A Day in the Life of the Dodd's: What we've been up to...

A little of this and a little of that...

Santa Clause is officially done coming to town for little miss Briley! I think she is going to be one excited little girl on Christmas morning! BUT, I defiantly want her to know what CHRISTmas is really about. Not about shopping, not about presents, not about Santa, but about the birth of Jesus Christ. I want her to experience the magic of Santa and everything that entails but to also know and understand why we really celebrate Christmas. I do believe you can do both it's just how you go about doing it that matters. I was so excited when I found this this last week at toys r us. It really wasn't in the budget but we felt it was a very appropriate toy to "splurge" on, not to mention I have been trying to find one for months, plus it was on sale and I had a coupon! Briley loves Jesus, not that she really understands Him right now but she loves saying His name 100+ times a day, she loves when we sing Jesus Love Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children, etc, and now she loves to hold baby Jesus (and the Camel or Mamel as she calls it, HA!). We also got her a "Jesus Loves Me" DVD for Christmas. It's basically a bunch of children's Christmas songs and they dance and sing her name in all of them. She has already watched it a few times (before I wrapped it) and she loves it! I think we are off to a good starting point so far!

Most of our other Christmas shopping is done and wrapped too! I am very proud of myself for that because I usually wait till the last minute. We still aren't 100% done but i'd say about 85% done, which is great! I have certainly neglected my house in the process so I know what I will be doing the next few days...cleaning! Yay me! lol

We have had a pretty relaxing last 2 weekends which has been nice but not so relaxing weekdays.
Let me explain...I have had car trouble multiple times, nothing major...for instance 1 day I rolled my windows down because they were fogging up, well it was so cold that the front passenger window would not come back up. Luckily I hadn't gone very far so I had to turn around and go back home because I couldn't drive Briley with the car window down. I took Michael's car and he took mine. The motor ended up freezing and now it needs to be replaced. Great, right?! They got the window up but we have yet to get it fixed yet. Hopefully we can cross that off the list very soon.
The other issue with my car happened yesterday, the heat stops working. Great! Especially when it's 18 degrees out. Oh, and did I mention that the rain falling on my windshield is freezing as i'm driving so I have to pull over to scrape my windshield so I can see. It was like a sheet of glass and I might as well have taken my contacts out because that's how clear it was! Not Good! Luckily all I needed was some antifreeze and the heat is perfect again.
My 3rd dilemma for the week was Tuesday when I locked myself and Briley out of the house. Genius, huh? That was by far the worst day we have had because we were outside for 20 minutes before we were "rescued" (and it was 15 degrees out). I just got in a rush trying to get out the door for work, well we got out the door alright. Got out without the keys. Briley did ok for the first 10 minutes or so and after that it was pure melt down mode. I had her in my coat (luckily we were both bundled up) trying to keep her as warm as possible and I was trying to blow warm air on her. That was a very traumatic experience to say the least, mainly because of how cold it was. I was so paranoid I ended up calling the pediatrician but luckily they said everything would be fine and there was no need to worry. We were supposed to go get Briley's picture made with Santa that night but lets just say we decided to wait on that one ;o) Hopefully we can make it to see Santa either today or tomorrow.

On a better note Briley turned 20 months yesterday, the 15th! I can't believe she is almost 2! Holy Cow! It blows my mind to think we will be planning her 2nd birthday in a few months. I really am loving each stage she goes through but sometimes I wish I could just freeze frame time for a while. She is such a joy! I really feel so blessed to be her mamma! Here are a few pics from the last few weeks :o)

After church one day, throwing one of her little fits (terrible twos are coming, I can feel it!)

Get these shoes off of me

Before her 18 month check-up last week...we didn't do her 18 month check up until then, mainly because I was dreading the shots. Well guess what? She didn't need any shots, besides the flu shot she was up-to-date. Ha! Makes me feel sort of silly for putting it off now but oh well! She was 32 1/2" long and 26lbs 9oz (she was 30 1/2" long and 24lbs 14 oz at her 15 month check up)