Bjorn - 2 months old!

Yesterday Bjorn turned 2 months old. He is growing so fast and constantly doing new things that he couldnt do before.

He is weighing in now at 12 pounds and 2 1/2 ounces...which is right at the 50th percentile. He was born in the 90th percentile so...he has appropriately regressed toward the mean.


He is tall though...he was born at 21 1/2 inches and now is at 24 3/4 inches, which puts him in the 95th percentile. His cousin Ryan is also really long. Tallness is a dominate gene, so a bit of Bryant has carried through to Amanda and my children. Bryant always says that taller people are more successful. Well, Bryant is tall and he is successful so it must be true...especially since Bryant says it is true, because Bryant is also always right (at least according to Bryant - and according to me he usually is right, so that leaves Bjorn with pretty good odds). :) Plus I read that first born children have higher IQ's (and this is from an actual study...you know where the scientific method is employed), so Bjorn will at least have that going for him if the tallness thing doesnt work out.

Bjorn wore shoes the other day for the first time. He looks like such a little man, it's just so cute.



Jason reminds me that he is a little man. Bjorn also got his first set of immunizations today. 5 immunizations...3 shots! He was pretty tough. He didnt cry after the first shot, probably because he was thinking "what the heck was that"...and then when it happened two more times he didnt really care what it was - it hurt. Still though, he only cried for a minute or two. Bjorn certainly did not inherit my tolerance for pain (essentially I have no pain tolerance).

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday. I am looking forward to it. Jason has some special surprise for me. I have also been storing milk away the last two weeks so I could eat and drink whatever I want. I am learning that Bjorn doesnt care much for onions or peppers...or chili oil, which leaves thia food pretty much off my plate.

Bjorn being cute...

Our time in Colorado

Jason, Bjorn and I had a great time in Colorado visiting my sister. Here are a few pictures from the trip.


Bjorn met his new cousin, Ryan Daniel Egan, for the first time. They are exactly 3 weeks and 7 minutes apart in age.


Bjorn also got to meet his cousin Hannah who is about to turn 2 on Saturday. Hannah is so much fun. She is such a social little girl. She lights up the room with all her joy.


We spent a lot of time at the splash park in the sun. It was only a 5 minute walk from my sisters house. Hannah liked to push her new brother in the stroller.



My parents flew down to colorado so my dad could see the new boys. It was so great to spend time with them...and so nice to have extra loving arms around to hold our babies. They love their grandma and grandpa.








While we were there, we found out that Bjorn can already bear his own weight. He is not so good at balancing, but the boy can stand. We pulled out Amanda's baby einstein play thing and he stood in it and had tons of fun.




Amanda and I hung around the house a lot...I say that like it was relaxing - with 3 kids it is more like "action packed".


Jason arrived just in time for father's day. Bjorn gave Jason a coffee mug and some coffee beans and some lounging pants and Kaluah Coffee cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. I am getting Jason a fishing rod so he can take Bjorn fishing.

Overall, it was a blast...I love spending time with my sister so much.

What's up....

Tomorrow Bjorn will be 7 weeks old. I can hardly believe it...my little boy seems to be growing up so fast!

Right now Bjorn and I are in Colorado visiting his cousins and my sister and brother in law Dan. We are having a great time. My mom and dad came to visit from minnesota for a few days to spend time with the two new grandchildren. They flew back this morning. Jason will fly in on Friday night after a week with the band in central washington visiting a record label and some songwriters from Nashville there. Bjorn and I are really missing him.

Visiting my sister is the absolute best. I love spending time with her and her family. Everyday we have been out for walks/runs, we eat super healthy, and with the colorado sunshine I am getting a great tan. It's like a health spa retreat when I come here. I have even picked up some health tips for Bjorn. Holly Packium is making her own baby food with organic veggies. It is just making so much sense to me...and it is super cheap. She spent 7 dollars for a month of food for her 6 month old. Bethany, Tina and Andi, I think you are going to be into this! We'll have a baby food making party (wow, has my idea of a party changed).

Bjorn has been a great traveler. He did great on the plane and is sleeping pretty well. One night he even slept 7 hours straight, but it didnt last. He is back to a 2.5-3 hour wake up through the night. Soon though I think he will be sleeping through the night...I can feel it.

I have a ton of great pictures to post from this trip...so stay tuned!

"Look at all that hair!"

Whenever people first meet Bjorn the first thing they take note of his is hair. "Look at all that hair" they say. Well I thought I would highlight a few of Bjorn's greatest hair moments.

Bjorn was born with a mullet...yep - business in the front, party in the back.



This is what you get when you mix a scientist and a musician...baby einstein?


Bjorn in a faux hawk. Too cute, isn't he?!?




This is just Bjorn's normal every day hair. Mark says it looks like Thom York (Radiohead). Bjorn has this uncontrollable cowlick. We just roll with it.

The Houtsma's Celebrate 5 Years of a Great Marriage

On June 1st Jason and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary. It was also the first time the both of us have been away from Bjorn since he was born. It is amazing how quickly you bond to your child...both of us had a hard time not thinking about him and hoping he was being good for his baby sitters.
Sean and Julie (Bjorn's first babysitters -pictured to the left...and some of our most favorite people and friends in the world) offered to watch him for us - which was wonderful. They were the best, so good to Bjorn and so good at helping us feel comfortable leaving him. Julie took him for a walk, they held him and fed him and little Lynna sang songs to him. When we got back Julie said he was "so sweet" and "happy".
Jason and I spent our time getting massages at the Crysalis - which was wonderful. Everytime I get a massage there I think of how wonderful it would be to get a massage once a month...maybe I will do that when we are making a mil a year. It is a great treat though.
After the massages we took Bjorn down to our wedding spot in the woods were we got married. We have made it a tradition to go down there every anniversary...we say our vows to eachother, talk about the past year of our marriage, take communion and thank God for eachother and what we have together. Every year we also pick one word that represents the past year. Over the past 4 years the words have been trust, gratitude, perserverance, and change. This year we chose new beginngings. With all the change that happened last year, this year we experienced the start of several new chapters in our lives - Mosaic community, my new position at the hospital, guitar instruction full time for Jason and of course our child! For Jason he felt like last year was a lot of upheaval and this year a settling into new things and a new phase of life.
After that we traveled up to White Rock B.C. to eat at my favorite restaurant - Cielo. I havent eaten there since before I was pregnant with Bjorn (several of my favorite things to eat there have goat cheese in them - which you arent suppose to eat when pregnant). It was so nice. We got a table on the patio overlooking the bay, it was sunny, warm, perfect. We got some quality time to talk about how we are doing, what suprised us about ourselves with Bjorn in our lives - good and bad. It was a nice time.

Thank you Sean and Julie for watching Bjorn! Thank you Jason for 5 AMAZING years...you are the best partner a girl could ask for!!!