We are in southeast Missouri now, visiting Mike's mom for the second half of this week. Our floors should be finished now. I can't wait to see how they turned out. We did peek in the windows on Wednesday morning when we met at our house, and the floors looked really good, having just received the first coat of polyurethane. The difference compared to the old floors was amazing.

Since Wednesday, we've just been hanging out down here. Last night we went to my nephew's wrestling match. If we'd realized just how loud it would be, we probably wouldn't have. The crowd, the loudspeaker and the whistles were too much for Dominick, especially when the man sitting next to us started yelling. We took the boys back out of the stands and watched from above as Seth handily beat his opponent. Dom has had a great time playing with Seth, who is 11, during our stay. Seth is really giving him a workout. I wish I had that kind of energy.

We'll be heading home early Sunday morning to start putting our house back together. Once we're settled, it will be time to start Dominick on toilet training. I'm ready for him to graduate from diapers. I hope he is, too. Wish us luck!

Oh, I've just signed up for the new photo-hosting service offered through Blogger, so I'll work on uploading some pictures when I get home. At least I'll try to. We'll be pretty busy for the foreseeable future. The floor project won't truly be complete until baseboards are painted, kitchen cabinets touched up and shoe moulding stained, coated with polyurethane and installed.

Greetings from Days Inn! Our stay got off to a bad start after we were first given two rooms (my parents are here with us for two days) that had not been cleaned and then, after we were moved, found that our room bore an overpowering cigarette odor, despite its being labeled non-smoking. My mom had difficulties making the reservations to begin with, so we're not too happy with this establishment. But that is not why I am posting tonight.

We met our floor guys at our house this morning at eight. Matt wanted us to let them start sanding and then have us look at some stain samples. When I came back just before ten, I was surprised how much sanding had been done. The floors looked so much better already. The stain will be applied tomorrow, followed over the next three days by three coats of polyurethane. We should be safe to move back in on Sunday.

Unsanded vs. sanded flooring

Dining room, sanding finished

My parents and the boys came with me to the house, and afterward we went out to lunch and then headed to Laumeier Sculpture Park. The weather was amazing, yet the park wasn't very crowded. After just a few minutes, Dominick started asking to go to a different park. I guess he was expecting slides and swings, not landscape-sized sculpture installations. Eventually, though, he came to enjoy the place. Here are some pictures from our day:

A restaging of a photo taken in the same location with Dominick when he was 6 months old

We made it through our double checkup this morning. What an ordeal! Dominick did not want me to take his clothes off so he could be weighed, so I gave up and left his shirt on. Then getting him onto the scale was another big struggle. He eventually submitted to weighing but wouldn't allow us to measure his height. Later, after he'd wandered off and gotten a sucker from the other doctor, I told him I'd open it for him if he got back on the scale. Bribery works wonders. Noel cried much of the time while I was trying to deal with Dominick. After Noel received four shots and was not too happy, I fed him to calm him down, but Dom ran off again, so I had to chase him while still nursing the baby. Talk about multitasking. Dominick had one shot today and did such a great job! I was very proud of him. The shot was far easier than the weighing, honestly.

Anyway, both boys are doing well. To my relief, the doctor wasn't worried that Noel has not rolled over yet. Last night, he started to hold his head up while on his belly for the first time, and tonight he did it again. Dom did both of those things by two months, but he was so much bigger, too. Here are their measurements:

Dominick: 40 pounds (95-97th percentile) and 38 1/2 inches tall

Noel: 12 pounds, 14 ounces (25th percentile, a bit of a drop from last time) and 25 inches long (50th percentile). For comparison, Dominick was almost 16 1/2 pounds at the same age.

Noel is four months old today. Here is his latest photo. We couldn't get him to smile on the chair, but when I took a few more pictures, he did, so I'm including one of those. He and Dominick are having their respective checkups on Thursday, so I'll post Noel's stats then. I really hope they don't both have shots, or I will be in for a fun day!

Only six days until the big floor refinishing job starts. Have I mentioned how excited I am? We are saying goodbye to the dull hardwood with its darkened, discolored areas; gashes and paint spots left by the previous owner; white ring burned out of the floor by a leaky container of deck cleaner (that was us, I have to admit, three weeks after we moved in); water spots from wet shoes and spilled drinks; tricycle marks; and small stains where the deli turkey Dominick was choking on landed after I administered back blows. And no more ghastly faux stone carpet in the entryway. It will be pulled this weekend. Last night, we finished removing all the old flooring in the kitchen down to the hardwood beneath. We discovered that there was a layer of original linoleum (1936) under the cheap vinyl (c. 2000). The linoleum was pretty cool, actually. The architectural conservator/historian in me made sure to keep a small section for documentation. We still have a lot of packing to do, so after we watch Idol tonight (please let it be Antonella's last week!), it's back to work.