Video from my longest distance baby shower!

I love love love the sweet messages from our family and friends.

I can't wait to see them and introduce them to Miss Piper!

And isn't that diaper cake amazing?!?

Make you banana pancakes and pretend like it's the weekend

Can't you see that it's just raining?

Ain't no need to go outside.

Today is cold and rainy. Not the typical Florida I am used to.

Mr. R. and I woke up late and then stayed in bed.

We finally dragged ourselves out from the soft sheets and quilt for breakfast.

I made blueberry pancakes with bacon.

And the whole time I kept humming Jack Johnson's song, banana pancakes.

Baby, you hardly even notice

When I try to show you this

Song is meant to keep ya

From doing what your supposed to

Waking up too early

Maybe we can sleep in

I'll make you banana pancakes

Pretend like it's the weekend now

We can pretend it all the time...

33 weeks and interesting dinner companions

Mr. R. and I had dinner with dinosaurs last night.

We are fans of the show Parks & Recreation on NBC and on a Season 2 episode the cast eats dinner at a dino themed restaurant called Jurassic Fork. To be honest, the premise of eating dinner with a T-rex while wearing a stegosaurus hat intrigued me.

So after a year of talking about going we decided to bite the bullet and check out T-REX.

We had entrees named after dinosaur species and I can personally vouch that the pterodactyl fish tacos are worth trying. We also saw a meteor shower and visited an ice cave complete with a wooly mammoth. The science geek in me was super excited about the geodes, fossils, and fake dig they had set up for the kids.

I think its a safe bet to say we will be going back with Pippa in a few years. Mr. R. is already working out plans to find a way to privatize the Smithsonian's food service and have to run by the T-rex people.

So... DC friends, if he has his way a T-Rex might be coming to you in the near/but still far off future :)

Magic @ the Kingdom

Mr. R. and I have just a few days left on our Disney annual passes.

And let me say, that it has been awesome to go to Disney whenever we want. I am getting very spoiled living down here in Florida with the beaches, theme parks, and 360 days of sunshine.

Yesterday we decided to take a day off from working on the office and head to the Magic Kingdom for a:

• haunted mansion tour
• sing-a-long with pirates
• spin on the carrousel of progress
• trip around the world
• and flight over late 19th century London
  We also saw Minnie save the castle from the evil Queen (very Kingdom Keepers), took in a parade, and found Nessie.
  
  She just happens to be made out of legos and live at Downtown Disney.
  
  Also, Mr. R. discovered the BEST DESSERT EVER.

A peanut butter fudge filled oreo.

Office Progress Day 3:

First up: Home Depot Trip for Martha's curtain rods

Fancy pants window treatments

(thank you Pier1 clearance rack... $24!)

The bookcase...

Mr. R. has a ridiculous amount of books and now they have an organized place to live.

The books are now stored along side his George Bush jack-in-the-box, creepy Newt Gingrich picture, and Cowboys memorabilia.

The media room rug moved into the office as did a comfy chair for reading...

As you can see Simon promptly claimed this chair as his!

Mr. R's desk and video game center.

I think we all like this office/man cave makeover!

Stay tuned for wall art, the sofa bed, and new hardware.

Office Progress Day 2:

Stencil

Sponges and paint

An entire roll of Blue Tape used & Mr. R. on touch-ups

A finished accent wall!

I am feeling pretty pleased with myself.

One task down, 14 more to go...

Stay tuned!

Mr. R's Office

Before:

During:

As you can see we are still painting Casa Republican. Once you give me a brush and roller I can't seem to stop. Mr. R.'s office is actually the last room on the PIPER IS COMING FINISH THIS STUFF NOW to-do list.

Mr. R's painting shorts crack me up. They date back to our first painting project of September 07. You can see all the colors we have used in our various rooms and on our furniture since then. I hope he never gets rid of them. They are our wearable time capsule.

This is our music station.

Pandora 80s pop makes the time fly by.

Mr. R. picked out the color, mariner blue by Behr.

And thankfully the walls only needed one coat plus a few touch ups.

One gallon at $19.50 was all that was required.

The accent wall will contain a copper filigree stencil.

I think in a past life I was Debbie Travis.

The plan for the rest of this week is to tackle:

• curtains
• desk & printer
• guest bed and nightstand
• internet hook-up
• book & file organization
• wall art
• and storage

Wish me luck!

Mr. R. Goes Shopping...

Mr. R. here. Today we made our monthly trip to Costco at the St. Johns Town Center. In addition to the excellent “senior buffet” (free samples) that Costco offers, we often enjoy strolling around the other shops to see what’s new or if we can find a good sale.

Mrs. R. LOVES to shop at Anthropologie. For those of you who are not familiar with Anthropologie (mom), it is a store that sells clothes and fashion accessories with an inspired French Provencal look. Another way to put it is, they charge a lot of money for faux-vintage crap.

I agreed to go to “Anthro” today because I agreed that Piper’s dresser from Ikea needed better-looking drawer knobs. After finding six knobs Mrs. R. would agree to and spending over $50 (!) on the knobs and NOTHING ELSE, the nice young lady at the register asked whether I preferred my receipt in the bag, or for the store to send it to me as an e-mail. Of course I wanted my receipt in the bag.

As I thought about this, I realized there were only two reasons why a store would offer to e-mail you a receipt rather than print it for you:

1. The store is committed to being “green” and reducing paper waste. This is what Anthropologie wants you to believe. I’ve often noticed they have workshops and presentations on green practices you can adapt for your home. HOWEVER, this is total and utter BS!

2. The store wants your e-mail so they can send you junk messages about sales and credit card offers; and sell your information to other companies. This is the real reason they want to e-mail you a receipt.

At this point you may be saying, “Mr. R., you’re being too harsh. How can you possibly know that Anthropologie is not committed to being green?”

Well, friend, I know Antrhopologie to be full of it, because not only did they give me a bag in which to carry six drawer knobs, but they also wrapped said knobs in copious amounts of paper. So much for being green. Went in looking for six knobs, and came out with six knobs and a tree branch.

I’m not trying to belittle the whole “green” thing. I believe in being a good steward of the environment. I pay attention to my household energy and water consumption, and fuel mileage is my #1 issue when looking at new vehicles to purchase. But here is the dirty little secret you’ll never hear from a company like Anthropologie: I do those things because they save me money – not because I’m such a great guy.

Likewise, Anthro, and other companies aren’t embracing the green trend because they are good corporate citizens. They’re doing it because they know they can sell “green” products to you at a higher price. They’re selling you a product and charging extra on the self-satisfaction you receive from thinking you’ve helped the environment. This is why I have two general rules about shopping:

1. Never pay full price.
2. Never shop regularly at a store that has a philosophy.

Preparing for Piper

Today my mother and my mother-in-law are hosting a baby shower for me in NJ. As you can probably guess I am not there. There is no more flying for me until AFTER Pippa joins our family and Mr. R. was not about to be in a car with me for 18 hours.

I am so excited and honored that friends and family are attending my far away shower. The amount of work and thoughtfulness put into today makes my heart swell. Piper is one lucky little girl to be surrounded by so much love and so many great people.

I may not get to indulge on my Mother-in-laws wonderful food or my Mom's amazing baked goods, but we did reap some MAJOR benefits down here in sunny St. Augustine.

Piper has been gifted with:

A sporty car seat.

I love that it's called FUEGO! I will bet money that it matches her personality.

A pack in play complete with mini changing table and newborn napper.

Our good friends told us this was KEY to night-time survival those first few months.

An air filter.

Both Mr. R. and I were allergy kids plus we live in the pollen capital of America. Enough said.

An ExcerSaucer.

It plays music, has lights, and will move with her.

Should be a good time.

Video monitor.

Being able to see and hear her from across the house will be awesome. Mr. R. will be home with her during the day as well so it will be nice to know he can easily keep an eye on Piper.

From her antics in the womb, I think she is going to be one very sneaky monkey.

Beco carrier

She will be carried in style. It has some serious high rating and will allow us to be somewhat hands free. Yes!

I CANNOT stress enough how thankful, grateful, and amazed we are. We do not know or understand how we got so lucky in the family and friends department!

Hope to see many of you this summer. Our house has an open door policy! And if not, our new family of FIVE should be up sometime this fall!

32 (almost 33 weeks!)

I will be 33 weeks tomorrow,

but I can still claim 32 for a few more hours.

Piper currently weighs 4 pounds (as of my appointment on Tuesday) and is 15 inches long (a crown to rump measurement).

And just for fun...

This is what Simon & Sophie think strollers are for!

Let Freedom Ring!

Yesterday, at one o'clock, I waved good bye to my students for 10 days of glorious glorious spring break!

I was smiling from EAR to EAR as the final bell rang and my crazy 7th graders barreled out of my door towards the buses.

I got a text from Kristin stating that Spring Break celebrating would begin @ 5PM at Acapulco downtown. My counterparts celebrated with margaritas and $1 drafts. Mr. R. and I shared nachos.

We watched the sunset. We discussed body builders. I saw a music video where flowers and farting butterflies made sense. I laughed so hard that Piper kicked me in the ribs.

Viva Spring Break!