Brian & Laura Rhea

May

Early in May, we had the Birdwell Family Reunion (now it is the Birdwell/Mason/Rhea/Zan/Swasko Reunion...that's what happens when you have a bunch of girls that get married!) with my Aunt Susan and Uncle Bill and cousin Bonnie.  It was so great to get to be together and catch up with everyone!  We got to meet precious Christopher Steven, only a few weeks old! 

Can this seriously be the best shot I got of everyone?  Oh, but it can. 

Uncle Eric makes a balloon hat/cage!  he did balloons for all the kids - so fun!

 

The cousins!  second, removed, something like that...  Caroline, Clara and William - they loved swinging together!

 

"I'm on a boat!"

The following weekend was Mother's Day, and Brian made it very special...breakfast in bed, pampering all day :) 

And the next week..guess where we went?  5 Year Anniversary trip! 

 

New York will be getting it's own post...

Happy Birthday, Suzanne!! 

 

Happy Memorial Day!  Lone Star Park Horse Races...

 

With her buddy Nathan...

with the park's...

 

petting zoo!!  Clara looooooves animals!  she can make almost all of their sounds now. 

 

Our little Texan on her very first horse...about three seconds before she went absolutely ballistic. 

 

the main reason we went was for a microbrewery "festival"...which stretched the word "festival" really, really, REALLY far. 

Did I mention it was HOT?!

 

What is Memorial Day without a little swimming (at Dove Pool down the street) and cooking out with the Zan's and...

 

strawberry shortcake! YUM!

We actually cooked out and ate on the back porch a lot in May - enjoying the weather and a green backyard! 

This was the beginning of "baby monster"-- Clara growling...soooooo stinkin' cute!!!

Happy 50th birthday, Larry!

 

Go Rangers!

 

Clara had her 18 month check up and it went great!  She is right on track in every way.  She is still in the 90's percentiles for weight, height, etc., so she is growing good.  

I became a part of the pastoral team at church, which was REALLY exciting and something I'm very excited about.  I already did many "pastoral" things but this just made it a little more official and added a few responsibilities to my role, which I have so enjoyed. 

At the end of May, we went to see Dr. Anil Pinto for the first time for a consultation - he is a reproductive endocrinologist (fertility doctor).  We absolutely loved him!  We'd been trying to get pregnant for about 7 or 8 months at that point and decided it was time to take it up a notch (I had just been seeing my primary care doc).  I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which makes it difficult to conceive naturally.  He checked me out and confirmed the PCOS (classic case, he said) but seemed VERY confident he could help us.  Every step along the way he had a "plan," and wasn't surprised by anything, which I really appreciated.  He put me on several medicines and I came in for frequent check ups to see what effect they were having... and of course, we were just giving it over to God and trusting His timing, knowing He would bring our baby if/when the time was just right! 

And that was May! 

Clara and Brian playing, December 2009