Lots of Stuff

Sorry it's been a while since my last post concerning Olivia, Amanda, and me. There's been quite a bit of stuff going on...not major events, just a variety of things going on. First, regarding the situation with Fiona...we're going to go ahead with the ACL repair surgery. Seeing Fiona hobble around all the time is just too much to take. Before doing the surgery, the vet is going to make sure to make sure there's nothing else going on (cancer, liver disease, etc.) with some blood tests. If there is anything else, then we'll re-evaluate the situation. It's pretty neat though...they don't repair a dog's ACL like they do in people. They attach a piece of nylon to the joint instead. I'll keep y'all posted on that process.

Now to Olivia...and for the most part, there's not much to report. I look at as no news is good news. Earlier this week (Monday), Olivia went to the doctor for her two-month checkup. She weighs 10 pounds, 9.6 ounces and is 22 inches long. Both of those are in the 50th percentile for her age. Her head circumfrence is in the 75th percentile though! Great, Olivia is already getting a big head! Just what we need, a baby with a big ego! Overall, Olivia is in very good health and we only have to treat a mild case of cradle cap. Those of you who have children already know what else takes place at the two-month checkup...the first round of shots. I'd say Olivia did very well. Of course she cried, but once she was in Amanda's arms, she quieted right down. Amanda had a bit of a difficult time with the shots though...she was riddled with guilt, but it had to be done. Here's a picture of Olivia getting the first shot then a picture of the Daffy Duck band aids they put on her legs after:


The rest of the day, we could tell Olivia was a little sore. She was cranky and went through several fussy fits that to this point we hadn't really seen from her before. The next day, she was much better. Also keeping us busy was the arrival of Grandpa Ron Swiatowy (my dad)! He drove down from Michigan, stopped over in Tulsa to visit our friends Damon and Laurie, then got to Amarillo Sunday afternoon. I had to work Sunday and some stronger thunderstorms kept me at work all evening, so I didn't get the chance to see my dad and Olivia interact for the first time, but Amanda was there and she said it was really sweet. Here are a couple pictures of Grandpa Swiatowy holding Olivia for the first time:


As many of you know, my dad has been battling Multiple Sclerosis for more than 30 years and the fact that he's even able to make it down here to visit is astounding. We've been really enjoying his visit and he's helped me do some tasks around the house. The biggest one was putting up sun-blocking film on our front windows. Although daunting, it's been so nice sitting here in the front room in the heat of the afternoon and not roasting to death.

Finally, I'll share with you a few of my favorite pictures taken in the past couple weeks. Beware, one of them contains nudity! Enjoy!

A Bit of Sad News

First off, let me say this has nothing to do with Olivia...so please don't think the worst. This goes back to something that happened last Friday. One of the things we've enjoyed doing with our dogs, Fiona and Halo, is take them to a nearby field and let them kick up and chase these Texas-sized jackrabbits. Fiona and Halo both loved doing it with quite a bit of success. Well, this past Friday, I took the dogs to the field and about five seconds after the dogs left the truck Fiona kicked up a rabbit and started chasing it. I guess she didn't have the opportunity to "warm up" because shortly after she started running, she pulled up limping. Over the weekend and early in the week, we watched her and at no point did she put any weight on her right back leg. Today, Amanda took her to the vet and the news wasn't good. Fiona tore the dog version of an ACL. Our options are to let it heal, but Fiona will probably have a limp the rest of her life...or she could have surgery on it. The problem with that is obvious...$$$. Our vet estimated it would cost around 700 to 900 dollars. It's a decision Amanda and I are really in a quandary about. Fiona is our "first child", but she's now approximately 11 years old (we don't know her exact age because we rescued her from an animal shelter) and she's not exactly a spring chicken. Either with or without the surgery, her rabbit-chasing days are over. To me, that's the saddest news of all because she really liked going out there and getting those rabbits to run for their lives. If we go through with the surgery and Fiona leaves this world within a year or two, are we going to regret investing that much money in reconstructive surgery? My mom and stepdad (Pauline and Warren) are dealing with something similar with their dog, Lucy. The difference is Lucy is only a couple years old and still has a lot of life ahead of her. Personally, I think it's a bit too much money...especially with a newborn and me being the only one working right now. It's a tough decision, but I just don't feel the end justifies the means. Maybe I'm being cold and heartless, but I just think opting for not doing the surgery is the sensible thing to do. In any event, I want to post a few pictures I took of Fiona doing some rabbit chasing a few months ago. I'm now very glad I took these pictures when I had the chance.

At the behest of Amanda, I need to make a correction to my previous post. In regards to Olivia's sleeping habits, it seems I painted a rosier picture than what was actually truth...but in my defense, I didn't know that Olivia woke up for 2:00 and 3:00am feedings a couple times last week. So, for my embellishment, I apologize. Last night, however, Olivia did sleep six solid hours and that's no lie.

Happy Mother's Day!

A big "Happy Mother's Day" goes out to all you mothers out there with the biggest emphasis going to my mom (Grandma Pauline Smith), my sister (Aunt Jennifer Dueweke), Amanda's mom (Grandma Teri Stevens), and of course my beautiful wife and first-time Mother's Day participant, Amanda. Since Amanda spends so much time at home with Olivia, I thought the best gift to give her was an opportunity to get out of the house and get a little something done to make her feel better. So, I got her a half-day of beauty which includes a facial, a massage, and a manicure. I'm sure she'll enjoy it.

Overall, Olivia is doing wonderful! She's sleeping an average of 6 hours at night! That's allowing us to sleep a little more too, but we're still trying to "catch up" from the past four months. In other words, we're sleeping more, but we still don't feel rested. The only problem we're having with Olivia is a very minor one, but it's clearly visible...baby acne. With the temperature going up, Amanda and Olivia both get overly warm and tend to sweat as Olivia feeds which is causing Olivia's face to break out. It's getting better already and Amanda and I are being much more careful about how we handle her and how warm she's getting. We haven't been taking a lot of pictures of Olivia recently because of the acne, but now that it is getting better, we'll resume and we've also started thinking about getting her first "professional" pictures taken pretty soon.

Olivia is also on the verge of smiling and meaning to smile! We've got her to do it a couple times...we caught one of her first smiles on video which was really cool. I'm really looking forward to see her smile really big then hear her laugh. It will make all these weeks of diaper changes, removing stains from soiled clothes (both hers and ours), and late-night feedings worth it.

Here are some recent "unprofessional" pictures of Olivia. Since it's Mother's Day, I wanted to get a few good pictures of Amanda and Olivia. Here are two of my favorite. I also finally got a picture of the three of us! To honor my mom's request, I got a picture of Olivia's legs...in the words of my mother..."dangling like Chirstmas ornaments." I just do what I'm told. :-) Lastly, here is a picture of Olivia with Grandma Teri Stevens.

Less Chaos, More Sleep

It's astounding how quick things can evolve and settle down into a routine. Did I say "routine"?? Yes I did! It certainly appears as though Olivia has gotten herself on a fairly decent schedule...and if you ask me, it started when we put Olivia in the crib. The first night we had her sleep in there, she did very well. We put her down at 11:30pm and she slept until 3:30am. Amanda took care of the needed feeding and Olivia went back to sleep until 7:00am when it was time for another meal. That's the way most of the last week went...until Friday night and last night. Friday night, we put Olivia down to sleep at 11:30pm and she didn't wake up until 5:30am! A whole six hours! Last night, same thing! We put her in the crib at 10:30 and she didn't get up until 4:30am! Hallelujah!! Olivia will generally wake up again sometime in the middle of the morning (around 8 or 9) for her mid-morning snack, but we're very happy with the trend of the past few days and the relatively large block of sleep Olivia is allowing us.

Olivia is growing very quickly too. I did a "guesstimate" weighing of Olivia (I got on the scale, weighed myself, then held Olivia and calculated the difference) and she's up to approximately 11.5 pounds! Our next appointment isn't for two weeks, but based on the little in between weighing, she's growing and gaining quite nicely. Another quick calculation shows she's gaining an average of 1.9 ounces a day!

Amanda is very glad that this Wednesday will be the 6 week mark since Olivia's birth because that means she can start doing more stuff...more specifically, Amanda wants to get back to working out at the gym. The question will be whether or not time and her energy level will be with her in the return to the gym.

That's it for now...everything else is going along just fine. Here are few pictures of Olivia as I close this post...the first one is what Amanda and I like to call "The Sleeping Ninja" pose. The second one is Olivia sleeping in her crib for the first time (you can also see her birthmark on her left forearm...doctor seems to think it will fade over the next few years). The last one is Olivia smiling as she sleeps.