Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.

It's Sunday, and the family is at church. I've got Lucie duty, so I'm trying to keep her happy and in my lap. She decides that my collar bones need to come out, so she starts pinching and scratching at my skin. I turn her around. She is not pleased at all and begins protesting loudly. I take her for a little walk, and then we sit in a quiet room until she calms down. She seems better, so we sneak back into the sanctuary in time for the communion liturgy. She suddenly becomes super cuddly. She pats my face, smiles, and babbles quietly. "Mom...mom...mom.. daddy.... dada...kitty..." I lower my face so she can nuzzle it and give me kisses. She continues babbling and gently touching my face, and all is well with the world. And then she takes two fingers and swiftly shoves them up my nose as hard as she can.
I stifle a scream and dig them out. She definitely went further than I've ever attempted. I actually tear up a little bit, but I manage to recover, and everything seems fine. Then, I feel a gush of what I assumed was snot running out of my nostril. I put up my hand to catch it while I look for a kleenex and juggle the baby. Jason sees my frantic movements, looks over and says, "Why don't you give me the baby and go take care of that." I'm confused for a minute; I mean, all I need is a tissue! But then I look at my hand and see a copious amount of bright red. Arg! I hand Jason the baby and run to the bathroom trying not to drip any blood on the church's new tiles. I make it, look in the mirror, and see blood smeared all over my face. The wound is so far up my nose, I'm actually swallowing blood. My teeth are bright red, and all I can taste is salty metal. I forget all that I learned in first aid training and hold my nose while tilting my head back. Fortunately, the bleeding stops as suddenly as it started, and I just have to clean up the mess that is currently all over my face and hands. I finish up, and make it back just in time to receive communion. Lucie seems happy to see me, and turns on the baby charm. I think it was her way of apologizing.

Recent pictures of my little hellion:

She loves playing with Auntie Sara's magnets. You can buy them here. (The magnets, I mean.)

Um... hi... I was, uh, just putting these clothes back for you. Yeah... that's it. I was cleaning up.

I can go outside now plz? K, Thx, Bye.