motherhood
sciencewoman | April 12, 2008on the birth of her big baby boy. It sounds like she is recovering well from her c-section and is already getting the hang of sneaking work in during nap periods.
sciencewoman | April 4, 2008This morning, I loaded Minnow into the car, plugged in the iPod and started singing along to the children's songs as we backed out of the driveway. Twenty minutes later I realized that I had completely bypassed Minnow's daycare and was well on my way to campus. Oops!
When I finally made it to my office, I was pleased to find proofs for an article. Something to do during what is sure to be a long faculty meeting this afternoon. I'm dealing with lots of administrivia right now (registration, travel plans, conference organizing) and those sucked up my entire morning. With a solid afternoon of…
sciencewoman | March 31, 2008First, note the time stamp on this post. I have just now succeeded in getting Minnow to sleep and have sat down with a cup of tea and tomorrow's lecture to prepare. It's going to be a long short night. And I'm already tired.
I'm tired because for some inexplicable reason, Minnow couldn't sleep last night between 3:15 am and >5 am. And when Minnow can't sleep, neither do I. This afternoon as I tried to start writing tomorrow's lecture and preparing this week's lab, I was overcome by exhaustion and I broke down and bought a bottle of Coke. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in…
jane | March 30, 2008This weekend, I went to 2 different retailers to return a couple of items. (Grandma Jane bought Baby Jane an Easter outfit that consisted of a frilly frilly dress and a delicate WHITE sweater. Now, Easter is not exactly a dress-wearing holiday in our household, and if Baby Jane wore either item to daycare, or even around the house for more than 30 seconds, the outfit would be toast.) Since I was there anyway, and since shopping trips ALONE are so rare these days, I decided to check out the baby departments and see if I could spend the store credit then and there.
My experience at each…
sciencewoman | March 29, 2008There is an occasional faint light at the end of the tunnel of the academic year, and with that light come a lot of planning for the summer. I'm trying not to place unrealistic productivity expectations on the summer, but I also know that it is unrealistic to think that I will have the summer "off."
As I start to make my summer plans, I'm realizing that I'm going to be out of town for ~5 weeks this summer, and that Minnow will be coming along with me. That fact, combined with really wanting to see Minnow more than just breakfast, dinner, bedtime and weekends has got me wondering whether we…
sciencewoman | March 20, 2008Yesterday morning Kate birthed a healthy wonderful baby girl. Go on over and congratulate her.
jane | March 17, 2008Dear faithful blog readers,
Please excuse Jane from regular posting for a few days. She has hit the perfect storm of multiple deadlines combined with a hell week for Mr. Jane and very poorly timed day care closures. Once she figures out which deadline can be dumped or postponed with the least dire consequences, once she stops having to do the Day Care Shuffle, and once things return to "normal", she will be back to posting as usual. (And probably have a few things to say about backup child care arrangements.)
Fondly,
Jane's brain
(hmmm, I seem to be having a sense of deja vu, here.)
sciencewoman | March 6, 2008What a difference a day makes. Yesterday at this time, I was frustrated by my lack of getting things done during my spring break. This afternoon, I'm feeling much better. It's not that I've suddenly gotten a bunch of stuff taken off the plate, it's just that I've resolved to be OK with how this spring break is shaking out.
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in my office at school. When I opened the door of the building, I felt a physical revulsion and had to fight the urge to turn around and leave. It's not that my office is horrible - I just really didn't want to be there. So today I am home…
sciencewoman | January 9, 2008Warning: Do not read on if descriptions of women's natural bodily functions makes you queasy.
Last night as I was changing a diaper, I was suddenly debilitated by intense abdominal pain the likes of which I hadn't experienced since, oh, say, labor. The pain was sharp enough that I barely managed to get Minnow dinner and to bed, and I did beg Fish to come home from work early in case it progressed to vomitting. (I ate a place with "local color" for lunch.)
Eventually the pain eased, and the cause revealed itself.
My period returned overnight.
Mind you, I shouldn't complain because it's been…
sciencewoman | December 20, 2007Yesterday as I was leaving my office I gathered together materials so that I could work at home today. Being at work when no one else is around is kind of depressing, even though I know it's only because I am taking my vacation later than some. So I thought I'd change the scenery for a day and see if that improved my mood.
Then I drove to daycare to pick up Minnow and I discovered that she had a 102 F fever. A visit to the pediatrician this morning confirmed my suspicions: she has an ear infection. I'll be home today and maybe tomorrow with her until the antibiotics kick in. Hopefully she'll…
sciencewoman | December 14, 2007Via BitchPh.D. comes this story of a 7 year old who jumped in front of her mother's murderous ex-boyfriend to save her mother's life. The little girl was shot six times (and her mother twice) before the police finally showed up. Child and mama both miraculously survived, but they are going to need some help. Please go over to Bitch's, read the whole story, and see what your heart tells you.
sciencewoman | December 10, 2007I think my colleagues are sometimes incredulous that I have lived in Mystery State for almost 5 months now and still have seen nothing of its natural environment.I haven't been to the Mountains or the Water. I haven't even been to State Just to the South, despite it being a mere 30 minutes away.
I'd love to go to Mountains, and I'd love to go to Water. I'd love to get out of metropolitan Mystery City for once. My hiking boots still have Northwest mud on them, for crying out loud. Not getting to know the land around me is affecting me personally (I'm having a hard time realizing that this…
sciencewoman | December 2, 2007I'm having a research crisis at the moment (watching a whole line of my post-doc work threaten to disappear in front of my eyes) with an imminent deadline looming. The last day of class is Tuesday and I need to write a lecture, a study guide, and eventually exam. Not to mention grade a bunch of very short assignments. We spent Saturday buying a car, and today grocery shopping and doing laundry and dishes (necessary for continued functioning). Minnow's asleep in her crib (and has been for an hour). Please excuse me if I haven't much to say for this Mommy Monday post, instead I'm going to spend…
sciencewoman | November 29, 2007If you'll recall, in mid-October I had a disaster morning and ended up bringing Minnow to class with me. In the comment thread, Tara asked a great question: "What did my students think of it?"
So I asked them. (Honestly, it was the reason for instigating the mid-semester evaluations, which turned out to be helpful in their own right.)
I gave a list of possible answers and let them select multiple choices.
34% said it was "A chance to see that professors are human."
53% said "Great. Bring her anytime."
28% said "Acceptable under rare circumstances, but shouldn't happen on a regular basis…
sciencewoman | November 28, 2007Yesterday, after reading all your comments on my last post, and contemplating the sheer inanity of having so little evening time to myself (and my work and the housework...), I decided that we would try a new course with Minnow. Fish and I discussed it and we agreed that after we put her down at night, when she woke up we would do our best to comfort her in her crib as long as it wasn't escalating to screaming. If screaming commenced, we would pick her up, calm her down, and put her back down. We would try this for some gradually increasing number of hours (starting with 2) and then resort to…
sciencewoman | November 19, 2007Minnow woke up yesterday morning snuggled in my arms. We rolled over and nudged Fish awake as Minnow happily wiggled between her parents. After a few minutes, she decided she wanted a little something to eat, so I obliged. When she was finished, she rolled away from me and let out a sigh of pure satisfaction. I looked down at her and she had a huge smile on - I swear it was the sort of smile one has when they've just had really good sex. She just seemed blissful.
Minnow's good mood got me thinking about what a perfect day would look like in her eyes. It's hard to know for sure because her…
sciencewoman | November 14, 2007Note: This post was originally published on 1 July 2007 at my old site. I am reposting it here and nominating it for inclusion in the Open Laboratory anthology. There is still time to submit your favorite posts from this blog, your own, or other blogs you read. Here's how.
Sometimes I get depressed when I read the blogs of other women scientists - particularly when the topic of children vs. an academic career is the topic du jour. The short version is that many of us seem to think we have two choices: (1) Have a career and no children, or children we never see; or (2) Give up our plans for t-…
sciencewoman | November 12, 2007A number of readers have asked about Minnow's daycare situation and how she adjusted to it. Fish and I spent a lot of time debating daycare options before we settled on our current center. There are 4 basic choices in childcare: a daycare center, a licensed home daycare, an unlicensed stay-at-home mom who takes in 1-2 extra children, or a nanny. Of course, if you are lucky enough to live near relatives - grandmas can make great babysitters. But we're not so lucky. Our closest family is about 20 hours away. Given the economic imperatives of both Fish and I working, we need to leave our…
sciencewoman | November 5, 2007A quick synopsis of the back story: Minnow is intolerant of dairy, soy, and corn, and since I am breast feeding her, I've been on a three month elimination diet. Because of Minnow's intolerances, about 99% of prepared and restaurant foods are out. The full back story is here.
My experiences on an elimination diet have made me much more aware of what life must be like with a disability. This might sound odd at first, but bear with me for a second. I walk into a grocery store or a restaurant, and I can't participate in (i.e., eat) most of the offerings. I have to carefully scan the list of…
sciencewoman | November 5, 2007Long-time readers will remember that Minnow has sleep issues. At nine months old, she is still waking up between 4 and 8 times per 11 hour night. But things now are a hell of a lot better than they used to be, because now I can cuddle or nurse her right back to sleep in most cases.
It wasn't that way a few months ago. Back then, Minnow would wake up screaming and only begin to calm down when Fish or I got up, held her upright, massaged her tummy, and helped her pass prodigious quantities of gas. If we sat in the rocking chair with her and held her at an angle, she could sleep fairly well, but…