Monday, July 21, 2008

Showered with Love












On Saturday July 12, my dear friends here in L.A. County threw Baby Donovan and me an amazing and unforgettable shower!
Melissa, Daphne, Miriam, Carla, and Ashley (listed in order of appearance in photo #2 above, from left to right) put together the cutest, most creative "Jungle Babies" theme, with sophisticated tropical flowers as the centerpieces, safari fabrics and netting, adorable labels for everything, and even baby monkey, giraffe, and elephant stuffed animals peeking out from various locations. The baby shower was held in a big room in our church.
My sweet little party planning committee had some of the guest personalize/decorate baby onesies, beanies, and shirts beforehand, and when I arrived, they were hanging from the ceiling on clothes pins and twine. One of my favorites was the little shirt shown in the last photo that my friend Jenny painted that has a globe and the verse John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son; that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." Precious!
Baby Donovan was showered with gifts and received a lot of cool stuff! Opening all of these CUTE baby accessories, furniture, and clothes makes our baby's imminent arrival more "real." What was surreal (kind of like on your wedding day) was the fact that I was the pregnant lady at her baby shower... I'm the pregnant lady. I'm about to have a baby. I'm going to be a mom. WOW! There's no turning back now, haha!
Guests got to take home baggies of sweet treats from these fabulous candy bins, complete with little ties that read, "Can't wait to meet you. Love, Donovan." :o)
Thank you, my wonderful friends, for such an amazing day! I am still beaming just thinking about it. Your hard work and creativity was so evident, as is your incredible love for me and your little soon-to-be nephew.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Introducing...

Several of my friends guessed the name right away...you little geniuses you! So, the suspense is over. We are naming our son...drum roll please:

Donovan Briggs Merrill

Donovan means "dark haired, darke skinned warrior" and we just really like the name. Briggs is a Merrill family name. It is Josh's grandmother's maiden name, and his and his dad's middle name.

Pretty cool, huh?

Acceptable nicknames: Dono (i.e. "dawn-oh") or Van
Nicknames no-no's: Don or Donnie.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Name Game

Josh and I chose a name for our baby...but we are going to play a little game before we reveal it to you. (I know exactly who's cringing right now. Hey, our baby, our name, our rules, heh heh heh!) A few of you already know it, so don't spoil it for the rest...

I'm going to give you several clues. You can leave your guess or ask a question by using the "Comment" button below. Your clues for today are:

Landon
Restaurant
Eagles but formerly Syracuse
Not biblical

The clues will get easier as we go along...

P.S. Baby Merrill turned 25 weeks on Sunday and is moving A LOT!