Baby Shower #2!

For some odd reason, we didn't include John's parents in this picture! I totally didn't even realize until later that we didn't get a picture with them, too! But, here we are with the six Zimmerman's (inc. baby Rivers in utero!). They hosted this Texan shower at their beautiful new home!

The Phillips Trio...which, ps, did someone put a basketball under my dress?!

**Thanks to Courtney for the pictures!**

John was a groomsman in a good friend's wedding this past Saturday (the 19th) in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. So, we decided to fly into good ol' DFW ahead of time and spend some time in Texas visiting family and friends! John's family threw us a baby shower on Thursday evening, the 17th. It was so great to have lots of family and friends all confined in one space! It's always tough to see everyone you want to when you have a short trip, but this way, we were able to see lots of people in one spot.

For anyone that has ever stepped inside our living room, dining room or kitchen, they know we are huge fans of black and white decorations. There's just something about the boldness and contrast that's so pretty. Well, all of the decorations and food at the shower were black and white themed! Including a ridiculously yummy cake that was chocolate on chocolate, mmm. I may or may not have had several slices of leftovers the days following the shower :o) It was all so pretty! AND, we got to keep the leftover, oh-so-pretty napkins to use in our own kitchen (they match great!).

This shower was also a gift card shower, because let's face it, it's near impossible to lug stuff back on airplanes these days. Although, a few people did give us some small gifts, so that was fun to open! The most favorite being, "The Jesus Storybook Bible". I have given this Bible out as gifts after first discovering it via this awesome blog, Bring The Rain. And, I have been meaning to reorder some copies for other people and especially for out beautiful baby on the way. SO grateful to have been given this gift at the shower. Everyone needs to look up this Bible. I can't ever put it down. It does such an amazing job at showing how each story in the Bible points to Jesus. Just like it says on the cover, "Every story whispers His name". So very true and it is easily shown all throughout this amazing Bible.

Once again, we have been overwhelmed with gratitude toward our family and friends. Even if I seemed a little disheveled at this shower (turns out I sprained a rib which then caused a pulled muscle, double the pain! Yikes! So, I was a little out of it), I could not have been more fulfilled to see so many people love on John, myself, and this little baby. Especially since we don't get to visit Texas as often as we'd like. I can't even explain how much we love this baby and are so thankful to have yet another chance to celebrate the life God is growing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Oh, and a quick tally on boy or girl votes, two young ladies at the shower told me they think boy! Then, a random stranger in the airport on the way home insisted we were having a boy based on my belly. And, the other day a lady in the grocery store asked if we were having a girl. So, the votes keep coming in, but they keep stacking up on the blue side! Our niece, Anna (the cute little blonde next to her mama in the picture above), made a card for the baby that she gave us at the shower. It says, "Baby, are you a boy or a girl?" John and I often ask the same question to the baby ourselves, Miss. Anna :o)

Baby Update!

Latest belly picture from last week. 27 weeks 3 days!

**Next post will be on our second baby shower in Texas this past week!**

Had the 28 week appointment this morning! So, today included my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes (I'll find out the results the end of this week or beginning of next) and my RhoGam shot (I am one of the few lucky ones that have a negative blood type!).  Sweet baby was moving and scooting like a mad child (per a usual day) while the doctor listened for the heartbeat. And, the baby punched the doppler! The doctor and I both laughed. I have been wanting to hear the baby do that every stinkin' appointment, so I enjoyed it :o)

I am officially gaining weight and I think gone are the days of trying to play catch up in that arena! And, my fundal measurements have always measured about a week or a week and a half ahead. Well, today it was 3 weeks ahead! The doctor said it was a measurement of 31 weeks and it took me quite a while to even process that number! He said if I'm still measuring ahead the next appointment, we will have another ultrasound to see quite how big this child might be. I've always loved chunky babies, but not really for delivery day...We shall see!

Today, on the way to the doctor's appointment, John and I were listening to the latest Passion album, "The Awakening". Right as we were pulling into the parking lot, the song "He Loves Us" sung by David Crowder Band (on this album anyways!) came on. We just sat in the parking space and listened to the rest of the song before we went in. I really had to fight tears through the entire song. It's one of the worship songs I cried my eyes out to the day after we found out our first baby stopped growing. So, with the baby in my belly, and unknowingly at the time, just a few hours before we had that baby, I sung as loud as I could.

Today, that song has a double meaning. It helped walk me through the sorrow of losing our first child and was used today to remind me how much we've been blessed with this baby in my belly today. He's allowed us to feel little baby kicks, to see pictures of life again on an ultrasound screen, and revived the hope of bringing a baby home from the hospital.

Regardless of the good or the bad, oh how He loves us.

Baby Shower #1!!

Our first baby shower invites! How adorable are those?! And, yes, that is a baby picture of me and one of John :o)

The only picture I have of our first shower! (And, I stole it from Sarah's Twitter, thanks!) Jennifer G took some pictures for us, but I just haven't gotten them yet. So, there's us and the super yummy cake! The inside of the cake was the top layer colored pink and the bottom layer was colored blue. How cute is that?!

Well, let me tell you, these ladies pulled off such a fun shower! There were pink and blue decorations everywhere, so adorable. I already told you about the cool cake, which was super yummy with raspberry filling (I may or may not have wished I had some here at the house this morning...). Everyone was instructed via the invite to wear pink or blue depending on what they thought we were having. I repped the pink and John repped the blue. We came as a unit and wanted to show we will glady take either!! There were two "ballot boxes" set up where people could put their card (we did a gift card shower since it was much easier to travel with) to vote whether they thought we were having a boy or a girl. Each box was decorated pink or blue! Then, for the shower games, we did lots of old wives tales to figure out what we are having!

Now, much to our surprise, both the old wive's tales AND the ballot box votes came out to...

BOY!!

John and I were both shocked! We were expecting the ballots to come out to girl! I think mainly because the only thing people have said in conversation is that they think we're having a girl. So, we just kind of assumed everything would come out to girl. John and I kept laughing that if God had a sense of humor, we would end up with a boy and everything in the scrapbook would look all pink from the shower, haha. But, we expected wrong!

I think we have both just kind of guessed girl without really having any strong assumptions, so we walked away from the shower really believing that we will be totally surprised when this baby comes along! People ask me all the time if I think I know what we're having, so here's my response, in case you're wondering, too!

"If I had to make a guess, put a gun to my head to take a jab at it, I would say girl. But, I don't really have any basis for that! Some days I think boy, some days I think girl! So, we'll just have to wait and see! Either way, we couldn't be more excited!"

If you had anything to do with our shower...we LOVED it! So much fun, super yummy food and so great to feel all the love for us and the baybay. Plus, the gift cards were a huge blessing! We have already been able to get lots of essential items on sale (score!) and I have been overwhelmed with thankfulness. As many of you know, our major goal as a family right now is to get out of debt. I am glad to say we are making progress (although some days it feels like we are never going to get there!) and we have not created one new ounce of debt since we got married (and our wedding was debt-free!). It's nice to be able to purchase stuff for the baby with gifts from people that love us and this child. Thank you seems inadequate!!

We are having another baby shower in Texas at John's sister's new house on June 17th! We are so excited to see family and friends that evening (and week!). For all you Texas peeps, we are so thrilled it worked out for us to see all of you while we're expecting! All of you are such a huge blessing as well!

I just love that so many people love our baby, too :o)