Eden's First Birthday - July 19, 2010

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, EDEN!!! We had so much fun watching her dig right into her birthday cake! She actually ate the entire piece too! Afterwards we celebrated by opening the birthday gifts from Kate and Bryan. I would say Eden had a fabulous first birthday!

Family Vacation (Cocoa Beach) - July 2010

This was our first true family vacation (and probably our last one taking the dogs with us!). We headed to Cocoa Beach to spend the week at the beach. Eden just started walking two weeks prior to the trip, so she was very excited and curious to check out everything. She couldn't get enough of the waves and the sand. We also were able to spend time with our friends Kate and Bryan who are expecting their first baby this December!

Visit to CA - June 2010

This was our first big family trip out west to visit my dad and stepmom. This trip was extra special because we got to meet my brother's new babies (twins - Damien and Barbie). Eden also was finally able to meet her Grandma Deb, too.

Florida Aquarium Playdate - May 15, 2010

With a group larger than 30 mommies, daddies and babies we headed to the aquarium for a day of fun. The babies loved looking at the fish and especially enjoyed the outdoor waterplay area afterwards. This picture is of Eden and one of her little friends, Jocelyn.

Eden - More Monthly Pictures

nine months

eight months

Busch Gardens - April 27, 2010

Eden and I went to Busch Gardens this past Tuesday (April 27th) for an MLM playdate. We were the first to arrive so I let Eden play around in the new Sesame Street Safari of Fun. She splashed and splashed for about an hour at Bert and Ernie's Watering Hole. Her favorite part was sitting on the water fountain... like she is doing in the picture. She had lots of fun and we're hoping to go again soon and bring John with us. Good times!

Doggie Beach - April 24, 2010

Another day at the Doggie Beach in Ft. DeSoto. Choochie and I have been going there for years! Chewbacca had his first trip before Eden was here and Eden had her first outing last summer when Grandpa was visiting from CA. The weather has finally warmed up enough to take the whole family for the day. This was our second trip out this year. The wind was blowing like crazy! The dogs were afraid to get in the water because the waves were pretty intense. We had a great time! Eden slept just about the enitire four hours we were there, but the dogs made the best of it. We can't wait to go back again!

Group Playdate at Sam's House - April 10th, 2010

Another fun and exciting MLM playdate!!! This was probably the best one yet! I think the parents even had a blast at this one! Good food, good friends, good times! Eden played the piano for the very first time and LOVED it! She played for a few hours with her little friends - rolling around and stealing binkies (as always). Finally, Sam and her husband, Rob, brought in the dogs and that's when Eden really showed her true colors. She couldn't get enough of Jersey (on the right) although I'm sure Jersey got more than enough of her. Meanwhile Scarlet (on the left) wandered about wagging her tail dodging Eden's frequent grabs. :-) Overall, we had a wonderful time. Once we realized we were there for almost seven hours we decided it was time to head home!

Eden's first Easter was so much fun! MLM had an Easter celebration at Lowry Park on Saturday, April 3rd. There were arts and crafts, lots of games and of course the traditional egg hunt! In this picture you see Eden on the left with her friend Joclyn collecting eggs in their basket. Afterwards, we headed to the zoo for the rest of the day and then on Sunday we had the family over to celebrate together.

Baby Playdate at Trina's

Daddies with their baby girls
Mommies and babies

Family Pic

Eden's playdate was at Trina's house this week. Since it was on a Saturday, John was able to join the group along with a lot of other daddies. The babies all played together, rolled around, and a couple are on their way to walking. Eden had the most fun trying to steal all the other babies' binkies! We had a great time and are looking forward to our next babies playdate!

Eden's First Trip to the Zoo

We had a really fun time today at the zoo, along with five other mommies and their babies! Eden really liked the stingrays, but LOVED the pink flamingos! She napped through Africa, so she missed the elephants, giraffes, and zebras. But that's okay... there's always next time!

Eden - 0-7 Months

seven months old

six months old

five months old

four months old

three months old

two months old

one month old

newborn - one day old

A Day at Busch Gardens

We had a wonderful time at Busch Gardens with our neighbors last Saturday! This was Eden's second time going and she seemed to really enjoy it! We played around in the Splash Zone in Jungala and we can't wait to go back when the Sesame Street Safari opens the end of this month!

Jennifer's Birthday Weekend

For my birthday this year we spent a few days at the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach. We had a wonderful time with the baby and the dogs. We were finally able to test out our new collapsable wagon (that we looked everywhere for and finally found at BJ's). Eden LOVED it! We walked along the beach and she was able to look out onto the Gulf of Mexico. This was a very special moment for our family. We are looking forward to many more trips to the beach!

St. Patrick's Day Playdate

Here are a few of the babies from our group celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

Moms Like Me

In December '09 I joined MomsLikeMe.com in search of finding other mommies like me (obviously!). I soon came to realize that there were not, or at least I thought there were not, many mommies on the site that also had their first baby in the year 2009. I decided to make my own group on the site and invited other first-time mommies to join. Now, three months later, we are having playdates two-three times a week and I have found some amazing and fun friends to hang out with during the day. This picture (Eden - 6 mos. old) was taken at a MEGA playdate at the Citrus Park Shopping Mall in Tampa in February. This was our first big playdate meeting other mommies from the site... although we did have a few smaller playdates along the way. Eden had a blast and now has lots of little friends to babble and roll around with. I am also having tons of fun getting to know the other moms around Tampa. It's a great excuse to get out of the house!!!

And here we are on Blogger...

What a great idea to blog about your family!!! I received an email from my cousin sharing her blogspot about their family, and of course I HAD to start one of our own! :-) This will be great spot to document all of Eden's adventures, milestones and firsts. I'll try to add in a word or two about John and I too... so everyone knows what we're up to now and then. I'm excited to start and hope to share this blog with friends and family... and hopefully inspire a few more to join in and start their own. Thanks, Megan for emailing me your link and exposing me to the world of Blogger!!!