Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Camping in the Backyard

Can I just say again how much fun it is to be a mommy?

I love watching John and Braxton together.

They are so sweet - John has got to be the best daddy in the whole world! Last Friday, John set up the tent in our backyard. He thought it would be fun for a camp-out (I was thinking it was a good idea to check out the tent and make sure it was still in good condition since we will be using it this coming weekend).


Anyway - Braxton loved it! So much so, that at 11pm I brought him back into the house to sleep in his crib. He absolutely would not settle down! He kept looking for the dogs, and mauled them, and then he would bounce around on the air mattress.... He was in no mood for sleeping!



Braxton is already a little reader. He read quite a few books in the tent sitting on the air mattress.

Friday, July 25, 2008

I Love Being a Mom!

So during a conversation today at lunch, I realized just how much I love being a mom and how important it is to me to be a good one! My I mention that Braxton was an absolute angel at lunch! It was a two hour long lunch with my VT (visiting teaching) partner, Miriah, and one of the ladies we VT, Kari. Miriah and I like to take the ladies that we VT to lunch for their birthdays.
It was so much fun, and such good food at Jakers!


During the lunch, we were discussing each other's good qualities (one thing I love about these women, is they are so nice!). Miriah mentioned how much I seem to read educational books - like parenting or gospel related books. She said that she liked to "lazy read" - which apparently means reading books that are just purely for pleasure and you don't learn much from them - I like to read those too! Anyway, she was asking me about why I read so many of those types of books... and after thinking about it, I replied "My goal in this life is to be the best possible mom I can be. I don't want Braxton to be screwed up because of me!"

And it's the absolute truth. I love being a mom, and I love learning how I can be a better mom. I am by no means perfect, nor will I be, but I like to give it a good shot! Now, don't think that I take everything I read and turn it into gospel - I certainly do NOT do that, otherwise I'd be changing my game plan every second of every day! But, I do take things into consideration and try to do what is best for Braxton and for me.

One month for book club we read "Parenting with Love and Logic" It is one of the best books that I have found on parenting. It is amazing how much I learned about myself - how I would be parenting, and how I wanted to parent (which by the way are completely opposite!). I don't necessarily follow everything in the book, but I do remember a lot of things from it that have really helped me.

At book club, one of the seminar leaders came and talked to us about the "love and logic way." It was awesome! I also found out recently that my sister-in-law, Brenda, has starting using this method on her own children, and has had good success with it. And my other sister-in-law, Natalie went to a seminar for teachers, "Teaching with Love and Logic." It makes me feel good that people I know are using and enjoying it too!

After book club, I went to the library and checked out the book related to early childhood - the toddler years. It was awesome, and has helped me to deal with issues (such as Braxton hitting me) in a much better way than I could have thought of on my own. If you are interested in learning more about this, check out their website: http://www.loveandlogic.com/

These are the books that I have read.

The synopsis: "The tools in Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood will give you the building blocks you need to create children who grow up to be responsible, successful teens and adults."







The synopsis: "Raise children who are self-confident, motivated, and ready for the real world with this win-win approach to parenting. Your children will win because they’ll learn to solve their own problems while gaining the confidence they need to meet life’s challenges. And you’ll win because you’ll establish healthy control—without resorting to anger, threats, nagging or exhausting power struggles. Parenting with Love and Logic puts the fun back into parenting!"

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Braxton's Latest and Greatest

I cannot believe how much Braxton is changing everyday. It seems like each day he does something new and amazing. And everyday he seems to understand more and more of what I say... which is leading to some interesting situations for us! Braxton loves to get into mischief and do things that he knows he is not supposed to... he just sits and smiles and waits patiently for one of us to find him and tell him no.... Little stinker! :)


Prayer: Braxton knows what to do when we say "It's time for prayer." He clasps his sweet little hands together.... and he even manages to stay fairly still during them. He sits on his bottom while we kneel, and sometimes will hold our hands while John or I say the prayer. He is such a good boy!

Ears: Braxton has also learned how to plug his ears so that he can't hear anything. Luckily, he hasn't learned to do this when I'm talking! :) He mostly does it when there is a steady sound, such as music playing or water running.

Shoes: Braxton also recognizes the word "shoes." And when he wants to go outside will go and point at the bucket with his shoes in them. What a smart boy!__________________________________________________

Braxton has become quite the chatterbox lately. When he is talking to you, he looks at you so intently that you begin to think you could carry on a real conversation with him! If I can ever get him to do it when I have the video camera on, I'll post the clips!

Braxton's New Words:

E-I-E-I-O : If you start singing "Old McDonald had a farm," he will almost always say the next line.... of course, it doesn't sound perfectly like that, but you can definitely tell that is what he is saying!

Ashes : Braxton loves to play ring-around-the-rosie. He is trying to say the words, and sometimes it sounds like he is trying to say "ring - rosie." However, the most identifiable word is "ashes." Now, keep in mind that you have to add the "h" in for him... he must be thinking it is silent. :)

Animal Sounds: Braxton can tell you what quite a few animals will say.. (except, of course, when I want to show him off!).
Sheep: "Baa"
Snake: "Ssss"
Monkey: "Hoo Hoo Hoo Haa Haa"
Doggie: "Orrrwwww"

Nose and Eyes and Toes : Braxton loves to push on our noses, like they are horns. That could be my fault... I like to make sound effects when I touch his nose, or he touches mine... I say "beep, beep" and when he touches John's nose, I say "honk, honk."
He also loves to touch our eyelashes, and will kind of pet them with his finger... (giving me hope that he is learning the meaning of "soft") Of course that's right before he pokes your eyes out while telling you what they are.
He also will touch his big toe, and then tell you what it is. It's absolutely adorable, and I love those little piggies of his! He loves to play This Little Piggy...

Papa : Okay, this one is really an old word - but he says it all the time! Braxton says it when he wakes up, when he goes to bed... and especially when he is mad at me! Last week, we went to Sam's Club for a milk run. Braxton kept saying "Papa" over and over. So, of course, being the good mom that I try to be, I told him we would go see Papa sometime soon. Well, apparently Braxton thought that meant now because as we were pulling into the driveway, Braxton got so mad!
He just kept yelling "Papa! Papa! Papa!" The closer I got to the garage, the louder he yelled! I told him we would have to go see Papa later, since we had milk in the car. I obviously need to teach Braxton about "later."



The real question is... what did Braxton's Papa's do with him to gain so much favor?

Apparently he got spoiled rotten by them while I was in Florida..... :)




Friday, July 11, 2008

New Photos of the Billquist Family

We are trying hard to get our adoption profile completed - the last few steps are a profile/scrapbook page and a letter to the birth parent(s). And, of course, we need new pictures for our page!
And I know we have to be the luckiest family in the world! We have a great friend, Angie Hansen, who also happens to be an awesome photographer.... She has also taken some other good pictures of us, when she was supposedly practicing... practicing what - I don't know! Angie is amazing with a camera, and we are so grateful to her for her talent! I actually like the pictures of myself.... amazing! :)

A few of the pictures are available at this link:

Butterfly Eyes Photography

I will let you know when there are more pictures posted!