We have a tooth!

It's barely showing, but I can see and feel it. For once, Noel has hit a milestone earlier than Dominick, whose first tooth came at nine months. Now for crawling and sitting up...I'll keep you posted.

Our nephew Seth is here for the weekend. This morning, the three older boys went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. They all got wet playing in the fountains, which must have been a sight. Tonight, after the little boys' baths, we did some fireworks in the backyard. This time Noel was with us. He did NOT like it at all. Good thing we didn't drag him to a big fireworks display Wednesday night!

Seth, Noel and Dominick

Time for Noel's monthly photo. As expected, he wasn't content to sit still and leave the sign alone, but I managed to get some good shots. (That's drool on the chair, by the way.) Overall, it went better than his session earlier today at JCPenney. He was getting tired--their fault for being 30 minutes late starting--and clearly constipated, not to mention teething, so it wasn't a good combination. But again, he couldn't help giving us some good pictures, just not as many as before.

Sideways

I've resisted posting this video, for obvious reasons, but here it is, messed-up orientation and all. Simply rotate your computer screen clockwise to view the cuteness.

Dom doesn't star in this video, so to keep things fair, I'll provide a list of funny things he's said lately. I never tire of listening to him talk. He comes up with some real head-scratchers.

"I'm right here a little bit."

"Noel's a big red barn."

"Hurt your behind, please."

To Noel: "Practice walking, please. Learn to stand."

"My arms are nice."

Upon seeing the mannequins at Old Navy: "They need to get some heads."

On the milestone front, Noel is this close to crawling. Any day now, I think. He also seems to be teething, which has meant disrupted sleep and much more crying. Hurry up, tooth, so my baby will feel better! He's having his eight-month pictures taken tomorrow, and I don't want the session to be a disaster. If Noel skips his morning nap again, it might be. The scratches and pimple (yes, he has to have a baby pimple now!) are bad enough.

So much for the holiday

I'm sorry to report that we did absolutely nothing for the Fourth of July today. Mike started a project in the basement early this morning, hoping to be finished by early afternoon or so, but it morphed into a full day of work. Oh well! Our nephew will be here this weekend, so we will have a belated celebration on Friday, complete with cookout and kid-friendly fireworks.

Speaking of the basement, it looks a lot different than it did a couple of weeks ago. A dumpster in our driveway is now filled with the paneled walls, plywood ceiling panels, carpet and pad, and other unwanted items from the basement. We've packed and given away or sold lots of other things.

I have to mention my new obsessions here: Craigslist and Freecycle. It's amazing to me that I can put up a listing for a box of miscellaneous old junk, and within minutes, people are clammering for it. I'm all about keeping stuff out of landfills, so I love that I can pass it on to somebody else. We've Freecycled a weird old cabinet, TV stand, podium, ripped patio umbrella, metal trash cans, the box of junk and a remnant of plexiglas. We've sold the futon, a small refrigerator, and coffee and end table set on Craigslist. Just as exciting, I found two great bargains on Craigslist: a nearly-new gas dryer for $50 (to replace the old one, which left rust streaks on laundry) and a nearly-new Exersaucer, only $15.

It's a miracle: Dominick is out of the Exersaucer long enough for Noel to play in it.

Anyway, the demolition is done, and the basement feels so much more open now. We looked into having the support posts removed, but unfortunately that's not feasible. Still, it's going to be really nice when it's finished, if the project doesn't drag on forever. Here's a picture of the basement post-demo.

A view looking toward the east foundation wall. The white post shows the location of the partition wall, now gone. Pardon the mess!

On Sunday, I took Dominick to Grant's Farm. It was really nice to have some time with just the two of us. He's so funny, though. He cared more about the fans in the tram shed and stables, and the sprinklers (not on, just piled up in a corner in an employee-only area) than the animals. His absolute favorite part of Grant's Farm was the water spray bridge. We just happened to be walking across it when suddenly the sprays turned on. Until then, I didn't even know it was there. Dom loved it. Only by promising a snack was I able to coax him to move on.

Dom must have been saying something,

otherwise this would have been a really good picture of us!

Dom having a blast on the spray bridge.

The "after" shot