Missing my Little Buddy

Zach's birthday weekend went well. We survived the party, and during said party, I realized that there is no way I could ever teach first grade. Those little boys are ever-moving bundles of energy! Do their desks come with seat belts? This was before they had sugar! Anyway, I think everyone had a great time, and Zach seemed to be pleased with all of the new toys that he received. After the party, some of his cousins came over to play, we went to dinner, then came home and started assembling all of those new toys. Four or five hours later, I had his new MP3 player loaded with the soundtracks to High School Musical and High School Musical 2, and we had explored the world of Webkinz. Zach wore my dad out with his requests of assembling Legos and Transformers, and I realized that boys' toys just don't appeal to me. Zachary then stayed awake until after 1 am; I have no idea how he was able to do that. He was so excited to have an "iPod" like Mom and Dad's, and he laid in bed, singing along to the songs.

Today, my parents went back home to Louisiana, and took Zach with them. He had been somewhat apprehensive about it all week, because we have been together non-stop since we all returned from vacation on June 9th. Zach wanted to know why he had to go to Gammy and Poppa's without me, and why I couldn't just get a baby-sitter for him. He's always loved going to their house, but I guess with a new baby on the way, he's unsure about a lot of things. I go back to work on Tuesday, and don't have childcare this week, so Mom and Dad offered to take him to Lafayette with them. They'll be back on Thursday, which is his actual birthday and "Meet the Teacher" night, so it won't even be a full week.

We packed up his suitcase this morning, and I managed to convince him to leave some of the new toys here. He had a little fit right before they left, but by the time the Suburban was loaded, Zach had his DVD player going, had some gumballs and his blanky, and was ready to go. He did request a picture of Darren and me to take with him, and wanted to know our phone number in case he got lonely and wanted to call.

Darren and I didn't know what to do with ourselves this afternoon. Should we take a nap? Go shopping? The possibilities were endless! In the end, we sat around and read for a few hours, until we decided to go shopping for a new computer mouse and go to dinner. It was so strange, not having anyone asking non-stop questions and demanding my attention. Darren and I were able to go to a restaurant and sit down and talk. Weird. By the time we returned home, we were both missing him. I am so unused to being alone, but I am sure I will enjoy the quiet time this week. I can't wait until Thursday, though.

Tomorrow, or later today, I have my weekly OB appointment, then I can't decide if I should go to school or not. I don't have to be there until Tuesday, and I should make the most of my last day of freedom. I'll probably end up cleaning or doing some laundry, and not anything fun. If I don't stay home, there's a meeting at school at 2:00 to discuss a new program that we are trying; a "boot camp" of sorts the first week of school to get the students familiar with our procedures. I'd kind of like to be a part of that, so maybe I'll come home after the doctor, then only go to school for the meeting. Decisions, decisions...