11 WEEKS IN

Yesterday morning I had a phone interview for a new position within my current company.


Nailed it.

Went to work and my phone exploded all day from prespective tenants that were seeking to view the apartment. Thank God.

Still waiting to hear from the first interview that I had last week, the anticipation is killing me. Life grows more complicated each day as time continues to wind down. To put it in perspective...nearly 3 months in and 6months to go I am doing what i can to be as proactive as posible with trying to imagine the best scenario moving forward for the next 6 months...

Best I can guage here is how it will lay out:

I have new tenants that will move in to my current apartment 2/1/2011. We will have to move to our other unit as of that day as well, a stress filled event to say the least. I will have secured a new position at the bank. Renovations in my 2nd unit will have to be completed in 4 months, while working my full time job learning a new position, bartending on the weekends, and doing renovations in between. No time to waste, have to keep busy. Good things are about to happen...I can feel it.



Last night she rode the tracks of an intense emotional rollercoaster...it begins. We both worked late and came home around 9pm knowing that we had to do a thorough sweep of the house because we had to show the apartment today. We both pitched in and cleaned it and were able to relax by 1030pm. We retired to the couch that was invisible under a mountain of unfolded laundry. She proceeded to start folding as I begged her to leave it and I would deal with it tomorrow, she snapped...GREAT.


We took a few moments to look at some baby stuff online. We happened to look at Kohls and found an in home sonogram to listen to the babys heartbeat. We both thought it was cool, so we decided to "BUY IT"....actually i found several coupon codes and it cost us $0.oo--HA! Can't wait its gonna be awesome. She finally relaxed and went to sleep, retail therapy is exhausting.


Today was week 11 and time for her belly pictures:

FAMILY DAY 12/05/2010

Today was a nice family day.

I worked at the bar last night, had to close it down, I was there until 330am. By the time I got home Becky was asleep on the couch awaiting my safe arrival home and I was greeted with a barrage of kisses....by Zuri. I moved the family from the couch to the bedroom as we settled in for the remaining hours of our slumber.


I awoke around 930am only to find myself alone in the bed, as the wife had already risen, took care of the pup and fed her breakfest before she headed off to church....god how I love her. The pup was awaiting me at the foot of the bed and excitedly expressed her enjoyment that I was awake, and as she saw it, it was now time to play. I took a shower and started getting ready as I had promised the pup a few days earlier that we would go play in the nearly 3 feet of snow we recieved this previous Thursday.


We awaited Moms arrival home and greated her with hugs and kisses. The pup impatiently followed us around the house like a lost lamb awaiting her date with the snow. Finally we loaded into the car and headed out. Normally we would have gone to the dog park but since there wasnt any snow in the city we headed to my old high school as the football field which would provide a totally fenced in snow filled park for the dog. As we were headed there I placed a call to my best friend Rich who has an Australian Shepard mix called Elton aka Wolfie, they decided to join us. The pups played for a few hours in the snow, chasing and frolicking having a great time. After the fun we headed home and decided to rest for a bit....also known as "naptime." Beck decided to start early and fell asleep in the car. Elton was apparently exhausted as well.


The wife and I decided that we wanted to take the rest of the day to spend together. We decided that we were going to go see a movie and get something to eat. So we stopped off and grabbed dinner and then headed out to the theatre. We decided after that to go grocery shopping. This was something that was a good chance for us to spend some time together. Its actually pretty amusing to watch the types of things that she now tends to gravitate towards during the pregnancy.


Now home relaxing on the couch, waiting for food to finish cooking so we can premake lnches for work tomorrow. She is asleep on the couch to my left. The pup is asleep on the floor to my right.


Good Night World....Today was a great day.

10 WEEK PHOTO AND BELLY MEASUREMENTS

Here we are 10weeks in and starting the 11th. Her forgetfulness has increased and I find that she either is easily disoriented or distracted. Try to do little things to help her remember things that need to be done, or plans that you have scheduled. I suggest a whiteboard that you can write each other notes or lists. Also never forget the power of a hand written note. A simple I love you written on a small pice of paper and stuck in her coat pocket. Better yet, make a mental note of the things that she mentions need to be done, and do them for her without her asking.

This is the first of weekly pictures that that will be uploaded along with belly measurements. We decided to take an extra long ribbon and a marker which we will use to mark the ribbon to document the growth.

Todays Belly Measurement (in inches)----------- 30 1/2 "

10 WEEKS IN

We are 10 weeks in.
Im starting to notice some definite mood changes. She seems very mellow and keeps to herself most of the time. She is going on sporadic cleaning binges and snaps if I tell her to relax.

She is achy and her boobs are sore. Most of the time she is very lathargic and wants to sleep for long periods of time and will nap/snooze whenever she can. This is not abnormal from my understanding, the overtiredness is due primarily to the fact of her body working overtime with the new edition. She has not experienced any morning sickness...thank god. Cravings have been minimal for her, as the only thing she has had a craving for was a baked potato and today she demanded a gallon of chocolate milk.....ha.

The little belly pouch is starting to form low on her abdomen and we had to get her a new bra as her boobs are starting to grow a bit. We went the other day to try to start building a maternity wardrobe and we found it very difficult to find anything that she likes. Again while helping her thru this understand that she will be moody and self conscious of her appearence, so helping her to feel sexy and showing her that you are thinking her is KEY. Take her out and buy her the first pieces of her maternity wardrobe.

To all subscribers of the blog if you know of anywhere that has a good selection of maternity clothes, or baby items please let everyone know.

THE FIRST DOCTORS APPOINTMENT

IF YOU GET NOTHING ELSE FROM THIS BLOG REMEMBER THIS POINT

~~~~~THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE....YOU MUST BE THERE!!! NO EXCEPTIONS~~~~~

This was a fun/funny akward situation. You as the father are required to be in the room while her OBGYN probes and stares up.... well you get the point. Seeing the fact that most OBGYN are older middle aged men it can be relatively uncomfortable so try to be supportive. Also realize that even though you are both in the room some OBGYN will not make eye contact with you. This is not meant to be disrespectful, but lets be honest we did the easy part, its ok if they address her even if you asked the question.

Come armed with questions that show your general concern for her well being...do your research before hand and pre educate yourself ...while asking these questions to him do not forget that she is in the room as well and remember to make eye contact with her as well. You should discuss with her as well as with him a healthy diet, chemicals and environments she should stay away from, exercise, as well as prenatal vitamins and prenatal care.

Pre-Natal Vitamins are very important they help the baby to develop properly. It is crucial that during these first 9 months she consistantly take these to support proper development. Some women have trouble taking these due to the size of the pill and sensitive stomachs and just discontinue usage which will put the baby at risk. Luckily there is an alternative to a pill ....its called isotonic. It is a powder mixed in water taken on empty stomach in the morning its about 2 oz and she can eat 5 minutes after . It is very easy on the stomach and tastes great. You can find this at http://www.shopsmartsite.com/

Like i stated earlier this although uncomfortable can be fun. At first while she was losing every article of clothing but her socks, i sat in the corner and laughed it was just very funny to see her stip down ther her socks....then i playfully argued that she was putting the gown on the wrong way ...I said --

"you put the opening in the front...it should be in the back."

she responded without second to spare as she ripped open her gown--

"why would i put the slit in the back all my shits up here!"

I nearly fell out of the chair I was laughing so hard. I then broke out my blackberry as she mounted the table and said smile for the baby album.

Have fun...Be tasteful...and above all let her know you love her, you are excited, and that you will support her through all of this.

At the moment that the doctor says "you're pregnant" she will lock eyes with you and the emotion that you exude will set the tone for the rest of the pregnancy....if you are discouraged, sad, distraught, scared, upset or any number of negative emotions that may be running thru your head and believe me there will be many....she will be as well. Remember this is a joyous occasion and more often than not she will be expecting JOY and EXCITEMENT so make a conscious effort to show her that.

THE BIG NEWS

I remember it like it was yesterday...even though it was less than a month ago that we found out. My wife Rebecca had mentioned to me a few days prior those infomous words that most men would tremble at hearing "I'm late." I had thought nothing of it as this had happened before and no sooner had the words left her mouth it showed up. But this was different as we were trying to start a family and she had been off the pill since the beginning of August. Her last period was mid September, and it was now the beginning of November.

I had slept in that Tuesday November 9th as I had to work a late shift. I had awoke to Zuri, paws on bed stretching to lick my face and wake me up to take her outside. I reluctantly got dressed and started the descent from our upper unit apartment to Zuris private bathroom...aka the front yard. After coming back upstairs i then made my way to my private bathroom to do the same. Upon putting it away i made my way to the sink to wash my hands only to find a note from Rebecca stating ---

" It's hard to believe that there is going to be a little Syracuse runnig around soon....you're going to be a DAD....I can't wait......I LOVE YOU ~I LOVE YOU ~I LOVE YOU"

INTRODUCTION

Let me start off by introducing myself and my reason for writing this blog.

My name is Craig Syracuse. I am newly enlisted in the army of future fathers. I am 28 years old, and have been married to my beautiful wife and love of my life since June of 2010. We have been together for going on 8 years now. We have already added our energetic spaz of a pup, Zuri who is a lab /husky mix who is now 1 year old.

Both my wife and I work a full time job 40 + hours a week and we each hold a 2nd part time job in the restaurant business. I currently bartend at a small Irish bar called Murray McCanns and she serves at Ruby Tuesdays. I also own a 2 unit rental property in the city of Buffalo that i manage as well.

The reason that i decided to write this blog was originally to document the progression of Rebeccas pregnancy as we do not get to see all of our family as much as we would like to and the fact that they are also spread across the country. But as I continued to look for advice and information on what I as a first time Father should look to expect, the information seemed to be conflicting. So that being said.....

I will use this opportunity to document my experiences, emotions, doctor visits, my wifes emotions, where to get the best deals, and the rollercoaster ride that is becoming a father.