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!!!

Bjorn Cheering for the Grandparents.

Bjorn is always the happiest in the morning and for once he wasn't camera shy.

Someone takes after Grandpa Denny

Uncle Jeremy

So Bjorn got to meet his uncle Jeremy for the first time and they got along splendidly. Jeremy seems to have a way with kids. Though Alli and I were starting to look forward to having our house back to ourselves (six weeks straight of visitors, while wonderful, does start to make you look forward to getting the bathroom when you want it), Jeremy was an easy guest. He spent a summer in Bellingham a few years back so Alli and I were able to rest while he caught up with old friends. He also secured an apartment for himself in Seattle for when he moves here in the summer.

We love having family around and we eagerly await his return to Seattle this summer. See you soon, Uncle Jeremy!

A basic "update"

I hear from many of you that you are enjoying the blog. This is great - but now I realize that I really need to keep updating it so people keep checking it. So here is the basic update on the Houtsma's.

Last week Bjorn was circumsized. He took it like a man, according to the doctor, actually he just said he did really well and when they brought him back into the room he wasnt even crying - so that made Jason and I feel a lot better. It really does hurt us more that it hurts him - well not completely because since last Friday Bjorn has been just a little more sad than normal.

I also celebrated my first Mother's Day. It was so great. I took my first walk since the surgery. I went just a little over a half mile (stopped in on Sean and Julie!). I didnt make it all the way home though because I could feel a pull in my belly, so Jason walked ahead of me (since I was moving at about a 2 mile an hour pace anyways) and came back with the car. I havent walked since - I still feel some belly pains and pulls and the last thing I want is to end up back in the OR. Jason bought me a massage at the Crysalis and my sister sent me the sweetest mothers day card.

Speaking of my sister - she had her baby today!!! Ryan Daniel Egan, 7 pounds 9 ounces. My sister says he looks like a boy version of Hannah (her little girl). Bjorn and Ry were suppose to be about 6 weeks apart, but with my lateness and her being early - the are 3 weeks apart to the day (yup today is Bjorns 3 week bday). Amanda is doing really well. She said she felt no pain (she had her epidural started before the MD broke her water). She was only in the hospital before the birth about 5 hours. She was dilated to a 5 when she got there. And she only had to push twice. I am so happy for her and so excited to see my new nephew.

Other updates...Bjorns got major Baby acne. Jason calls him startrek boy. We are LOVING all the meals people are blessing us with. We cannot tell you how helpful this is!!! Thank you everyone!!! The food is so fabulously yummy. It is saving us so much time and energy, which is the best gift people can give right now. We reallly really appreciate it.

We are still trying to get Bjorn back up to his birth weight. I am going to see a lactation consultant tomorrow...and we are back to the pediatrician tomorrow too. And the itching issue has compounded - but my Allergist is brilliant so I am getting some good help with that.

There are more updates, but this is getting long and Bjorn is stirring - time to eat again!