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Harper & Abbey

One of the things i used to do when my daughter, Harper, was a baby was to sit down, once a week, and write down all of the things that she did that I found interesting.  I was so afraid that I would forget soemthing important, like the day she ate her first French Fry, or that first massive poo that she had that made me gag.

Eventually, however, this task became boring, a laundry list of things she did without context.  I wanted to document her life in a different way.  When Abbey was born, I became much too busy to do a list altogether, so for the first year of her life, I only have sporadic entries in my journal.

But one September evening, I had a strange little notion in my “idea journal”.  I thought, “Why not do a daily cartoon strip, ala Calvin & Hobbes, about my two daughters.  That would be awesome!”  Strangely enough, I did it.  And I have been doing it for almost four years now.  What started as a strip entitled, “Harper 3, Abbey 1″ is now called “Harper & Abbey” and features their daily exploits.

Though there have been a few “restful” gaps in between some of the cartoons, I have managed to keep a comic strip diary of my two, wonderful little girls’ lives up to this very day.

They started like this:

My artwork has improved a bit over time, as evidenced by the following cartoon done in 2008:

So this is where you can watch my girls grow up.  I’ll keep doing this until I completely peter out, but until then, enjoy the ride.  I certainly have.

To access the cartoons, go to the archive here.  You’ll have to go back a ways to Harper & Abbey 001, but they should all be there…