We are still alive...promise...

Oh, hello! I just remembered I have a family blog! It's been over 6 months since I have last posted, and so much has been going on. I will give you the short version- we are all good!

On to more recent news: Kaylee got on the Principle's List for 2nd quarter, and we are so proud of her.

Me, Emma, and Twila went to the award ceremony and cheered for Kaylee.

A few weekends back I took the kids to the Food Truck Festival. It was nuts! There were so many people it was worse than Disneyland! But we managed to have fun and the kids played some games.

Kaylee and Crew went into these giant inflatable hamster balls and ran this fun little track. Emma was in there with them for the first few seconds until she started bouncing around like a pinball machine! I pulled her out, but she was pretty proud of herself and said that it was fun.

Kaylee was the only one tall enough to do the zip line, so she was all over that.

Crew went down all the big tall inflatable slides like a champ.

Emma wouldn't go down any slides, but she did go into the jump house and partied down in there.

Twila hung out with me for the most part and enjoyed the nice weather.

-Side note- Twila is HUGE! She weighed in at 17.8 pounds at her 6 month appointment. She's always smiling, and she even chuckles when you tickle her belly. She can get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, making slight forward motions. Yeah, we are all in trouble!!

Chris still works in Houston, but should be coming back by the end of February. We are all excited to have him back. We had a great Thanksgiving with family in Utah. A Merry Christmas with family in Arizona, and an exciting New Years with family in Utah again.

This year looks to be a good one for the Syphus Family!

One More Little Baby!! (and a birth story)

This is our little Twila Syphus.

She was born July 13, 2011 at 2:39am.

She weighed in at a whopping 8lbs, 3oz and 20.5 inches long.

So this is how it all went down...

July 12th I had a few pretty hard contractions during the day, but nothing that was sticking around. At around 7pm the contractions started coming more frequently. I was able to breathe through them with the help of my sister-in-law Laura's coaching that she gave me before she left earlier that day. (sorry you missed it Laura). My mother-in-law and Chris were right there timing and encouraging me the whole way. By 10pm the contractions seemed to die down. I was bummed. I layed down on my bed and 15 minutes later they came back...harder than before! This time they were coming every 2-3 minutes. By 12:30am they were right on top of each other, and I was struggling to breathe thru them. My mother-in-law thought it was a good time to get to the hospital. We packed up and hit the road by 1am. It took the longest 25 minutes of my life to get to the hospital, but we made it!

I was admitted to triage, and they told me I was at 5cm. I was pretty pleased with that, cause I was a little unsure if I was really in labor or not. I know that sounds weird, but the worst thing is to go to the hospital, only to be turned away cause you're contractions aren't really working. In triage they got my IV going and monitored me for a little, then wheeled me upstairs to Labor and Delivery. I was told that an empty bladder makes for easier contractions, so before I got into bed I headed to the bathroom. On my way back I had a pretty hard contraction. I was leaning over the side of the bed while Chris was rubbing my back, and POP! My water broke!

Chris and I both jumped. I laid down on the bed and the nurse told me I was at 6cm. Making progress! The contractions after my water broke were INTENSE! I was not prepared for the pain. I tried so hard to breathe through each contraction. Chris and the Nurses were so great, they cheered me on when I finished each one. It was 3 minutes after the nurse told me I was at 6cm, and approximately 3 contractions later when I told the nurse it felt better if I pushed against the contraction. She checked me and I was at 9cm! Really making progress here! The next contraction came and I screamed out to the nurse, "She's coming!" Sure enough, Twila's head popped out! Then I quickly pushed the rest of her little body onto the bed. Yup, no doctor there to catch, not even the nurses were ready! It was a magical experience that was painful, but very rewarding. I am so glad that I was able to go completely natural. I feel great, and Twila is doing great too. 

Here is Twila getting her first feeding. She is such a great little eater!

My coaching partner. Chris says that during the last few contractions he saw more veins bulging on my neck and face then he's ever seen...yeah...it was intense!

All of my beauties! The kids love Twila. Crew is fascinated by her, Kaylee loves to kiss her, and Emma is only slightly jealous.

Yeah, she looks just like her daddy.

But she loves giving kisses to her mommy!

It's still hard to believe that all these little kids are mine. They are so stinkin' cute!

Update...

No baby Twila yet...but at the doctor's office today I measured at 2 cm dialated! So hopefully soon!

Also, we moved back to Arizona!!

We are so excited to be back in our old ward, and have felt so welcome. I missed all my friends and family so much. I did NOT miss the heat though. It's blazing hot here, and I wish I could have gotten here earlier so I could have adjusted easier. We basically added nearly 40 degrees to our typical day.

The kids love our new place, but they miss being able to ride bikes and play outside. They attempted to play outside the other day and came back in after only 5 minutes. Poor guys! Hopefully we can find more weather friendly activities to keep them busy soon.

Sorry, no pictures this time!

The soon to be Big Sister...

Emma is our baby girl right now. But pretty soon she'll be a big sister. She's got such spunk and personality. She's always keeping me on my toes!

Here she is playing with Dad's snowboarding goggles and my phone. She thinks she is such a big girl.

Here is the destruction she leaves everywhere. She loves the toilet paper. Sometimes I think she's worse than a cat. If you look hard, you can see the evil look on her face in the background....

Here she is with her big sister Kaylee. We spent the day at the beach at one of the State Parks in Colorado. It was so fun, but she didn't hesitate to keep me on my toes. She drank tons of lake water which led to an upset tummy.

Here she is walking around on the beach in her big brother's old Tigger towel, while carrying a squirt gun. She's so stinkin' cute. I just love her to bits and pieces.

And here is her new little sister... Twila.

I just know Emma will be a great big sister, but it's still hard to imagine my baby girl being a big girl. We are all excited to welcome Twila into the world. We can't wait to see what she'll look like!

A New Beginning

I can't tell you how much I love my little kiddos. They brighten my day, and keep me on my toes. I am so excited to add our newest addition to these cuties. We have come up with a name for her, and it seems just right. Here are some pictures of the kids eating their favorite summer fruit- WATERMELON!!

Crew kept closing his eyes for the pictures, so this is how he looked when I told him to try and keep his eyes open. Such a funny kid!

Emma has the cutest smiles ever. She's such a fun loving, crazy monkey girl.

My big hearted, sweetie pie. Kaylee is growing up so much. She is really excited to have a new sister, and can't wait to be a big helper.

We have a fun park next to the park we are at right now. It's got a splash pad and all the kids love it. We like to go there and spend several hours playing in the water, swinging, and playing on the slides with water guns.

Emma walking around the park with a bag full of goldfish. By the time I caught up to her she practically finished the whole bag!

Kaylee's favorite thing at the park are these little swivel chairs. They spin her around so fast, and she laughs the whole time!

Crew warming up on the giant fish. The water that comes out of the fountains is really really cold! And when it's not really hot outside it can be pretty chilly.

Just a few more weeks till we get to meet our new little girl. I can't wait to give her hugs and kisses and neither can the kids.

We Did It!

It's been over 8 months since we moved from Arizona and hit the road in our trailer. We survived Tornado alley in Kansas, and a super frigid winter in Denver, Colorado.

Now we are moving again! It's not a far move, just a little more north to Boulder, Colorado for the summer. We are so excited to enjoy a cool summer and to welcome our newest edition.

We spent Easter in Arizona with the family. I also was able to go to one of my best friend's weddings and hanging out with some old friends from high school.  Here are a few pictures.

Since Easter weekend was also Crew's 4th birthday we decided to celebrate that too! He really wanted to fly in a plane, so we all flew to Phoenix from Denver. It was all three of their first times to fly in a plane and they were so excited and had a blast.

Krystal and I waiting for the wedding to start!

The newlyweds!

The three amigas! Me, Melissa, and Krystal! I am so so so glad that I was able to make it to this special night! {27 weeks pregnant}

The Easter Bunny made it to Phoenix AND Denver! Kaylee and Crew checking out their loot!

Emma on the big egg hunt! She really got into it, and once she found out there was candy inside, she stopped looking for eggs and started eating the candy!

Crew has really been into Legos lately so he wanted a GIANT Lego cake for his birthday. So this is what I made him! I am pretty sure he loved it!

I know Emma sure loved it!

Oh and by the way... Crew says that for his 5th birthday he wants to jump out of a plane with a parachute. Yup...he's a thrill seeker, just like his daddy!

Action Shots

Chris is back in Kansas for the next few weeks and we are missing him tons. We would be there with him if I hadn't put Kaylee into school here in Colorado. Since Chris has been gone Crew learned how to ride his bike without training wheels! We got it on video so Dad could see him in action.

Kaylee seems to have grown up over night. She has big girl teeth and an attitude to boot. She will do just about anything for a quarter (take out trash, pick up toys, dishes etc.) , and that makes my life a whole lot easier! She is doing awesome in her new school. Kaylee has been on green since she started back in January (good behavior), and Chris and I told her she will get a special prize if she continues that way for the remainder of the year. She gets perks for her good behavior at school like getting to eat lunch with her teacher (only 1st graders think that's cool), and special notes home that we post proudly. She just got an award at school for being Responsible and Safe, and we are so proud of her. She also just started Girl Scouts, and she is loving that.

Crew is going to be 4 at the end of the month and I am having trouble grasping that idea. He is still so small and sweet. But he is soo funny for his age. He knows how to get a smile out of everyone. We knew it wouldn't take him long to master riding a bike without training wheels, and it only took two tries. Now he rides down hills, thru the grass, and slams on his brakes to a skid-ing halt. He is also a big helper around the house and loves spending time with Emma while Kaylee is at school. He asks about his new baby sister all the time and when she will come out. He can hardly wait.

News Flash!! Emma started walking a couple weeks ago. Now we can't get her to sit down! She is saying so much, and misses her daddy A LOT! She is full of spunk and attitude. She's also very smart. She figured out how to get things she can't reach, she pulls around the step stool and climbs! Nothing is off limits now...oh boy! She loves going to the park and playing on the big kid equipment. She climbs up the stairs and will slide down the big slides with no hesitation and a giggle to finish. She also loves the swings, and will sit there for hours if I let her.

I am doing good, just brewing a baby girl and keeping the kids alive. I'm still in a good phase of the pregnancy where I'm not sick anymore and not too big to be uncomfortable. I still go to the gym 3-4 times a week and work out with a girl who is 37 weeks pregnant! She's pretty much my inspiration to keep going!