The biggest coincidence ever

So, while I was climbing St. Helens (sound familiar??), Benji said McKinley had started complaining about her tongue hurting.  When I got home she complained to me too, so I looked at her tongue, and sure enough, she had some prominent sores on the left tip. I automatically assumed they were canker sores, since I frequently get them in my mouth too, and treated her pain with tylenol. A day after that, she got stung be a bee on her middle finger.  Benji had to pull out the stinger, and when we noticed her finger start to swell, we also observed what we thought were hives developing on the same hand.  The next morning we noticed the hives had spread to her other hand, both knees, and booty, but never on her chest and neck.  We were vigilantly monitoring her reaction because Benji is/was allergic to bees when we was a boy and broke out in severe hives on his chest, even struggling to breath.  A couple days after that, Piper took a bad fall and bit the inside of her lower lip. While the incident was scary and left a huge, open cut in her mouth, we weren't that surprised when she too started complaining about her mouth hurting. I took a deeper look and she too had developed what we thought were canker sores on her tongue. Again, we thought nothing of it because canker sores are often triggered by mouth trauma.  About the same time, I also started noticing Piper was breaking out in hives on her hands, feet and booty, and she was loosing her appetite, supposedly as a result of the sores. We too treated her pain with tylenol.  Then one night before bed, Piper was really cranky and felt as if she had a fever. The next morning the fever was gone, but the next three mornings Piper awoke around 5:30 am.  To top it off, we discovered McKinley's bumps had spread to her lower legs.
Long story short, we decided Piper couldn't catch hives from McKinley, so we investigated their symptoms online.  Everything we had experienced with the girls matched up perfectly with hand, foot and mouth disease.  So there you have it. What we thought were canker sores and hives, was really hand, foot and mouth disease. Needless to say there was a 3-5 day period where they were probably contagious. So I hope we didn't spread it to anyone when we went to CrossFit and church and Indoor Park.  It's been almost two weeks since the initial symptoms reared their ugly head, and McKinley & Piper still have sores on their feet and legs.  Their tongue sores cleared up after about four days, and they slowly regained their appetites.  I think their pain could've been a lot worse, at least from what I've read, so I'm thankful there's didn't last very long.  Here are some random shots totally unrelated to the above post.

One of my faves!

Renovation Raiders

So, while I was climbing St. Helens, Dadda and the girls got the keys to our new house.  Yep, that's right.  After multiple setbacks, we finally closed on our new home.  While we were waiting we decided to spruce up the bathrooms to appeal to future renters.  They really were the only two rooms in the house, after seven years of house projects, that we hadn't touched yet.  Infact, the bathroom in the master bedroom was so ugly that I never took any photos of it.  But picture dark brown linoleum, a bright orange vanity top and whole lot of mirrors....basically your typical 70's bathroom decor.  Anyways, Benji's parents came out late June to get our bathroom renovations started.  We just recently added the finishing touches, like towel hooks, light fixtures, mirrors, and a vanity top backsplash to hide imperfections on the wall. I'm so excited about how they turned out!  It's almost enough to make us stay.....no, not really!

GUEST BATHROOM BEFORE:

GUEST BATHROOM AFTER:

I hope renters like the grey and yellow 'cause I think it looks fantabulous. 

The homemade wall art is staying, but I'm still deciding whether to leave the 'Johnny' clock I found at a thrift store. 

The vanity was a Craigslist score that I painted and added new hardware.

MASTER BATHROOM AFTER:

This vanity is brand new and from Home Depot.  And I had the old mirror cut into a circle.

The light fixture was an awesome find from our Habitat For Humanity Restore, and Benji spray painted it black. 

Mt. St. Helens 2013

I had my first sleepover away from my girls this past week, when I chaperoned our girl's cross country camping trip to Mt. St. Helens.  While I was away, a lot happened at home with Dadda and the girls.  But that's a separate post.  Our hike took four hours up and three & a half down.  When we got back to the campground, we all jumped into the lake to clean off.

A 'before' shot at the trailhead: The DeLeon Twins, Hannah, Savannah, Margaret, & Nicole.

Just past treeline, about two miles into the hike looking up at the ridge we would scramble up.

My attempt at a 'jumping' shot, with Mt. Adams in the background.

At the top with a pristine view of Mt. Rainier. 

Momma and the girls chillin' at the top.

Nicole's sole came off early on in the hike. So Bruce and her swapped shirts, and she ripped Bruce's shirt into strips to tie around her shoe. 

Heading down the mountain.

Selfie shot.

The 'after' shot of the girls, still looking as spry as ever. 

20 Weeks: We're having a girl!

Our big, anatomy ultrasound was July 5th.  Benji dropped me off at the clinic and took the girls to a park in Beaverton.  The technician agreed to put the results in an envelope and graciously told me to look away whenever she was measuring anatomy that was close to revealing the gender.  Apparently the baby had hiccups during the appointment, but I couldn't feel them yet. She weighed 9 ounces and had a heart rate of 139.  As soon as the ultrasound technician cleaned the goop off my belly, I was out the door to meet Benji and the girls.  When we opened the envelope in the parking lot, we were shocked to discover we were having another girl.  Truly elated, but truly surprised!  I just figured with my gestational diabetes diagnosis, all the back pain I'd been experiencing, and my never-ending appetite early on, that we were having a boy.  The real excitement kicked in while telling friends and family of our news. I'm finally feeling some movement after a long hiatus of feeling nothing. I've gained seventeen pounds thus far, and I'm still doing handstand pushups at CrossFit.  My blood sugar levels have been easy to maintain with not a whole lot of change in my diet. And I was so happy to discover that eating two homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast didn't send me over my target glucose level.  The following belly photos were my attempt to copy professional photographers who do maternity sessions. Although these photos aren't as stunning and artistic, I do cut myself a little slack for   having to deal with a faulty tripod.  Enjoy!

She was moving when the timer went off.

It's a girl!

Lincoln City

We decided to escape to Lincoln City yesterday afternoon for an impromptu beach day. After lunch we loaded the swagger wagon, and the girls napped the entire drive to the coast. Lincoln City is well known for its wind, and it definitely didn't disappoint.  The temperature was only a mere 68 degrees and sunny, but not warm enough for swim suits.  The girls had fun running away from the in-coming tide. Piper eventually lost her balance and landed booty-first in the water.  She was so scared of the ocean after that.  McKinley and Dadda found an abandoned kite in the sand, and McKinley got it to fly all by herself.  The couple hours we spent at the beach were a nice break from house projects and potential new house drama.