Giving Thanks

I'm going to be a copy cat and just hope that my BIFF Mandie truly believes imitation is the greatest form of flattery and is so happy I FINALLY got around to blogging again, she doesn't care. Her Thankful post the other day inspired me to blog about the people I'm most thankful for. Sorry, it's a day late.

So here's the top 5 people I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

1. My husband. I'm thankful to have a husband who is a true partner in every aspect imaginable. Thankful for a husband who gives babies baths with more gusto than an exhausted mama can muster at tne end of the day. Thankful for a husband who in all honesty does more of the late night paci insertions, patting back to sleeps and settling downs after bad dreams than I do. Thankful for a husband who e-mails his boss at 4 am to tell him he's going to be late when I wake up with a 101 fever in the middle of the night (and then loads up two kids in the car and high tails it to the pediatrician's office that morning to get a double ear infection diagnosis). I'm thankful for a husband that strikes just the exact right balance between his responsibilities to provide for our family through a job he loves and his responsibilities to give us all his love and attention. I could go on and on...

2. Joseph. I'm thankful for the way he makes me laugh EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. The exuberance and intensity he brings to EVERYTHING.SINGLE.THING he does. For the hilarious things that come out of his mouth. For providing me, through his antics, with countless Facebook status updates. Thank you for making me a mom and showing me what unconditional love means. For showing me how perfectly two people's genetics can blend to create one perfect, beautiful, vibrant little person.

3. Conrad. I'm thankful for him finally giving me the opportunity to experience the way your heart warms when a newly awake, still sleepy baby greets you with the sweetest smile and baby babble the minute they see you walk in a room (Joseph doesn't really wake up in a good mood). For being a calm, predictable, happy little personality. I'm thankful for the way he watches his brother with an intensity that says "I want to do everything you do". I'm even thankful for those afternoon naps that sometimes don't last so long. Sometimes they make me stop the toy cleanup and laundry doing and dishwasher unloading and just sit and rock a baby while I drift off to sleep myself. I'm thankful for him making our family just a little closer to being complete.

4. My Mom & Dad. They continue to show through example that your job (and sleepless nights) as a parent never really ends. I'm thankful for a mother who on a May morning rushes to you on the first plane she can catch when all hopes and dreams are crashing down around you. A mother who says "I'm coming down there" before you can even get the tear choked request out of your mouth. For a father who spends an entire week of vacation hauling boxes and driving across the country and organizing cabinets and closets when you decide to move 14 hours away with a 2-year old and 2 month old. I'm thankful for parents who love my babies the way I love them and don't mind responding to their 6am wakeup calls so Mommy and Daddy can make the teeniest of dents in the 3-ish years of sleep deprivation we've accumulated.

5. My brother (and Renee too!). For continuing to be my partner in crime in harassing my parents for doing things like wearing bright orange reflective vests when they take walks in the evening and buying TV dinner trays so they can eat dinner in the living room while they watch TV. For being witty and funny and making me laugh with crazy antics. For picking a chica who's the complete opposite of the crazy, psychotic future-sister-in-law I could have ended up with. And for the future nieces and nephews he'll give me (hopefully sometime BEFORE my kids are old enough to babysit for them). I might even be thankful for that sometimes ornery, high maintenance personality that seems to have made it's way into my first born's DNA. At least I know what to expect since I grew up dealing with it (Disney World won't be the most magical place on Earth for us).

And some honorable mentions (again, no particular order):

* My extended family. I'm thankful for countless childhood memories. The glazed donuts at the Star Market lunch counter with Grandma Carras. The collectible crystal pieces I still treasure from Grandpa Carras. The popsicles and special treats and over-the-top spoiling by Grandma and Grandpa Conrad. The girls-day-out trips that my Aunt Kathy, Aunt Pam and Aunt Janice always included me in. I'm thankful for the football games and basketball games that Aunt Kathy and Uncle Larry came too regularly just to cheer me on with my poms-poms on the field. Thankful too for my Aunt Risa with her generous heart (and Uncle Lou too for the countless laughs over the years). For my cousins and built in best friends...for going along with some of the wacky games I came up with (Olympics, Saratoga Race Track) and putting up with my...hmmm...sometimes slightly bossy personality. I love you all and am happy to live closer to you all.

* My friends. The in-real-life ones and the interwebs one. I'm thankful for the times you've been there to celebrate with me and the times I've been sad and disappointed and you've cheered me up. For people like Anne and Erin and Lauren, for the inside jokes and hilarious memories. For Mandie and the e-mails in the middle of the tough afternoon that make me LOL, literally. For Harmony and Mandie who are still some of the only people in my life that completely understand that no matter how long it's been, there's still a tiny piece of your heart that is sad this time of year. I'm thankful for their blogs who make me feel close even when thousands of miles separate us.

* My in-laws. I'm thankful for the way they accepted me into their family without any of the weird jealous "you're stealing my son/brother" dramatics that so many crazy in-laws pull. For the way they'll do anything for us and they way they love my boys unconditionally.

* Sofia, my 3-morning/week nanny who saves my sanity many days. I love the way Joseph yells "Sofia coming today! YAY!" and jumps up and down in the morning and the way Conrad lights up when she walks in the house. I'm also really thankful for her laundry folding skills and the way I leave with 3 loads in process and come home to 2 hampers filled with folded clothes.

* Barack Obama. Despite being part of an ever shrinking group that feels this way, I still think YOU ROCK!!!! I'm thankful for the holidays we'll share when one of my boys marry Sasha (she clearly is going to like younger men) and we share grandchildren.

* Price William and Kate Middleton. Thanks for giving me something to obsess over for the next 5 months. I'm thankful for the fact that your romance can allow me to be naive and believe that yours will be the royal romance that finally lives up to the fairy tale. And of course I'm thankful for the future princess who will marry my other son. I've got lofty expectations for my boys.

So there you have it, my 2010 thankful list. And Mandie, in case you don't subscribe to the whole "imitation is flattery" thing, I'll throw in some overt flattery. Y'all need to check out her blog. It's hilarity in blog form. Seriously, this girl needs to write a book.