Not such a bad day after all . . .

As I should well know by now, the days you expect to be the worst often end up surprising you.

As soon as I hit publish on yesterday's entry, and the Mad Hatter gave me such a heartfelt and unprompted apology, my day did a complete 180.

And of course I edited my post to note that.

And I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments that made me feel like I'm doing something right as a mom to have such a wonderful little girl.

From the moment she apologized, she was the sweet little girl who makes me smile ear to ear and feel lucky that I get to be her mommy.

I went to massage therapy.

It was great, not torturous as I normally find it to be.

I need to open my mouth and be honest more often when the therapist is hurting me - it really helps. What a concept!

My cleaning lady came and gave me sparkling bathrooms and a clean kitchen floor (please don't judge - we must remember that I am out of commission and there are only so many things Daddy can keep up with around here. Even with her help, I still feel like things are never perfect around here!).

My mom, MH, and I went to the beach, where it was an absolutely glorious day.

We got to enjoy watching this:

MH loves to play with her friend B, who just turned 5 and is absolutely gorgeous (not to mention the daughter of one of Mommy's best friends).

And this: The hole that our friend S dug was almost as deep as MH is tall!

And we had our first frozen novelties from the beach snack bar. Yes, that is supposed to be Dora, and this Mommy even got a matching one. MH exclaimed to everyone that we were twins! By the time she was done, she was one big sweet, melty, sticky mess - the only way to be if you're gonna eat pops on the beach!

MH spent some quality time with my Godparents, Uncle A. and Auntie S.

Last summer MH refused to talk to Uncle A., but spent the whole summer telling everyone else "Uncle A. sad.", while refusing to understand that he was sad because she wouldn't give him the time of day.

One day, she actually pointed to an area far away and said "You go sit over dere.". And he did.

Auntie S. and Uncle A. retired last year and moved to Florida. However, they are home in RI and renting a place for the summer, so we are lucky to get to spend some time with them.

Yesterday, I got to watch Uncle A. love her the way he would love his own grandchild if he had one.

And she was a completely different girl - within the first 5 minutes on the beach, they were off on an a-venture walk to look for crabs in the rocks at the end of the beach. They swam together, played together, and I'm pretty sure he had just as much fun as she did - if not more.

My back was hurting me, I cried a little at the fact that Uncle A. stepped in to jump in the waves when MH requested that I join her and couldn't, but mostly I reveled in the fact that I am quite lucky to have the life I have.

Back pain or not, I was at the beach. With good friends and wonderful family.

Back pain or not, I got to giggle as I watched the new SMALLER size bathing suit I bought for MH still fall off of her non-existent little tush.

Back pain or not, my day was wonderful - the exact opposite of what I was expecting when I woke up.

Oh, and in case you were wondering?

My fantabulous new Cutco kitchen shears should be here sometime in the next week or so.