Belated BIG news!

I was on vacation last week, which, for me, means vacation from blogging too, so I'm officially back now and it's time to catch up on some really big things!

Really big thing #1: We're pregnant & just found out this week that we're having a boy! "Most definitely a boy," according to the sonographer. :) Glad it was clear, and it dispelled any irrational fears that our child would be a hermaphrodite. We all have those irrational fears. That was (one of) mine. The ultrasound was amazing, though. Seeing him move around (he's very active), suck his thumb (or pick his nose...it was kind of hard to tell), and have a healthy report made him so much more real to us and we were all smiles leaving the room. 

Here are a couple of 4-D shots of him from the ultrasound. Makes it hard to wait to meet him!

Top right is his head w/ eyes, nose, & mouth. Not sure where his hands ended up, but I promise he has arms & hands somewhere too! Phil says it looks like his baby pictures. If so, we're in luck because he was one cute baby!

His boxer pose (and evidence of his arms and hands)! Check out his little foot too!

You might be wondering: why is Cara just now blogging about this really huge thing in her life when she's already halfway through her pregnancy? Good question. I have several answers for you. 

• Pregnancy is overtly public and intensely personal at the same time. Most of the thoughts I have about being pregnant and being a mom I'm writing in my pen-and-paper journal, for my eyes only. It's just too deep and too intimate to include in a blog like this for the world to see. 
• The purpose of this blog was to help me write more frequently and to give me an audience (a.k.a. a little motivation to write), and I want to guard against this becoming a blog exclusively about my son. While I'll love him fiercely and will probably want to write about him all the time, I really want to preserve the varied nature of this blog, so you'll probably see frequent posts about him, but not exclusive posts about him. (Disclaimer: for those of you who blog exclusively or often about your children, I think that's wonderful and I love reading about your kids and what you're doing! Keep it up! Also, I may find blogging about my child irresistible once he's in the world, so I'm not making any promises, just sharing my intentions).
• I honestly couldn't figure out a way to put "We're pregnant" into what I'll call "writer words." In other words, "We're pregnant" sounded too boring for the miracle and mystery of new life, so I was paralyzed as a writer, copped out, and wrote nothing.

On to what you really want to know:

• Due date: 11/11/11 (best. due date. ever.)
• Yes, I'm showing, but not that much. Since people have a strange curiosity about preggy pics, I'll include one here, but it's not that exciting. Promise.
• Names: We have no idea, but when we do, we won't share it until he's born. We're open to suggestions, though, so bring 'em on!

Oh, and here's what my mom gave Phil & me for Mother's Day and Father's Day. We were thinking about wearing them on a date soon to see if we can get a free dinner out of it. :) 

Really big thing #2 coming later...