An announcement...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but let's add a few to this one:

Christmas Day 2013

I love this photo.  It's actually a still shot from a video I took during a Skype call last Christmas. We're in my dad's office (my old bedroom) at his house here in South Jersey, and my sister is with her family in Minnesota.  That's my dad to the left, and Stevie's head and my grandmother's hands.  My uncle is out of frame.

My sister believed we were simply doing the traditional Christmas Day Skype call, and her expression shows just how unexpected our news was.  You see, Stevie has just told her she is going to become an aunt, and for perhaps the first time in her life, my sister is literally speechless.

December 2013 in our old kitchen.

Fast forward to the present, and Stevie and I are now days away from becoming first-time parents.

August 2014 in our new backyard.

This is why we moved this summer, this is why Stevie's family is in town from Florida, and this is why I'm not attempting a sub 3:00 marathon this fall.  I have no idea what training with a newborn baby at home will be like, but I have a feeling I won't be able to manage the intensity I did last year.  I may still attempt a fall marathon, but it will be considerably slower than I'd like.

So why am I just now sharing all of this on the blog?  We shared the news with close friends and family in December, but decided not to mention anything online.  Why did I choose not to share the exhilarating ride of pregnancy over the past nine months?  Don't bloggers love to share, well, everything?

It's no secret that I like to document things.  I've counted photography as a hobby since I was a kid, and lately I've gotten into filming and editing documentaries.  And this blog speaks for itself.  But I've decided that I don't want to document every last moment of the baby's life (online, at least).  As someone who can remember what life was like without the internet, the notion of growing up with it, without the power to consent to endless documenting, is strangely unsettling to me.  I'm sure I'll share the occasional photo or video, but let's just say I'm not planning to turn this into a daddy blog.

In regards to the pregnancy itself, there are the usual emotions: the excitement over getting to meet my kid after only being able to feel him or her through Stevie's stomach.  The anxiety over just how profoundly my life is going to change, and how that change, after months of waiting, is nearly upon me.  The confidence that I have no idea just what I'm getting myself into, but the equal confidence that I will adapt.

It's going to be a scary yet beautiful ride.

Any running dads out there have advice for me?