diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b04a8c8..3e32e85 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Ignore bundler lock file for gems
+Gemfile.lock
+
 /.bundle/
 /.yardoc
 /_yardoc/
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4c2ce94..0f12a44 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-## [0.1.0] - 2025-03-05
+## [0.1.1] - 2025-05-02
+- Refactor internals
+- [BUGFIX] Only trigger `attr_reader` creation on initial class load (vs on every call to `#new`)
+
 
+## [0.1.0] - 2025-03-05
 - Initial release
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index dae1364..c65c53d 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ source "https://rubygems.org"
 # Specify your gem's dependencies in declarative_initialization.gemspec
 gemspec
 
-gem "pry-byebug", "~> 3.10.1"
+gem "pry-byebug", "~> 3.11.0"
 gem "rake", "~> 13.0"
 gem "rspec", "~> 3.0"
 gem "rubocop", "~> 1.21"
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index 2832ce5..0000000
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-PATH
-  remote: .
-  specs:
-    declarative_initialization (0.1.0)
-
-GEM
-  remote: https://rubygems.org/
-  specs:
-    ast (2.4.2)
-    byebug (11.1.3)
-    coderay (1.1.3)
-    diff-lcs (1.5.1)
-    json (2.9.1)
-    language_server-protocol (3.17.0.4)
-    method_source (1.1.0)
-    parallel (1.26.3)
-    parser (3.3.7.1)
-      ast (~> 2.4.1)
-      racc
-    pry (0.14.2)
-      coderay (~> 1.1)
-      method_source (~> 1.0)
-    pry-byebug (3.10.1)
-      byebug (~> 11.0)
-      pry (>= 0.13, < 0.15)
-    racc (1.8.1)
-    rainbow (3.1.1)
-    rake (13.2.1)
-    regexp_parser (2.10.0)
-    rspec (3.13.0)
-      rspec-core (~> 3.13.0)
-      rspec-expectations (~> 3.13.0)
-      rspec-mocks (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-core (3.13.2)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-expectations (3.13.3)
-      diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-mocks (3.13.2)
-      diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
-      rspec-support (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-support (3.13.2)
-    rubocop (1.70.0)
-      json (~> 2.3)
-      language_server-protocol (>= 3.17.0)
-      parallel (~> 1.10)
-      parser (>= 3.3.0.2)
-      rainbow (>= 2.2.2, < 4.0)
-      regexp_parser (>= 2.9.3, < 3.0)
-      rubocop-ast (>= 1.36.2, < 2.0)
-      ruby-progressbar (~> 1.7)
-      unicode-display_width (>= 2.4.0, < 4.0)
-    rubocop-ast (1.38.0)
-      parser (>= 3.3.1.0)
-    ruby-progressbar (1.13.0)
-    unicode-display_width (3.1.4)
-      unicode-emoji (~> 4.0, >= 4.0.4)
-    unicode-emoji (4.0.4)
-
-PLATFORMS
-  arm64-darwin-23
-  ruby
-
-DEPENDENCIES
-  declarative_initialization!
-  pry-byebug (~> 3.10.1)
-  rake (~> 13.0)
-  rspec (~> 3.0)
-  rubocop (~> 1.21)
-
-BUNDLED WITH
-   2.5.6
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6cb980e..ab0cac9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ We support that by passing an optional block to `initialize_with` -- for instanc
 
 * If a method with same name already exists, we log a warning and do not create the `attr_reader`.  In that case you'll need to reference the instance variable directly.
 
-  * Because of this, best practice when referencing variables in the post-initialize block is use `@foo` rather than relying on the `foo` attr_reader
+  * Because of this, best practice when referencing variables in the post-initialize block is to use `@foo` rather than relying on the `foo` attr_reader
 
 * Due to ruby syntax limitations, we do not support referencing other fields directly in the declaration:
 
diff --git a/declarative_initialization.gemspec b/declarative_initialization.gemspec
index f0c78d2..1372560 100644
--- a/declarative_initialization.gemspec
+++ b/declarative_initialization.gemspec
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.homepage = "https://github.com/teamshares/declarative_initialization"
   spec.required_ruby_version = ">= 3.0.0"
 
-  spec.metadata["allowed_push_host"] = "TODO: Set to your gem server 'https://example.com'"
+  # spec.metadata["allowed_push_host"] = "TODO: Set to your gem server 'https://example.com'"
 
   spec.metadata["homepage_uri"] = spec.homepage
   spec.metadata["source_code_uri"] = "https://github.com/teamshares/declarative_initialization"
diff --git a/lib/declarative_initialization.rb b/lib/declarative_initialization.rb
index 16bdb72..f838ae0 100644
--- a/lib/declarative_initialization.rb
+++ b/lib/declarative_initialization.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require_relative "declarative_initialization/version"
-require "logger"
+require_relative "declarative_initialization/class_methods"
+require_relative "declarative_initialization/instance_methods"
 
 module DeclarativeInitialization
   def self.included(base)
@@ -10,52 +11,6 @@ def self.included(base)
       extend ClassMethods
     end
   end
-
-  module ClassMethods
-    def initialize_with(*args, **kwargs, &post_initialize_block)
-      declared = args + kwargs.keys
-      raise ArgumentError, "initialize_with expects to receive symbols" unless declared.all? { |arg| arg.is_a?(Symbol) }
-
-      defaults = kwargs
-
-      define_method(:initialize) do |*given_args, **given_kwargs, &block|
-        class_name = self.class.name || "Anonymous Class"
-        raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Only accepts keyword arguments" unless given_args.empty?
-
-        missing = declared - given_kwargs.keys - defaults.keys
-        extra = given_kwargs.keys - declared
-
-        raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Missing keyword arguments: #{missing.join(", ")}" unless missing.empty?
-        raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Unknown keyword arguments: #{extra.join(", ")}" unless extra.empty?
-
-        declared.each do |key|
-          instance_variable_set(:"@#{key}", given_kwargs.fetch(key, defaults[key]))
-          if respond_to?(key, true)
-            __logger.warn "Method ##{key} already exists on #{self.class.name}. Skipping attr_reader generation."
-          else
-            self.class.send(:attr_reader, key)
-          end
-        end
-
-        if block # Automatically record any block passed to .new as an instance variable
-          instance_variable_set(:@block, block)
-          self.class.send(:attr_reader, :block) unless respond_to?(:block)
-        end
-
-        instance_exec(&post_initialize_block) if post_initialize_block
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  module InstanceMethods
-    def __logger
-      @__logger ||= begin
-        Rails.logger
-      rescue NameError
-        Logger.new($stdout)
-      end
-    end
-  end
 end
 
 # Set up an alias so you can also do `include InitializeWith`
diff --git a/lib/declarative_initialization/class_methods.rb b/lib/declarative_initialization/class_methods.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3726820
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/declarative_initialization/class_methods.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "logger"
+
+module DeclarativeInitialization
+  module ClassMethods
+    # Defines an initializer expecting the specified keyword arguments.
+    # @param args [Array<Symbol>] Required keyword arguments
+    # @param kwargs [Hash<Symbol, Object>] Optional keyword arguments (required, but have default values)
+    # @param post_initialize_block [Proc] Block to execute after initialization (optional)
+    def initialize_with(*args, **kwargs, &post_initialize_block)
+      declared = args + kwargs.keys
+      _validate_arguments!(declared)
+
+      _set_up_attribute_readers(declared)
+      _set_up_block_reader
+      _define_initializer(declared, kwargs, post_initialize_block)
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    def _class_name
+      name || "Anonymous Class"
+    end
+
+    def _logger
+      @_logger ||= if defined?(Rails) && Rails.respond_to?(:logger)
+                     Rails.logger
+                   else
+                     logger = Logger.new($stdout)
+                     logger.level = Logger::WARN
+                     logger
+                   end
+    end
+
+    def _validate_arguments!(declared)
+      return if declared.all? { |arg| arg.is_a?(Symbol) }
+
+      raise ArgumentError, "[#{_class_name}] All arguments to #initialize_with must be symbols"
+    end
+
+    def _set_up_attribute_readers(declared)
+      declared.each do |key|
+        if method_defined?(key)
+          _logger.warn "[#{_class_name}] Method ##{key} already exists -- skipping attr_reader generation"
+        else
+          attr_reader key
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    def _set_up_block_reader
+      if method_defined?(:block)
+        _logger.warn "[#{_class_name}] Method #block already exists -- may NOT be able to reference a block " \
+                     "passed to #new as #block (use @block instead)"
+      else
+        attr_reader :block
+      end
+    end
+
+    def _define_initializer(declared, defaults, post_initialize_block)
+      define_method(:initialize) do |*given_args, **given_kwargs, &given_block|
+        class_name = self.class.name || "Anonymous Class"
+        _validate_initialization_arguments!(class_name, given_args, given_kwargs, declared, defaults)
+
+        declared.each do |key|
+          instance_variable_set(:"@#{key}", given_kwargs.fetch(key, defaults[key]))
+        end
+
+        instance_variable_set(:@block, given_block) if given_block
+        instance_exec(&post_initialize_block) if post_initialize_block
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/declarative_initialization/instance_methods.rb b/lib/declarative_initialization/instance_methods.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8acce38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/declarative_initialization/instance_methods.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module DeclarativeInitialization
+  module InstanceMethods
+    private
+
+    def _validate_initialization_arguments!(class_name, given_args, given_kwargs, declared, defaults)
+      raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Only keyword arguments are accepted" unless given_args.empty?
+
+      missing = declared - given_kwargs.keys - defaults.keys
+      extra = given_kwargs.keys - declared
+
+      raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Missing keyword argument(s): #{missing.join(", ")}" unless missing.empty?
+      raise ArgumentError, "[#{class_name}] Unknown keyword argument(s): #{extra.join(", ")}" unless extra.empty?
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/declarative_initialization/version.rb b/lib/declarative_initialization/version.rb
index 22bb3bc..1ac1755 100644
--- a/lib/declarative_initialization/version.rb
+++ b/lib/declarative_initialization/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 module DeclarativeInitialization
-  VERSION = "0.1.0"
+  VERSION = "0.1.1"
 end
diff --git a/spec/basic_interface_spec.rb b/spec/basic_interface_spec.rb
index 31dc1ba..14df614 100644
--- a/spec/basic_interface_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/basic_interface_spec.rb
@@ -18,19 +18,19 @@
     describe "when called with missing required arguments" do
       subject { klass.new(bar: 1) }
 
-      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Missing keyword arguments: foo") }
+      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Missing keyword argument(s): foo") }
     end
 
     describe "when called with extra arguments" do
       subject { klass.new(foo: 1, bar: 2, baz: 3) }
 
-      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Unknown keyword arguments: baz") }
+      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Unknown keyword argument(s): baz") }
     end
 
     describe "when called with positional arguments" do
       subject { klass.new(1, 2) }
 
-      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Only accepts keyword arguments") }
+      it { expect { subject }.to raise_error(ArgumentError, "[Anonymous Class] Only keyword arguments are accepted") }
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/block_argument_spec.rb b/spec/block_argument_spec.rb
index 130fa1e..8ae65f0 100644
--- a/spec/block_argument_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/block_argument_spec.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
   it "doesn't record block unless given" do
     record = klass.new(foo: 1)
     expect(record.instance_variable_get("@block")).to be_nil
-    expect(record.respond_to?(:block)).to be false
   end
 
   it "does record block when given" do
diff --git a/spec/downstream_inheritance_spec.rb b/spec/downstream_inheritance_spec.rb
index ceedf8c..28b0dbc 100644
--- a/spec/downstream_inheritance_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/downstream_inheritance_spec.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
     it "overrides initialize_with from super" do
       expect { subject }.not_to raise_error
+      expect { klass.new(baz: 3, foo: 1, bar: 2) }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/reader_spec.rb b/spec/reader_spec.rb
index 8ea777b..2ca6122 100644
--- a/spec/reader_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/reader_spec.rb
@@ -13,16 +13,7 @@ def foo = @foo * 100
       end
     end
 
-    let(:log_double) { instance_double(Logger) }
-
-    before do
-      allow_any_instance_of(klass).to receive(:__logger).and_return(log_double)
-    end
-
-    it "does not override existing readers" do
-      expect(log_double).to receive(:warn)
-      expect(subject.foo).to eq(100)
-    end
+    it { expect(subject.foo).to eq(100) }
   end
 
   describe "allows overriding the value read by the attr_reader" do
@@ -50,4 +41,28 @@ def foo = @foo * 100
 
     it { expect(subject.foo).to eq(100) }
   end
+
+  describe "if method already exists" do
+    let(:klass) do
+      Class.new do
+        def foo = "original"
+        include DeclarativeInitialization
+      end
+    end
+
+    let(:logger) { instance_double(Logger) }
+
+    before do
+      allow(klass).to receive(:_logger).and_return(logger)
+      expect(logger).to receive(:warn).with(
+        "[Anonymous Class] Method #foo already exists -- skipping attr_reader generation"
+      )
+      klass.initialize_with(:foo)
+    end
+
+    it "does not create attr_reader " do
+      expect(subject.foo).to eq("original")
+      expect(subject.instance_variable_get("@foo")).to eq(1)
+    end
+  end
 end