At least 30 reasons to be SO VERY grateful!

About a month ago, I did a stupid thing. Very stupid. And I don't use that word very often. But what I did was colossally stupid. To make a long story short, I deleted ALL my pictures. They hadn't been backed up and I thought they were GONE. I cried for days. I cried for weeks.

Thankfully for me, I had a friend I could turn to. The first time he did a recovery, he came up with around 21000 pictures. Unfortunately, they were all crap. Either files which had been deleted previously or files which were way too small to do anything with (we're talking 8KB or smaller). And there was virtually nothing of what I was so sad to have lost - the first 7 months of Atlas's life!! How could I have been so daft?! So, away went my external hard drive to my friend again, who ran another recovery on it. Came up with nothing. I thought that was it, and I was trying to be resolved to this fate. However, to my great surprise and joy, when I went to pick up the drive, my friend handed me another smaller drive and said, "I was able to recover about 9000 files which I copied to this drive. Take a look and see if they are what you lost." He had gone the extra mile and thought he'd run a completely different recover program. He recovered almost EVERYTHING! I say almost because there are some random pictures I know are missing. But I'm definitely NOT complaining! What was recovered is so very precious to me, as you can understand. So... here are at least 30 reasons I am grateful:

1. Otto laughing with Andy at the zoo.
2. Andy, Otto and I outside out house on a Sunday morning.
3. Otto kissing my pregnant belly.
4. Our first looks at Atlas.
5. Holding Atlas in my arms for the first time.
6. Otto meeting Atlas for the first time.
7. A first photo shoot with Atlas.
8. Atlas asleep and bundled up on the quilt I made for him.
9. Otto hiding and surprising us at his grandparents (in the closet).
10. Otto helping take Atlas' temperature at the midwives' office.
11. Atlas lounging.
12. The cutest picture of Otto ever. Happy to stop jumping on the bed for one second to flash a million dollar smile for Mama.
13. Another million dollar smile. This time from Atlas.
14. Otto and Andy pouring water in the bath. This was too cute!
15. My handsome husband.
16. One of the many pictures I've taken of Otto in his bed with random things around him. This one is classic - he's asleep right in the middle of the hula hoop!
17. Otto blowing bubbles at a family reunion last summer.
18. Oh, my Atlas. What a little sweetheart!
19. Otto playing the harmonica for a ready audience of one.
20. Andy and Atlas having a wee nap together, hand-in-hand.
21. Otto's first pony ride.
22. Otto and Atlas laying on the quilt and playing.
23. Otto and Atlas in the stroller together.
24. Otto having fun with his cousins in our jumping tent.
25. The bandaid on Otto's head. He said that Pappy had got it for him. "Pappy, so nice."
26. A happy little Atlas!
27. The boys and Mama having some fun play time. They love all the bouncy songs and want to do them all together.
28. A quick kiss. (Can it get any better than this?!)
29. A bundled up Atlas.
30. A cute Atlas beside his favorite horse.

These are moments in my life and the lives of my family which I never want to forget and which I want to be able to share for years to come. Great memories, every-day memories. These are so precious.