The Wonders of Florida and Picasa, Part II

This morning I tested the Blog This! photo function for the first time. Surprisingly, ridiculously easy.

Next: the slideshow function (thanks, EEJ)! Easy as pie and much cuter than pie.

Sorry, got a little carried away with the captions. Hopefully they are at least somewhat entertaining given I slapped them on well over 100 pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Guess Where We Went For Five Days?

Matthew, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, July 2007

He felt right at home

Bridget digging to China

Beach bum BFFs Matthew and Bridget

More to come soon on the Muldrow-Delanty first ever take their babies to the beach vacation ... and lots of other firsts we all experienced along the way (hint: the word Barf is involved a lot).

UPDATE: Erin's blog has a hilarious recap of our fabulous (yes, it really was) time in FL. I'm not sure I can muster the energy to give you the blow by blow. Hers gets the highlights, minus a few details from the night just us Muldrows were up from 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. with a sick baby, a bowl, lots of vomity smelling blankeys and PJs, and some awfully bad TV.

Oh My Stars

Some of you know my interest in celebrities and gossip. Even though it's embarassing, it's there and I embrace my love of US Magazine and celebrity heartbreak and scandal and "Celebs! They're just like us!" photo spreads. And my God, the celebrity pregnancies...

Imagine my thrill when my friend Tina in San Diego informed me she got to attend the MTV Movie Awards in LA Sunday night. She and her friends were "seat fillers" aka cute and hot and fun and charmed the pants of the MTV dude. (Tina, I am awaiting a picture to post ...)

Upon my request, she provided an excellent detailed run-down of her celebrity sightings and observations. It was too good not to share:

mandy moore’s butt is huge. it almost knocked me out of my seat.

fergie is really much prettier in person – she is really short. she said hi to me on her way out of the bathroom. Cameron is pretty and tall too and really lean and tan but her personality was annoying. I expected them to have smashed in looking faces but they were pretty. Jessica biel wasn’t all that, but Jessica alba was. josh Duhamel is HOT.

heidi and spencer from MTV (Laguna Beach or the Hills???) are little tiny people with tiny tiny narrow builds. They are really pale and annoying. they sat two people away. Laura Conrad from that show is very very pretty and tall and skinny. The real world cast was really snobby and annoying.

paris is tall and skinny and walked right by us. she was actually really pretty. paris went to jail right after the show.

it was really neat to see jack Nicholson and Johnny depp. Johnny is a hermit and stayed back stage the whole time.

Rob from Rob and Big (MTV) is really really short but gave off a fun, nice vibe. the rappers were totally thugged out. Aly and AJ (sisters who sing) looked like 80 pound hookers with perfect hair.

will Farrell is hairy and ugly and big. rihanna is beautiful.

Now, I do have a hard time believing Mandy Moore's butt is that huge.

At least I hope to dear GOD it's not. Because I can't imagine what label might be applied to the rears of the rest of us normal human beings if Mandy freaking Moore (whose work I have been admiring on the Entourage Season Two DVD) is that big.

(By the way, Entourage is probably my favorite show. Makes HBO more than worth having post-Sopranos.) (Sniff, sniff.)

I hope this up close and personal celebrity information thrills you as much as it does me. And if it doesn't, and if you even think maybe I'm acting like a starstruck 16 year old girl, well, like, whateVVVVERRRR.

Matthew's Irish Twin

I can't help it, when I see my friend Kate's baby John, who was born just short of 11 months after Matthew, I can't help thinking of Matthew in his first few months.


I took the almost exact same picture when Matthew was a little guy. (Granted this post would be a lot more charming if I had that picture anywhere handy to post it.) It just made me laugh to see, us moms all think alike. Erin's done the same thing with Bridget. "I've got this pile of stuffed animals and he doesn't even care about it so (UGH - loading up stuff animals on baby noise) here you go, kid. Kodak moment time."

Then I saw THIS picture of the little man pushing himself up and I completely had another nostalgia moment for my own son when he was just a tiny little guy.


I remember taking a zillion photos of Matthew on his playmat, and it being so exciting when he was pushing himself up. They finally start to take on their Kid format vs. their Baby format and it's just SO much fun to watch.

Then I saw this, which just about put me over the edge.


Because in our house, as well as Tim and Erin's, and now Kate's, dogs are integral. Everything is baby and dogs and paws and bottles and dog hair and dogs stepping on babies and babies sticking hands into dogs mouths and it's just ONE BIG DOGGY BABY MESSY love fest. Having dogs and babies makes for twice the mess but ten times the fun. Well, not that I'd know the difference. But that's my position as a dog owner, twice over, and if I let my mind wander to how life could be better/different/CLEEEEANNNERRRRRRR without said dogs, I'd have to question our thinking and possibly sanity to have so many live bodies jammed into 1200 square feet.

Anyway - Kate is my best friend from high school and it's been thrilling to see all the photos of her little man John growing up these past few months. We have kept in touch since high school, and we've known each other since junior high. When THOSE friends are having babies, well, you're not just old, you're OLD and grown-up and officially into the next life phase.

It's not like when your co-worker has kids, or even your college or post-college friends. This is border line babies having babies (and I'm sure Kate felt the same way about me) to see your friend that you discovered curling irons and boys and sneaking beers and crying because you didn't get invited to the slumber party and hating high school and counting the days until graduation ... those friends ... having kids. It's the end of the line, we're here, college days ain't coming back, we have mortgages and spend the weekend "working on the yard" and running super fun errands like buying dog food and going to Sam's. We aren't kids anymore, and we ain't never gonna be again.

I wouldn't have it any other way. It's exciting and joyful and just all around, makes for a wonderful life. But (before anyone accuse moi of being cheesy) it's a huge huge huge change. And it was great talking to Kate for about TWO HOURS about this the other night. On the one hand, it was totally normal to talk about breastfeeding and birth stories and crazy (read: incredibly obnoxious) nurses bossing us around in the hospital. On the other hand, the whole time I'm thinking, is she holding her baby? Is my 13 year old friend KATE holding her CHILD while I'm talking to her? And is my ONE YEAR OLD still asleep in his BABY crib in his room? You see what I'm getting at. Just when you accept this complete life change as normal ... someone goes and pops out another kid and you're talking to them about "getting the kids together."

And you realize Kate's no longer just Kate, she's John's mommy, just like you're MATTHEW'S MOMMY and you will be in charge of that honor for the rest of your life.

But no pressure or anything ...

Gorgeous

That is all I can say when my friend Renae sent me those photos of her girls from their Father/Daughter Dance.


And no, I'm not talking about dad Steve (sorry pal, you know we love you but it's your daughters we go ga-ga for).



These girls have grown up before my eyes. I saw them as newborns, adorable babies, toddlers, little kids and now (God help me) young ladies who are so smart, beautiful, fun, funny and just all around great people. Well, it almost breaks my heart thinking about how grown-up they are.



I love you girls!

Speaking of love, my friend Renae has a love for two things (besides her kids and husband, of course). Giant ugly bugs, and giant floppy dogs.

So, here are some other photos from Renae, capturing her first loves.

This a REAL bug living outside their house. No, she doesn't live on Mars. It's a lunar moth. I think Renae would put out bowls of food, insert a microchip and take it for little walks on a leash if possible.



This is their new doggy Samson, who just got his summer 'do.


This "puppy" looked cleanly twice this size when we saw him two months ago, because he had his hair. This keeps him happy (and probably Renae too) with so much less hair (to clean) during the summer.

We miss these guys a lot. They moved to Arkansas over a year ago, just before I had Matthew and Renae had Max, pictured here, charming the pants off of you.


We're hoping to see them again soon. They are some of our oldest and dearest friends. Seeing their entire seven-person/animal entourage (minus the moth, plus super awesome dog Abe, not pictured) together in action is always one of our very most favorite things.

I now present to you for the first time ...

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan and Jessica Ehlert

Their ceremony was at Eliot Chapel, where Mike and I, and our good friends Lisa and Dave, also took their vows. The ceremony was beautiful. Jessica looked unbelievable. And they were both so, so happy.

By the end, the service had me crying, of course. Listening to Jessica and Ryan, such a perfect couple, taking the same vows that married Mike and I, and started our lives together, felt like a special little gift.

We've all been waiting for many months for this day. Jess and Ryan are just great together. And it's neat when you can watch a relationship from start to finish ... from the first mention from Ryan of "this new girl I've been seeing for a few weeks now" to meeting Jess and really liking her, to watching them date, show up at all the "friend events" together. Then realizing, they're really in love, watching them move in together, get engaged and finally Saturday, supporting them in entering their marriage ... the start of their life, their family. Not to get too sappy about it, but it's a pretty special thing. A really good day.

The reception was beautiful too, at Andre's. Lots of good friends and good times and GREAT food and hmmm, did I mention great drinks? (And yes, thank God, a shuttle bus.) Yeah, anyone who saw me the next day, could have filled in the blanks on that "great drinks" part of the evening.

They were also a VERY photo worthy couple. Jessica was just the perfect beautiful bride and Ryan couldn't have been happier, and it showed. Check out the complete album on my Picasa account.

Congratulations again, Jess and Ehlert. WE LOVE YOU GUYS! (Except right now while you're in Hawaii. Right now, we don't like you very much.)