Put the fire department on standby, I'm 40!

Sometimes life gets so busy, it's hard to keep up. There have been so many things I want to blog about, but haven't had the time -- Loki's double ACL surgeries and recovery, Dave breaking his hand while snowboarding, pregnancy updates, getting the house ready for little "Oliver" (that's his public code name right now), and a quick trip to London to see some good friends married.

Well, I might yet go back and update about those things, but right now I wanted to pause and wish myself a belated happy 40th birthday. Yes, I crossed that threshold on Wednesday and turned 40.

The trip to London last weekend was the beginning of my celebration. That was how I'd dreamed of celebrating turning 40 long before I became pregnant. I'd thought that option was out of the cards, though, until Marc and Lesley choose that weekend to get married. Suddenly, a 40th birthday in London was back on the table! (Although, I was technically back home in Chicago by the time my official birthday rolled around.)

Marc and Lesley were so sweet and even arranged for a birthday cake in the middle of their wedding day. It was perfect -- on their rooftop with views of Southwark (up until 6 years ago we could see Tower Bridge from their rooftop, now we had to be content looking at the surrounding hotels that towered over us.) Marc's Mum even baked and decorated a cake for me -- gorgeously done, too.

When we got home from London on Monday evening, I was treated to my second birthday cake. Jaye had been staying at the house to watch Loki and Thor while we were gone, so she'd left a small little cake on the table, complete with 40 candles ready to go. It was difficult, but I manged to leave the cake unmolested until Wednesday night.

Then on Wednesday, Dave lit all 40 candles for me, which I quickly managed to blow out, but not before setting off the smoke alarm. No joke.

My birthday celebration continues this weekend when we go out with friends for dinner. Nothing like having a whole week of celebrations!

So, do I have any profound thoughts on turning 40? Not really. Except to say that 40 seems to be one of those landmarks intended to make you realize that you really are getting older. But, the good news is that being almost 6 months pregnant while turning 40 is a great antidote to that "I'm getting old" feeling. See, it's all part of my scheme to stay eternally young, especially since in 20-some years we'll get to go right from paying for college to retirement, with nary a pause in between.