fat lips, and what does being mortified smell like, exactly?

Iris had her first bleed today. And it was a mouth bleed. The kind that has you keeping one eye on the car keys, thinking, "Should I take her in to get this thing checked out?" I'm a pretty laid-back mom when it comes to boo-boos but there's something about that first cut that makes the earth stop moving. I had to keep reminding myself that mouth bleeds always look a lot worse than they are. Best baby medical advice for maintaining maternal sanity that I've ever received.

It took about two minutes for all of us to calm down and realize she was fine, despite the puffy lip she was sporting. Then she went straight back to the scene of the crime... attempting to walk unassisted while simultaneously terrorizing her older brother. Don't let the big blue eyes and charming smile fool you. That girl is trouble... trouble with a swollen upper lip.

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Ocean has entered the phase I have been dreading the most. It's the one where he says whatever is on his mind. I encourage Free Speech and open dialogue in this house but I have not been looking forward to situations such as the one that cropped up this afternoon...

We were in Lowe's searching for house numbers. Ocean was riding in the big basket of the shopping cart, Iris in the seat up front. In one of the aisles we passed an older woman and her adult daughter who both smelled like cigarette smoke. Just as we went around them Ocean pinched his nose and bellowed, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! What's that SMELL?!?!"

I can't really fault the kid. To be fair, I wanted to say the exact same thing. But I still couldn't help being embarrassed as I changed the subject: "It's the smell of us going faster! Zooooooooooooooooom!" And we booked it out of there.