40

Here's what's happening in my life on the day I turned 40: (yesterday)

Gabriel is growing, communicating more and more every day, and about to walk any day now. He loves books and music and is just a happy healthly little boy. He chased me at his top crawl speed around the house yesterday with a frenzied laugh and I am amazed by him all day long.

Jav is settling into his new job nicely, and is so glad to be rid of his hellish commute every day. He doesn't even get on a highway now. The three of us get to eat dinner together almost every night. He got me great birthday presents, including tickets to see Raul Malo, an Ipod docking station and charger for the car (which was actually from Gabriel, who loves to listen to Mommy's tunage in the car), and a Central Market gift card for a cooking class. I love him so much, and his patience for me and dealing with this crazy house and all of our animals amazes me all day long. We're trying, hoping and praying for baby number two.

All of our parents and siblings (including sister-in-law) and niece and nephew are doing great, and I love family get-togethers on either side. I wish sometimes that we could get both sides together more often. Cade is getting so big, but loves how Gabriel already worships every move he makes. Every time I see Macy, she warms up to me a little more and I get to know her very unique and cute personality.

I just watched "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", and it reminded me of how much I love my friends and am thankful we've made the efforts to stay close all these years.

I love seeing my Goddaughter Grace growing up and turning into a beautiful, smart and very artistic girl. We have her artwork up here and there all over the house. I'm also glad about getting closer to Gabriel's Godparents, Keith and Christine, and being a part of Jav's Godson Andrew's life.

My furry kids are all ok for the moment, with the Wonder Dog Stanley still hanging in there despite all odds. Gabriel and I get up early and walk both dogs so that Stanley will have a good day. We thought Bones (our oldest and mostly outdoor cat) was really sick, but it turns out he used up another one of his lives (we figure he has about 6 left now) and is actually ok. I'll have a separate posting about this later. Fred is doing SO much better now that his problem teeth are gone. He's starting to gain weight and we see him all the time now. Henry is a much happier camper now that we are letting him out in the backyard every morning. And Zoe and Molly are just happy, like always. (Interesting that the two female furry kids are the ones with no problems).

I might have a job working from home on my own schedule, which truly seems like a gift from above. I'll know more in the next couple of days.

I love my book club girls, and the chance to get to read all kinds of different things.

My favorite TV shows of the moment are Big Love (who knew a show about polygamy would be SOOO delicious and addicting?), Saving Grace with Holly Hunter (she could be on the Gong Show and make it a good show), and Top Chef. I can't wait for The Office to start up again.

The best movie I've seen lately is Little Miss Sunshine. I could watch it over and over and never get tired of it. The movie I really want to see right now is Breach (about spy Robert Hanson). The movie we just finished was The Tao of Steve, which is just such a charming movie.

My great achievement of the moment is that Jav and I cleaned out the garage over the last two Sundays and are selling all of our stuff in a garage sale at Jav's sister's next weekend.

We finally got the new squirrel-proof birdfeeder up in the front yard and have at least two cardinal couples and all kinds of other birds eating like crazy now.

One bad thing about my birthday is that Barry Bonds bogusly (is that a word?)broke the homerun record. Other things in the national news are the fallout from the Minnesota bridge collapse last week and the miners in Utah that are stranded with people working around the clock to get to them. The biggest topics worldwide are Global Warming (finally) and Iraq and the continuing violence in the Middle East.

There are some things I'm sad about - slowly losing Stanley, missing my grandparents and wishing they could have seen Gabriel, missing a really good friend that I had for a long time but don't now, and on a large scale, realizing how little people care about the planet and protecting all the diverse plants and animals on it. But all in all, my life's never been better. I wake up and feel pretty old first thing in the morning, but it always works itself out during the day. It's a good life, and I'm thankful for all that's in it.