This is how we wake up here in the Jensen family.  By “we” I mean Bjorn.  Because “waking up” would imply that we (Lars & I) slept in the first place.  He’s so cute it makes up for it.

1)  Step 1:  Scratch your belly-button–make sure everything is still in tact.  Yup, you still have a belly-button, Bjorn.

2)  Also check your feet/toes.  Rub it in to your dad who can’t even sit “Indian-Style” that you are super flexible.

3)  Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig stretch.  Or practicing for your later day plans to maul mommy and daddy’s face with your razor-sharp claws and increasingly quick hand movements.

4) Yup, your feet are still there.

5)  Top it off with a big yawn.  Some day, coffee will be part of your routine.  Not now, though–it will stunt your growth.  Just look at mommy ( 5′4″ coffee drinker) and daddy ( 6′4″ non-coffee drinker).  Okay, genetics may be at play here, too.

We’ve fallen off the blogging wagon this past week–this is mostly due to the fact that Bjorn has been so ridiculously on and off with his good and bad moods which, in turn, is due to the fact that he’s no longer the one hundred percent healthy boy of those pre-daycare days.   I dunno, he’s drooling up a storm and still no teeth but we’ve been saying “oh, he must be teething” since the four month mark.   We’ve read that babies get their teeth on average between four and seven months and Bjorn is going on month eight and is still Gummy McGee.

In between the bouts of sickness and coughing and occasional tears and red-faces, we get pretty sweet moments of working on talking and babbling.  Case in point:

Bah Bah Bah from Megan Jensen on Vimeo.

Bjorn’s other favorite babble is “g-doot, g-doot, g-doot”.  It really just depends on the day of the week.  Somedays “B” somedays the more esoteric “g-doot”.   He is a man of few words, just like his daddy.  He has started to enjoy books a lot more–including the perennial favorite “The Monster At the End Of This Book”.  He doesn’t even eat the book so much as listen to Lars make funny noises while reading it.  This is a pretty big achievement for an almost eight month old.

In non-baby news….oh, let’s be honest there is no non-baby news.  Bjorn’s got a boatload of cousins who are having birthdays this month.  Big birthday wishes for Anikka (1), Ryder (2), and Mats (3).  Bjorn just missed the March-boat…but that would also mean I would have been a plumpy 5 months pregnant at our wedding so probably a good thing.

A couple of Bjorn Photos from the past couple of weeks.

Click Click

Bjorn has been quite the social butterfly lately. He has been hanging out with his buddies at daycare, taking his swim lessons at the YMCA (he’s a kipper/shrimp) and going on lunch dates and walk dates and hanging out at Arbor Fit Club like the gym rat he is. We are loving swim class and will hopefully have some photos to post soon (that underwater camera case we bought for our honeymoon in Hawaii is going to come in handy for more fabulous things now that swimming is in the works!). I think his favorite part of the class is that the pool is in a giant indoor room and the ceiling has big fans—so not sure if we have a master swimmer or just a kid who is easily distracted. We are taking the swim class with a couple of friend’s from mom’s group and, by chance, a buddy of his from daycare as well. Oh Ann Arbor, you small little town.

I’ve been very impressed at how well Bjorn handles going out to restaurants. I’m not sure if this is because he’s immobile or not (although I’m leaning towards ‘yes’ because once mobility comes into play, its a whole new ballgame). We recently went out to lunch with his buddy Julie at Jerusalem Garden for some much needed lentil soup and fried pita (Bjorn just had formula, thank you very much). Its nice that I can still keep a pretty decent pace with him and keep somewhat of a social life.

Speaking of keeping up with a social life, I have also been able to start up a pretty decent routine at the gym. Thanks to Steph for encouraging me to join this place and make use of its fabulous daycare. Bjorn has a standing date with Liz & Katrina on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I can usually see him from the exercise equipment and he is always happy as a clam just bouncing away in the exersaucer. Its especially funny to see how endeared the older kids in the class are towards him. He doesn’t get to be around toddlers at daycare because they keep them separate (ie–in the basement)…but at the gym daycare kids are just running all around him and he appears to love it.

And I would be remiss to write a post and not include photographs. These are totally not related to anything in this post other than they are of Bjorn and they absolutely melt me. Watching Lars interact with Bjorn and how much Bjorn just lights up when Lars enters a room makes me pretty in love with both of them.

The Classic Into-The-Shoulder-Kinda-Tired-Cuddle

Love! Melt! Cuddle!

Little Kipper

This week we just made plans for Nonni AND Nonno to come out from San Diego in mid-April!   Here’s to hoping we can get some more of this fabulous weather we’ve been having in March in April so they can see Michigan at the beginning of spring when its abundant with daffodils and tulips.  And the Dairy Queen is open.  I mean, let’s get our priorities straight here.

Two faculty members in the Health Behavior & Health Education department lost children this week in totally inexplicable and heartbreaking circumstances. Both were daughters. Both instances were unexpected. One was a doctoral student in the Health Management and Policy program and in her early 30s; the other was a nineteen year old nursing student. They both passed away in their sleep.

I do not know these professors well; but I am consumed with grief for them. To lose a child must be the absolute worst experience to ever be put through–no matter what the age. This compounded by the sadness I feel for the King Family in San Diego for the brutal murder of their daughter, Chelsea, has made it a week for reflection on how impossibly attached and in love I am with my son and how I couldn’t and don’t want to ever imagine life without him. I can’t begin to put myself in the heads of those parents who have lost their babies (be they seven months or thirty years); its too painful to try. My heart is just breaking for these families.