This week you turn five. I won’t lie to you and tell you that its gone by in a blink of an eye because of course, there have been 1,825 days since you were placed in my arms, and some of those days were longer than others if you know what I mean and I think you do. But if I take a step back and look at the big picture, its amazing how fast you went from newborn to Kindergartner. What’s really hard for me to grasp is that once this same amount of time passes again, you’ll be 10.

One of the great things about having a child that is past all the newborn and toddler stages is that you can see their personality for everything it is. All those little quirks and nuances, the expressions, sounds,  and looks that we noticed along the way- a lot of them have persisted, stuck with you, good, bad or otherwise, and make you exactly who you are today. Those little things that I can now look back and say, “he’s done that since he was a baby.”

2.5 yrs old

Your first love, [one of] your first words, and your heart’s passion is still airplanes. I still distinctly remember one evening when we lived in Virginia- you couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 months old- we were out walking, letting Sandy run in the field at the elementary school, and you looked up and stared at an airplane high in the sky. It was the only thing in a clear blue sky and your eyes tracked it as it moved out of sight. Maybe thats where it started. This is the kind of thing that if you grow up and become a pilot, people that have been around you from the early days like Jeff and Stephanie or Andy and Janelle will say, “yeah- we totally saw that coming.” You are a boy who loves planes. Admittedly your knowledge is no where near what it used to be. At the age of 2 you could name pretty much every military aircraft from WW2 to current day. No exaggeration.  We should have gotten you on Leno. You could recognize the tail flashes (is that what they’re called?) for dozens of commercial airliners. You have baskets upon baskets of airplanes, most of them all chipped up, little [Im assuming] lead paint chips scattering everywhere. I know we won’t save all of them, but Im certainly going to save some of them; the ones that looked like they were loved the very most.

You love transformers and you reside in the decepticon camp. Why? Because many of them are aircraft of some type. Your very favorite, the one I paid $40 on ebay to acquire- the vintage colored F-15 Starscream. You also spend a lot of time playing playmobil, but again, this is because you have the airport and the commuter jet and you don’t know it yet but you’re getting the cargo set for your birthday. Your friend Ethan used to refer to you as “Airplane Nathan.” The name still sticks.

You have excelled in school and Im impressed with all you’ve learned. And because I don’t want to sound like one of those moms who brags about how! smart! her kid is, the reality of the situation is that the montessori school you went to pushed you kids hard. Based on what I’ve heard about what you will “learn” in kindergarden, school this coming year is going to be a bore for you. You read and you read well. Even if I quickly spell things out to communicate with your dad , you quickly figure it out and say the word out loud. This has resorted in us using the phonetic alphabet (” do you want to stop for Igloo Charlie Eskimo – Charlie Rico Elephant Alpha Mixer  (hey– I never said it was the MILITARY phonetic alphabet)- thankfully you haven’t caught on. As we drive down the road you’ll ask “why does that sign say “end school zone?” or “why does that say: construction vehicles only?” Its amazing to me how well you read and the words you are able to sound out. I guess my $450 a month really did go to good use. You can do addition and I’ve heard you count by 5’s and 10’s and that sort of FLOORS me because really? I don’t know when I learned what but I know I didn’t count by fives at five.

I’ve written at least a few blog posts about your computer searches. I’ve come downstairs on more than one occasion to find Safari opened and “trnsfrmrs on amuzon” is typed in the Google bar. “Toy arplanes,” “modl arplanes”,  ”delicut (delicate) modl arplanes”,  ”trnsfrmr starscrm”–I’ve seen ‘em all.

Now that your dad and I have upgraded our phones you now go around referring to the old phones as ‘yours’. “Let me just grab my phone,” you’ll tell me as we’re leaving the house. First of all, its no longer a phone, there is no ‘ET phone home option’ on those. Second, they do have some value, the games keep you entertained and we have several educational apps on there as well. However, we’ve tried to make it abundantly clear to you that just because we have new ones, the old one is not yours. We do this because we love you, because even at 5 we see the “cycle of want” rear its ugly head more often than we’d like. If there is one thing we know, and its partially learned by experience, its that stuff will never make you happy. You are always on the prowl for a new app for the iphone or a new transformer or a new anything– its such and ugly vicious cycle and Im worried what its going to be like when we move back to the United States where consumerism and want reign supreme.

I often wonder how much living in Japan, for basically your entire life, has and will shape the person you are. On more than one occasion you have asked me if you can get the “set meal.” You don’t ask me for a happy meal or a value meal or a combo meal…..you want the set meal. And that is just so very Japanese. I recently bought you a Lightening McQueen umbrella for 50 cents at the thrift store. Perfect timing as its rained every day this week. You have played with that umbrella, inside and out for hours every day. These are the simple pleasures I want you to find in life- fun with a 50 cent umbrella. You have even started carrying it with you when we go out in the sunshine- telling me it keeps the sun off your face. Yes- just like the Japanese do.

We’re working on making you a cultured individual. You ask me why there are so many Chinese people here and I have to quietly (as though the Japanese have any idea what you’ve just said) tell you that, “you’ve lived your entire life in Japan and these people are JAPANESE people. You’ve never even been to China. WHY would you call them that?” When we talk about going out to dinner you’re happy to throw out “how about Indian food…..curry would be good.” I had never had Indian food until I met your dad. And yet at 5- you eat curry almost every week. You keep asking me during my meal planning/grocery writing hour if we could just “go to the noodle shack one night, PUH-LEZ.” And don’t get me wrong, I love the noodle shack- I can confidently say its the best ramen on the island, but dude- they don’t open until 7pm and your sister would be a hot mess by 7pm without any dinner.

And speaking of your sister. Sweet little Mackenzie. You guys can be so right and so wrong for each other. Looking at old videos of you two from when she was born, I think man, you were such a little guy when she was born. Do you even remember life before her? Most of the time you are the loving, caring brother you should be. You help her put on her shoes, you open the pantry for her so she can raccoon a snack out of there, you pull out a box of toys and dump them on the floor for her. You’ll get her crayons and paper. You will tell me that, “she is the best sister I’ve ever had.” Yep, the only one too. You’ve recently started getting her out of her booster seat or out of a chair on your own. The first time I saw this it involved you basically bear hugging her around the neck and lifting her down. Thankfully her head didn’t snap off and you now know to lift her under the arms.

The two of you like to think you are part of some sort of comedy show during meals. You stoop to her 2 year old antics and sometimes all your dad and I can do is sit back and laugh. Tonight as we were sitting painting sticks for your party we were talking about the wedding and how we expect you to use your best manners. I asked you what you should do and you kept replying,”use good manners.” Finally your dad said, “give us an example- like an example of what is good manners and one example of what bad manners.” Your response? “Well good manners would be NOT licking the table. Bad manners would be licking the table.” Like I said, we’re working on it.

When we aren’t trying to teach manners we have been spending our days either at the beach, at the pool or in the party in our backyard. Your sister loves the “poo-yaya” and for the most part the two of you get along nicely in the 5-foot-wide pool. You love swimming and keep telling me how much you want to do swimming lessons. Yeah….I so need to get on that. We’re going to sign you up for an off base swim-team of sorts. After soccer camp last week I told you I would sign you up for fall soccer and you told me, “no, I’d rather focus on swimming.” Ok then. We’ll focus on swimming.

Oh my sweet little Nathan, I know sometimes I can be hard on you and sometimes I expect more out of you than I should. When Mackenzie has me frazzled I know I bark orders at you to “turn on Einstein”, or “get your sister a snack Im trying to make dinner,” but I think you’ve been around me long enough, 5 years to be exact, that you know thats just me, I get easily frustrated but it blows over quick and it doesn’t usually last long. You are patient with me when you shouldn’t be, then again you can be a pain in the arss when you don’t need to be either. Thats how family is.

The older you get the more your dad and I can see how all that DNA was shaken up and rolled out like a turn of Yatzee. I still think you look just like your mama. You have big brown eyes and dark brown hair. You have your mom’s ‘I-get-easily-discouraged’ attitude which, yeah, is not great, but it keeps you from barking up the wrong tree and investing too much time in something thats not worthwhile. You like to snuggle, you always are roping us into your activities. You love to bake with me and am proud to say you know a lot about nutrition and health. You love to watch hospital/emergency/bloody shows with me and know more than you should about spinal cord injuries and intestines.

You have your dad’s stubbornness and hard headedness. You share his techy propensity and you have your dad’s linear thinking. This was made abundantly clear to me tonight when we were painting sticks for your party in blue, purple and red. I just started jamming painted sticks wherever into a piece of styrofoam. I even jumped between colors, a red, a blue, a purple, a blue, a blue etc. You looked at me and asked me why I wasn’t making a row for each color? Like, sticking them into the foam in a straight line? Organized by color? That thought would never occur to me. Like I just don’t think of things that way. At all. And you are totally the opposite.

Your transformer themed party is just a few days away. And despite the fact that I told myself since we are having it at the beach that I was going to “keep it simple” your dad and I are up at 11:51pm cutting out tags and printing decepticon symbols because we love you and more than anything just want to make it special for you. Despite the fact that I don’t like character parties.

If I’m counting by fives, it seems impossible that 10, 15 and 20 years will come next. I’d rather count each day and hope that the next 1,825 days don’t go by too quick.

I love you always,
Mom

So, this week will be busy figuring out all the last minute stuff for Nathan’s party and figuring out how Im going to create the cake he wants (Nathan: a transformer cake of all my transformers having a fight on an aircraft carrier. Me: how about some cupcakes with blue frosting?) I enjoy making/decorating cakes, I wouldn’t say its one of my greatest strengths but Im not overly enthused about making a fancy, 3 foot long aircraft carrier cake and having to figure out how to a) transport it and b) have the frosting not immediately melt once its out in the Okinawan heat.  I think I’ve almost got Nathan convinced that a Starscream cake that can fit in a box and be stored in a fridge at Torii would be acceptable. We’ll see.

In other news I’ve signed myself up for cookie Fridays for the Marines. And by signed up I mean I came up with it. I know I’ll never be able to bake enough cookies for all 800 of PC’s Marines, but I figure it’ll something to look forward to on a Friday afternoon. Plus, it lets me try out all kinds of new recipes without the calories being directly deposited on my hips.

He was wheeled back to the OR and despite the fact that PC wanted to stay with him until he was asleep that was a no-go. It was about 40 minutes start to finish and the surgeon came out and told us he did great and that his adenoid was one of the biggest he’s ever removed. So, Im not sure that I want my kid to get props for having a huge! adenoid! but, it certainly makes me feel better about our decision to have it removed. Hopefully, once he’s all healed up he’ll breathe through his nose and eat with his mouth closed for the first time in his life.

He’s bounced back quick; by the afternoon he jumped off the end of the couch in an effort to show us how recovered he is. He’s certainly taking advantage of the fact that he can have as many milkshakes, popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and juice as he wants. Milking it. Big time. Im ok with that though, Im just thankful he’s ok and well on the road to recovery.

Definitely on the mend

Also, he had an ENT appt scheduled for today (for his CHRONIC congestion that allergy medicine is not fixing) that I really didn’t want to have to cancel since it took us 3 weeks to get this appt. It worked out fine for Nathan to go down there and I think he liked getting out of bed for a bit. I won’t get into the details but we were discussing ear tubes and I asked the dr. what that would mean for swimming….ear plugs? I was surprised to hear that swimming in chlorinated pools would be fine- no big deal. That swimming in the ocean would be fine, no big deal. The only thing he wouldn’t be allowed to do is lay down in the bathtub. Because, get this, the bathtub is teeming with bacteria…far more than a pool or the ocean. That pretty much makes me want to pour a cup of bleach in with their bathwater. Gah….Mackenzie is ALWAYS drinking the bathwater. Gross.

I’ve never had any experience in being hospitalized aside from having babies. Having to be there because something bad is going on is foreign to me. Watching my baby being wheeled on that big bed up to the ICU was sort of surreal….how real and how serious the situation was. This wasn’t a typical ER visit where they send us home with a bag of meds. We weren’t going to be leaving.

We had some neighbors/friends watch Mackenzie today until Nathan got settled and then this afternoon PC and I started tag-teaming. I’ve been there all afternoon/evening and now PC has the night shift. For any of you who have done this before you know how exhausting it is to stand watch. Nathan would sort of drift in and out of sleep, would get big tears in his eyes, lip quivering, and tell me he wanted to just go home. I went to the BX and bought the only transformer they had. I was prepared to buy 50 of them if they had them– anything that I thought would make what he was going thru any easier. As a parent it doesn’t seem like you should have to ask…or expect your child to be brave. To have an IV, to have blood drawn, to drink the dye for the CT scan, to have all sorts of tubes and wires and machines attached to them. You try and protect as best you can from pain and hurt and to know it has to be inflicted on them is just….hard. Hard because you are completely helpless. I remember being sick as a kid and every single time my mom would tell me “I’d take it for you if I could.” I completely understand it now. Nathan- I wish I could take this for you.

Im home now, I just put Mackenzie to bed. Im here in our house all alone, missing half of what is important to me. Sitting on the couch knowing my baby is so sick and he’s all I can think about. His pillow is still on the couch from this morning. The heating pad on the floor. The heating pad I insisted would make his tummy feel better and it didnt….it didn’t because he is sicker than what a heating pad could fix and I thought he was overreacting. I thought he was just being dramatic. And now I feel terrible.

He’s all weak and lethargic and every time he eats he throws up. Its so so hard to see him like this. Its been a long day and I just need to try and mellow out about it. Sitting here beating myself up about it isn’t going to make it any better. Tomorrow will surely be an equally long day. Please say a prayer for my sweet boy.

It just so happens that my dr. is “gone on a mission.” When I heard that I sort of had to laugh because….really? My dr. doesn’t seem like the “mission” type. Alas, they told me to go to family practice for the day where they could see me. The dr. had his diploma on the wall where he finished medical school in TWO THOUSAND SIX. Yes, Im officially getting old. Anyway, he told me he could either a) give me antibiotics or, if I didn’t want to go that route b) sudafed, saline spray, saline rinse, cough syrup with codeine and one other pill- I don’t remember. I told him I want to be on the FEEL BETTER SOON program. He told me we’d then “attack it from all angles.” I left the pharmacy with a shopping bag of meds. Most importantly- the (ammox) ‘cillin.

The day drug on in misery. Nathan took a long nap on the couch, Mackenzie didn’t so I tried to keep her busy upstairs until she’d reached maximum fun up there. PC came home, I went to work, when I got home Nathan was bubbly and happy as a clam. Then he started to go downhill a bit. Because he took a 3hr nap he hung out with us for a bit, with his barf bowl, watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (we were able to download it Jess). At 8:30 he told us he was ready for bed. 20 minutes later he told us “he couldn’t handle his sleep because he felt so sick.” That quickly turned into this full blown panic-attack style can’t breathe, dry-heaving retching, non-barf barf ordeal, him freaking out and us deciding that it was time to head to the hospital. Because Im still feeling like relative ass PC opted to take him. This was at 9pm and I knew best case scenario it would be midnight before they got home. Ugh.

Im not sure what time they got home, it was definitely after midnight. Basically with no information, a glug of Motrin, Tylenol and anti-nasuea medicine. This morning I hear the same panic attack breathing shuffling into our room. I brought him downstairs where he just started crying inconsolably in pain. I poured some Motrin down his gullet, got the heating pad- nothin’. Curled in a ball, inconsolable. Oh Lord, here’s the part where I even admit that I started singing to him–in my 5am scratchy, nasally, congested voice. It was bad, but I guess it kept his attention.

I told PC we needed to go back. We weren’t going to sit around while Nathan writhes in pain all day (all while IM the only one here to take care of him, myself and Mackenzie). And let me just say how much it puts my mind at ease to have PC do the ER (you may recall he took Mackenzie right before we left for Singapore and her ear exploded). One of the things I love about him is his ability to stay calm and do what needs to be done. I think it makes me feel safe (?) secure (?) that whatever life throws at us I know that while Im FREAKING OUT and panicking, he’ll stay calm and keep it together and that in turn, calms me down. Mostly.

I’ll admit that Im pretty good at dealing with sick in general (this does not include vomit, OBV). Determining fevers and quelling aches and pains and doling out the correct kinds of medicine and getting popsicles and turning on movies and tickling feet/legs while loafed out on the couch. I am NOT, however, good at dealing with *emergency* type scenarios. Like when Nathan fell off his toy plane into the subwoofer and appeared to bite through his entire bottom lip, blood everywhere. What did I do? “I THINK WE NEED AN AMBULANCE.” Or this morning when Nathan was screaming in pain? “PC–WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING. Maybe I should call my parents?” Which, while my parents are medical professionals, Im not exactly sure what it is I think they are going to do on the other side of the planet. Look at his tonsils on the webcam? Probably just calm me down. Gah…..this parenting thing is so scary sometimes and in this scenarios I feel so ill prepared and helpless. My first reaction is to panic. It gets me real far. To my credit though, PC and I are a good yin and yang because there are times where he is a little too laid back about things that require a bit more freak out so, we balance.

I vaguely remember last night PC mentioning something about how they think it might be strep (I guess strep can produce a appendicitis like stomach ache) but they we’re out of rapid strep tests (could it be strep? YEP). Oh bloody hell. So, you know the drill- wait 24hrs for the culture to come back. Well, Im pretty sure we won’t be waiting another day and a half while Nathan screams in pain. So, as miserable as it is, lets hope that yep- it is strep, rather than us continuing to have to play this guessing game, all while I freak out.

**update** Nathan is getting an IV put in and having a CAT scan done to check for appendicitis. Wheeew….deep breath. Do you want the address of where to send flowers?

PS- You know what else is really nice? Not having to worry about having to pay for this or if insurance will cover it or getting pre-approval BS. You know, because we have FREE HEALTH CARE.

Dear Nathan,
This month you turn four and a half. FOUR AND A HALF. How we are just six months away from you being F-I-V-E blows my mind. My baby….HOW did you grow up so fast? It makes my heart ache a little that its all going so fast.

You are a loving, caring, affectionate, tough, stubborn, determined, hard headed, brilliant four year old. You are a great big brother (most of the time). You use your sister as a pawn when you see fit. Like when we went Christmas shopping for her and you went down the cars/trucks aisle of the BX and picked out an airplane, “She’ll want this airplane…..we’ll just share it how about?” You like playing upstairs in your room (“mom—Mackenzie wants to go play in my room….don’t you Mackenzie [high pitched motherease voice] you want to go play upstairs with Nathan? Say yes, say yes?”) Mackenzie just nods her head like a bobble. So we go upstairs where the battle of toys begins. You want your sister there, but not too close. And not touching anything Playmobil. So you try and bait her with something lame and in your high pitched motherease voice say, “here Mackenzie….you want to play doctor? Here is the breast pump anesthesia mask.” Which buys you about 30 seconds before she’s back in your stuff.

You still love airplanes. You still line them up and fly them around. Im glad you have something you’ve enjoyed since you were a wee little guy. You have started getting into legos. Playmobil, Little People, Chubby People and wood blocks keep you busy. You love doing workbooks and coloring and painting.

You absolutely think you are one of the big kids when you play outside, even though you are the youngest. You come in for dinner, dirt smeared across your face, hands black and tell me all non-chalantly that you were “playin’ Lava Monster at the park…..whats for dinner?” Gee….did you turn 16 while you were out there too? You now have a scooter like some of the other kids and it makes me smile as I watch you from the kitchen window whizzing by. How did you get so big? And so coordinated?

On the nights that your dad works late or is gone, after we put Mackenzie to bed we have what you affectionately refer to as: you and me time. It sounds more like something that would be on The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love. Its much more innocent than that and it usually involves a chat over a bowl of ice cream. Snuggling up and watching a movie, reading books or coloring. You love having my undivided attention and I get that, I like having yours.

You love to help me in the kitchen. Its what we do. We were real busy over Christmas and I think your very very favorite is frosting sugar cookies. Theres frosting! and Sprinkles! And colored sugar! You like to tell me “you’re the bestest mommy I’ve ever had” or sometimes I’m “the best mommy in the whole universe.”

You’re doing well in school even though you still have occasional protests about going. You have nice printing and can write your name as well as mine and your dads. Mackenzie’s is a bit longer so we’re still working on that. You have started reading books and doing addition/subtraction 0-10. Kindergarten is going to be a breeze for you kid. The other day you were sitting at the table and out of the blue started furiously rubbing your hands together. “This is friction” you announced, “my hands are warm, feel them. Thats friction.” Uh…..ok Albert EINSTEIN. Incidentally I think you learned that little gem from TV.

And speaking of TV….what do you like to watch? Ki-Lan and Clifford. Those are the clear favorites. You are also your mother’s son and you are all too eager to sit with me and watch a “hospital show” (something surgical and bloody) or something on animal planet like “man eating shark” or “caught on tape- snake eating entire antelope.” Hey, at least its educational. I think.

The other day when I was sick and dozing I felt you come over to me tap me on my chest and give me a kiss. You are a very loving little boy. You dole out hugs and kisses and will even cup my face in your hands and smile at me. This gives me every assurance that even on the bad days, Im doing something right. When I tuck you in I tell you I want you to be my GooGoo* for ever. Sometimes you tell me you will until you’re a grown up, other days you assure me– promise me, you’ll be my GooGoo forever. I hope so.

Love you forever,
mom

*in case you’re wondering-I’ve called Nathan GooGoo since he was a wee one, when he was a baby he’d always make the sound “nnn-goo” so I started calling him my N-Goo baby, then goo goo and the name just stuck. He’s also my Nath-a-lathe, Nathy, and Nate the Great. He does not like just ‘Nate’….he promptly tells me thats not his name.

“date it first- ten line five line and then two zero zero nine. Thats how I do it at school.”

-Skateboard

- bigger ride on airplane

-big vacuum like yours (mom), just not as loud

-mirror, circle shape

-spiderman camera

-tv in my room

-kids size iron

I just took a shower and put on my most favorite PJ’s, the ones from Marc and Viv. I have a cup of hot tea and Im trying to enjoy the soft light from our new lantern light from Ikea but we are having a major bug problem with- I don’t know, I’ve heard people call them flying ants? Anyway- those bugs are flittering away in the lantern so there is a soft yet annoying sound emanating from the lamp.

Both kids were fantastic today. Nathan has been especially lovey-dovey and these are the days where the mom thing pays in dividends. Today at the commissary there was a small carton of pumpkins! already and I couldn’t pass it up. I love seeing how excited Nathan is just by having a pumpkin! on the coffee table. Simple treasures.

Today we made cupcakes. In halloween wrappers with orange frosting and autumn sprinkles. Mackenzie was asleep and Nathan was hugging me and squeezing me and telling me how much fun it was that we make cupcakes together. I usually let him eat batter before I add eggs and today was no different. I scooped him up a healthy amount and put it in a bowl with a spoon for him. Chocolate-faced he tells me Im the greatest mom ever. (There you have it- a bowl of cake batter puts you among the mom-elite). We also worked on a little banner for Mackenzie’s party and Nathan, my faithful little crafting assistant sat there patiently, often trying to “help” which internally I was like “JUST BACK UP” but constantly reminding myself: he just wants to help. He just wants to be involved. He just wants to be with you. I should be so lucky to have this. He told me what beautiful fabric I picked out and what a beautiful craft I was making and would I ever make something like this for him on my “sewer” (sewing machine)? We worked on a Halloween craft I picked up at Michaels when we were home this summer- you stuck foamie pieces on a spooky house and as Nathan stuck the shutters on he put them over the windows instead of next to them- “so you can’t see anything scary.” He helped me unload groceries today- running back out to the car “darefoot” (barefoot) as he calls it. Have a I mentioned how much I love 4? They are just so charming and endearing and loving and actually able to articulate it. Much like babyhood, I hope it doesn’t go too fast.

And speaking of the baby, Im painfully aware of just how many days it is until Saturday. Until B-day. Its so silly really, whats the difference between 365 days and 366? And I think what it really boils down to is that you cross a threshold. There’s no going back. You’re officially not considered ‘baby’ anymore and its hard to not be sad about that. She’s become such a big girl in just the last few weeks. Pulling up on everything has made her seem more toddler-like and less baby. She is fascinated with the shoes in the front hallway and its gotten to the point now that if I look at her and say, “what does Mama say?” she smiles big, shoe in hand, and shakes her head “no.” My little stinker. Today I was in the kitchen and from the family room Nathan asks, “Where is Mackenzie? I hear her splashing.” Of course I came running out to find her playing in the toilet. The one her brother forgot to flush. Thankfully it was only pee. She was having a grand time until mom came and wrecked it. It makes me a little sad to see her embrace her toddler-ness, like today when I shut the dishwasher- much to her dismay, which sent her flailing back, arching, laying down on the kitchen floor crying. We’re already on our way to being a “two-two-two-year old”, as my niece Kaitlyn would say.

I wish there were more days like this. More days that you (are able to) take it all in. And fewer days with whining, and puking, and strep. On that note, Im going to take my tea, be cozy in my PJ’s, and go watch our new favorite show: The Vampire Diaries.