Alfred Hitchcock Could Have Used Footage from Our Kitchen

Well, we had a scare last night, but I'll have to back up to the night before. Apparently Brigid had a nosebleed over night because there was some evidence on her sheet in her crib and some dried blood in her nostril in the morning. She has had a runny nose so I didn't give it too much thought. Then, during church, she had a good bloody smear out of her nose that sent me running with her to the ladies' room to clean her up. Again, I was concerned but thought it was still because of her congestion. We had a good day -- it was beautiful and sunny and warm and she ran around in the backyard, playing on her Little Tykes slide and kicking her soccer ball. She didn't have much of an appetite at dinner, although she wolfed down two HOT dogs for lunch. After dinner she was melting down, crying a weird high-pitched cranky cry and started rubbing her face like she does when she's overtired. I was about to take her to her room to get her ready for bed when I realized she was pouring blood from her nose. It was all over her face and her arm and hand, and now it was all over me. It just poured out of her and she was freaking out. I couldn't get her to sit still for me to wipe the area to assess the situation. It just kept coming, and when she'd cry it would spurt and fly all over. Patricia came to help me, but we couldn't get her to sit still. I didn't want her to run around the house spewing blood all over. I was panicking because it's not normal for a baby to have a nosebleed out of nowhere. I remembered something I'd read previously about children and nosebleeds, saying to keep them calm (try it sometime). So I suggested she have a bath, and that calmed her down. Patricia helped get her upstairs for the bath while I re-checked my facts in the book and it did say to keep them calm because when they're all riled up it just makes the blood flow faster. The bath was calming and at least it helped clean her up. The blood slowed down and eventually stopped while she was in the bathtub and she seemed to be in good spirits. I looked like I had defended myself against a knife-wielding attacker, however, so I splashed water on my arms to clean myself up as well. The white shirt I was wearing had seen better days.

After her bath, Brigid was still cranky, so I gave her some yogurt and a cheese stick because of her scant eating at dinner. The girls were watching the rest of "The Astronaut Farmer" (a great film) so we sat and rocked and Brigid nursed on and off but was just kind of antsy. After Margaret and Patricia went to bed, she finally settled down and allowed me to put her in bed. She slept fine but woke up early, about 4:15 a.m. Normally, I'd let her settle herself back down, but I was worried about the nosebleeds, so I got up and went to her. She seemed fine if not a little out of sorts so I brought her in with us and we fell back to sleep again. She didn't sleep very well, however, and was nursing at the open buffet most of the morning until I had to get up with the girls. Needless to say, Brigid got up earlier than she normally does but was in a fairly good mood. She immediately went to Patricia to have her read her a book (she says something that sounds like "read" and she says Bukkk, heavy emphasis on the "k"). They were making toast when I left with Margaret.

Speaking of Margaret, yesterday was a milestone in Brigid's vocal life when she said "Margaret." I was calling Margaret from the living room and Brigid did likewise. It came out "Ma-gret" but she repeated it several times so we know it was definitely Ma-gret. We cheered and she preened and said it again for our benefit. She tried saying Patricia and I think there's something in there but it's hard to make out just yet. I'm still waiting for a "Mommy" that doesn't come with a pawing of my top at the same time and a frantic "mah mah mah."