The Jolliff Family

YEA!!!!  We are so thrilled to have reached this milestone of week 34!  Though we could have up to 4 weeks left, we do feel like we are on baby watch x2. The most common question I receive is "How do you feel?"  Well, truthfully, I feel tired and hungry! :)  But seriously, I feel great and can't complain.  I've started swimming a little as exercise and that feels fantastic, though the looks I get with this big ole belly are sometimes humorous.  I'm sure they think I'm going to deliver at the pool and in their defense, check out that huge belly!! We had an ultrasound on Tuesday and babies have gained lots of weight in just 2 weeks.  Baby A weighs 4 lbs 8 oz and Baby B weighs 4 lbs 12 oz.  They are both still head down and everything checked out wonderfully.  They continue to be very active, which is funny to watch on my belly! Otherwise, we are carrying on and thankful for everyday these babies stay inside to grow and mature their...

I've been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving this year, being our third year living overseas.  What is Thanksgiving anyway?  Is it saying a prayer before eating turkey?  It is family getting together and watching football in the afternoon?  Is it prepping for a big day of Black Friday shopping?  Is it just another day off work? While none of these things are bad, is this what makes it Thanksgiving? If all these things are stripped away, can we still say with joyful hearts "Happy Thanksgiving"?  I'm still learning how to do this as today is just a normal day for us here, though we are feasting tomorrow and enjoying some American fellowship.  But otherwise, the boys have school, I have work this afternoon, we are eating pizza for dinner, the stores close early tomorrow instead of opening early for shoppers, and nothing around us says "Happy Thanksgiving." Ann Voskamp said it well "Thanksgiving is more than a holiday, it's a lifestyle ...

A few weeks ago, Hap bought and had installed a wood stove in our house.  The reality of living here in the winter is that once the concrete gets cold and the house gets cold, on the inside, there is no heating the entire house.  Few places have central heat and people rely on propane heaters, electric radiator heaters, or wood burning stoves.  After near freezing last year... think 34 degrees in our bedroom when we woke up... we decided to invest in a wood stove.  Wood is plentiful here and the stove is locally made.   With installing the stove, we had to rethink our living arrangements and flip flopped our living room and our dining room.  It is certainly warm in our house tonight, I wish I had a picture of the fire blazing because it is pretty, and we are hopeful that it will keep us warmer for cheaper this winter.  Even though I was VERY skeptical of the stove, it is working out great so far!  I'll post better pictures of it sometime. ...

Like I said in my post on Sunday, we opened up the boxes for the carseats and the boys put them to good use in playing in them.  They used them for forts, tunnels, and hiding spots. Then in the evening, the boys played pirate.  They emptied out two toy boxes and pretended they were ships.  It is funny to watch their imaginations work and see them play together.

On Saturday there was a national holiday that closed all the schools.  Hap is gone all day long on Saturday and so the boys and I took part of the day to enjoy the beautiful weather and changing leaves at the zoo.  We spent a long time walking around looking at the animals and playing on the play ground.  I think they enjoy the zoo just as much for the play ground as the animals. Sam looks thrilled but I wanted to document that trees do turn colors here! Can you spot the cheetah? Jacob was highly unimpressed that it was pointed out to him that he wasn't as tall at the Sumatra tiger.  haha!!  Oh three year olds!:) Working on balance and thankfully not falling in the water. We packed a lunch and sat by the elephants to enjoy. The boys played hard on the play equipment so I treated them to an ice cream of their choosing. These three precious brothers played so nicely together on the play equipment.  They pretended it ...

We have made it to 32 weeks and I am thrilled!  We had a busy and productive week in regards to the twins coming.  We finished up their room, I packed a hospital bag for our stay, we opened up the carseats, and we registered at the hospital so that when it is time to have these two the hospital will be ready for us.   We also had, what is called, a non-stress test and ultrasound.  Basically, a non-stress test is just hooking the babies up to an external heart monitor and checking their heart rates for 20 minutes.  They looked great on the monitor.  The ultrasound was good too.  They both remain head down and weigh the same at 3.7 pounds, which is normal and great for this gestation! The twins continue to move around so much and this week started having the hiccups frequently.  I thought it was a odd feeling in the other pregnancies when one baby had the hiccups but sometimes these two both have the hiccups at the same time and it is the f...

This is our third year doing our Thanksgiving tree and I think it is quickly becoming one of my favorite traditions that we do as a family!  We haven't been great every night saying what we are thankful for but we try to have everyone say something after we are finished eating.  The fun thing about this year is that the older two boys can write their own "thankful leaves" and add them to the tree!! Even when we have a busy or rough day, we always have something to be thankful for! "In everything give thanks." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I brought the boys back a bottle of pirate soap to share from my weekend trip.  The last time I went, I also brought back soap, so they asked if I could bring some back this time!  They enjoyed it during bath time tonight :) It's always good to be back!

Sam enjoys watching a video we have about skyscrapers being built.  It talks about everything that must be done from beginning to end.  The other night, he made a skyscraper and told me all about how he had to secure the foundation, make support beams, and lift the blocks up high!  He was so happy it was taller than he was. In the middle of the night it fell down and scared me half to death.  Thankfully, Sam wasn't upset in the morning! :)

After being an exclusive "boy mom" for the last seven years, I would think that I would have learned that boys need to be dirty and love all things associated with dirt!  After these soaking rains, I realized yesterday that the joy of being dirty and playing in the dirt long outweighs the "inconvenience" of the clean up afterwards! Oh what fun was had!!