diff --git a/src/file.jl b/src/file.jl
index 46e339c..1555a46 100644
--- a/src/file.jl
+++ b/src/file.jl
@@ -2,23 +2,82 @@ module file
 
 export FITFile, read_file
 
-include("header.jl")
-include("body.jl")
+include("body.jl"); using .body
+include("bytes.jl"); using .bytes
 
-using .header
-using .body
 
-struct FITFile
-    header::FITHeader
-    body::DefinitionHeader
+HEADER_SZ = 14
+
+struct FITHeader
+    sz::UInt8
+    protocol::UInt8
+    version::Integer
+    size::Integer
+    type::String
+    crc::AbstractVector{<:Real}
 end
 
-function read_file(filepath::AbstractString)::FITFile
-    open(filepath, "r") do f
-        header = read_header(f)
-        body = read_row(f)
-        FITFile(header, body)
+mutable struct FITFileReader
+    filepath::AbstractString
+    fp::Union{IO, Nothing}
+    bytes_read::Int64
+    header::Union{FITHeader, Nothing}
+    body::Union{DefinitionHeader, Nothing}
+end
+
+
+blank_file(fp::AbstractString) = FITFileReader(fp, nothing, 0, nothing, nothing)
+
+"""
+    open_fit_file!(f::FITFileReader)
+
+Open the fit file, and set f.fp
+"""
+function open_fit_file!(f::FITFileReader)
+    f.fp = open(f.filepath, "r")
+end
+
+"""
+    close_fit_file!(f::FITFileReader)
+
+Close the fit file, and set our fp to nothing.
+"""
+function close_fit_file!(f::FITFileReader)
+    close(f.fp)
+    f.fp = nothing
+end
+
+
+"""
+    read_header(fit_file::IOStream)
+
+Read the header of the given fit file, and return a FITHeader struct
+"""
+function read_header!(f::FITFileReader)
+    header = read(f.fp, HEADER_SZ; all=false)
+    f.header = FITHeader(
+        header[1],
+        header[2],
+        byte_vec_to_int(header[3:4]),
+        byte_vec_to_int(header[5:8]),
+        byte_vec_to_string(header[9:12]),
+        header[13:14]
+    )
+    f.bytes_read += HEADER_SZ
+end
+
+function read_file(filepath::AbstractString)::FITFileReader
+    f = blank_file(filepath)
+
+    open_fit_file!(f)
+    try
+        read_header!(f) 
+    catch e
+        rethrow(e)
+    finally
+        close_fit_file!(f)
     end
+    f
 end
 
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/header.jl b/src/header.jl
deleted file mode 100644
index 217ca60..0000000
--- a/src/header.jl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-
-
-"""
-    length in bytes
-"""
-
-module header
-
-export FITHeader, read_header
-
-include("bytes.jl"); using .bytes
-
-const DATA_SIZE_LENGTH = 4
-
-struct FITHeader
-    sz::UInt8
-    protocol::UInt8
-    version::Integer
-    size::Integer
-    type::String
-    crc::AbstractVector{<:Real}
-end
-
-"""
-    read_header(fit_file::IOStream)
-
-Read the header of the given fit file, and return a FITHeader struct
-"""
-function read_header(fit_file::IOStream)::FITHeader
-    sz = read(fit_file, 1; all=false)[1]
-    protocol = read(fit_file, 1; all=false)[1]
-    version = byte_vec_to_int(read(fit_file, 2; all=false))
-    size = byte_vec_to_int(read(fit_file, 4; all=false))
-    type = byte_vec_to_string(read(fit_file, 4; all=false))
-    crc = read(fit_file, 2; all=false)
-
-    FITHeader(sz, protocol, version, size, type, crc)
-end
-
-end