical happened in our kitchen.  When we arrived back home, all our dirty dishes were clean and our microwave was clean and had a poem in it and we just aren’t sure what happened!  Nina won’t give any details, so we can only assume that somehow, my self-cleaning dishes fairy tale came true and our microwave writes poetry.  I have another theory, but I’ll leave it to your speculation to protect someone kind who might like to remain anonymous.

Ryan’s followup appointment went well this morning.  The 24 hours of ceiling-staring had the desired effect and the jaunty eye patch has been removed.  He has a long recovery ahead…  they expect him to be unable to return to work for an entire month!  That’s really hard because he is a music teacher and had multiple concerts and events planned for his elementary students before spring break.  This was not the month he would have chosen to miss!  We are continuing to pray for him… eyes recover very slowly and gradually and there is no way to know how well it is going until 6 months from now.  That’s a long time!  The surgery should keep the retina from detaching any further and causing further blindness, but we are hoping that it will also correct the damage that has already occurred and that his sight will be fully restored!