Creative Writing

I asked Britney to write a short story about what would happen if she found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. She went off to her room and a moment later, came back to ask, Does it have to be a 'pot' of gold? I told her no, and she went off to write the story. I can't help but to share it with everyone.

Potty O' Gold
By Britney Lackey

Once upon a time, there lived an old woman with a bladder issue. She was also very poor. One day, she was walking in the forest beside her house and was watching the pixies dance around the flowers. She looked up at the treetops, and saw a rainbow. She was so startled that she almost stepped on a pixie. She looked down and saw the pixie waving it's fist in the air and muttering crossly to herself. She said her apologies and looked up at the rainbow again. It wasn't that seeing a rainbow was unheard of there, but it had not rained in two weeks. Also it seemed the end of it touched the ground not far from where she was. She called her pet Griffin and they rose steadily from the ground. They followed the rainbow to where it ended, and saw the leprechaun not far from it. They touched down and the old woman got off. She gave the Griffin some bird seed and walked over to the leprechaun. On closer view, she say it was a girl with silver specks on her rosy cheeks. Also, it was facing away from her. She walked up to her, and nearly scared her out of her skin. The old woman apologized and asked if there was anything she needed. The leprechaun peered over at the woman and said in a high pitched voice, "You are the first human I've met that hasn't grabbed me and asked where my gold is. I grant you one wish and I'll give you my gold." The old woman stuttered her thanks and wished what any old woman with a bladder issue would wish. Then the leprechaun took the old lady where it's gold was. Right where the rainbow ended was a golden toilet with gold spouting out of the toilet bowl.

Um, that's interesting

Cody picked up a bug last week and it has progressed from a little cough to a sinus infection. We've tried to let it run it's course, but he just isn't any better. He's had a cough, fever, runny and stuffy nose, vomited once (from the sinus drainage and cough)...he has felt awful. I would usually call Dr. Davila's office and ask them to call in a prescription for an antibiotic. Davila knows we know what the heck we're talking about and he knows Cody's been sick enough for us to know how to handle it. Well, as many of you know, Davila's license has been suspended.

* I would like to publicly say that I support him and stand by him. He has always done right by Cody and Britney. *

Anyway, I was planning to find a new doctor tomorrow and take him, but decided I shouldn't wait. I took him to MedSurg today. The doctor, we shall call her Dr. Crazy, came in and started asking questions. (That in itself was interesting because I think she was trying to diagnose him...not sinus infection diagnose. She wanted to know if he gets sick a lot and she bets he gets a lot of ear infections. Has he had any surgeries?...) I told her he's been sick for a week, he has a sinus infection, and that the only medications I've given him was OTC cough medicine and Motrin when his fever was 101*. She listened to Cody's chest, checked his throat and ear. So what does Dr. Crazy ask me?

Dr. Carzy: "Have you given him anything for the cough?"

Me: "Um, yes. I just told you that. I gave him an OTC cough medicine, Triaminic"

Dr. Crazy: "Did you give him any nasal medications, like Flonase?"

Me: "No."

Dr. Crazy: "Well, I see here he takes Genotropin. I'm worried about drug interaction. Did you give him any Claritin or Flonase? What kind of medicine did you give him for his runny nose?"

Me losing my patience: "I've given him Triaminic and Motrin once."

Dr. Crazy: "I want you to continue using the OTC cough medication and I'll prescribe a nasal spray for him to use. I'll prescribe an antibiotic, but I don't want you to use it right away. Use the nasal spray and Triaminic for a couple days to see if that will stop his runny nose. If we can stop the runny nose, the infection will go away."

WTF?!
Me losing my temper: "What? He has a sinus infection. He's coughing up green and yellow crap. He has an infection. He needs an antibiotic."

Dr. Crazy: "Well, the green mucus doesn't mean he has an infection. It could be his body's natural defenses fighting."

WHAT?!
Me shaking: "Look. Davila is his doctor and if I could take him there, I wouldn't be here. When
Cody gets a sinus infection, all I do is call the office and they call in a prescription for Amoxicillin. That always kicks it out in a couple days. Why would I continue giving him OTC meds? He's been sick for a week! He needs antibiotic!"

Dr. Crazy: "So he gets Amoxicillin? That works for him and doesn't interact with his other medications?

Me: "Yes, it works"

Dr. Crazy: "What other kind of antibiotics can he take?"

Me thinking...Why the hell do you need to know that?! Amoxicillin works! But I actually said, "He's taken others, but Amoxicillin works best. I don't want to use Omniceff."

Dr. Strange: "Why not"

Me: "It makes him have diarrhea."

Dr. Freak: "I'll write that down that he's allergic to it"

Me: "He's not allergic to it. That antibiotic is too strong and he gets diarrhea, but he's not allergic to it"

Dr. Nutso: "Well, I'm going to write it down under allergies anyway."

I think I growled at her at this point. She must have heard it because the room got quiet after that, except for Cody telling her we got a corn snake. (That boy LOVES Tango:) She soon left the room. A couple minutes later, she poked her head back in to ask how much Cody's weighs. A little later, she came in the room and handed me a prescription for Amoxicillin. She reminded me not to give it to him right away. Give the OTC meds a couple days to work. I took the Rx from her hand, drove to CVS and dropped it off, ran other errands, picked up the antibiotic, went home and immediately gave Cody his first dose.

Our week

This is what we've seen a lot of the last couple days. Cody has been one sick dude. He's had a fever, cough, sore throat, runny/stuffy nose...poor kid. Brit had a little bit of a runny nose and sore throat, too. I am VERY happy to say that they are both feeling better today.

Cody playing with Sand Art

and 'eating' a Twix.

'Comedy and Tragedy'

Britney's really a ninja. Shhh...don't tell.

Like father, like son.

Tango

We've decided to name our snake Tango, with a possibility of adding a Cash to our family sometime in the future. I have to see if that's on Netflix. I haven't seen that movie in a long time:)

Tango hangin' out on Bobby's shoulder.

Britney holding Tango

We're extremely happy with Tango. I was joking with Bobby about how attached I've gotten to him. He enjoys being handled and is becoming more and more relaxed about Cody's quick hand movements. That kid just gets so excited, but he's getting better:)

After we got our snake, we stopped at Petco to buy the remaining things we needed; heating pad, smaller water dish because the one I bought was too big, temperature and humidity gauges, and something for the little guy to eat. We asked the girl working if they carried frozen pinky mice. She took us to the freezer in the back, handed us a package, we checked out and headed home where I immediately stuck it in the freezer. I never even looked at it until yesterday when we fed our snake for the first time. I took the package out of the freezer and nearly fell in the floor laughing. The brand name is "Gourmet Rodent" HAHAHAHA!!!!!


Cody cut out the Geico advertisement from the Netflix envelope. I found this in the kitchen last night.
"I always feel like someone's watching me..." Advertisment works ladies and gentlemen!



Here's a picture of Bobby holding our snake this morning. He's longer than I thought so all those "He's about this big" hand measurements I've been giving people are wrong. He's about 14" or so and really beautiful. I love his color and we're really happy with his temperament so far. We just need to name him!!!

"The Adorable Blog Award"

Our wonderful friend, Gretta gave us "The Adorable Blog Award" Thank you so much for thinking of us!!

Swimming @ Cathy's

Thank you for a wonderful day, Cathy!

Rub a dub dub. Nine kids in a hot tub!

New Family Member

We now have a beautiful baby Corn Snake! There are a few things I never really expected to hear me say. It's not that we have a snake in our home. Max used to catch snakes. I've had them in my house before. But I ask you, "What do snakes eat?" Well, they eat rodents. So, here's the thing I never thought I would say...I have little, baby, frozen, pinky mice in my freezer. Yep. I said it.

We got him yesterday and he is settled nicely. We got him out this morning for the first time, and he was very relaxed and not aggressive. He sure is fast though!

Here's a picture with Cody so you can get an idea of his size. We haven't named him yet, so suggestions are welcome:)

Names we've thought about:
Halloween
Fang
Warlock
Slinky
Remy
Sid

Fort Mountain State Park - GA

"Mommy? Can I get dirty?"

Sliding down the hill at the Crawford's site.

The Nature Center at the park.

Craft time turned into Corn Snake time!

This is Cornelius - NOT Cornelia. Isn't she beautiful?! Ranger Ruby was trying to get her to drink for us, but was unsuccessful.

Love at first sight:)~

This is Topaz. I've never seen a Corn Snake this color. She wasn't quite as calm as Cornelius, but still a very nice snake.

Cody got to hold BOTH of them!

Parent Group Shot! I hijacked this from Esther's blog.

At the Ocoee Whitewater Center.

One of the overlooks on the way to Helen, GA. Thanks for taking our picture Suzette!

We left Britney at the water park with the Amos family. We headed to Anna Ruby Falls with the Crawfords.

BIG Copperhead!

And a baby not far away.

Brasstown Bald...I want to say brass balls every time I go to say that name! Hee Hee! Anyway, the highest point in Georgia. We didn't make it up there though. They tram had stopped for the day and we just couldn't hike it after hiking to the falls (carrying Cody). Come to find out, there's handicapped parking at the top. Grrr! Oh, well. Maybe next time.

We went canoeing!

And then swimming.

Cody playing with the pile of clay the kids dug out of the lake.

This guy landed on me while the kids were swimming. I'm glad I had my camera in hand. This is such a cool picture!

"Singing in the rain"

Emily spent the night and Cody was doing the expected "little brother duties" and bugging Britney!