Page Previews for the Final Countdown!

Happy Hump Day Love, Daddy fans near and far!

We have a special treat for you today - sneak peeks of a number of our favorite pages in the book, complete with the finished illustrations and text!!

At the time of publishing this post, we are only $1,410 away from our $15,000 Kickstarter funding goal - over 90% there, with only 72 HOURS LEFT!  YOU could be the difference in helping to get our book published - please please support us and buy your own copy of the book for only $25 to arrive in time for Father's Day!

Without further ado, here's a preview of a few of our favorite spreads in our adorable children's book about a dad and daughter panda duo! Note these pages are not every page in the book - we've just pulled out some of our favorite scenes so you'll still have lots of surprises when you get your own copy!

First we'll share four select pages from the beginning of the book - showing our little panda growing from a baby in her crib, to a toddler being silly and running around, to her first day of school, and playing on the playground as she continues to grow and grow!

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We loved drawing the school bus scene - isn't it cute how the panda has her giraffe and elephant friends riding along with her? And can you spot her parrot friend with his backpack, and the catfish busdriver?

Here are FOUR MORE pages in the book from the middle and towards the end - holy cow you all are getting such an amazing sneak peek today! Now our little panda is not so little - she's a teenager being sassy expirementing with makeup, she's getting married as dad walks her down the aisle and waves her off for her honeymoon, and then there's dad as a grandpa reflecting on all of their wonderful times together as he looks over their many pictures on the wall!

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Can you spot little panda's giraffe friend in his finest bowtie at her wedding all these years later? And what about the confetti showering down on her cute little VW bug as she drives off for her honeymoon?

There's lots more where these came from - the book has 15 pages in all, so we've only shared half of them here! Check it out and get your own copy for your favorite dad and daughter team in time for Father's Day! Thanks for your support, we're so close!

Have a great day!

On First Steps...

Here are Mike's thoughts on one of the most momentous occasions in the first few years of having a child - when she starts walking!

"My daughter did not start walking until she was almost 2 years old.  For those of you parents that worry about the whole walking thing, well, don't worry because it will definitely happen.

For us, the day came one Saturday morning when she just stood up and took off like Usain Bolt in a new pair of winged shoes.  She must have run about twenty steps before sitting down at the other end of the living room laughing hysterically, almost like she was keeping this big secret the whole time. My wife and I cracked up too and breathed that collective sigh of relief. She was finally WALKING!!!!  Well, now she just can't STOP.  Thank goodness for baby-proofing and child safety gates!

This ended up being the inspiration for the line in the book, "ZOOM, like a race car speeding down the hall," which I felt would make a great visual for the spread.  Katherine has done a great job bringing this to life, and we can't wait for you to see the final result!"

Of course now we have to show you obligatory, beyond adorable videos and pics of baby animals taking their first steps because it's just too cute for words to see anyone tiny learning how to walk on wobbly legs!

Ahhhh too cute! And how about this gif of a little polar bear cub getting up on it's paws?!?!

Images and GIF all found via Pinterest.

We'll leave you with this cuddly ball of panda fur taking his first steps on film : D

BBC News found via Pinterest.

Do you have any funny or sweet memories of when your children first started walking? Or even your pets? We'd love to hear about them! 

Onions and Hugs

A cute story from Mike the author on a sweet exchange between him and his daughter... Kids say the darndest things. 

"The other day, when I was cutting onions, my daughter came up to me and gave me this huge hug on the leg and said "Daddy, don't be sad."  Honestly, I don't know how many of the tears were actually from that onion."

And since Mike's favorite comic is Calvin and Hobbes, this little scene seemed fitting...

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Have a great day, don't cut too many onions!

And we're live!

Hello and welcome to the Love, Daddy blog!

We are thrilled to have our online presence up and running, and so happy you've decided to stop by and check us out : D

We'll be using this blog to post more about the process of publishing Love, Daddy, how to purchase the book, relevant news for our book, and any other interesting tidbits we find around the interwebs regarding children's literature, panda bears and the color pink!

You follow us on Instagram here, or on our Facebook page here to learn more about the process and see pictures of how Love, Daddy came to be (spoiler alert: they are awesome!).

Here's a little something inspiring us as we sit down to draw today... Adorable, real life Daddy and Baby Pandas to get you through this chilly Monday!

Image for "Giant Pandas: Biology, Veterinary Medicine and Management" via Pinterest

Panda hugs from us to you! - The Love, Daddy team