I need some suggestions, please

[FiddleFit]

Hi everyone,

I need any ideas, advice, suggestions, or motivational words you can give me, to help me make the most of the next 5 weeks. I am currently at the tail end of writing a doctoral dissertation. Between now and the end of February I would like to make revising my thesis draft my biggest priority. The catch: I have a 5 year old daughter and a 4 month old baby. The 5 year old is in school for 3 hours every afternoon, but otherwise both kids are with me all the time. I don't have relatives here to take care of the kids for me, and also no money for childcare. DH is a great help in the evenings, after dinner, but I am breastfeeding the baby, so his help with her is more limited.

I know many people here have successfully juggled multiple obligations and I would love to hear what you did that allowed you to fit it all in. Since I only intend for this to be a 5 week period, I am prepared to let some things slide, that can be picked up again in March.

I welcome any suggestions about how I can structure my life to allow for more productive work time for me.

I have a crockpot, and I'm not afraid to use it. I also plan to continue my workouts 6 days a week, and want to eat as healthy as possible (I'm not willing to damage my health for this).

I'd love to hear any and all ideas. Thank you!!
Sandra

 

[pressju]

Sandra kudos to you! Although I have not received my doctorate (wow!!), I have juggled full time work, breastfeeding, two girls who are two years apart and little to no assistance. I consider myself a master!! Thanks goodness it has gotten a bit easier. Here are some suggestions:

(1) Consider pumping so your hubby can take over one-two feedings. Will buy you some time. If you are not opposed to formula, he can formula feed here and there. I pumped left side while I would feed on right side for 30 minutes. Then switch at next feeding. OB taught me that one.

(2) With your baby almost at eating stage, you can start now making her/his food ahead as well. Great time saver and so much healthier. Puree organic cooked veggies and foods with water, freeze into ice cube trays then pop in microwave to defrost as needed. Google some sites for this - tons out there. Huge life saver for me - always had meals on hand.

(2) Take Sat or Sunday to cook ahead meals and freeze for the week (turkey meatloaf, chicken, soups, stews). Also cut up all veggies on a Sun to stir fry/steam during week. One day a week order in Chinese. Some great books and web sites on this as well. I still do this.

(4) A friend with two little ones and I rotated each Sunday at each other's house watching all kids for an hour while the other went for a run, the gym, a manicure, food shopping. We still do it from time to time years later. What a huge help.

(5) Let go of the clean house thing. Keep it livable enough so nobody is choking on dustballs. Good tip from Mom: shined up mirrors and faucet fixtures fools anyone into believing you have a claen house. Takes five seconds.

(6) Some days I broke up workouts: 25 minutes of kick boxing; later on abs; 15 minutes upper body. It's five weeks Sandra: aim to maintain, nothing else. Rest is probably more important for this time anyway.

Hope this helps. You are amazing. Keep us all posted on how it's going!

Julie

(4)

 

[endorphin_junkie]

Hey Sandra, you've done your goal setting already so now it's about making it happen. You've got lots of demands on your daytime hours with help in the evening. Your post made me think of a friend of mine who was working at Queen's 3 days a week and also working on her masters with a 5 year old daughter and 3 year old twin boys. She went to bed when her kids went to bed early in the evening and got up at 4:00 a.m. Her hubby left the house for work at about 8:00 and helped with the kids until then. This gave her 4 hours to concentrate on her work virtually uninterupted. One interuption that I loved was that every a.m. at 6:30 her Dad would call long distance to give her pep talks and support.
You've got your work cut out for you and I know getting up early is difficult but it may be one way to snatch a few hours just for Sandra. Maybe pumping milk so that your hubby can do the early a.m. feed would buy you a bit more time in the morning.
It's wonderful that you are ready to commit to your dissertation with such earnest, it will obviously be a challenge to work it all in but just keep telling yourself that your are at the tail end of it and that others have charted this path and are cheering you on from the other side of it! God speed Sandra! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

Take Care
Laurie

 

[Bobbi]

Sandra, I admire your commitment and courage to take on a doctoral dissertation as the mother of a 5 year old and a 4 month old! I think getting up early to work out is a great way to meet all you have to meet and I encourage you to be certain to take time for yourself. Keep exercising and eat well and get plenty of sleep while you are working toward your goal. Have you ever heard the question "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is one bite at a time. Compartmentalize as best you can, devoting time to you, to your kids and to the task of writing that dissertation. Take any help that is offered and be sure to find time to relax, breathe deeply and enjoy your life even as it is filled with so much to do. I know you can do this also and I'll be rooting for you every step of the way. If I were near to you I would offer you babysitting or help with meals but since I am not, make sure that if anyone offers anything of the kind to take it. Someday you can pay that back. Blessings, Sandra. I am excited for you and wish you all the best!
Bobbi



Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver

 

[Tamster]

Sandra ~ you have gotten some amazing suggestions....I just wanted to say WAY TO GO!!!! Good luck!:7

 

[librarygirl]

Sandra,

I admire what you are doing. When I went back to college, one of the things I did was to make up a four-week menu plan that I just kept using throughout the semester. I always knew what I was going to make for the week when I went to the store so making the grocery list was quick and I knew ahead of time that what I needed to defrost saving me trips to the store as well.

Since you only need to commit five weeks to this, maybe you can rotate the same week of menus for the whole time? The grocery list would be a snap and you even make a couple of large batches of things for the freezer.

Good Luck! You are obviously a dedicated individual or you wouldn't have made it this far. I'm sure you can do it.

 

[FiddleFit]

Thank you so much for your ideas, everyone. Some of them will be very useful. I look forward to hearing more. Today is the first day of my intensified work period; maybe I'll check in tomorrow and tell you how it went. Gosh, maybe I need a daily "work" check in LOL!

Cheers,
Sandra