The time has come for tubes. After birthing four kids, I finally get one who doesn’t have working innards. Well, working innard ears, anyway.

I took Johnny over to the Ear-Nose-Throat guy today, since he’s been plagued with ear infections for the past several months. I decided it was time to get him tubes. The new doctor at our pediatric practice, who just ended her residency last Fall, didn’t really resist my request for a referral. Basically, I told her I was going to see an ENT, and she would write a nice referral to make things easier on me. And she did. When you have four kids, you tend to pull rank on doctors with less experience than the age of your oldest child. It’s how things work in the real world.

Anyway…

We showed up in the ENT’s office and he was wearing one of those shiny disks attached to a leather strap wrapped around his head. You know the ones – they’re quintessential old-timey doctor garb! I didn’t know what to do when I saw it. All I wanted to do was laugh, but the good doctor didn’t seem, well, jovial, so I kept my mouth shut. But, damn! It was funny.

He proceeded to check Johnny’s ears and throat (the good news – tonsils and adenoids are good and require no extraction). Then, we discussed John’s history, including the C. Diff. infection caused by the antibiotics. The verdict? Johnny needs tubes in his ears. The bonus? The doctor is going to perform a frenectomy while Johnny is under so that we can avoid any speech impediment problems later on. If you’ve ever read anything by David Sedaris, you know why we’d be concerned about speech problems…

Beyond that, thought, the doctor was concerned about Johnny’s hearing. He had a test called a tympanogram which measures the pressure in his inner ear. Johnny’s resulting graph was flat, indicating that his ear drum wasn’t vibrating at all, and that his hearing was impaired. This, added to the five ear infections over the past 3 months and the C. Diff. infection, makes Johnny a prime candidate for tubes. I am, to say the least, thrilled. As much as it will worry me to have him under anesthesia, I will be so happy to know that we’ve done something to alleviate the discomfort he feels when he’s got an ear infection!

So, we’ve scheduled the surgery for a few weeks from now, and I’ve begged our good friends from Scotland to watch Pat and Gracie while we take Johnny to the surgery. I am going to try to get Emma to her friend Carter’s house so that she can go to school with him that morning. So many kids, so few family members in this town!

In any case, I am so happy that Johnny will be feeling better soon. Maybe now I will get some sleep!

My friend James sent me an email the other day. It seems that he was concerned, because I hadn't updated the blog in a while. He was wondering if something had happened to cause me to stop blogging. Well, in reality, nothing happened; but, then again, everything happened.

It's called life. Life happened. And not only do I have my own for which I am responsible, but I am also responsible for the lives of 4 little children, a husband, a business, a sorority, and, partially, a non-profit. So, I let life get in the way of one of my greatest pleasures - writing. That's not good, really. So, I am making a mid-winter resolution to get this blog habit back.

Now, I guess I need to update everyone on what's going on here in Chaska. First, Emma turned 6 last month, which makes me a little sad and a lot proud. She's such a beautiful child, with a very, very, VERY old soul. She's loving Kindergarten, and thoroughly pissed off at me for not sending her back to Guardian Angels next year. As much as I might try to explain to her that you can't always get what you want, and that you have to make decisions that benefit the whole family, she doesn't get it. It makes me sad, because she loves it so much, but I know that she will love the public school just as much. She just generally likes learning, so she'll be fine.

Speaking of learning, Emma has taught herself to use TiVo. She now decides what she would like to watch and when. It's too cute, but I am concerned about the number of episodes of Hannah Montana we're seeing.

Patrick is still 4, and still a stinker. He started Karate, and is doing really well. He even broke a board with his foot a few weeks ago. Tom has the video on his cell phone, but we need to figure out how to get it into QuickTime so that we can post it. He's also doing well in pre-school, but his teacher told me that she's started to notice his sense of humor. Uh-oh. I am going to be the mom called into the principal's office because my son mooned the cheerleaders. I can see it now - I just hope it's not hairy, for his sake...

Gracie is tough. Three years old, and tough as nails. She could be the grandchild on American Choppers. She would put Pauly in his place. Kick some butt, she would. She's really funny, and she loves her baby brother. She loves to hug his neck until he cries. She loves to lay down on top of him until he cries. She loves to steal his toys until he cries. Are you seeing the pattern?

And then there's Johnny. Sweet, happy, fat Johnny. He's 8 and a half months old now, and for the past several weeks we've been battling a nasty infection called C. Diff. C. Diff. is a "super infection" of the digestive tract that is caused by long-term antibiotic use. Basically, the antibiotics Johnny had been on for his multiple ear infections, coupled with the high dose Amoxicillan I took to fight my first ever sinus infection, ate up all the good bacteria in his tummy, and the bad bacteria took over. Diarrhea all over the place! Woo-hoo! He was put on Flagyl, which worked, but once he was off it, the diarrhea started again. It has been a tough couple of weeks, but I expect that one of these days we'll get him fixed up just fine and dandy.

Tom is Tom. Making interesting observations about life that only I find funny. But that's why we get along so well. He and I both found the placement of Aqua Teen Hunger Force ads in Boston to be hilarious, for example. We also find puns in everyday life that other people would never see. We're strange that way.

My business is going very well. I've taught 17 classes so far, and am working to book up my calendar for the next month or so. I really enjoy teaching, and I am hoping to expand my birthday party business, which provides me with a guaranteed fee. The sales classes are fine, but I can make nothing or I can make $150. It just depends on the class.

That's about it. I hope this entry finds people happy and healthy. Here is a picture of the family from Christmas. Aren't we cute?