Well, I can't say that I'm ready to be back at work, but several of my co-workers have made it a bit easier.

My friend Becky is the Birthday Boss around here. Which is to say, she's got a "Happy Birthday" banner and a list of everyone's birthdays, and she puts the banner up over people's office doors on (or close to) their birthdays.

This morning, I came around the corner to see not only the banner, but colored streamers. How nice, I thought, and it put a smile on my face.

I turned into the office then, and found more streamers on my desk and corkboard. And someone had drawn a smiley-face with a party hat and written "Happy Birthday Liz!" on my whiteboard. And there were gifts on my desk. Some chocolate and a couple of silly things - a little dragon statue and a Weekly World News.

I suspected one of our tech writers - Amy comes into my office every month to check out the picture on my dragon calendar, and she's highly amused by my photocopied article out of the Weekly World News ("Flesh-Eating Sheep On Rampage Of Death!").

So I called her, and she told me to look at the card. Card? What card? Oh, there it is, taped to the far side of the box with the dragon in it. She and Becky and my boss and Becky's boss (who I'm kind of friends with) all got together on it. (Though given the dragon and the WWN, I'm pretty sure Amy did the shopping.)

So even if it's a Monday and my weekend could have been just a little more restful, I'm starting the day with a smile. Which is pretty damn cool.

I poked my head into my boss's office to thank him for his participation in my birthday surprise this morning, and he said, "I understand you got older yesterday. And, no doubt, wiser."

"Yes," I said. "I learned not to take my daughter to a hibachi restaurant until she's a bit older."

Penny picked this weekend to have her three-month-old growth spurt. I suppose it could have been worse - she could have done it during the week and kept Matt and I running ragged when we had things to do, or she could have picked one of the days we're travelling in a couple of weeks. So it definitely could have been worse.

But it wasn't fun. She spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening being extra-hungry, and then Saturday night she refused to sleep more than three hours, and starting at 5am on Sunday she wanted to be fed every hour and a half or two hours, and when she wasn't sleeping, she was kind of cranky and fussy.

That lasted right up through my dinner with my parents and brother. Well, actually, she was pretty calm for the beginning, and then I suspect she got overstimulated by the noise and constant movement, and about the time the chef showed up to make the dinner, she went ballistic. Poor Matt missed most of the show, walking her around, and then he had to keep walking her until I'd finished eating and could take her. (He wouldn't trade off until I'd finished, even though I offered. "It's your birthday. You should get to have fun and eat the hot meal." Isn't he sweet?)

Then - little stinker that she is - pretty much the instant we walked out the door, she calmed down and started smiling and being happy, and I think it took her all of about thirty seconds to zonk out in the car on the way home.

But aside from a daughter on the Train to Crankytown, I had a pretty good birthday.

I got home from work Friday to an early present - Rachel had sent me flowers in a very pretty vase, and a box of Godiva chocolates, which I reluctantly saved to open on my birthday. (No day in which you have a Godiva truffle for breakfast can possibly be entirely bad.)

And there was a lunar eclipse Saturday night, which was quite neat. I took pictures, though neither my camera nor Matt's is really made for astronomical events.

My grandmother, famous for her "well, she meant well" birthday gifts, actually sent a really pretty necklace and a nice bracelet. My mother-in-law sent the Lion King special edition DVD, which I'm looking forward to watching. And Matt got me an electronic widget (well, it's supposed to be delivered today) and a really adorable pair of ladybug earrings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalog.

K.T. made me a new mix CD, and a batch of apple and raisin turnovers, along with an apple-caramel syrup to put on them. (Matt said, "I'll try to eat less than half." K.T. is an awesome cook.) We were too full and tired after dinner last night to try them, but they smelled so good I packed one and some sauce to have with my lunch today. Though for the perfect experience, I need to get some good vanilla ice cream to pour the heated sauce over.

(And since she brought the CD and turnovers to my parents' house to give them to me - so Matt and Penny and I wouldn't be exposed to Kevin, who is quite ill - my parents got to meet Jessica. I took an adorable picture with Matt's camera with Dad holding Penny and Mom holding Jessie. It'll get posted as soon as Matt gets it off the camera.)

And my parents... Okay, here's the funny thing. One day last week, I thought, I could really use a good, long massage. Like, an hour. Maybe after the holidays I'll go down to that spa near my parents' and treat myself.

My mom decided, for my birthday, to get me a gift certificate to that same spa for a four-hour package, including a facial, manicure, pedicure, and - of course - a massage. I just have to call and make the appointment.

(Mom thinks I should do it before we go to Chicago so I can look my best for the trip. I think that Matt's family is going to be too busy looking at Penny to notice that I've got nice fingernails, so I'm going to do it after the trip, because travel is frequently stressful when you aren't taking a baby with you.)

So I had a really good birthday. Thanks, everybody!

--Liz