I know its hard to believe...

...but even our beautiful daughter Lea is showing signs of partaking in the terrible twos. Before going farther, I should let you know this is Brian, making my first post on our blog. The last couple of weeks have moved me to post some pictures from our recent adventures, and more importantly, to give some much due credit to my amazing wife...
We saved up our money and combined a work trip with some vacation time to take a trip out West to Montana and Wyoming. We spent a day in Yellowstone and a few days at a dude ranch (it was a little wild and a little strange making our home out on the range).
Artists Point (above) and Bison Jam in Yellowstone and HF Dude Ranch in WY below:Anyway, back to my reason for posting. Lea was an absolute rock star during all of our travels, but since returning from our trip Lea has been having a slightly rough transition. She is a little bit testy (although it should be noted she also has a slight cold too) and she has started to really test us on a number of things. One of those is her willingness/ability to go to sleep. She has almost completely stopped taking naps and she resists going to sleep at bedtime now too. You can imagine that this is especially difficult for Paige, who most directly feels the brunt of the napping (and I must also add that Paige got up with Lea at 5am this morning).

Knowing this, fast forward to tonight. We sing our customary 4 bedtime songs and begin to leave the room. This is when the crying has been beginning recently. As I try to shuffle quickly out of the room, I hear the little angelic voice of my daughter say "Momma..." My first thought is to get out of the room quickly so that she might forget/not realize we're there. Even though she's been on duty since 5am with Lea, Paige's response is to say "what sweetheart?" Lea then asks, "Momma be right outside?" To which Paige answers: "Of course Lea, Momma is right outside the door. I'm always here for you."

I think about how lucky I am often, but tonight this struck me more than normal. Paige is so committed to being an incredible mother, and you can absolutely see the results as she and Lea's bond gets stronger and stronger. To steal/paraphrase from Lou Gehrig, I truly feel like one of the luckiest men on the face of the planet. Here's some more proof...

Trike-a-thon 2009 at Lea's preschool (below):


Hiking on a beautiful SW VA Fall Day with her good friend Rylan (below):

Ending a day after a bath with her momma (below):