Update

Life changes so fast. Just over a week ago we found out we have toxic molds in our home and moved to the south end of the ranch. Currently we are living in the guest house. It is a nice home but it isn’t our home- living out of suitcases. Each day I’ve been working on recovering our stuff. I wash the clothing twice in borax, vinegar or bleach. Yesterday I washed, washed and washed Dara’s stuffed animals. The smell didn’t want to come out of them. I’ve also been soaking her plastic toys in the sink.
I’ve been crazy busy and overwhelmed. It is a good thing that Daraby’s health is completely different. She is a Happy Baby! Her rashes are going away, she doesn’t cry very much at all, she is sleeping through the night, she spits up less, she isn’t sweating like before, no more blood coming out her nose, she can breath better, her nose isn’t plugged, she can sit up, she can roll over, and she talks more. In general she is doing really well! I can’t believe the difference. I got a whole new kid.
When we went to the doctor two weeks ago she said Daraby was at a 4 month old development when she should be at 6 months. That was hard to hear. At that point Dara wasn’t interested in sitting up, rolling over and pushing herself up on her arms. In fact Daraby was so unhappy that a week earlier she screamed for 4 hours straight. That day I took her to the local clinic to see what was wrong. The nurse practitioner said I needed to get tougher with her because she is just a cranky baby. Something in me said that this behavior wasn’t right even if she was a cranky babe.
I kept wondering why Daraby was so good when we were away from home. Whenever we went into town or to a friends’ home she was relatively happy. Then when we would come home and with in an hour she was unhappy and crying. That is why we got the house tested. At the time I thought it was just a precautionary measure and the mold wouldn’t be toxic. You may call it intuition or my last resort. I just knew that her behavior wasn’t normal and she didn’t feel well.
Even Abby had been feeling poorly. She had a rash and was super itchy. Then she started to cough which sent warning bells off in my mind. Most dogs start to cough when they have heartworms. Amber, our other dog that died last May, had heartworms so we were very cautious with Abby. I knew Abby got her medications every month so heartworms weren’t an issue. Besides that Abby started to spend most of her time outside. She definitely didn’t want to spend any time in the basement even if I was down there working. If you know Abby she wants to be as close to you as she can get. She follows me everywhere. If I’m in the kitchen, living room or bedroom she is within feet of me or the baby.
Please pray that we will find a mold physician soon. Most Drs don’t want to take her case because she is so young-plus there aren’t many mold cases/drs out here. We will need to travel 5 or more hours to even find one. It has been very frustrating. For work purposes I have to prove that Daraby was/is sick because of the mold in our home.
All in all it has been a draining week but we did manage to celebrate Valentines Day. Andrew got me a beautiful pinkish/yellow rose. That night we dropped Dara off at a friend’s home and we drove 70 miles to watch the movie Australia. Then we drove 70 miles back, picked Dara up and came home. I really enjoyed the movie. It was a tad long for Andrew. Someday I want to go to Australia so seeing the scenery was great.
Yesterday was Andrew’s half birthday so I went to the store to buy all the missing ingredients to make cookies. We threw away all the baking ingredients and many other kitchen supplies because of the toxins in the air. Andrew said the cookies are the best I’ve ever made. I think he said that because he hasn’t had homemade cookies for a week. Earlier this week he was so desperate that he bought cookies from the store. People always say women are addicted to chocolate but in our relationship it is Andrew not I that is addicted to chocolate. Everyday he has to have a bite of chocolate. It is funny because I’ve been saving my chocolate D from Christmas in the freezer. It just drives Andrew crazy that I haven’t eaten it yet. It bugged him so much that he made me a deal. He gets to eat it but I get 5 backrubs in payment. Sweet!