Growing Fast

Last night Elena graduated to her own room. I slept really well (although Karen had to get up three times to feed her.) By moving her to the next room, I have been able to successfully take advantage of being deaf in one ear. Karen weighed her today and she's up to 8 lb 12 oz (from her starting weight of 6 lb.) That's about 1/2 lb weight gain per week!

Smile

This week Sprout had her first professional photo shoot. She started out pretty alert and happy...
Hmmm... If only I could be as hot as my Mom!
This is my favorite - "Nap Time."

Deer Creek Farms Adds to Their Empire

This spring John decided to add a lean-to on the side of his shop so we would have some more space in our working shop. Here is a view of the construction project:
And here is the finished product. It's approximately 16'X48'. I should mention that John happened to be gone trucking when the building was finished. He came home to find my pickup, lawn mower, my parents' 4-wheeler, and Mary's 4-wheeler were all parked in his new building!
There is already talk of adding an additional lean-to on the other side of the main shop next year. Something tells me John will make sure he isn't gone trucking when the next one is completed...

Elena gets a pony and takes a bottle this weekend

Elena is officially one month old now. While she has gained a whopping 1.5 lbs, she is still in the 10th percentile for weight at her age. Last night we had dinner with my parents, and Elena had to opportunity to check out her pony that Dick Ireland made for her. Looking at this rocking horse might give you the impression that Dick is a professional woodworker, but really he just likes to "mess around with it" as he would say.Now that Elena is a month old, we thought it was time to give her a bottle. So much for my excuse for avoiding midnight feedings...Lastly, I think Elena inherited her mother's bed-hogging sleep pose...

Expressions

Karen attempted to capture some of Elena's facial expressions this week. So far she has failed to get a pic of Elena's "cutest pose." Here are a few: "I'm just chillin.'"
She got the next one from her mother...
We'll do *exactly* what Mommy wants (wink wink)...
Back to chillin again...
You seriously woke me up just to announce that I am three weeks old?

Bath Time

Elena really enjoys bath time. This is evidenced by her before and mid-bath pics:
Before: Fairly Happy.
Umm. Okay maybe she doesn't like this bathing so much. Now would be a good time to point out that Karen has identified three tasks which I should be responsible for: bathing, trimming fingernails, and changing her diaper after feeding. Meanwhile Karen gets to feed and cuddle with her. Mark my words: Karen is turning this child against me!

First Family Fishing Trip

Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of fishing with my parents and grandparents. There was Grandpa, who would spend half an hour trying to save his snagged 29 cent jig. My dad liked to take naps in the sun and engage in fish eating contests. So today we took Sprout crappie fishing. We took a side trip to get her a PFD, but as you can see the Nemo "infant" life jacket was more like a full-body cast. Fishing was hot and cold, but when it was hot, it was really hot. John and I both caught a few doubles.
Here is the first fish we caught with Elena. You can tell she's pretty psyched.
We even caught a few really nice trout (thanks to Idaho Power).
Karen spent most of her time tending to Elena, but she did manage to do a little bit of fishing.
John is usually more interested in giving me a hard time about my serious fishing mentality than actually fishing himself. He changed his tune a bit on this trip, as you can see his focus while he multi-tasks.
Overall we had a great trip. Good weather, fishing, and company. I have to admit I really missed my grandpa though when it came time to clean the fish. He always insisted on cleaning them himself. I think Elena liked the rocking boat, because she slept almost all day. So she'll probably be awake all night...