This is my post about things that thesaturdaygirl associates with me. Yay. Not only do I love lists, but I really enjoy posts like this.

1. Knitting

Ahh, knitting. I have not been knitting very long, but once I got started it was so over. I have a stash bigger than I ought to, and it consumes the corner of our bonus/computer/used to be drafting table room. I have more knitting needles than I (currently) need, and the name of game is over-extending myself in projects. Once, I had seven projects going at once. To be fair, like one of those was probably a crochet project. But, anyways. My mom tried to get me into knitting when I was still living at home, but I have a hard time taking direction from her (there, I admit it!). I was pretty hard-headed. But, when she offered to buy me Itty Bitty hats when I was pregnant with Liam, I let her. I have not been the same since. Oh, and to add one more thing, I am so a product-oriented knitter. I love the process, but it's hard to wait for the project to be done so I can use it.

2. Owls

I love owls, and I probably get that from my mom. I remember when I was little she had two little owls knick-knacks that sat together on the shelf. They were both sitting on fake stumps of wood, and I think it was a mama and a baby. Well, at any rate, one was big and one was small. So, one instantly thinks of a mama and a baby. She still has them, but they're not on display any more. She probably thinks they look too old, but the new word for that is 'vintage', and it's cool. Will is on a mission every Christmas to get me a tacky item of jewelry that Liam and/or Ethan can give me, but this last year he did not succeed. Liam gave me (and he really did pick them out) a pair of silver owl earrings, and I love them.

3. Multitasking

Seriously, I actually multitask too much. And, apparently, scientists recently discovered that you can't actually multitask. Pfft! They have not met me. When I get home in the evening, I am drawing hot water in the sink for bottles, cooking supper, hold one or more babies (okay, the number does stop at two, but 'one or more' does sound cool), and emptying all the various bags that we drag around with us during the day (pump, lunch bag, purse, bottle bag for day care). Also, my most recent 'supermom' moment was when I was talking to Liam and trying to get him to go to Will, changing Ethan's diaper, and also taking the bottle of wipe spray out of Ethan's mouth. That's right. All at the same moment.

Yeah, I kind of take pride in my multitasking abilities. But, honestly, sometimes I screw up. Yesterday I left the refrigerator open for almost 30 minutes. oops!

4. Sons

I have two. And, if God has a humorous nature, I will have seven by the time I die. I love my boys, and they are both mama's boys. But, I do desire to have a daughter.

With that said, my sons are awesome. I love the easiness and roughness of boys. I don't have to really worry if they get their clothes dirty, because it is so expected. Their hair can be unkempt, because they really look better that way. When they are all cleaned up on Sunday morning for church, they look even more special (because that's the only time they really look that). I don't expect we'll have all the trouble of drama like girls have, so that's another plus. I just love them. And it feels so good when they love me back.

5. Pumping

UGH. Pumping. The bane of my existence. I have been able to keep a very consistent pumping schedule at work, and that has been a challenge. Will Liam, I wasn't very consistent. I just hated the whirr-whirr-whirr of the machine and the time I had to take to do it. It would have been much easier to just feed him myself. But, I kind of enjoyed that time, too, because it was the only time I got to read. I think I read three or four books in the 7 1/2 months that I pumped for Liam. In the beginning of pumping for Ethan, I would pump once in the morning, go to the daycare and nurse him at lunch, and pump once in the afternoon. I could make beaucoups of milk! It was great. Well, once he started eating solid foods, he didn't want that lunch time feeding. Instead of going to the day care, I would stay in my office and pump during lunch. Now, all working moms know that you need your lunch hour. You have to run errands, you have to do things, and you just need some down time during the day. One day, I decided to just stop pumping during lunch and just do the two other pumping times. And, my milk has not lacked since (somehow!). I'm really getting to the point where I don't want to pump at all, but we have almost three more months of it. I'll get through it, even though I dislike it. I feel very 'ehhh' about it right now.

And, in other news, some things that happened this weekend:

~I left work right after posting my entry on Friday, because Ethan had a fever. We went to the doctor in the afternoon, and he had a double ear infection. His left ear drum was bulging. He rubbed his ear so much on Friday night that on Saturday morning, he had blood blisters on his ear lobe.
~Liam has been saying 'I love you' all weekend. More precisely it is 'Mama, Mama, I love you!' And, at the end he points exaggeratedly at me. And, he does it for everything, like Daddy, Bro-Bro, fork, kitty, etc.
~We (as in, Will) set up Liam's sandbox for him. He loves, loves, loves it. It's really cute. We're going to spend a lot of time outside this summer.

So, in response to thesaturdaygirl's 'who i am and who i want to be' post, I have my own list. I've been thinking about what it ever since she posted her entry, and it's really gotten me thinking about things that I desire myself to become. The list in my head is always getting longer, and I'm sure that stems from my awful perfectionism, so this list is edited down. I saw awful because it's awful to everyone else who has to live with me (Will). I've actually been better about it recently, though. I can (outwardly) deal with the mess that the house has become, and occasionally my irritation gets vocalized. Mostly, I keep it inward so as not to make Will crazy.


Who I am: The decent cook who never cleans, complains about it constantly, and doesn't do anything about it.
Who I want to be: The ever-perfect housewife who makes everything sparkle and always has a bustling house full of food, laughter, and people. I would love for my house to just be clean. And I would love to be the kind of person who can throw things away (I know that Will would completely disagree with that statement, because I can definitely throw things away, but I would love to throw/give things away even more). I don't see any need letting things sit around and not get used. Anyways. Back to the point. The house I see us having in the future is the kind that everyone wants to hang out at. I imagine us in a house where the kitchen is the center of the activity, and everyone is jolly all the time. I suppose to this I could add that I wish I had set cleaning schedule. That would definitely help me stay on track with the cleaning. I tried to make a schedule for myself when I was home with Ethan after he was born, but it was too much change to handle at once. This will definitely be on my list of new year's resolutions...

Who I am: That person in the office who is always on the internet
Who I want to be: That person in the office that everyone looks up to as the diligent-always-has-it-together worker. Seriously. I am taking advantage of the my office door being closed (due to our area being paitned), and typing this post. Need I say more?

Who I am: A busy person
Who I want to be: The kind of person who can update her livejournal everyday with the new going-ons of her life. And it's not only for the interaction with other people on my friends list. I wish I could have a better record of Liam and Ethan's baby years. The other day, I realized that I forgot to write down the day that Ethan's second tooth broke through. I had thought to mention it here, but then hadn't. If I taken the 15 minutes to write an entry, I could go back and look at it, and tada! His baby book would be accurate. (And it's not that I'm anal about the baby books, this is just one point)

Who I am: Someone who lets her husband upate her on current events (ha, very 1950's!)
Who I want to be: The kind of person who reads the newspaper everyday, even if it's online. (Cause it's expensive to get it delivered to us, and the Goldsboro News-Argus just isn't worth it) I should stay more up-to-date on current events, and I don't. I just let Will inform me on what's going on and that's that. Of course, it is a time issue. I buy the Sunday paper every weekend, and never have time to read it. I threw away this past Sunday's newspaper last night while announcing to Will that I wish I had more time to sit and read it. I remember that time in my life, before Ethan was born...

Who I am: Someone who rarely buys fresh vegetables (I am smacking my hand right now)
Who I want to be: A gardener. I buy canned more than fresh vegetables, simply because it's not at all convenient to go to the grocery store every time I want to use fresh vegetables in our meals (and they go bad so quickly if I buy them weekly). If I had a garden, I know we would eat more vegetables. Plus, I enjoy the pureness of growing your own food. Like, when I cook a meal with store-bought vegetables (which is the only way I've ever cooked, of course), I don't feel like I completely cooked it. There are some aspects of my life in which I am very much a purist, and this is one of them. Another aspect was my art classes, but that's another discussion.

Who I am: An office-worker at a community college
Who I want to be: An college literature instructor. No details here. Plain and simple.

Who I am: Super busy almost all of the time
Who I want to be: The person who realizes her limits and can say 'no' to herself. My to-do list is so long, and it's all in my head. I take on too much and expect myself to do 100% with everything, even if I whine about it along the way. Perfect example: last semester. This upcoming semester? Taking three classes, when I said I would only take two. Well, you know, I decided to minor in English, so of course I had to cram an English class into my schedule. Of course. I can always justify adding something to my plate.

This list is seriously edited down, and my 'you're about to get caught on the internet at work' radar is going off. Plus, I need to take a break.

1. This is so late, but the hurricane (Hanna) was nothing but a big thunderstorm.

2. I am now the Allied Health Admissions Coordinator. woot!

Well, today they offered me the position and I accepted it. I am now the Allied Health Admissions Coordinator for Wayne Community College.

Woot!

It is 10:21 p.m. and I just getting to a point where I can do something I enjoy. Not something like school work or dishes or laundry (oh, no, I left the diapers in the dryer and they're not completely dry yet...). ...Oh, dang it, I forgot to balance the checkbook. Well, there goes that.

NEVER MIND, LIVEJOURNAL, I'M TOO BUSY.

I finally finished this hat, from Itty Bitty Hats. I started it in February and had ripped it twice before I really got 'on the ball' with it. It was originally intended for someone else, but Ethan will be wearing it come fall.

( here )

I'm not terribly happy with the sail boat, but I'm afraid that's as far as my sewing-on-applique skills go. I'm just not good at it.

Now I'm working on a hoodie for Ethan. It was originally intended (that phrase again!) for Liam, and I had started it when he was six months old. Yeah... ten months later I'm still working on it.


I had a wisdom tooth pulled out today. Everything went very well, and I had quite a long conversation with the dental assistant about breastfeeding. She was really nice. The anesthetic they gave me shouldn't effect Ethan at all, so yay for that. I just wish my cheek would stop throbbing. Oh, and that the gaping hole would stop bleeding. That'd be nice.

Liam fell asleep before Ethan, just like every other night. So, he was already out when I went to put Ethan down. I was so nervous about Ethan waking up when I laid him in his crib, I could hear the blood pounding in my ears.

Ethan has been napping for about an hour right now. As bad as this sounds, it's been really nice not having him attached to me for the past hour. I've actually gotten some homework done (although, not much, because he keeps making little noises and I can't concentrate). I can't say I've done much in the way of housework. In fact, I haven't done much of that this week at all. I have done a lot of running around, mostly for Ethan.

Poor Ethan's belly button is not healing very well. Well, it is now, but it wasn't before Tuesday. I took him to the doctor's office during the walk-in hour on Monday because his stump had fallen off on Saturday night, and by Sunday night it smelled kind of bad. The doctor cauterized it with silver nitrate (for the second time, it had already been done last Wednesday when it was oozing) and said it should clear up. Well, Tuesday rolled around and it was oozing even more and it was turning a little red. So, we went back to the doctor's office to have it recauterized. His poor belly button is so discolored now, from the silver nitrate. The last doctor actually gave us a prescription for some antibiotic ointment, so that should keep it from getting infected. I just hate that he's been so poked and prodded there. I'm sure it's not helping the healing process all that much.

Yesterday, I went with Will to the health department because he had to get a tetanus shot to be admitted to ECU. I read When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters while I waited. I eventually had to take Ethan out of the car seat, because it was getting so hot in the car (even with the windows rolled down). Also, in the morning, I took him to the college to show him off again. That's always fun.

Today has gone by amazingly fast, mostly due to Ethan's crankiness. It's been a lot of sitting on the couch and holding him today. I tried to read some of my health book while he was nursing, but it didn't really work out that well. The book is much too cumbersome.

When he wakes up, I'm going to try to stick him on his stomach for a bit. He doesn't really like being on his stomach that much, and I almost attribute it to his not being able to move like he wants. He pushes his legs and feet really hard on the floor, like he's expecting to be able to crawl. But, he ends up getting extremely frustrated and shrieks like a pterodactyl.

I can't believe this is the end of my third week at home with him. It is going by so incredibly fast. I don't like being unproductive all day, but I also hate to not just sit down with him and do nothing. And the only time I really get to be with Ethan is during the day, because if Liam is home I'm trying to also spend time with him. But, I have to say, Liam is much better about being around Ethan. The only time he screams (now) is when I'm changing Ethan on the changing table (he's not able to see what's going on - he would much rather me change Ethan on our bed) and when he's tired and I'm not giving him enough attention.

More later. He's making more noises...

Last night was the worst night we've had since Ethan was born. He is going through a little growth spurt, so he wanted to eat non-stop almost all night. I put him down close to 10 (he had been asleep for a bit before that already), and he was up at 1, 3, 4, 5-ish, and another time after that. Liam woke up at the 5:00 time, so Will had to deal with that. He eventually had to let Liam cry it out. That has seemed to work for Liam lately. If you stay in his room with him, he just continues to cry or tries to get you to do things so he can stay awake. Talk about frustrating.

My mind is in such a fog, this day is going by very fast. I'm currently working on getting our photos off our computer. I'm slowly adding them to Wal-Mart's website so we can order prints, and I'm also e-mailing them to our g-mail account. We set it up specifically for storing pictures. I'm done putting all of Liam's pictures on Wal-Mart's website, but I'm only to the 3-6 Month folder in the g-mail account. It's going kind of slow... I also have our wedding and honeymoon pictures and pictures from the trips we've taken (separately and together).

I am also going to order some yarn today for Liam's wool diaper cover and for a purse that I want to make for myself (or I might end up giving it away as a gift, I'm not sure yet). I should also read some more for the leadership book club I'm in... and laundry... blah. This will surely break my mind out of the fog.

I'm seriously wondering if I'll be able to handle going back to school full-time in the fall. This summer, I've only taken one class (well, two, but the other one was just for me), and it's been all I can do to get that work done. For the most part, I've stayed ahead and haven't turned in anything late yet. And that's just one class. I can't imagine what it's going to be like if I'm taking four (Statistics, Macroeconomics, and two Management classes through ECU).

The only time I get to work on anything of that nature is at night, when I'm dead tired. And, lately, our nights have not been very 'normal.' It's been a lot of passing babies back and forth until they're both happily sleeping. I don't really have the time on the weekends when they're napping, either, because they don't nap at the same time. And, Liam has decided he only needs one nap. And he's barely decided that -- I think that he thinks he doesn't need a nap at all. But, anyways. That's another rambling post.

So, my point is, if I'm taking four classes, I'm going to have to devote one night a week to each class. And on that one night, I will most likely have to complete all the work for that week (if that's possible).

And forget about time for knitting. Pfft. I might as well get all that in while I can now. Oh, and TV? I guess it's a good thing I only have one regular show & it's 30 minutes long.

This post is really not worth posting, since I'm not going to not go back to school. I just needed to ramble.

Ethan had his two-week appointment yesterday. He weighs 8 lbs. 13 oz. He gained 13 oz. in two weeks. Huzzah! He is also 21 inches long (they have mismeasured at the hospital).

He also has thrush. Ugh. I don't have it, though. So, yay. He has medicine for his mouth and medicine for his bum. The bum medicine is going well. I realized I was applying it too much, though. I was applying it every time I changed his diaper, but you're only supposed to do it four times a day. Anyways... So, the mouth medicine is not going so well. Last night, he puked 1 1/2 hours after having it, so I didn't think it was the medicine that had made his stomach upset. I thought he had been overfed, since he's kind of a comfort nurser. But, this morning, he puked not long after I gave him the medicine. I'm going to try just rubbing it on his tongue, instead of using the dropper and putting it on either side of his mouth.



Okay. So, I don't like the Tyra Banks Show at all, but I'm going to watch it today. It's about mothers defending the choices they make regarding their children. Like, one lady decided to nurse her child until he/she was 8 years old, and another lady is defending nursing in public, and another lady stays at home with her children even though her mother brought her up to be a 'career woman.'

I just need to finish a chapter in my Community Health class before 2:00. Piece of cake, if Ethan doesn't want to be held every second. It took me about an hour to get him to sleep in his crib. Not that I mind holding him while he sleeps, because this phase will not last long (and I miss Liam wanting me to hold him while he sleeps). I just can't do the laundry and homework while holding him. And, man, do we have some pukey laundry...

I have not posted in fo-eva. Four weeks to be exact. We had our first baby #2 appointment the day before Thanksgiving. The due date is June 16, which is also my grandfather's birthday. That's kind of cool, even though it probably won't be born on that day.

They wanted to make sure they have the date right, so they schedule an ultrasound for us last Thursday. I wish I could post a picture, but the only way I can scan it on my computer at work is by putting it in Adobe. I was really surprised that it actually looked like a baby and not a blob. It was very interesting. Our due date is still June 16, so I am at the end of the first trimester.

I actually got sick with this baby. I threw up a couple weeks ago. And let me tell you, it is not like throwing up when you're not pregnant. I bit into a piece of chicken, felt like I was going to puke, puked, and then went back and ate the rest of the chicken. It was kind of weird.

We have our Christmas tree in the living room, and Liam is not very interested in it. I was so relieved. I was anticipating his wanting to pull up on it, thus pulling it on top of himself (like he does with the trash can).

Oh, and my birthday was this past weekend. I am the big 2-4. Woo hoo. It was a lovely, lovely birthday. Will did a wonderful job with everything. I have pictures of the cake (which was beautiful) that I will post when I remember to. Yeah... you might never see them.

I would like to introduce to you Liam Page Barnes, our little bambino who is due on April 7.















It was very exciting watching him move during the ultrasound. He was trying to stick his thumb in his mouth at one point.

Argh. Back to work before someone sees me.

Still no internet. :( We're not sure if or when we will get it. I have wanted to post pictures so bad! We got a new couch and love seat last week. I love them -- they look so nice in the living room next to the bookcase we bought.

Blah.

I am home, married, alive, and my new name is Rebecca Faye Respess Barnes.

Yay. :)

We don't have internet connection yet at the house. Once we get it, I will post pictures of the wedding shower/wedding/honeymoon.

As promised, I took a picture of my ring. I actually took this last weekend, on Saturday. I am just now getting around to loading the pictures on the computer.

I love this ring so much. It is perfect for me. Even my parents said 'it looks like you.' I think Will did an amazing job having this made for me.




I also have pictures from our wedding shower this weekend that I will post once we have them organized.

Back to being late for work.

I really should be trying to go to sleep, but I can't. I'm up thinking about everything we have to do within the next four weeks and six days.

I will post a picture of my ring when I get the pictures onto my computer. :)

We didn't do much wedding-related this weekend. Will set the votive candle holders in warm water today ... and that was about it. We did more with the house this weekend -- cleaning and such. My drafting table has been set up in the first bedroom. I did that today, along with put my art books on the bookshelf (another picture I will post).

Tomorrow we are going to start rearranging the furniture that is already at the house so we can make room for mine.

I kind of wish we were already in Boston. We are staying at a very nice victorian style bed and breakfast. It only has 11 rooms and is near the Public Garden. It's also near the gay district. That should be interesting. Apparently, August is not the month for the performing arts. We looked at every website in our Boston travel guide for tickets and did not find a single show playing during that time. Oh, wait. The Penis something or another (the guy version of The Vagina Monologues) was playing ... but, we decided we could pass on that.

Yesterday I worked 8 1/2 hours at $25 an hour. It is probably the easiest money I have ever/will ever made/make. It was for a project that the Researching & Planning department was working on at WCC. They wanted us to collect the GPAs of 2800 students. That meant pulling every single file, digging through it to find their transcripts, and entering their GPAs on a spreadsheet. Easy, easy, easy. The only difficult part was combining GPAs from multiple colleges, but I got the hang of that quickly. This had been the fourth weekend they were working on it, but the first weekend that I did. I have been out of town every other weekend this month. The only thing is that I don't get the money until the end of July, because they've already given us our checks for June.

Kimberly and Michelle put a bug in Bill Thompson's ear that we should get a bonus for getting it done so quickly (we did over 900 files yesterday). Maybe they'll bump it up to $30 an hour...