Olivia's Adventures with Water

Yes, it has been another busy busy week. With guests here, I'll keep this fairly brief...besides, you're mostly interested in the pictures anyway! This past Tuesday, Olivia, Amanda, and I went over to Jett, Amy, and Jameon's house for a little pool party! Amy and Jameson have this itty bitty pool that Jett and Olivia sat in, splashed, and cooled off on a rather hot afternoon. It was a very fun time and we hope to do it again sometime soon. Here are a few pictures of Olivia and Jett chillin' in da pool:




Olivia's second encounter with water came Sunday through the traditional Catholic rite of baptism. It was a beautiful Mass and Monsignor Tash did a wonderful job as he always does. Here are some pictures from Olivia's baptism:





Damon and Laurie (now Olivia's Godparents...yay!) are going to stay with us for a couple more days, so we're going to do our best to spend some quality time with them before they head back to Tulsa Tuesday morning. Bye for now!

Fatherhood

Fatherhood...what an amazing thing. There's so many facets to being a father, most of which I have yet to experience. However, if what I've already been through is any indication of what is to come, then I'm eagerly looking forward to it. Right now, my experiences are limited to diaper changing, burping, the occasional bottle feeding, and spending some time with her on the playmat. The rewards, though, are growing rapidly with Olivia smiling more and her responding more to little games that we play. There are two things I look forward to: When Olivia says "good morning" to me with her morning smile and when I come home from work and am greeted with another smile from her. It's so cliche to say, but it makes everything worth while when she smiles (and squeals). Like so many other fathers out there, I have a laundry list of things I want to teach my daughter. I know I'll have to be realistic in that she may not necessarily enjoy these things as much as I do, but she won't know if she likes it unless she tries (wow, now that's a "parent" thing to say). I'd like to show her how to flyfish the way my dad taught me...except it'll have to be up in the mountain streams of New Mexico instead of the streams of northern lower Michigan. I'd like to teach her how to snowboard...Amanda and I have only been one time, but I loved it and with the ski resorts only four hours away, it would be a fun thing for us to do as a family. I just hope I can keep up with her once she gets the hang of it. I want to take her storm chasing with me so she can learn to respect Mother Nature. The list goes on and on, but I won't bore you with the detaisl, but if I had to summarize everything, it would be the words in the chorus of a song called "Zoe Jane" by the rock group Staind:

I want to hold you
Protect you from all of the things I've already endured
I want to show you, show you all the things that this life has in store for you
I'll always love you
The way that a father should love his daughter

I love you, Olivia Raine.

Mahna Mahna

Have you ever seen the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper commercial in which a man and a woman are sitting in a restaurant and are on their first date? She's listening to him talk then her Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper arrives. She takes a drink and the song "Mahna Mahna" (Mahna Mahna do doooo do do do) starts playing. It's a cute commercial and "Mahna Mahna" is one of those songs that can get stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Well, if you didn't know, that song originates from a rather funny skit from the old "Muppet Show" (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and my personal favorite the Swedish Chef). A while back, I found the original skit online and downloaded it. Earlier this week, I had Olivia in my lap as I was doing computer stuff and on a whim I decided to play the skit for her. Turns out she loves it! She couldn't take her eyes off of it! So now, whenever she's getting fussy and Amanda is taking a nap or doing something else, I just put her in my lap and play that skit for her. A couple times usually works.

I have managed to get a couple of Olivia's smiles on camera. I still haven't gotten the "picture perfect" smile on camera, but now that she's smiling more, it's just a matter of time before I get a really good one. Here are some of those pictures:



Also, here's a picture I took of Olivia all wide eyed. Her eyes are incredibly deep blue. I really hope they stay that color.
One other note...Olivia has her own email address now. It's oliviaswiatowy@gmail.com (Yahoo requires a minimum age of 2 to get an email address). So, if you ever have the urge to send Olivia an email, you now have means to do it!

A couple other notes to pass along...first, please keep my Aunt Kathleen in your prayers for a speedy recovery after breaking her leg in a fall earlier this week. She's a strong, healthy woman and will be back on her feet in no time. Second, a big congratulations goes out to Amy and Jameson Longanecker for completing their tenure as Co-executive Directors at the Downtown Athletic Club. Wish them luck as they move on to bigger and better things! If you get the opportunity, read Amy's blog entry on their son Jett and how he made a miraculous discovery in the past week. Finally, our poor dog Fiona is still on the road to recovery. The bandages are off and physical therapy has begun. I leave you with a picture of battle-scarred Fiona.

Update Update Update

Geez, you people are demanding! If it's an update you want, it's an update you get! It's been a very hectic week and a half with several things going on. Grandpa Swiatowy left Monday morning and headed to Tulsa to visit Laurie and Damon for a day then went on Indianapolis to spend a little time with his first grandchild, Clare...and visit with my sister Jennifer and brother-in-law Jerry. We had a good visit with my dad and I hope his health will remain well enough for him to come back down several more times.
Tuesday morning, I took Fiona in to get her ACL surgery. Not only that, but Amanda also had them do a teeth cleaning. When we got Fiona home, she was just miserable. Poor thing, you could see it in her face...she thought we were mad at her and what she went through was some sort of punishment. She barely ate anything for the first couple days because (I think) her teeth were really sore from the cleaning. Plus, she can barely sit down because of the way the leg is wrapped. Here's a picture of our poor little dog:

Today (Monday), we'll take Fiona in to get the bandages removed and the vet will show us how to help rehab Fiona's leg. With any luck, she'll be back to using her leg semi-normally in the next six weeks or so.
We also had a garage sale this past weekend and the turnout was very good. We got rid of A LOT of stuff and we're back to the point where we can fit both vehicles in the garage. A big "thank you" goes out to Amanda's mom who runs an excellent garage sale...plus she's bilingual, which really comes in handy when so many of the people who came to our garage sale speak spanish better than english. That garage sale is just one more "big task" we can mark off the list.
The next "big task" is Olivia's baptism. It will be taking place June 25th at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish here in Amarillo. It will be at the 11:15am mass, so if you're in town and you want to see it, please come by! Damon and Laurie (who are currently on a cruise...their last vacation before their daughter, Elisabeth Anne, comes into this world) will be the Godparents and are going to arrive the 24th. Jay Ricci, my co-worker, sponsor (when we were confirmed in the church), and fellow Red Wing supporter will be the lectern for that service as well. Damon and Laurie will be staying with us through the following Tuesday, so they'll get the opportunity to experience "life with a baby" for a few days.
Olivia continues to do very well...she's a very good baby. In terms of sleeping, she'll go to bed around 9:30 or 10 o'clock and get up around 3 for a feeding. She'll then sleep until around 7 or 7:30. The best part of our day is when Olivia wakes up in the morning and she sees Amanda and me for the first time that day. She is all smiles and it is so adorable! I have yet to capture the illusive morning smile with the camera, but as soon as I do, I'll post it. When I come home from work, I also get a big round of smiles from her and it definitely makes a bad day at work just melt away. She's also doing a lot more "talking"...babbling on about her day and anything else on her mind. Our usual responses are, "Really?" "Is that so?" "You don't say!" "I didn't know that!" It's so much fun to watch her as she starts learning things and seeing more things. Here are some recent pictures of Olivia:

Crashed out on the reclining love seat.


Going to the Coors Ranch Rodeo in her cute pink outfit.


Getting burped after a good feeding.


In the bouncy.


Again in the bouncy.

More to come later! Take care!