Today is my 38th birthday. I have so much to be grateful for, including but not limited to:

1. Our amazingly comfortable mattress
2. Books
3. Watching Sweet Pea curl up her bed, engrossed in a book when she doesn’t know I’m watching
4. The sound of the kids laughing
5. The infinite fort configurations our couch allows. When we were saving for that Crate and Barrel mid-century modern custom microfiber upholstered beauty, we never imagined it would become a fort. Or a baby crib, a dog kennel, a train, or a spaceship
6. Babysitters
7. Dairy-free, egg-free convenience foods.
8. All of the friends and family who check in with me about the menu and go over the ingredients before we come over
9. We’ve never had to use Lady Bug’s epi-pen.
10. Getting paid to do two things that I love: write and teach spin class.
11. Dan. Sometimes I wish I could tap 28 year old me on the shoulder and tell me to stop freaking out because I will meet someone who will do stuff like this, this, and obviously, this.
13. The lady who stopped to tell me thought I seemed like a great mom when Sweet Pea was melting down at Alfalfa’s last Thursday
14. The lady who stopped to tell me she’d been there a thousand times when Sweet Pea was melting down at Alfalfa’s last Thursday
15. The man who pushed my cart full of groceries out of Alfalfa’s while I held Lady Bug in one arm and dragged/led melting down Sweet Pea out of the store two Thursdays ago
16. My plan to never go to Alfalfa’s on a Thursday ever again
17. The job I decided not to take, for making me appreciate how good my life is already.
18. The local businesses that agreed to carry copies of my book. Thank you to the Mamahood, J Lounge, Full Cycle, Flatirons Running Inc., Bundle, and Jacque Michelle!!!
19. Karly at Voo Doo Hair Lounge for understanding my hair and cutting it to look like Christina’s in season four of Parenthood, just like I asked.
20. All the magical Sunday evenings we spent at the pool with the kids and a picnic dinner this summer
21. The fact that Sweet Pea likes to sometimes roll around Target in the bottom area of the cart, which means she can’t see any merchandise, which means she can’t beg me for any merchandise.
22. My amazing invention, “The list of things Sweet Pea wants.” It lives in my mind and sometimes on my phone and when Sweet Pea says she wants something, I assure her I am adding it to the “List of Things Sweet Pea wants” like it’s a mental Pinterest board. Then, she stops asking about it.
23. Netflix and my treadmill
24. My friend Ann, for inviting me to do stupid, fun, hard things on my bike, like riding up Sunshine Canyon and doing the Rapha  Women’s 100
25. The short, amazing months of getting to live a mile from my college roommate/bestie and all the sunrise trail runs we did this summer.
26. My physical therapist Heather for getting me back to running healthy and pain-free
27. My friend Jessica, for suggesting I submit a talk for the DU Women’s Conference
28. Everyone who attended my book reading at the Boulder Bookstore. It had the potential to be an utterly sad evening; me reading aloud to a crowd of people who currently or previously share my last name. Instead it was a lively, fun, packed event, and a memory that I will treasure forever.
29. Friday Night Lights for being the first show Dan and I enjoy binge-watching together since Breaking Bad.
30. Introducing Sweet Pea to the special joy of two females hunting for the right clothes. And the moment in the TJ Maxx dressing room when she asked me to write her a letter when I’m dying so she can read it when she misses me and I assured her she can always read my blog, my diaries, and all the other stuff I’ve ever written. But hopefully she will never see any of the drafts of the “in progresss” file on my desktop because that would just be embarrassing.
31. My friends and Dan, for critiquing a ridiculously long essay before I shut my eyes and submitted it to a contest.
33. New friends
34. Getting to see the Flatirons every single day.
35. Barista Blend Almond creamer. I like it better than half and half.
37. The chance to spend a night sans kids (TWICE) thanks to a fantastic babysitter and grandparents.
38. My friend who volunteered to babysit this morning so I could do two of my favorite things on my bday: swim and write at a coffee shop.