May

The bulk of us celebrated Mothers day at G-Bobs house. We grilled burgers, played Cornhole and discussed whether or not the resident cat is actually male. Margie and I are not convinced.

We continue to enjoy our Sunday Dinners and took to the dock after supper on Seafood night. Brett bullied me and I sat upon tiny Ellen's shoulders. She's abnormally strong. 

Brett continues to work from home where he has joined me in the flower shop, become ecstatic about gardening, tested many recipes and taken to learning to handstand.

Mom hosted a tea party for us gals. Georgia, Carolyn, Margie and Ellen (and their assorted children came over) and we drank quick sips of tea between bouts of baby wrangling. It was adorably chaotic and I enjoyed spending a little time with Owen and Ethan. I feel bubbling pride when I hold these little fellas.

Little did I know I'd get to hold them again a few weeks later during a bust of a kayak adventure with Jordan and Alston. Little Ethan is sweet and serene. Own is a wiggly and busy, Giant White Baby. 

We call him GWB.

Brett and I stole Clint and Susan's boat from our own backyard and took Jeff and the boys out for Memorial Day weekend. To the men-folk, it was a fun adventure of a day. To the lone female with shockingly maternal instincts, that was crappin scary and dangerous and I don't think small children that don't know how to swim should be boating or swimming with their goofy dad and long-legged uncle.
We did swing by Papa Union's house on this grey, choppy day at sea and found Lee out fishing as usual. Lee has the miraculous ability to pull fish from our dock even though no one else really ever has and our neighbor Jeff looks over in outrage every time. Jeff tries and tries to catch fish. Lee Lee really puts him to shame.
Lee pulled up a redfish just in time for the boys to admire that "dock monster."

Brett continued to bully me. 

Lastly, and most important, Papa Union had a very sudden back surgery. There he was, minding his business with his tingling legs and numb toes when his doctor called on Friday afternoon. Doc had just taken a look at Dad's latest x-rays and noticed a chunk of bone pushing in on the nerves in his spine. At noon Dad called Ellen and I on a joined phone call which is a scary thing for a parent to do with any sort of serious tone. By 3:00 he was checked into the hospital and hooked up to machines. Us gals didn't like it. He had his surgery early the next morning and everything went well. Right away his legs stopped clenching and twitching. He's gotten a bit better everyday and now has a big bionic brace to wear to keep his back properly supported. He's not allowed to do much and has limited mobility but Big Mama is taking great care of him and makes sure his superhero tendencies don't get the better of his healing time. We knew Dad was feeling much better by the end of this week when he looped back around to bathroom humor and asking Mom to change his diaper.
He's got 12 weeks of recovery ahead and we're just not sure we can keep him still for that long.