"I guess his ear does hurt!"

You may be wondering what kind of stressings and blessings you will read about here. Instead of trying to explain my life, I decided it would be best to start with an example of how crazy things get for me....

Back in June, my eldest son Keaton (three-years-old at the time) started complaining of an earache. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I called the ENT and scheduled an appointment thinking this may have had something to do with his tubes closing. He sat up in the exam chair like such a little man. I was so proud!! The doctor looked in one ear and announced (as suspected) that the tube was closing and would be coming out soon. He checked the other ear which was the source of Keaton's complaints and declared, "Well, there's a rock in this ear." I immediately asked the doctor to repeat himself certain that I had misunderstood what he said. He assured me that it was a fairly large rock and said he would have to STRAP Keaton down to dry to get it out. (Did I mention that my husband was not with me? No, just Keaton, Titus (who had just made one year), and me!) After 10 minutes of Keaton's screaming and my sobbing, the doctor decided it would be best to schedule a minor surgery so that Keaton would be under anesthesia for the rock removal. The doctor assured me that this would be less traumatizing.

On the way home from the doctor, of course I grilled my son about how the rock happened to be in his ear. He told me that he and Philip*, one of his little friends at daycare, were pretending to listen to music on the playground. He said that Philip's rock came out, but Keaton's wouldn't. Philip even tried to help get it out. Keaton said he was sure it was alright to put a rock in his ear because Philip did it all the time. The next day, I went by the daycare and made sure to let them know to watch Philip, because he had been putting rocks in his ear. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I wanted to be sure that no other child or mother had to deal with what I was going through. When I talked to the assistant director of the daycare, she assured me that Philip hadn't been there since the end of May; he would not be there for the summer. My heart sank!! That rock had been in my child's ear for a MONTH!! How could this be?? How couldn't I know?? I'm his mother! I'm a good mom! RIGHT??!!

After the initial shock of the rock in the ear -- for a month-- I learned that I'm not the only person this has happened to. I read stories of people who had things in their noses and ears for YEARS and never knew. Keaton is perfectly healthy, and his ears remain rock-free. I am still a good mom, but even good moms can't protect their kids from everything! Some lessons, just have to be learned the hard way.

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of others.