A Day in the Life of the Dodd's: "It does not matter how slow you go, so long as you do not stop"

So...it's been 2 weeks since I have posted. I think this is the longest I have gone without a blog post since I started blogging! My excuse reason is because Briley has been sick for the last 2 weeks and I have felt under the weather myself. I have felt completely exhausted since she had her double ear infection/virus over a month and a half ago. That was a ROUGH week with many sleepless nights and I just haven't been able to catch up since then. Michael hasn't felt his best either. I really hope everyone starts feeling better very very soon, for all our sakes!

The weekend before last was very low key 1) because Briley wasn't feeling well and 2) because Michael was out of town. Friday we basically stayed around the house all day with the exception of running to Target and to Hobby Lobby. I stayed up entirely too late that night working on a few things (which is probably part of the reason I started feeling bad)!

Saturday, Briley was up entirely too early. We hung out at home that morning and then I took her to Gi Gi's house for a few hours so I could get some things done. That ended up being making candy corn cupcakes (I should've been taking a nap)! I saw the recipe several weeks ago and have been dying to make them ever since. They turned out great (minus me burning the 1st batch)! lol! Anyway I went back to pick her up and by the time we got home it was bed time. She was looking extra cute in her TN attire, eventhough TN got killed against Alabama! Sad Day!

She ended up not going to bed until 11pm that night, which she never does and she had been coughing ALOT so I made the decision to let church know (we keep the nursery for the 1st service) that we wouldn't be there. Good thing I did because Briley woke up with Pink Eye and a terrible cough. She slept till 9:30 so that was good. Too bad I was up at 7am trying to figure out what we should do about church :o( Anyway, needless-to-say we stayed home Sunday too. I did try to get a nap that day but the second I laid down, she woke up. Gotta Love when that happens ;o). Anyway, Nanny came by to visit her that evening and Michael finally made it home around 8 or so.

Oh and did I mention she went 2 1/2 days without a bottle (of course she wouldn't take the milk from a sippy cup either)...Friday morning till Sunday night. BUT...because she was sick and so irritable Sunday night we decided it was best to give it to her and once she is well we will start weaning her again. Hopefully that will be very soon because the bottles are really starting to annoy me! ;o) We use Avent bottles and I LOVE everything about them minus the fact that they leak! At least once a day we have a major leaker and its horrible! And she keeps biting holes in the nipples so if she doesn't get off of them soon we are going to have to go buy more, which I do not want to do ($10 for 1...negative)! Plus she is 18 months old and it's just time! She will drink anything from her sippy, minus milk. So if anyone out there has any suggestions I would love to hear them, please!

We ended up calling the doctor Monday morning (as in the Monday before this past week) and they called in some albuterol for her congestion and bad cough. It is finally starting to get better (after a week of treatments) but she is still not 100%. Not even 80% but they did say it could take 2 weeks so we shall see. There is nothing worse than seeing your child sick!!

So last week and so far this week have pretty much been a fluke. I am constantly worried about Briley, I haven't felt good myself, I have been late for work almost everyday (thanks to having to do the albuterol treatments every morning and going to bed WAY too late at night), etc. I really hope I can get back on track very very soon. I feel like I am dragging most of the time and I really hate that feeling. This is how I felt this time last year when we were still in Nashville and we were both working full time with a child that was sick 24/7 and in daycare. We I was not in a good place at all. I'm not really sure how or why I am back at that place but I am ready to NOT be there anymore.

Anyway...last weekend was Halloween. It was a pretty simple weekend (since Briley was still sick...ugh). She spent the night with Nana Friday while we had a little bit of a date night and slept in Saturday morning (much needed, Thanks Nana!) Saturday evening we took Briley to see Papaw and Mamaw and then to Nanny and Maw's house. We weren't able to make as many stops because she wasn't feeling well and because we got sort of a late start. She got so many wonderful goodies! I think her new favorite candy is Twislers! lol I HATE twislers myself but I am glad she likes them ;o)! Sunday morning she stayed with Nana while we went to church and to lunch with family and friends. Monday was my dad's b-day so we went to my parents house to celebrate with them. Happy Birthday Poppy!

Some fun things Briley is loving right now ~ the ABC song, the name game, and ring around the rosy song. she loves to dance. whenever she is watching one of her movies and we turn it off, example Blue's Clues she says night night Blue's Clues, night night...so cute! she is still obsessed with Elmo. she is wearing a size 5 diaper. she is finally wearing her shoes again without putting up a fight (thank you God)! and she pretty much says everything we say! it's amazing how much that girl can talk!

Here are a ~~few~~ alot of pictures from the last few weeks :o)