So this guy, a divorced dad with a beautiful daughter and a Russian KGB hamster named Hammy, nominated me to take part in the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge and I have accepted. Okay, he’s actually my good blogger friend, Gary Mathews, and he’s full of witty sarcasm and lots of love for his precious girl. Check out his blog if you get the chance, he always has a great story to share about his day.

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge require you to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo (It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph) and then nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge. Accepting the challenge is entirely up to the person nominated, it is not a command. I have no clue on the origin of this thing, but hopefully you’ll enjoy what I have to share.

I’m pretty sure this was taken the same day from yesterday’s picture as we just passed our leopard-wrapped baby around for dozens of cuddles and kisses. What else do you do with them? Don’t answer that, I know there’s more you can do……like watch them sleep.

This picture of me lightly kissing Avery’s forehead was my avatar on this blog, Twitter, and Facebook for the longest time. I simply love looking at it because, proud dad, and just like the one with Kelley and Avery will be one I keep in my heart forever.

I hope you enjoyed my 5 photos and stories from this challenge. As planned, this last photo marks the beginning of another year for me as it’s my 31st birthday. Yay…..

Can you sense my enthusiasm? Yeah, me either. But hey, I get to kick it off with a visit to the doctor for a butt checkup tomorrow! I know everyone’s on the edge of their seats waiting for an update, so I’ll let you know soon!

My last nominee for this challenge Daniel De Guia, owner of the site Fit To Be Dad, which makes him an instant friend of mine from the title alone! I love meeting other health-minded dads and parents in general as too many kids are growing up not knowing a thing about fitness and nutrtion. Head over to his site for awesome tidbits on fitness, motivation, nutrition, and fatherhood. I personally like his post on the Squat Every Day program and it definitely motivates me to give it a go.

So this guy, a divorced dad with a beautiful daughter and a Russian KGB hamster named Hammy, nominated me to take part in the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge and I have accepted. Okay, he’s actually my good blogger friend, Gary Mathews, and he’s full of witty sarcasm and lots of love for his precious girl. Check out his blog if you get the chance, he always has a great story to share about his day.

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge require you to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo (It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph) and then nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge. Accepting the challenge is entirely up to the person nominated, it is not a command. I have no clue on the origin of this thing, but hopefully you’ll enjoy what I have to share.

This picture was taken 11 days after Avery came home. The nerves of a new parent were still erratic, but our intense love was unwavering. To this day, Kelley loves holding Avery close to her heart like in this photo, but she’s obviously much less accepting now.

Avery has long since outgrown that towel, but there was nothing like staring out our little “leopard cub” all wrapped up after bath time. I find myself getting lost in a gaze when staring at this photo since it has the two girls I adore most in my life (of course it would be even better if my mom was in there too!), and will always cherish looking back to the first days of parenthood.

Being Sunday, I am making this my #MySundayPhoto post as well, so hopefully Darren, the kind host from One Dad 3 Girls who, is obviously a father to 3 girls, doesn’t mind. If you haven’t checked out his blog, you’re missing out on some excellent photography. Not just kids, but beautiful landscapes and architecture as well. For this reason, I’m nominating Darren for this 5 photos, 5 stories challenge as it seems right up his alley and something he already does. Should he choose to accept, be on the lookout for 5 stunning photos with an accompanying story!

So this guy, a divorced dad with a beautiful daughter and a Russian KGB hamster named Hammy, nominated me to take part in the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge and I have accepted. Okay, he’s actually my good blogger friend, Gary Mathews, and he’s full of witty sarcasm and lots of love for his precious girl. Check out his blog if you get the chance, he always has a great story to share about his day.

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge require you to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo (It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph) and then nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge. Accepting the challenge is entirely up to the person nominated, it is not a command. I have no clue on the origin of this thing, but hopefully you’ll enjoy what I have to share.

Excitement (or was it lethargy) filled the air the first day we brought Avery home from the hospital. You know that new parent feeling of having to be so delicate with every move you make so as to not break your precious cargo/baby? Yeah, that was us.

I remember being stunned as I watched a nurse handle Avery at the hospital and thought any move faster than the trickle of tree sap was too much. With a year and half under our parental belts, I am more confident with tossing Avery around to do flips in midair, but will never forget that feeling we had with newborn Avery.

Seriously, so much innocence and beauty. Despite being tired because, hospital, and having nothing to eat I still went on a hot run fueled only by the excitement of being Dad. Okay, and I’m stubborn/stupid as my wife and mom would say. Sometimes it’s hard to disagree.

We were lost with what exactly to do that first day, but luckily my mom and grandma (visiting from Pennsylvania) were there to get in the way give us support.

Today I am nominating Gil Noriega from FanDads.com, who is partners with his friend, Victor to talk about video games, comics, toys, movies, and, oh yeah, being a parent. They have been featured on multiple sites and have plenty of content for all types of dads from geeky to sporty, or a little of both like me! Check them out, maybe you’ll see a new toy that they reviewed and you just have to get it. For the kids, of course.