January thaw

This past week, we experienced the real weather phenomenon of the "January thaw." After weeks of piling snow, temperatures in the 20°s and chilly winds, we got relief from temperatures in the 50°s, a thawing of the snow, and even got rain and severe weather like tornado watches.

Winter is coming back though. It's back in the 30s and we're expecting rain to turn to snow, and then just snow.

I have no pictures because I've got nothing but dead leaves in the backyard and dormant trees.

Meanwhile, I am trying to write this blog post while Albert tries desperately to pull down the mouse and punch buttons on the keyboard until the screen goes blank. He's an ornery boy. As John says, he can unroll the toilet paper in the bathroom in 10 seconds. He gets into the cabinets and pulls things out, turns the knobs on the stereo and then watches to see if someone is going to scold him. Then he laughs if we do ...

Think of Stella on January 18th. She's getting her adenoids taken out. I took her back to the ENT (ear-nose-throat specialist) because she has suffered ear and sinus infections despite having tubes in her ears.

The ENT spent very little time with us, and in fact, talked more about her hair color than Stella's problems ... she's very chatty, more like a hairdresser than a medical specialist. She's the same ENT who put in Stella's tubes.

Before I knew it, the surgery was scheduled for January 18th. I have been debating canceling it, not sure whether I should put poor Stella through this. So I called Stella's regular pediatrician, Dr. Wiederhold, with whom we have a great relationship, and asked her what her opinion was. She said it was probably a good idea to remove her adenoids, given her problems with the ears and sinuses even with the tubes.

So we're going to do it. It's a short procedure, 10 minutes. But it's more anesthesia than she had for tubes. I hope she does okay and I hope it helps, poor thing. The whole thing will be done Friday morning at 9 a.m. in Kalamazoo. Send sweet Stella Bella positive thoughts and prayers ... you can also send candy necklaces and lollipops, too!