jnm - i was having this same issue and called verizon and they convinced me i needed to restore my phone to factory settings. i refused and decided i'd figure it out for myself. i just figured it out today...i'm using a droid incredible but i'm guessing your navigation is similiar...
go to settings - accounts and sync. of course the "auto sync" boxed should be checked, then there should be a list of accounts underneath it. mine lists backup assistant, google, news, stocks, etc. my google one is the only one that shows the green circle with the arrows that indicates its syncing. so it would appear it is. however, you need to then click on Google, and it will bring you to another screen. in here it shows sync contacts, sync gmail, and sync calendar. after the gmail update, the only ones of my that were checked were sync contacts and sync calendar. i had to also check off sync gmail. and now my gmail works perfect again. hope this helps!
