Turn That Frown Upside Down

Since we are going out of town for Thanksgiving, trip prep commenced today. Along with my usually daily chores, I did a few loads of laundry and ran a few errands. It is funny that our entire day was just summed up in one tiny sentence...

Loving the back carry for housework!

We went to the pet store to get Maverick some dog food and I, of course, let Ayden admire all of the animals. His favorites were the cats, the mice, the rabbits, the puppies and the fish.

Okay so I suppose he really loves all animals which I think is wonderful. I think that love for animals and general respect for living things are important traits for children, or anyone, to have for that matter. Animals can teach one responsibility, respect, empathy, love and loss and learning these things with a pet when you are young can help prepare you for experiencing them with people when you are older. My first experience with death was with my pet hamster, Gloria, as a child and my parents very wisely used it as a teaching opportunity. I plan to do the same for Ayden.

After the pet store I dropped off my precious external hard drive to be diagnosed and the prognosis was not good. When I got the phone call later tonight with news that they could not access the data and will have to ship it off I got anxious, so hot that I broke a sweat and I'm not going to lie, eventually cried. The price estimates didn't help. Apparently data recovery can cost a pretty penny. I realize that this is very much a "first world problem" but that doesn't change the fact that every photo and video since Ayden's birth is in jeopardy (the last time we backed it up was right before he was born and we've been a little busy and scatter brained since then...) and that those pictures and videos mean SO MUCH to this documentationaholic. I don't even want to imagine how I would feel if I didn't have this blog. The silver lining is that there is a small chance that the data can still be retrieved easily by this company with even higher tech equipment to do the job. Please cross your fingers for me...

After the hard drive I had to go by the Honda service department where I wasted an hour and a half waiting only to hear another outrageous estimate range for repair that we declined, hoping that David can just take care of it. When it rains it pours I suppose...

Now after writing about a couple of bad things that happened today, it is time to list four wonderful things (other than the obvious food, shelter, etc.)
1) Our little family is happy, healthy and thriving. Yes pictures mean a lot to me but they are nothing compared to the real thing!
2) I have a lot of baby hairs which means that my hair is in the process of returning to it's pre-pregnancy state. Woohoo! Was never a fan but now that I've experience worse I shall embrace it!
3) We are taking Ayden to meet all of David's side of the family in a few days including his 82 year old grandmother. It will be neat to have four generations together!
4) I get to decorate for Christmas when we get back from our trip! We will listen to Holiday music and drink out of Christmas mugs, wear Christmas socks and experience the magic of Christmas with Ayden. Can't wait!

See? I am already feeling better. Nothing that a good cry and refocus can't fix :). Anything bad happen to you today? How do you turn your frown upside down?

~ Sarah