Yesterday I noticed scratch marks on Wesley’s face, so in the afternoon I pulled out the baby nail clippers. I clipped his nails even when he was a teeny three-pounder and his fingers were even smaller than they are now. So I didn’t hesitate at all to clip away–until I clipped a little too closely on his pinkie finger and blood started pouring out.

OK, OK, it wasn’t exactly pouring out. But it was definitely bleeding.

So then I had to quickly grab something to dab up the blood and figure out how to stop the bleeding before he got any more of it on his clothes. I decided a Band-Aid would be best.

But have you have tried to wrap a Band-Aid around the littlest finger of an eight-pound baby who’s waving his arms and balling his hands into fists? It was no easy task, I can tell you. And if you think that babies are delicate little creatures, you’ve obviously never tried to pry open one of their closed fists. It’s like they’re rusted shut.

I finally got the Band-Aid on…and then it promptly fell off, because there was too much wet blood. I tried again with a new one, and that time it seemed to stick.

Then I put Wes on his belly for tummy time…and the Band-Aid came off again. So I put on another new one.

The next thing I knew that one came off, too, so then I resorted to double-bandaging–putting on one Band-Aid and then quickly wrapping a second one around it before the first could fall off. That worked until naptime. But after he woke up both his Band-Aids had mysteriously disappeared.

His finger is looking better today, by the way. Hopefully I’ll learn how to wield the clippers more safely from now on.