Trippin on cough meds

The cold/flu has invaded the Crutchfield household. Larry had it first and he seems to have recovered at this point. But last weekend I got a sore throat and cough. For the first few days, I felt really good except for a sore throat and laryngitis. Mostly it was problematic at night when the cough would continually wake me and Odessa up. I played musical beds switching between the couch and my bed and back again.

Then I got worse...I don't know what happened. Suddenly I just felt like total crap all the time. Pressure in the head, sore throat, sore chest from coughing, the works. I bought an over the counter cough medicine at Target. Nothing spectacular. I took it that night and it seemed to help a little, maybe.

The end of this boring story is coming up. So today we went out for breakfast (our weekend routine) and back home for a nice, long nap. When I woke, I decided to run some errands with Odessa. So I took some of my over-the-counter cough med having not eaten lunch. I really didn't think anything of it. Then the Alice In Wonderland tripping began... Dizziness, out-of-body sensation, feeling as though I can't process incoming information and as if my mind is three steps behind my body, weird dream-like feeling, unable to see clearly or process what I was seeing. I felt kind of drunk but without being relaxed. Instead I felt panicked and scared and worried that I was lapsing into a psychosis. You read about that. One day a happy person and wife and mom, and then next she is seeing mice running through the walls locked up in a padded room. So feeling as though I may be on the brink of a psychotic break, I am trying to think of what I should tell my husband that I won't be able to tell him later? But my thinking is so cloudy and roller-coaster like that I can't even think of what I should say. Panic.

Awful scary not fun. Phew I think it is almost over. But if not, at least I wrote it down and people may be able to piece together what happened before I totally lost it. That is, if anyone reads this which I know that my family is terrible about doing. When I was a kid, I couldn't get them to read my weekly publication the "Donesley Chronicle" so it really is no surprise.

Bite "O" Apple

Odessa bit into this apple and it is the cutest, tiny apple bite that we have ever seen. Thank goodness I had my camera on me so that I could preserve the memory forever ;)

Yes, we are first-time-crazy-about-our-baby parents. I wonder if that could be an official diagnosis. Should we update the DSM?

Breastfeeding & the Workplace in Oregon

Last week, Oregon's Senate passed HB 2372. The law requires most employers to provide two 30-minute unpaid rest periods for pumping during an 8-hour work day. Employers are also required to provide a private location for the employee to express milk. The law does not cover employers with fewer than 25 employees, and it exempts employers if the requirements pose an “undue hardship” in light of the size, financial resources, nature or structure of the employer’s business. This new law comes with a stiff penalty for violations: the Oregon Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries may assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for willful violations of the law.

(from http://urbanmamas.typepad.com//activistas/breastfeeding/index.html, December 5, 2007)

Christmas Photos

I took Odessa in to JCPenney last month to get some "professional" photos of her taken in her holiday dress (okay one of her many holiday dresses).

Photo shoots were a lot easier back before she could walk! For one, she can now just get up and walk away when she decides that she is disinterested in what the photographer and I are doing. Secondly, all those "tricks" that used to work to make her smile, now have no effect at all. She will just roll her eyes at me.

Hurricane Odessa

Month 16 seems to be all about making "messes". Some days I am more patient with the unending clutter, others not so much.

Rite of Passage: New Seasons Car Cart

Odessa rode in the "car" shopping cart at New Seasons for the 1st time. At first, she looked at me like I was abandoning her under a bridge. But then I showed her how to "beep" the car horn and she was hooked.

Also you can see her very cute scarf in the photo.

Forestry Museum, November 2007

Artichoke

Odessa loves artichokes. Unfortunately it is very time consuming to pick the pieces off that she can eat. She doesn't get the "scrape against your teeth" move quite yet. So there is a lot of whining for more, more!

Very Specific Parking Requirements

Disturbing Doll

When I was a little girl, I played with Barbie dolls. When I became older, I understood how controversial they were for their impossibly skinny bodies, big boobs etc. etc.

Now little girls have the Hi Glamm doll to idolize. In addition to a super skinny waist and big boobs, girls will wish for legs that are about 10 feet long! Oh the crazy things that we buy.

And, on a side note, this is a remake of a doll put out by Hasbro in the 70's called Leggy dolls. Weird.

Elusive Sleep

Oh sleep, my dear friend
you used to come to easily and stay without hesitation
...and then I had a baby...
and now you dissapear so quickly, leaving me wide-eyed
and wishing for your return

Pumpkin Face

Now that Odessa seems to "get" what the camera is all about she will make a very unnatural face when she knows I am about to take her photo. It is much more difficult now to get her beautiful smile on camera!

Can I see your license and registration please?

Odessa LOVES to ride around in her car. It is so cute that she "prepares" by putting her purse around her neck and her Honey doll in one arm. She then will drive pretty erratically bumping into walls, bookshelves, coffee tables, cats etc.

November

Ready for a Grateful Dead concert

And what is with that face? I swear she gets it from her father!

O in the leaf pile

It is Fall. And one requirement of the season is to spend some time playing in the leaves. So Larry raked them up, and we introduced Odessa to the this fall festivity. She had a bit of trepidation at first, but quickly enjoyed "crunching" the leaves under her feet and throwing them up in the air.

Video: Odessa's 1st time in the Pacific Ocean

Just the six of us

The babies from my mama's childbirth class. Left to right: Emma, Odessa, Linnea, Gus, Naria, and Wren.

Odessa turns one year old

First Steps

Two days ago Odessa took her first solo steps! They were very small and very wobbly and my first response was "Does that count?" But I am a proud parent like any other and so I shout "Yes!" My baby is now walking!