no more monkeys...doing whatever they were doing

We started the week off with a fat lip. Not me, not Wayne, and not Star cat. Poor Paela did something (we still aren't sure what, though we have theories) to her mouth within five seconds of us both turning the other way.

Literally. Five seconds. That is why we have a hard time imagining what could have happened, since she was sitting quietly just second before. All we know is that she started screaming and blood was pouring out of her mouth. After calming her down, we noticed the top tooth that had been starting its descent was a little higher up, and when the blood clotted in her gum we gave the pediatrician a call just to verify nothing was worrying about a tooth being higher and a blood clot in the gums. She said actually it is possible the adult tooth was affected and please go see our dentist. Ha. We call this a "peace of mind" visit. Or a "first time parent" visit. However you look at it, we did in fact go, despite not having dental insurance. The dentist looked at her mouth for maybe 10 seconds at the most. He said "some people's 'not that bad' is actually pretty bad, so we wanted to see in person." It was an exciting day; Paela napped well.

We got to hang out for lunches most days this week. Yay for picnic lunches. And my team at work played hooky together to celebrate releasing our project. I asked if Wayne and Paela could tag along since we were doing mini golf. Paela loved holding the golf balls -- they were the perfect size for her hand. She kept trying to shake it to see if it made noise, but the fact that it was silent didn't deter her interest. In fact, I had to keep finding things to try and trade her for so I could putt my turn! Good thing she likes my keychain.

To celebrate Wayne's birthday we had Ethiopian cuisine yesterday. It was a fun experience; it was like Indian food, only I liked it instead of wanting to puke -- the one food that still makes me gag ever since pregnancy. They brought a big flat bread, and we looked at each other wondering if this was the appetizer or what. So we broke a little off and tried it out [Paela loves Ethiopian flat bread!]. Shortly thereafter they brought the food that goes on the flatbread. Apparently it is important to eat off the same plate, so we tore flatbread and dipped it in the food together; no utensils required. Later that day we all went for a little swim.

Today we made a sand castle cake, to go with the "island" theme for the murder mystery game. We invited a few friends and family over to play a murder mystery game and had a fun time being silly together. That is what birthdays are for -- having people to be silly with. And to not get fat lips.