My kitty.

Every time this kid gets a pen in his hand...

And it only took 8 chocolate chips to get him to let me cut his hair.

isn't being in bed the best?

Don't you wish this is what you could be doing right now?

scrumptious!

You are a nice boy curtis.

And I'm a bad boy too.

You are not bad, you are a nice boy.

No I'm a bad boy. I told mommy I want to watch a movie and she told me no, you didn't take a nap.

Christmas is coming

Meet with Santa and give him the list. Check.

melt my heart

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

say cheese

You know how when you have the best, sweetest, funniest, smartest little boy in the world and he is so much fun and great and loving, but sometimes you have to say to yourself, being a mommy is really hard(!!!) cause you get worn out by trying to be creative and not say no all the time and you don't have any more patience to be patient anymore but you have to keep going cause your little amazing silly boy is really trying and you know it's hard to be a 3 year old and remember all the rules and he might not always like the rules and you know he just has to be who he is? And then you brace yourself for a struggle of the wills because you are both stubborn and it's hard to compromise for both of you? And right when you think you are in for a difficult day, everything turns out really good and you have the best time and there is no fighting and you have a great time?

It's like that.

Happy Halloween! Ha ha ha ha!

Best. Halloween. Ever.

Seriously, it was so much fun. And these kids got so much candy! They were awesome at trick or treating. Toward the end, curtis would just squat down on the sidewalk cause he was too tired to walk anymore. But we trudged on. Oh, and the Giants won, so there's that.

Getting ready to go out.
Let's take a closer look at my husband. I think he looks especially Jim Rasmussen-ish here:
I really am the luckiest lady.
They are really good at getting lots of candy. People kept saying, take as much as you want. Don't they know what sugar does to kids? Especially mine.
There was even a fellow bird for curtis
I think we were trying to get him to flap his wings here.

My old softball jersey. Easy comfortable costume.

Show us what you got Curtis! He started the night with two bird feet. One was lost along the way somewhere.
Oh, and all that candy (really, I can't get over how much he got!!) - curtis decided to leave it out for the Switch Witch. She apparently comes to your house on Halloween after you go to bed and takes all your candy and leaves you a present instead. I didn't know if he would go for it, but he was so excited and happily put all his candy in a bowl for her. And she really came and brought him some toys! First thing he said when he woke up this morning was "Mommy! Daddy! Did the switch witch come?!" Now we don't have to deal with a crazy over-sugared boy and he's happy as can be with his new toys - win-win.

Green bird out.

Shorties be marching

Preschool Halloween Parade.

Well it got rained out, but they marched on. And it was confirmed that curtis is the shortest kid in the class. But also, the cutest green bird.

Green bird reading the New Yorker

Sneek peek
What to do when your kid tells you over and over again that he wants to be a green bird for halloween? You make a green bird costume. What to do when he changes his mind? Hope for the best I guess.

Now when we ask what curtis is going to be for halloween he says he's gonna be:

-a green ghost
-a green pumpkin (this is a new one that just started today!)
-a green bird
-a green thomas
-a green dragon



I guess he's going to be anything as long as it's green.

Can't wait for trick or treating - raining or not. Watch out L section, our green monster is coming for your candy!

Okay, that's better

Three months old y'all!

More pics on their very own blog here

Guess who is three months old?

Wouldn't a cute picture of the worlds sweetest twins look really good right here:









Yeah, I think so too. Auntie?

new bed

Five successful nights in the big boy bed! It's still just a mattress on the floor, but we figure he'll get used to sleeping without the rails of his crib and if he falls out of bed, he won't fall far. I found a great bed frame for him at a garage sale, and all we have to do now is sand it and paint it and it's going to be super cute in his room. By the way, I figure anyone who looks at this blog is as in love with this boy as I am, right? Wait that is impossible. No one can love him as much as me. That's the beauty of being his mum, right? I get to love him the most? Because, man, I love this boy. Okay, here he is in bed:

As you can see, all the essentials are there. He's got his rainbow blankie that he sleeps with every night, and Lionel is behind him. (I think that is Lionel #2. Original Lionel and Lionel #3 are in the corner. Yes, he has three Lionel's. It is his favorite night time stuffed animal and his auntie went to great lengths to find him more Lionel's on eBay.) Also featured is Stinky Marie (calico cat that looks like our very own June Bug.)
We are in the middle of transforming his room from baby to big kid! It's pretty exciting. And he is having so much fun playing with this toys in his room. I'll post more pictures when we get it more put together. For now he is mastering sleeping in the big boy bed all night long. And so far, he's awesome at it!

life is good

This is the kind of handsome I live with every day! Aren't I lucky?

Preschooler

I didn't think it was possible that our round-headed gurgling little baby would ever turn into a preschooler, but somehow it happened. Although I have always dreamed of the day he would look like this:

And here's an action shot:



Isn't he handsome?? Please note, those pictures aren't from the first day of school. First day of school pictures looked like this:

And this:

I swear he wasn't unhappy, he just didn't want his picture taken. First drop-off was a little rough, but soon he discovered that his new school had (A):

His best friend Leo! (Isn't he handsome too??)

And (B):

Roads to build!

Is there anything you can't accomplish with your best friend and train tracks? Seriously, life is good.

After things settled down postpartum-ly (I think I just made up that word), and we made our rounds visiting family, it was time for me to head back to work and curtis to start school! And I must say the boy is great at school! He was soooo ready for it. Our daycare situation was great, but he had just outgrown it.

He loves his new school. Although getting him out the door in the morning isn't always easy, but that's not really a big change. There have been a few tearful drop-offs and pick ups, but for the most part he can't wait to play with his friends. Besides Leo, his old daycare friend Mikey is at preschool too. It's pretty perfect. We've been told they have formed a bit of a tricycle gang.

Since starting preschool he:

• Comes home super dirty - paint and glitter on face and clothes and shoes filled with sand. I swear his shoes must produce sand or something.
• Has been invited to a new friend's birthday party at a really cool place called "Pump it Up". One of the funnest birthday parties ever!
• Takes naps at preschool without a diaper!! (Yay! And at home too)
• Brings home the cutest art projects (okay there are a lot of papers with just a couple of scribbles of crayon, but there are some really cute things too)
• And starting this week he is sleeping in his own big boy bed!
• Oh, and today is silly sock day AND picture day. We have been practicing how he is going to smile all week. So, if all goes to plan (and why wouldn't it?) get ready for some really handsome wallet-sized school pictures.

Happy Birthday Babies

Lauren and Nicholas!!

The twins are here! Aren't they the sweetest things ever? I'm a bit late getting this posted, but Nicholas James and Lauren Brooke Vissman came into the world on July 22. Lauren was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches and Nicholas was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long. (that's almost 15 pounds of baby if anyone is counting). They came out with two of the most beautiful gurgle-ey screams as healthy as could be. I'm so happy to have been able to carry them full term (38 weeks, 4 days) and that they didn't have to spend any time in the NICU and got to go to their parents right away.

The pregnancy went better than I could have ever hoped for. I was healthy and didn't have any complications. I was hoping to attempt a vbac delivery, but at 38 weeks I wasn't showing any signs of labor. We decided that a cesarean was the best/safest option. So it was scheduled and we prepared to go to the hospital at 6 am on the 22nd for the surgery. Unfortunately when I called that morning to make sure they had room for us, they had to push us back to later in the day because they had a lot of births that morning. Like we weren't all nervous enough! But at least we got to go back to sleep for a bit.

When we got to the hospital every thing happened pretty fast. My sister and Dave were there, of course. And so was Andy, my mom and Grandpa Coy, as well as Dave's dad and step mom. When it was time to go into the OR, Andy got to be there with me the whole time. We tried to get my sister in as well, but they would only allow one other person. The babies came out really fast - Nicholas was born first and his sister Lauren came out one minute later. They cried right away and everyone working on me just kept saying how big they were and how healthy and great they looked. Andy got to go be with the babies and cut their cords and take pictures and video and somehow still rub my head. It felt like they were in the OR with us forever and I kept thinking "Take those babies out to meet their parents!" It seemed like it took forever for them to go to the nursery, but it was probably only 15 min. or so.

My sister and Dave got to be with the babies right away after they went to the nursery and andy stayed with me while they finished me up. Everything went really well. My sister got to bring the babies to me while I was in recovery and both babies latched on and breastfed a little bit.

Everyone at the hospital was sooo great - they were really accommodating to us and our situation. We got our own room and my sister stayed with me the whole time. The babies breastfed like little champs right away. They kept us up a lot the first night and we ended up sending them to the nursery the second and third night so we could get some sleep - it really helped.

The c-section was harder on me than I thought it was going to be. I was in a lot of pain, but finally got my medication under control and felt much better. I'm healing more and more every day and feeling really good now.

The babies are finally home in Boise and hopefully settling into their new home! I miss them already. They are so sweet and cute and I can't get enough of them. And they are really good at keeping their mom and dad up at night. (Good work babies). Curtis and I will be going to visit them soon and we are so excited!

Baby Nicholas!!

Waiting for our room to be ready

I love this picture
Proud mom and dad
All snuggled up
Curtis love his babies. He couldn't stop smiling and giggling when he met them for the first time.

Last belly pics before the babies arrive

So here are the last belly pictures of me before the twins were born. By my last doctor's appointment at 38 weeks I was measuring 60 weeks pregnant. My belly had a LOT of baby in there!!

Waiting to go into surgery!!
Night before the babies were born - we all went out for dinner. Needless to say, no one got a lot of sleep that night!

kite flying