Not too long ago we made a visit to our empty house to find some sort of fungus growing on the tile of the bathroom. It had been quite some time since anyone actually lived there, so we thought there might be a water problem behind the walls. We decided it was time to do this:
We ended up ripping everything out of the bathroom in plans to do a total remodel while we were fixing the various problems we KNEW about, and solving the fungus mystery. We did not find any water leaking anywhere, which was a bit of a relief. We'll be going back in a few weeks to hopefully finish putting the bathroom together. So the fungus is still a mystery.
While we were there Lucas and Dean went back yard camping. It was Dean's first time to sleep in a tent. We'd planned for the whole family to sleep in there together, but when it was time to go to sleep, Jack desperately pointed at the house repeating over and over "Bed!". So I happily obliged. I tried to get a good picture of the three of them in there, but someone was always looking away or doing something goofy.
And of course you can't be a part of our family without a little bit of drama. We spent the entire time working on the bathroom and trying to keep track of the children. There were times when things could have gone wrong as one child or the other would wander off through the house and into the back yard. Or the one time Lucas crawled under the house and I found the boys peering into the entrance with flashlights at the ready. Dean told me he'd seen daddy go in and went to find flash lights so that Jack and him could see what was down there. This most likely would have ended well, but the spiders. I mean it! SPIDERS!
Toward the end of the weekend we were all taking a break in our back yard. Lucas and I were actually doing nothing other than talk about what we'd put back in the bathroom and watching the boys. Jack and Dean were digging in the dirt and making huge piles of rocks. Then, they found the only plant in the backyard that is not grass or some type of rose bush, the only plant that I did not know the name. They started by taking of the huge leaves and pretending that they were fans. Then they had a leaf war and started tearing them to shreds and throwing them at each other. After a bit I heard Jack spit something out.
"Did you just put that plant in your mouth?" Jack nodded. I spied Dean looking at his leaf and contemplating the same thing. "Dean, don't put that in your mouth. I don't know if it is poisonous." I was getting up to go check Jack's mouth for remains when he started screaming in pain and running to me. And, Dean of course, followed with the same scream a few seconds later. The little turkey had eaten the plant too. After I told him not too! They were obviously in pain and their little lips were bright red and starting to swell.
We called poison control, and were told that we needed to go to a local hardware store or something and figure out what type of plant it was and then call back. I was remembering a time when my younger brother had eaten mistletoe which ended with him in the hospital having his stomach pumped and wondering how much time one has to drive around to all of the different stores seeking this mystery plant in their nursery section. So I left the boys with Lucas and began my search. It took two stores until I found a plant that was not my plant, but seemed similar.
After calling poison control back, I found that the plant in our back yard is a relative of a spathe of some sort. Apparently it is filled with tiny shards which cause the insides of mouths to sting and possibly swell, but generally stays in one area. It is not poisonous. This plant is now dead. I ripped it out. May it rest in peace.
In the meantime Lucas gave the kids the only antihistamine we had in the house. It happened to be a night time cold medicine for kids over four and they may have had a little bit too much of it. This is how I found them when I got back. They slept well for the rest of the night. Poor little munchkins.
