Happy Birthday To You

My cousin and his wife had their first baby today.
Welcome to the world Brady Thomas. You have made Ryan and Whitney parents. My aunt and uncle grandparents.

It's all new and wonderful and I am very anxious to meet you. Your cousins are over the moon for you already.

There is so much you will learn over the course of this lifetime the sooner we start the better. Here goes.

Keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times.
Wait until the ride has come to a complete stop before unbuckling the seat belt.
Keep your eyes on where you are going, never where you have been.
You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose (when your mom isn't looking) but you can't pick your friends nose EVER.
Love your mama, listen to your daddy always.
Lean your grandparents phone number before you learn your own, you never know when you might need to call GiGi to give your side of the story first.
Don't put anything other than your elbow in your ear.
Eat your veggies, drink your milk and hockey and soccer really are sports no matter what others might tell you.
When you find yourself talking loud and someone asks if you are related to Christy, yes, you are you can't help it and neither can we but she's going to be a great cousin so it's a good thing really.

The competitive streak in you and the urge to argue or bet on just about anything is strong and a family trait you can't help, embrace it, practice using it, it will come in handy.
You come from a huge family and will find you are related to just about everyone you see for the first five years of your life.
Riding a bike is not really that hard and neither is potty training you can do it.
Sleeping is a wonderful thing and best if done in 8-9 hour stretches as soon as possible.

You have these amazing goldfish chubby hands that will wrap around your mama's finger perfectly it will melt her heart do it often.
As soon as you learn to smile and can crack out the first giggle don't be alarmed by the water that will come out of the eyes of those around you it's perfectly normal.
You'll eat your first Oreo, your first ice cream, your first french fry, your first jelly bely, your first piece of Uncle Tom's bbq tri tip, your first piece of Aunt Doreens cake, your Gigi's macaroni salad, and sooner or later someone will give you a beer. These are part of the wonders of life enjoy them in moderation.
You'll learn to play with Lego's and video games, hit a baseball, play cards, and even hit a golf ball. You will wear green on March 17th every year for the rest of your life and learn all about a cousin crawl.

Along with all of the people that are in love with you already and are really going to enjoy watching you grow there are a few people that gave you some kisses and and put those wonderful wrinkles on the souls of your feet before you arrived. Every precious wrinkle there is a reminder of those that hugged you before you left heaven and came down here to us.

So be a good boy, you'll have your moments, don't grow too fast and get dirty often, play hard always, boys really do cry and it'a ok and we all love you and always will no matter what.