Now or NEVER!!!

I have been waiting to start blogging about Jaxon's (RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME) birthday weekend until I had pictures of his bed, but I realized, I just gotta get going. So, for months now I have been checking religiously on Craigslist for a particular bed. It is a twin that is sort-of a loft bed, (about 3.5 feet high) with nice space underneath for playing, a ladder on one side, and a SLIDE DOWN THE OTHER! Ever since I saw one on Craigslist, I have seen them pop up every now and then. After seeing a few come and go I realized a great price would be $150. A good price would be $200, and anything over $250 was priced too high. I was hoping to have one for Christmas, but everytime one came up that was priced well, it was already gone when I called. And everytime I tried to talk someone down that was priced too high-- they thought I was nuts! (And were probably waiting for crazed mothers who needed it for Christmas!)
So, about a month before J's birthday I found one for $150 on Craigslist, and it was only about a mile away! We got it immediately and stored the parts and pieces at the warehouse. My master plan that I was SO SO SO SO SO SO SO excited about (seriously, GIDDY!) was to put J to bed the night before his birthday, and move him into our bed after he fell asleep. Then we would take out his toddler bed, put together his new bed, and put him back in bed to wake up in the morning.
Dave- not such a lover of this plan. He didn't love the idea of starting this kind of project so late, but I couldn't NOT do it! Seriously- how cool would that be to wake up on your fifth birthday in a new big boy bed WITH A SLIDE!?!?!?!?!
We didn't get J to bed until super late (Almost 9) on his birthday eve because of other family activities which means we didnt start until about 9:30. The bed was fairly simple to put together, but I forgot to take into account that fact that it would be SO MUCH BIGGER than his other bed, plus with a slide jutting out...woops! Long story short, Dave had to rearrange the bedroom furniture 3 times before we came to an arrangement I liked. He- NOT SO MUCH!
For underneath the bed I got a clip-on lamp, a rug with roads all over it, and several trucks, cars, ambulance etc.
We put J back to bed and I was so excited I could hardly sleep! I woke at the first sound of his rustling in the morning, and woke Dave as well. Next thing we knew we heard,
"uhhhhh..... uhhhhhhhh...... WOW!" Then lots of noises as he explored the room. When his clock turned to 6 and he was able to come out, he came shyly into our room and DIDN'T SAY ONE WORD ABOUT THE BED!!!! He was acting very secretive and sheepish, as if he didn't want to mention it in case we didn't know about it, and might take it away.
We said, "How does it feel to be 5? Anything new? Anything different?"
nothing. not a word about his bed.
WHAT THE HECK?
Finally after about 5 minutes we asked, "Well, do you like your new big boy bed?????"
Once he could see that it was actually his, his face lit up and he started talking a mile a minute!
"YES! MOM! DAD! It has blue covers, and A SLIDE!!! It has a REAL SLIDE! You HAVE to come see this! And there are toys underneath! COME ON, COME SEE!"

So of course, we did! We watched him race up and down the slide several times, and try out his bed. We played cars under his bed for quite a while, and it was JUST PERFECT!!!

There are some things that you really build up in your head. This was one of those moments, and one of those weekends for me. My little guy is really not so little anymore. I just wanted it to be perfect. And it was. The bed was just the tip of the iceburg to the birthday weekend I hoped and dreamed it would be for him. Does that sound cheesy? That's ok. With no siblings, he adores ADORES his cousins like nothing I have ever seen. They were all (except for Katie and Jane- boo!) going to be at his party, and I just wanted it to be the time of his life. AND IT WAS. But that story, my readers who made it through this very long post, is for the next one!