a little bit dim

We have six can lights in our front room. I love the light that they put out but when you are sitting on the couch watching TV, they are a bit glaring on the eye. After one of my bloggy buddies wrote a post and mentioned how many of her light switches she has replaced with dimmers I decided that I would do just the same. I turned off the power -of course it turned out to be like the 29th of 30 breakers that I tried - and no one could help me so I would flip the breaker, run up the stairs, see the light on, run back down, try the next breaker, run up the stairs, see the light on, run back down . . . you get the picture. I took the old switch off, rewired the new one, flipped the power back on and Voila! What do you know, it actually works! I liked this kind of switch because you could use it with your existing plate. I feel very proud of my self and my new, dimmable can lights.

I come unto my own

Now that Maddy is two she is beginning to come into her own.She is become quite the artist. As you can see from above she can ever so quickly paint a picture.and then she artistically makes a statement about what she has painted.

If she doesn't want to sleep, she will find something to occupy her time - in this case, purging her bed of all the messy accoutrements.

She has taken to driving.

and has also shown an affinity for modeling.

potty training 2

feeling much better on day 4! Maddy last night turned to me with big eyes "hold it!" she said. I've been repeating that over and over as we run down the hall after she's started going in her underpants. I scooped her up, we ran to the bathroom and sure enough, she had to go and her pants were dry. I was ecstatic!
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Today was a totally no accident day. I'll admit, I was much more on top of things but this morning she informed me again that she had to go - "hold it" and then during nursery, the teacher brought Maddy to me to use the bathroom. She had a diaper on but we got to the bathroom and used the toilet and the diaper stayed dry. I didn't change a single wet diaper or clean up any pee pee accidents today. She did go number 2 in her panties but we haven't worked too much on that one so I still consider it a success day.
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I guess we'll keep trying - or should I say, I'll pass her off to Stacy and have her keep trying!

potty training

how do you know amist your non-success, whether you should be patient and give it more time or say "she's not ready"? Is it an option to say "mom's not ready"? I'm not feeling optimistic on day 3

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I watched a great movie with Scott on Sunday night. It is called "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". Have you all heard of this? I hadn't.

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This was the last movie Heath Ledger made. In fact, he was in the middle of production when he died and rather than let his last movie die with him, they invited his friends Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Firth to come and finish the movie. The behind the scene stories was unknown to me when I watched the movie. A short ways into the movie I mentioned to Scott how much I thought that Johnny Depp could have played the role that Heath Ledger was playing. Imagine our surprise when just one scene later, there was Johnny Depp. In fact, they look so similar that I wasn't sure if they really had switched actors or if my mind was playing with me!

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The addition of three new actors to play Heath Ledger's part actually added to the film and created additional depth to the character and in my opinion, even while being an unfortunate necessessity, was a very happy accident.

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This is a great sci-fi/fantasy film that explores the motivations of today's society - is it storires and imagination or vices and temptation that move us to action? I found myself thinking about it (obviously) days later so I thought I'd share. Rachel, I think you guys especially should put this on your Netflicks "to watch" list.

Hot Dog! My Baby's two

Yesterday we celebrated Maddy's 2nd birthday. We invited Grandmas and Grandpas over to help us celebrate. Maddy seemed a bit befuddled when she saw them all together and we were asking "where's grandma?" and there were two of them!

Maddy got such great gifts. Some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters to play with, a new blanket for her baby, books to read (a great book that plays songs about Elmo learning to go Potty!), a Little People School, and some dishes and play food. She made out like a bandit.

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I attempted my first character cake. I think it turned out pretty well considering I didn't have black frosting and improvised with chocolate. The only thing that it truly important is that Maddy recognized it as Mickey and it tasted good. I feel so blessed to have such great parents and such great in-laws. I truly think of them as my other mom and dad and I'm so grateful that they love my daughter. I've mentioned to people before that I think children bring the families-in-law together. I loved my mom and dad-in law before Maddy was born and I loved my brothers and sisters-in-laws but by adding Maddy I love them more.

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In the beginning I was a little bit surprised by how much they loved my girl. I knew that my own family loved her because she was their niece and because she was my daughter but I didn't really expect that my in-laws could love my daughter as much. Deep down I know that the in-laws are Scott's family, so of course they would love Maddy just as much, it just never dawned on me that they would feel that way. Not sure why not.

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So, when we went over to grandma's and Uncle Jeff or Aunt Amy was ga-ga over my baby, it made me love them all the more because of their love for her. I just don't know if I'm articulating this concept well but suffice it to say, I feel more bonded to Scott's family and especially endeared to them because they love my daughter so very much! Does anybody have a clue of what I'm talking about? Now I'm rambling. I'll sign off. I love my family, I love my in-laws, I love my Scott and I sure love my little girl.

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Happy Birthday Maddy.

A few final thoughts

A few final trailing thoughts from my Europe trip and then I won't brag any more about what a lucky girl I am to work for a company that sends me to Europe for business trips! Of course, to bring me back to reality I always remember that my brother-in-law has been taking regular trips to Europe himself but manages to do so aboard the company jet . . . this always takes my big head down a notch or two :) I'm so glad Ben took a picture of me while I was trying to get a good picture inside the Duomo in Milan. I was trying to take a picture of the pillars but with the low light and inability to use a flash, I had to set the shutter speed on an extremely slow setting in order to get enough light to see anything. I am much too shaky to get a clear shot while I held the camera so we rigged a setup on the floor so we could set the camera and let go and get a good photo. I read on a photography website that sometimes you have to be willing to get down on the ground to get the good shot! I am often struck when I'm flying by the miracle of science that allows flight. Really - something that huge and heavy with hundreds of people on it taking off and getting airborne and then staying airborne? It truly is a miracle.

We stopped by a small church in Milan on our way to get gelato one day and came across this statue of Christ. It is made out of bent nails and was really quite remarkable. The thought came to me how interesting that Catholicism, and most other Christian churches for that matter, really have made and art out of the Crucifixion. I am so grateful that in my faith, we choose to focus on the Resurrection and the joy and hope that comes from that event. Rather than focusing on the death of Jesus Christ, we focus on the fact that he arose again and that "evenso in Christ, shall all be made alive". The gift of the atonement and the Crucifixion is all the more poignant to me because of what came afterwards - the Resurrection and the hope that comes with an eternal life after death.

Zurich

Zurich. The land that Scott loves. Scott served his mission in Zurich, Switzerland so I feel a special affinity for the country because I know he loves it so much. This is the Limmat river looking out over two of the three famous churches in the city - the Fraumünster (the blue spire) and St. Peterskirche (the spire with the clock).

The spire of St. Peterskirche has the largest clock face in all of Europe. It was an interesting church because the interior could have been an LDS tabernacle. It was just so surprising after all the dark, Gothic churches I have visited in other countries, and in fact, in Switzerland too. Really lovely, and light, and it felt familiar. Above is the Grossmünster church. It was a monastery that according to Wikipedia, vied for precedence with the Fraumünster (the abby) across the Limmat river.
As you can see, it was wet and SOOOOO cold! We braved the snow/rain with our umbrellas and coats (thanks Katie for the umbrella and thanks Scott for making me take a real coat) and went sightseeing anyhow. The funny thing - maybe sad - is that the only really purchase I made in the whole of this Europe trip was a scarf (all Europeans wear scarves). That's not sad you might think, but what makes it sad, is that I bought it from Claire's. Yup, the American store where you probably went to get your ears pierced when you were in Junior High. Ah well, at least it was cheap!