Just like Grandpa!

We caught Sebastian in the act - napping just like his Grandpa Johnsen, with his hands and arms folded across his chest! I don't think Papa Roy has been using a pacifier much lately, though. Take a peek.. :)

2 months and 2 years...

Today is our 2 year anniversary! It's so hard to believe how time flies and how much has happened in our lives over the past two years. With each new day, I love Tim more and feel so blessed to have him in my life. If it weren't amazing enough just being married to the guy, now I also get the opportunity to parent a child together with him! I'd say I'm the luckiest gal in town, or maybe in the whole - wide - world!

Sebastian just had his 2 month well child check yesterday. Again, it's incredible to comprehend how fast time is flying by, how old (relatively speaking) he's getting, and how much he's growing. We had taken bets on his weight and height from our family and friends over the past week or so, and we were surprised to find out that no one was close on his weight. I think everyone we asked guessed over 13 pounds for his weight. I guess those cloth diapers add some extra weight, huh? So here's his shot on the scale:

He weighed in at 12 lbs, 7.5 oz... rounded up to 12 lbs, 8 oz, which is the 65th percentile. Our guessers seemed to do much better at his height, which was 24.5 inches (92nd percentile). So, he's turning out to be tall and lean, just like his Daddy.

Sebastian has taken to sucking his fingers these days. He sucks on them so hard and pushes them in so deep, that he often gags himself. I'm working on behavior modification... but he just hasn't quite gotten it yet. ;) Those fingers must taste good, and I haven't put anything tasty on them!

He had some shots yesterday as well, and he did just fine. Of course he did. Much better than his Mama. I'm guessing this is how many things in his life may turn out...

Tim & I are going out tonight for the first time since Sebastian was born. When I say "out," I mean out alone, no baby, just the two of us! Seems like an impossible task, but we're actually going to have our first date night since Seb joined our family. And what a better choice of nights than our anniversary?!?! Again, I'm sure this will be one of those things that will be much more difficult for Mama than for the babe. Eek! But, he'll be in good hands; our dear friends Rachel and Peter have agreed to keep him for a couple of hours. So thanks in advance. :) I'm sure he'll be well behaved for you!

So much goodness to celebrate! Which is a great thing right now, because there are other things going on around us that could potentially get me down - like thinking about going back to work (in 19 days...sigh), craziness at work that's been brewing while I've been out on maternity leave, witnessing domestic violence disputes in the street outside our church and having to call 9-1-1 (with a small child physically caught in the middle - literally), a messed up health care system and bad economy, PBS wanting to get rid of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and much, much more.

But really it's so much better to focus on the good things in life - because there are so many really good things! ...like a wonderful marriage with a wonderful husband, a beautiful, healthy baby, a house with a roof, clean, bountiful running water, projects that are making progress around the house, jobs with benefits, awesome family, grilled beets, corn on the cob, ice cream (had to throw some of my summertime favorites in there), a new chest freezer, restful nights, state representatives that go to bat for us (yeah, Mike Sturla), great friends, the best group of partners a doc could ask for, and the new phones that Tim got for his birthday that can double as an intercom system so I can be three floors away from my little guy while he naps and hear him when he wakes up! (I know they make these things called monitors, but why bother when you have technology working for you already in your home.) Anyways, there is so much to be thankful for... and so many good things!

And just to refresh your memory... a blast from (not-so-distant) past:

Happy Anniversary, Timmy! I love you more with every day! And happy growing, Sebastian! You bring us great JOY!

Crazy 8's - I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend, Rachel, to do this Crazy 8's thing... I was the first person on her list, but many others have beat me to the task, so I better get busy! But first, I couldn't resist posting some photos of Sebastian from this past weekend. Enjoy!

8 things I’m looking forward to:

1. Getting a chest freezer

2. A trip to Trader Joes

3. Thanksgiving week in the Outer Banks (I've never been there!)

4. Tim coming home from work tonight and every night

5. Losing the last of the pregnancy pounds

6. Going swimming

7. Ice cream (of course doesn't help #5 along so much...)

8. Grilled beets

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Went to church

2. Nursed my baby, many, many times

3. Cleaned up more spit-up than ever before

4. Changed fewer diapers than normal - Daddy was home!

5. Celebrated 8 weeks of Sebastian's life...so hard to believe

6. Celebrated getting out of the "fever fast track" window (part of my doctor mommy paranoia!)

7. Made delicious Thai curry

8. Went to a picnic/party and had a great time with my partners

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Find the perfect balance between mommy-life and doctor-life

2. Solve the health care system problems, if not nationally, at least in my own state

3. Go to Cuba

4. Take away my hubby's daily headaches

5. Live a little more in the moment

6. Deliver all babies before midnight!

7. Go visit Cristy in Malawi

8. Make time stand still every now and then (sebastian is growing WAY too fast!)

8 shows I watch (a new phenomenon since I started my maternity leave):

1. NCIS

2. Grey's Anatomy

3. Tour de France (I know, not really a "show," but it's what's on!)

4. Deserving Design

5. Designed to Sell

6. Color Splash

7. House Hunters

8. Anything else on HGTV - notice the trend?

I tag:

Catherine, Jenny, Crystal, Felixa, Renee, Jennifer (ha!), Audrey & Duane (ha, ha!) - some of my friends need some serious encouraging to get their blog on!

In other news, Sebastian is growing like a weed and is becoming a very alert, interactive, mostly happy little guy. And just to make mommy & daddy super happy and proud, he pulled another seven hour stretch for us! No complaints here! :)

What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

-Shakespeare

Kirsten, Sebastian & Tim

J 0 h n s e n M a r t i n

This is our first series of family pictures officially all sharing the same last name! Tim & I have finally changed our last names to match that of our son's and to represent the union of our marriage and our families... as we approach our two year anniversary in just about two weeks!

So what's in a name, anyways? Before we were married (and for the past two years), we entertained a variety of options for our surnames: both keep our own names, both change to Tim's last name, both change to the same, joint last name, or come up with a whole new surname altogether (how about johntin or martinsen?!?). We planned to change our names since we were married, but never "got around to it..." Then we had a baby! And we felt it was important to: a. make a final decision about the name change thing, and b. all share the same last name. Thus, Sebastian was a little bit ahead of the game... he's had our last name since he was born - now over 7 weeks. But now we all have the same last name, according to the Social Security office - it's official and legal and all that other good stuff.

And it feels good. Really good. We're excited to be united in this way! We both loved the names that our parents chose for us - first, middle and last - they have significant meaning for us. And now we love each other and our baby boy, and we still love both of our families. We desired to share both of "us" in our new family name. We didn't get married fresh out of college; instead we had years of experiences, training, careers - all of which continued to define us for many years until we became one. We are excited about combining both of our names to change the definition from the two of us to one...and to now share that with our son as our family grows.

The tasks that lie ahead include changing our licenses (both to drive and to practice medicine ;)), bank accounts, credit cards, passports, and everything else that has our names attached to it! It seems a bit daunting, but so very worth it - to make the change complete once and for all. I'm sure we'll still get all variety of combinations and titles in the mail, as we have since we were first married, but now at least Uncle Sam knows what to call us!

So, what's in a name? A whole lot of love, family, history...and a whole lot of future and great stuff to come!

Caught in the act!

It's been so much fun to watch Sebastian grow, develop and change. He's becoming such a big boy! I've definitely seen a substantial increase in his alert time - he's not the constantly sleeping baby that he had been for his first month of life - even though my family and friends don't believe me; they still think all he does is sleep!

He's absurdly cute, especially when he smiles, laughs and coos. Friends had told me those smiles would just totally melt my heart and wipe away the tiredness and frustrations of having a newborn, and quite frankly, they're right. He just steals a bigger chunk of my heart everyday with his precious smiles and what's becoming his personality.

During his alert time - when he's content - I try to give him some tummy time as well as play mat time with his giraffe. He's just started to get into grabbing things, and I caught him in the act of reaching for the giraffe suspended from the arch of his play mat. He's been grabbing other things too - like my hair (ouch) and other parts of mommy's body (even bigger ouch!). That will have to stop!

I don't like to think about returning to work sometimes (the countdown has begun), because I feel like I'll miss so much of little Seb's life... I already feel like there are times I simply blink my eyes, and in that instant, he's grown up just a little bit more! I'm thrilled that his grandmas and his aunt will be helping to care for him while I'm at work - Sebastian will have so much fun and love as he grows up. Call me crazy, but I'm starting to think we might need to invest in a video camera for the diaper bag! Shhh... don't tell his daddy I said that! ;)

Chillin' at the park

Sebastian made his debut appearance at the Long's Park Summer Concert Series last night for the 4th of July concert. We headed out before the onset of fireworks and canons, thinking that might be a bit much for our 6 week old baby. We met friends Marvin, Dori and Eric there and enjoyed good company and conversation, not to mention crowd-0-rama! The estimated number of people in attendance was between 30-35,000! Little Seb did just fine, and was quite content!

Check him out sporting one of his new t-shirts from our friend, Angela and family.

Sleeping beauties

author: Tim

Years ago it would have been hard to imagine doing a load of diapers before 7am on a Saturday morning. But, as most people say, a baby changes everything.

As new parents know, you do things in shifts. Kirsten, being the one with the food, took the night shift. Which was great for me b/c my muscles were still aching from the remodeling frenzy. That's right...we are still at it. Of course, we did take a 5 week hiatus to adjust to little Seb. But, his fussiness the last few days can only be his desire to see his room completed. So, yesterday Roy & Judy joined us for a day of painting. While there is more to go it certainly makes a difference when you get some paint on the walls. This is the unfinished plan of having a few stripes where we taped off.

Oh...and the closet wallpaper won't live to see another 4th!

Smilin' for mama

So fun and so sweet to see your babe smile and start to laugh! Sebastian made mommy's day today!...and everyday for that matter!

Surprise! We pulled it off ;)

Last Sunday, we had a surprise 40th birthday party for Tim. It was labeled as a "Father's Day get-together," and he had no idea what was waiting for him when we arrived at his parent's house. The party was also 11 days after his birthday, and we had already celebrated the big day, so Tim was totally unsuspecting. When we pulled into the driveway, Tim saw all the people and the decorations, and he just kept saying "oh my, oh my, oh my word..." and then he asked "did you know about this!?" Ha!!!
It turned out to be a great party - lots of wonderful family and friends, good food (and I'm so, so, so thankful for all the good eatins that everyone brought to share), fabulous music by the Old Time Liberation Front, games and trampoline-jumping for the kids, sunshine, and the beloved birthday boy! Tim had a terrific time and was blessed by all that were there... not to mention surprised! Hooray!
I could never have pulled it off without the help of so many, especially Tim's parents and his sister, Jill (decorator extraordinaire), my parents, and Marvin (thanks again for the Costco run!), Doug & Lydia, and many others, I'm sure. Thank you, merci, gracias, danke, tusen takk!
Check out the slide show of all the fun!

One month...

Where does the time go?!? Our little boy is already one month old - as of yesterday - and he's not so little anymore... Sebastian had his one month well child check today, and he weighed in at an impressive 10 lbs 2.9 oz! His length was 22 3/4 inches (88th percentile). Tim had guessed he'd be 10 lbs and 23 inches, so I guess he wasn't that far off! I can't believe how quickly these babes grow.

In other news, he's started to have more alert time, which is great as long as it's not crying time ;), and he's started smiling in the past couple of days - like real smiles, not the gas-passing ones! Those precious little smiles make all the tired, frustrated moments just melt away in an instant. Sebastian continues to be the cutest thing in the whole wide world. What mother wouldn't think so (or any other person, for that matter)?