Ther- MOM-meter

This past week Cecily has been very sick. Here is a picture of her drinking pedialite and LAYING on the couch. This child does not sit still, and has not layed anywhere other than her bed for more than 30 seconds. Poor baby! She woke up from her nap on Monday with a fevor, but had no other sympthoms. I thought that maybe she had another ear infection (she had her first 2 weeks ago) and that her time swimming might have brought it on. As the days passed this week the fever continued and got worse. By Wednesday she was completely lathargic and spent most of the day in bed with me.

I kept checking her temperature with our ear thermometer. It kept giving temperatures in the normal range-- which I just couldn't believe! That evening I noticed that she was turning blue-- her hands, feet and around her mouth. I called the doctor and they told us to take her to urgent care and if it gets worse call 911. When we arrived to urgent care she had a 104 temp! They told us that the ear thermometers were really unreliable. (You think!)

As it turns out- Cecily most likely has a virus. The turning blue can happen at the onset of a fever, they said often times the blood will rush to the core, making the hands and feet turn blue. There is a possibility that she may have Roseola-- the only way to know for sure is after her fever is gone if she breaks out in a whole body rash. Time will tell. Most children have Roseola before they are 5 (some say 3). There isn't really anything to do except let it run it's course. Fortunately the body rash does not itch.

By Friday- today- she was finally feeling a bit better! She still had a bit of a fever but she was up and playing! It's good to have our little girl back running around and smiling!

As for thermometers-- Here is the run down. We seem to have gone through the gauntlet of thermometers! The Urgent Care Doctor said that the best thermometer is a digital one and the best reads come from under the arm or rectal.

We started out with a digital one that came with a new baby kit-- it was so cheap and slow that I could never get it to work. We tried the Binky thermometer with out much success. Next came the ear thermometer and it proved unreliable. So I bought a Vicks brand thermometer-- that has a color coded back light-- easy to read in the dark-- which we found to be very important. So far this has worked for us! But the moral of the story is-- the best thermometer is a Mom-- once again woman triumphs over machine!

Silly Cessy

Here are some silly pictures of our little Cess-Mess or as she calls herself- Cessy. We have decided that while our friend Charlotte should be the next baby super-model, Cecily is the next baby comedian. She could be the next Michelle (From the old sitcom Full House). Too bad being a child star didn't seem to do wonders for the Olsen twins... I guess we'll just have to keep all the laughs to ourselves! But, we thought we would give you a glimpse into our little comedian in action (I wonder where she gets it from?!)

CJ's cousin put this winter bonnet on her upside down- just for fun. CJ loves playing dress up!

CJ had to have mommy's socks put on over her PJ's. So funny!

CJ on her Faux Cell Phone. The girl likes to multi-task!
Nice Ride! (By the way, there are tons of pictures of Jen at this age making this exact face!)

Here is CJ quite happy to have mommy's sunglasses. This pair of sunglasses did not live to see another spring. CJ now has her own pair of sunglasses, and no longer gets to have mommy's.
Our little evangelist. Knocking on doors with her Bible in hand. She loves her Bible, and "Bible" is one of her newer words.
Arnold has nothing on this girl! Check out those muscles!

Visit with the Aunties

Rory's Aunt Ada of Arizona, and Aunt Sharon of Illinois were in Seattle last weekend. The two of them met up in Seattle and then headed up north for a cruise of Alaska. They had a wonderful adventure and even saw a bear! On there way home they spent a few extra days in Seattle so that us locals could come and visit. We got to visit them last Saturday. Genesis and Rory's mom Lillian came out too. Cecily had a great time meeting her Great Aunt Sharon (lovingly known as GAS) and her Great Aunt Ada (also known as GAA). When discussing their nicknames the Great Aunts decided that even though most babies say GAA first, they definitely have GAS before that-- so they both felt special for their own reasons.

Cecily had a great time showing off her words, playing games and taking a dip in the hotel pool. Grandma Bear (Rory's mom) got her this great floaty toy. She loved it! In fact she wanted to be in it even when she was dressed and out of the pool.

Thanks for the great visit!

Save the Date!

If you think it's fun to run or walk through the park, and you'd like to support our youth ministry... Come to our Fun Run/Walk! We'd love to have you! Let us know if you are interested in coming. As it happens Penrose is a great place to camp, if you are up for it-- you could make a weekend out of it!

Rory's Sermon

Hey everyone, thought you might enjoy listening to Rory's sermon from this last month. It looks like he will be starting to preach more often at church. He is looking forward to it. Hope you enjoy!

The sermon is titled "More" It can be downloaded from this link. I haven't quite figured out how to put MP3's on Blogger yet.

3-2-1 Lift Off!

After four months of hard work-- Rory has launched the our church's new website!

Check it out!

www.waypoint-church.org

We hope you like what you see! By the way-- it has taken some servers longer to switch from the old site to the new one. So... hopefully the site you get is the new one! Enjoy!

Cecily the Cute

Here are some cute shots of our growing girl! Cecily has so much to say and is such a busy bee. This past week she figured out how to open the child safety locks that are on all our cupboards. She expertly opens the cupboard, pushes down on the little levers and dives in! Nothing is safe! (She already figured out how to remove the outlet guards a couple of months ago!) Fortunately, she is very responsive. She of course throws her share of tantrums, but she understands and obeys most of the time. She is an excellent little communicator. She is picking up words all the time-- especially if we teach her signs to go with them. It's like having a little echo in the house-- mommy and daddy are having to be very careful about what we say! She knows all the parts of her face-- including mouth, teeth and tongue. She also loves to be sung to. We sing our way through her children's Bible. Her two favorite songs right now are "Jesus loves the little children" and "Only a boy named David" --(especially the round and round part of that song!)

Cecily loves to be around other kids and has to be in the middle of things. She is very social!

She is so much fun and a definitely delight to us! And we are so glad to report that despite the colicky beginning she has become a busy yet very easy going!

This picture is from last month but it is one of my favorites. Here she is with her "Baby" on her bike.

Nursery Talk

Well we are almost into the third trimester. My thoughts are a blurr with all sorts of preparations to make before our little girl gets here. I decided to register at Target. Our wish list is not near as long as when expecting our first, but I am amazed at how many little things have worn out. So I mostly registered for bath stuff, bottles, and nursing gear. But I am doing the NewB's nursery in ladybugs! It will be very cute I think. Here is the crib set from Target, and below is a quilt my mom and I saw while in Seattle. My mom got the pattern and is planning to make it for our little bug to be. It is really fun! Anyways, I just thought I would share the nursery plans! Because let's face it-- it's one of the fun parts of being pregnant.

Ground Breaking News!

Here we are at the site of our new church home! We are so excited! All the kids got to break the ground because they are the ones that are really going to use this church for years to come. As you can see they really got into it!

Time to Celebrate!

Here is a picture of what the building will look like. It will be simple, functional and a great home for our growing church family. The building will be 10,000 SF but will be easy to add onto later. We are trying to operate on a debt free basis. We will have some debt going in, but it will be marginal.

This is the steel that they will use to build our building.

More property views!

Here is a group of church people who gathered for the ground breaking ceremony. Look closely, can you see a goat? This gives you an indication about the community in which we live. Of course you can bring your goat to the ground breaking ceremony!


Cecily looking almost patriotic with her little blue shovel!

Dig like this?

As many of you may remember on April 9, 2006 our church building caught fire. At church that Sunday we had a baptism. The baptismal was an old cow trough with a heating element. The baptismal was drained and the heating element was left on. This created a very hot, slow burning fire. This fire left the church very damaged, so much so it was unrepairable, and condemned. Since the church was situated on waterfront property and was a small lot that did not allow for expansion the church had long been trying to sell. After the fire the property sold right away. A new private residence is constructing a family lodge on the site right now.

WayPoint already had land they had been wanting to move to. The fire gave us the push we needed to move on it. Since the fire we have paid off the land, designed the new building and began the VERY SLOW process of getting our permits. We are so excited to report that we now have the site development permit. This allowed us to clear the land and get ready to build. It also allowed us to have the steel for the building delivered. We expect (pray) that our building permit will be granted June 18th. Once that happens then we will really start building our new church home!

Wheels and Deals

Cecily and Jen back in April, when the van was that much newer and Jen was that much smaller.

And here is Rory washing his "Manly Mobile" with Cecily keeping an eye on things.Well, way back in March we had big news! We became a Mini-Van-Fam! The men at church assured Rory that he was still a man even though he now drives a van. Rory, however, was unfazed by this "attack of his manhood" and couldn't be more happy or manly while driving it. The practical side of him definitely wins out over the aesthetic with him on most days. Our little Contour was a good LITTLE car for us. However, with all the youth group kids Rory is hauling around, and baby gear-- even with one baby we were dreaming of more space. Now that the NewB is on her way, the idea of shoving another car seat in that back seat was not a pretty thought. For a time Rory was trying to be optimistic about our wee little car--- he suggested that Jen would still be able to sit between the two car seats in the back. Jen instantly had a flashback of sitting wedged between two car seats for hours in the family Escort growing up. While she was flattered that he thought it would be physically possible for her to wedge her butt into such a tight space--(a feat that will remain undiscovered) she could not shake the memories. All this to say-- Rory's optimistic statement was met with a resounding, "I don't think so!" Once all optimism had returned devoid of value, we started to pray.
We are glad to report that God answered our prayers, and provided us with this great Ford Windstar. Thanks to my Uncle Mike in Oregon we were able to get a great deal, and affordable payments. We have since been enjoying the new vehicle for all its worth!

In Other news, Cecily got a new set of wheels too. We found this steal of a deal on Craig's list for $35. I am proud to report that this stroller practically walks its self! I was able to walk farther with this stroller, the bigger wheels make all the difference. It provides a much smoother ride for CJ and a lot less work for me. Plus this stroller does better on natural terrain, I tried pushing the other one on gravel, sand and on a trail--- Forget about it! This new stroller can take it! It's like having 4 wheel drive on 3 wheels! (A few tips I will give those new mom's out there who might be registering for a jogger--- make sure the front wheel pivots, and that it folds down, this stroller doesn't do either, but it still works great!)

Memorable Moments on Memorial Day Weekend

We had so much fun over Memorial Day Weekend! Jen's Grammie, Cousin Heidi and 2nd cousins Alexandria and Zach all came for a visit. We got to share our new place with them, and enjoyed all the fun things to do in our neighborhood. Here is a picture of Zach out enjoying some fishing time in our lake. While the kids didn't catch any fish-- they have a great story about the one that got away!
Alexandria our budding chef helped to make us all a very yummy dessert.
CJ and the kids had such a great time playing together! She thought they were pretty special cousins!
Here is CJ meeting Zella, Grammie's dog. CJ is a big fan of doggies! Zella however was not a big fan of babies.
Here are a few fun pictures we took while at the Beach Hut. The Beach Hut is a little hamburger shack right up the road from us. It has yummy burgers and dogs and excellent milkshakes!

This Picture of the kids surfing is one of my favorites!

Here we are combing the beach!

Then later that night... testing out our fire pit in the back yard. The previous owner left their Christmas tree for us to burn.

A very cute picture of Heidi and Grammie at the State Park.

Spring Clean Green

For those of you who:

A. Have allergies or Asthma

B. Have small children

C. Have a very tight budget.

D. Are interested in keeping the environment and your home clean



Then I have some interesting cleaning tips for you.



While the cleaning powers of vinegar and baking soda have long been known, it has always been a bit of a mystery to me as to how to put them to use in my own cleaning regime. I recently read the following article in Quick and Simple Magazine (March) with these natural cleaning remedies. All of these suggestions come from Annie Bond, author of Home Enlightenment.

I went out and bought distilled vinegar and baking soda at Costco, along with some spray bottles. I have been putting them to use and I have to say I am really happy with the results. I am also VERY happy with the price tag! Cleaning products are so expensive! The only draw back to using vinegar is that for a while things smell like vinegar. But the smell dissipates after a few hours and things stay sparkling clean! I hope you find the following article as helpful as I did.

Germ Warfare
Ordinary distilled white vinegar is both antibacterial and antifungal, and can be used on everything from the bathroom sink to doorknobs. Green guru Annie Bond suggests keeping a spray bottle of 5 percent distilled vinegar in the kitchen near your cutting boards and in the bathroom for fast sink and toilet cleanups. Vinegar is even safe to leave on surfaces overnight; the smell dissipates within a few hours.

Soft Scrubber
For an all-purpose cleaner that works on counters, sinks and the bathtub, measure 1/4 cup baking soda into a bowl. Slowly stir in squirts of organic dish washing liquid (try a brand like Seventh Generation or Ecover, available at grocery and health food stores) until you have a frosting-like consistency. Scoop it up on a sponge and use some elbow grease. It’s a great abrasive and wipes away clean.

Window of Opportunity
To make a glass cleaner, mix together 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of organic dish washing liquid. Pour mixture into a spray bottle and shake it up. Use this solution on all your windows. Vinegar and water alone leaves streaks — the dish liquid is what helps cut the waxy buildup that glass develops, says Bond.

Polished Look
A few drops of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice on a rag will give you a perfect polish for all your wood furniture. The lemon and oil mixture cleans dirt easily and puts some oil back into the furniture, too. Lemon juice is also a great neutralizer for alkaline substances, such as tarnish or scale from hard water.

Break the Mold
Bond swears by tea tree oil (available in health food stores) for a go-to mold and mildew combatant. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil to a cup of water and mix it in a spray bottle. Spray the moldy area and let it sit for a couple of days. Once the strong scent dissipates (it will!), the mold’s musty smell will be gone for good.

Uncommon Scents
Farewell, aerosol air fresheners. To deodorize rugs, simply sprinkle them with some baking soda, leave for a little while and vacuum. Lavender oil, mixed with a cup of water in a spray bottle, makes a wonderful air freshener: Not only does it smell lovely simply spritzed around the house, it has relaxing aromatherapy benefits, too!

Hole-istic Solution
Pungent mothballs are a thing of the past! Create your own herbal concoction to battle the little bugs in your bureau drawers: Make a sachet with two 4- by 4-inch pieces of natural fiber material, such as silk or tight-weave linen, sewing three of the sides together with a simple straight stitch. Combine 2 teaspoons each of dried thyme, rosemary and mint, and 1 teaspoon of whole cloves in a bowl. Stuff your sachet about three-quarters full with the herb mixture and sew up the last side to seal. Or take a shortcut and use cotton tea bags, which come ready to fill with a drawstring (find them in health food stores or visit mountainroseherbs.com).

Family Pictures! and Mother's Day Moments!

These pictures were all taken on Mother's Day. Even though this is my second year of motherhood, it still seems a little strange to me that I am now included, or celebrated on this day in May. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with having another day in the year to be spoiled a bit! It's just funny to me, I'm somebodies mother now, two somebodies to be exact! It's a good life-- I will say that. This last picture of CJ and I is of us in my new chase lounge. Rory got me this fine piece of lawn furniture so that this summer I will be able to sit outside and put my feet up! My parents helped him find a really sturdy one that isn't too low to the ground (so I can theoretically get my pregnant self in and out of it without having it collapse underneath me).

Dino Day!

This past month was Dino Day at Sprouts the playgroup that I run. We had so much fun! I found these awesome six inflatable dinosaurs at oriental trading. I also found some fun dinosaur songs and we had a Dino Dance! The kids loved it!

Here is my big kid enjoying all his new dinosaur friends. Rory was great and helped me inflate these, luckily we have a hand pump so he didn't have to use up all his air doing it!

By the way... Sprouts is a playgroup that meets once a month. It's for newborns through kindergartners and their parents. Each month we have a different theme and do circle time, sing songs, make crafts and various other hands on activities. I absolutely love doing it, and all the parents who come chip in and we have a lot of fun! If you are in the area and you want to come out for it-- let me know! This summer we are doing field trips in June and July. In June we're heading to the farm and in July we're going to the Zoo!