Owen's Birthday Party

This year for Owen's birthday, we combined parties with two of his cousins. His cousin Jaxon's birthday is November 26 and his cousin Lexi's birthday is November 27 (same as mine!). With their birthday's always close to Thanksgiving, and Owen's the week before Christmas, we decided to have a joint birthday party for the three of them in between. So the week before Owen's birthday, we went to the Play Station in Cedar Rapids and then spent the night at the Long Branch Hotel to swim and party! The kids had a blast! The Play Station is an indoor jungle gym, basically, with slides, ball pits, tubes and games. Owen's favorite was the ball pit.

Ryan got in to play, too!

Balls!

He made Nana get in, too!

He LOVES to swim!

Quick break

Jump!

Owen, Jaxon and Lexi (who wasn't feeling well, poor girl) ready for some presents!

Toy Story from Mommy and Daddy

A dragon (later named Blanket Elmo George) from Aundrea, Mike, Bri and Lexi

Koosh gun from Dustin and Tiffany - I think this gun is lots of fun, by the way!

Smart Cycle from Grandma Angie and Grandpa Dan

He also got some Hot Wheels cars and a Hot Wheel's suitcase to store them from Jason and Carrie, and my Mom made him a Dr. Seuss quilt for his BIG BOY bed!

New sheets and quilt from Nana and Boppa

We made the switch to his big boy bed somewhere around the end of November/beginning of December. We also switched bedrooms, since we only have two bedrooms, and ours was huge. This way, the kiddos are together in one big room that's also big enough for them to have quite a bit of floor space for playing. Our room is a bit cramped, having a king size bed (that I will NEVER give up!). So all that fits in there is the bed, a dresser, the bassinet and a small table. And it's tight, but it works, and after Ori's too big for the bassinet, it will be better. We don't need a lot of room - the kids do!

Anyway, the switch to the big boy bed went pretty well. I knew it was going to impossible for me to force him to stay in bed after reading nighttime stories (and was a battle I didn't want to fight in my third trimester), so the rule is that he has to stay in his room, but he can play until he's ready for bed. He has a night light, and we have a light in the hall on, so he can see, but it's not too much light. It's working out ok. He always finds reasons to come out of his room, but we just tell him to turn around and he's normally pretty good about it. He's always been a good sleeper, and normally sleeps through the night just fine. He even will get up in the middle of the night, go to the bathroom on his own, and then go back to bed without a word. I know he's done this because I have insomnia, and heard him one night. And he always forgets to turn off the bathroom light, so if I get up in the night and the light is on, I know he's been up! : ) There have been a few times he's woken up in the middle of the night and will come to our room, but I lead him back to his bed, tuck him in, scratch his back (and his head and belly - I must do all three!) and then I go back to bed and he falls asleep!

I am a little worried about how nighttime will go once Oriana's in the room with him, but I guess that's a bridge I'll cross when we come to it. He plays quietly, so I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but I guess we'll see. And hopefully he sleeps soundly enough that her waking up in the night won't be too much of an issue for him. We aren't the first family to have kids share a room, so I'm sure it will work out!