News: parent-student
What's the big deal about an ear infection?
This week was a bit of a challenge for me. My nine-month old daughter picked up a bug from her play date at childcare. Our midwife and other parents have warned me about this of course, but there’s nothing like experiencing it all for the first time. I don’t know why I thought she’d never get sick. I tried really hard though. She’s up-to-date with all her immunisations, she’s had the flu shot, and she’s been having a healthy amount of probiotics in her well-balanced diet.
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Of health week and the journey back to true strength
Spring is here, and so is Health Week! I have been talking about getting back into shape for months and now I have run out of excuses. Lots of my friends have also started their fitness challenges and I’m finding a whole heap of interesting things. There are the eight-week fitness gym challenges which would be great. A couple of years back I would get up at 4 in the morning to meditate, scribe, and be mindful of all the things I am grateful for. After that it would be an hour’s workout in the nearby gym, before getting ready to head to work in the city. I don’t think I could commit to going to the gym as regularly as I used to given the demands of studying full-time, working part-time, and caring for my amazing nine-month old offspring.
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Not all who loiter are lost
A group of my friends at uni are in their last few months of their PhD. They are in the home stretch. I can’t help but wish I was in their place. I tell them this and the reaction I get are genuine looks of trepidation and anxiety. They tell me it feels like they’re so close to the finish line, but also feel so far away from it.
Looking back at my PhD journey so far – passing on some tips
It’s been back to campus for a lot of students this semester and there’s a renewed vibe and feeling at uni at the moment – it’s great! It’s been so great in fact that I feel really motivated. I’m only halfway in my candidature, but since it seems like campus has re-opened, I feel like I’m at the beginning again and there’s this chance for a fresh start. I’ve also been seeing more of the other HDRs in my cohort and we have all been reflecting on our first days as a PhD student. Here are some of the things we’ve learned first-hand, but also some of the tips that’s been shared with us.
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Why cry over spilled milk
It was the end of a long week, the first full week of being back to full-time PhD study and working part-time. In addition to babbling ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, pulling herself up to stand on her own, my seven-month-old daughter also got her first tooth. The teething phase that came before the tooth finally erupted wasn’t as painful as I had expected it to be, but all the developmental changes meant that my little one was waking quite a bit during the night. That of course meant a rather sleepless week for me. Still, the excitement and joy of witnessing my child’s magnificent progress made it all worth the many hours of rocking her to sleep, in between PhD writing, emails, and all other home and motherly work that I could do while she was asleep. But I digress — what I was wanting to share with you was that night, at the end of the week.
