another year bites the dust

i recently had a birthday.
now, i wish i was the kind of person who could shrug and emit an "eh" about my special day, but i'm not. i love my birthday. love my birthday. i don't love it so much that i wish it were everyday, because i know too much of a good thing makes it, well, not a good thing, or at least not as special.
my husband and i acknowledge a birthday week, so you (supposedly) get the entire week during which your birthday falls to make any demands or requests you like (though, that doesn't mean they always are granted, but you definitely have a better chance of having them fulfilled during your birthday week than during any other given time). this year my birthday fell on a saturday. lucky for my husband, he works an awkward schedule which requires him to be asleep most of the daytime during the week, so he got out of a lot.
the friday before my birthday we took our daughter skiing. she did really well, made a lot of pies, and was enthusiastic all day long. she didn't have the early throw-in-the-towel attitude she did last year, and her body coordination has greatly improved. it was a lot of fun. the day of my birthday we went and cut down a christmas tree (where we always take our family photo that accompanies our christmas cards) and then went sledding. this soren equally loved and we had so much fun we were pretty pooped by about 3. we made the hand-off with soren to the grandparents, and that night my husband took myself and my friend out for fondue (we'd invited more people, but apparently we don't have as many friends as we thought we did). the fondue was great and we came home stuffed and fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.
i guess because i didn't have much of a birthday week the week during, i had an extended birthday into the following week. my buddy spoiled me with a trip to the hot springs over the pass where we stayed in the resort, allowing us 24/7 access to the hot springs pools (there are about 15 i think) and robes to don whilst making our way from pool to pool. it was a real treat; the rooms were nice, the pools great, and we even had massages. i felt pampered, and more importantly i felt quite sexy, something that starts to happen a lot during pregnancy but i hadn't experienced this go-round until our visit. to be honest, i've felt more like a bloated, beached whale than a sexy, baby-making goddess, but perhaps that's starting to change.
it was a great birthday. and next year promises to be even better.