11 weeks already!

Its hard to believe, but Taylor is 11 weeks old! Eden has been doing great with her, but I think she misses having her mommy to herself. Also, Eden's good friend Charlotte moved to Canada, so she's a little sad when she sees Charlotte's house.

Here's some recent photos:

Eden and Taylor July 2009

Taylor LeMercier Dresner

Taylor LeMercier Dresner surprised us by arriving 19 days early on May 27. Jeremy was a little shocked at 1:45 am when I told him that my water broke and we needed to get up. He said, "What does this mean?" To which I responded, " We're having a baby! Get up. Pack a bag, call the Dr., Call Brooke to stay with Eden." Then he called the Dr. and gave the answering service a combination of his work phone number and my cell number. Needless to say, some person got two voicemails from our dr!

Taylor's delivery was extremely easy - I only pushed for 5 minutes and out she came. She was 5lbs 4oz and 19 inches. Eden loves her and calls Taylor her "babe."

Taylor LeMercier Dresner

Its a girl!

Surprise, Its a girl! Yes, we're pregnant again and its hard to believe Eden's going to be a big sister.

Jeremy and I went in for my 20 week ultrasound this morning and found out we're having another girl, and she's coming sometime around June 14.

Any ideas on a name???

First Haircut

Eden went with Daddy to get his hair cut and then insisted on one of her own. She was so proud and sat so still. We're still laughing about it!

Christmas

We had a fun Christmas week with both sets of grandparents traveling to DC. Eden loved Christmas day, but was a little overwhelmed and had to take a nap before she could finish opening her presents. Books were one of her favorite gifts and I have to say they slowed down the present opening since we had to read each one before we could move on to the next gift. The day after we headed to Nana and Gramps' hotel to swim in the pool where she told Jeremy "I had so much fun!"

December 30 we headed down to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg for a night. It has a huge indoor water park. Every time we walked in Eden did a little dance of delight. Randy Stoker (Duke Law friend) drove over from Norfolk with his daughter Riley for dinner and she and Eden had a lot of fun together. It was fun to see part of the Stoker family, especially Riley since the last time we saw her she was three months old.

The next day Jenn and Adam Strach brought Maya to play in the water park with Eden. The two of them had a blast and Maya was very brave on the water slide. Eden's favorite was the wave pool. Jeremy and I decided that Great Wolf is a child's dream and an adults nightmare. But, it was fantastic to see Eden having so much fun. She kept saying "Whee" and would run up to us to saying "I'm having so much fun!"

http://www.greatwolf.com/williamsburg/lodge

Click on Eden's picture to see more photos from Christmas:

Christmas

Halloween Photos

Click on the picture to see our Halloween photos:

Halloween photos

Mickey Mouse's House

After we left Sarasota Sunday morning we drove up to Orlando for a day at Mickey Mouse's House. Eden had a blast, skipped her nap and was in awe all day. Her favorite was the Dumbo ride and the Mickey Mouse 3-d movie. After Disney, we drove back to Jacksonville to get ready for the movers who showed up on Tuesday morning.

Check out our photos here:

Disney

My Cousins!

No rest for the weary. Whatever happened to the wonderful month of relaxation we had planned?! Three days after the golf weekend we headed to Orlando where Jeremy played more golf with Manuel and Eden and I visited with Tina and baby Jake. We stayed for two nights and then traveled to Sarasota where Eden got to meet her little cousins and all of Jeremy's aunts and uncles.

Aunt Jane took us to the beach one day, Aunt Winkie had a fantastic family dinner and Uncle Phil threw a huge family BBQ/Swim party. You should have seen Eden around her cousins (who she kept calling "my cousins" or just "cousins"). She loved every minute until she decided it was time for bed and thats when she said "bye, bye cousins!"

We had a fantastic trip and really enjoyed seeing everyone. Thanks for the fun weekend!

Sawgrass and the King and the Bear

Jeremy returned from DC on Sept. 5 just in time for his buddies Cason, John and Randy to arrive for a golfing weekend, a.ka. Jeremy's postponed bachelor party. They were all lucky because a hurricane chose to hit Savannah, GA instead of Jacksonville the day before.

Saturday they tackled TPC Sawgrass and Sunday they headed down to the World Golf Village's King and Bear course. I think that at the end of it all they were all exhausted, but had a fantastic time.

Erie and the Great-Grandparents

The day after Jeremy finished work we got on a 6am flight to Erie, PA to see my grandparents. When we arrived it was a cool 80 degrees that felt fantastic after the sweltering heat of Jacksonville.

We stayed with my Godparents, Santina and John, and got to spend a lot of time with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandfather. We even took Great-Grandpa to the beach and then he and Eden shared some ice cream.

Jeremy left a day early to fly to DC to close on our new house and Eden and I flew back to Jacksonville. She surprised me and slept the entire 2 hour layover we had in Philadelphia. So nice!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Eden is 2! So hard to believe that she's growing up so quickly! Eden had the best time on Sunday at her birthday party with her friends Luke, Wesley, Kate and Ryn. We ate pizza, did an art project, swam in the baby pool and opened presents.
























































Round 2 for the cake


The next day Eden got to open her presents from her grandparents and us and had an absolutely fantastic time. Mamma and Grandpa went in with us on an art easel and supplies and all she has wanted to do the past couple of days is paint. Thus, we have taken a lot of baths.

Our little collector

NC Mountains

After returning to Jacksonville for just two days from our house hunting trip we went to the mountains in North Carolina with some of Jeremy's work colleagues. It was absolutely beautiful! I think the highlight for everyone was the hike along the Appalachian Trail and the amazing view of the mountains. Eden LOVED being in the backpack; she kept shouting "Double Time Daddy!"























Matt, Meredith and Double Time Daddy

Househunting

A lot has been going on in the Dresner house. On the first of August we started our drive, yes drive, from Jacksonville to DC to look for a new house. Smartly, we decided to stop off in Durham where we were lucky enough to see Heather and Matt and their new baby Meridian and Lauren and her son Nathan.






















Heather and Meridian, Me and Eden, Lauren and Nathan



We arrived in DC on the second and gratefully unloaded at our friends the Klingele's house. Cecelia and Jeremy clerked together in Jacksonville and now Cecelia is clerking for the Supreme Court. We love that we get to spend another year with them. In fact, there are another 2 Jacksonville clerks who are moving to DC as well, so we get to continue these great friendships.

We started our house search on Sunday and probably saw about 15 houses a day until Wednesday. We are so lucky to have great friends in the Klingeles and Brooke and David Thomas because without them taking care of Eden our marathon house hunting trip would have been impossible.


Brooke with the kids at the splash park

The craziness started on Wednesday morning when we decided to put in an offer on a house that already had one offer to review. It was a long, long day that ended up in a bidding war, but by 9pm we had a ratified contract and our inspection scheduled for 9am on Thursday.

WhooHoo! We're soon-to-be homeowners of a 3 bedroom 1 and 2 half-baths colonial house with a great yard that is only a 15 minute commute via metro for Jeremy! We close on the 4th of Sept and will probably move at the end of Sept.

We thought we could head home, but there's a lot to take care of when you are an out of town buyer! The plus side of this is we got to spend Thursday evening in Annapolis meeting Justin and Farracy's new baby Jackson and catching up with my cousins Barbie and Bill.










Eden did not cooperate for picture time


Finally, Friday evening we headed back to Durham for some pool fun with the Kings and a wonderful dinner with our friends Andrew and Carla and their new baby Noah.

Slumber party

Leah is in Orlando for work so we drove down to have an old fashioned slumber party. Decker was too cool to come too. Claimed she had to work the next morning :)

Tina made an amazing dinner and Eden loved Tina's pool. Jake has gotten huge and looks just like Manuel, and of course, Eden wouldn't let me hold him for long. Thanks Tina and Manuel for a fun visit and the mangos!

Breakfast!

Eden spotted the Nutella and had to have it. yummy!

Weekend at the beach

Jeff and Allyn went out of town and kindly let us use their beach house. Sadly, I didn't bring the camera so you could see the three foot hole Cooper dug in about 30 seconds or Eden's army of sand turtles.

We spent Saturday at the beach, ate yummy Yogaberry (we'll support anyone who opens a DC franchise), and went to dinner at Sliders with our friends Anndrea, Dan and their son Wesley. Eden does a happy dance while shouting Wesley anytime she sees him - I'll try to catch it on video next time.

Sunday was more beach and then lunch at TPC Sawgrass. We then made the flawed decision to drive home instead of giving Eden her nap at Jeff and Allyn's and listened to her scream for the entire 30 minute drive. Never again!

Beat the Heat

Jeremy and Eden share a treat










Cooper doesn't want to miss out

Fourth of July

We had a really fun weekend. The Fourth started off with a morning at the pool and then ended with fireworks with some work friends. We had an outstanding view:




























Saturday we headed out to Jeff and Allyn's place at the beach for an afternoon beach/pizza party with all of Jeremy's co-clerks. Of course the guys brought out the Guitar Hero and competed to see who could make it past the easy songs. Lets just say, everyone needs a little practice.

Then, Sunday we took Eden to the zoo. She loved every minute especially the giraffes, big cats and the splash park. She was not a big fan of the petting zoo however. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

























Checking out the lion
















Testing the water











Loves the carousel!

Blueberries!

A friend told us there were several local blueberry patches, so we headed out to Braddock's Blueberries near the airport to pick our own blueberries. We were so excited to have local produce since it is so scarce in Jacksonville. The blueberries were huge and sweet and each time Eden emptied her pail she said "more, Daddy, more!" After 30 minutes we left very hot and with 4 pounds of berries.


Eden enjoying her berries

Eating as fast as Mom can pick

Checking out all her berries