why does the sun shine when I have a thesis to write???

[yummybunnymummy]

Shouldn't be here as I should be writing my thesis. Dh has taken the dc (3yrs and 18mths)out for the day so I need to take the opportunity to work, but its sooooo sunny, and i've been at the computer for 6 hours and my bottom is numb...slow progress here.

Funny you should mention bog men Yummy. Just got back from a conference in Denmark and went to see the Bog Man at the Moesgard Museum outside Aarhus. Keep looking...!

Self-doubt is a nasty little bug. Our male counterparts always seem to have less of it. Or maybe it's all bluster.

Gill - who should be working Right Now...

the Grauballe Man?? hmmm....I would have enjoyed that.

Am still doubting myself, its writing this lit review, I never seem to get much time to work on it at any one time (how unusual!!) and I never feel like I've grasped anything before I have to go and make dinner or empty the potty etc.. etc..

I feel like I'm a good mum most of the time and have to multi-task and be super organized, just wish I could feel like that about the thesis. I've lost a lot of confidence whilst being a SAHM.A room full of kids doesn't worry me at all though..

I should be working...50 words so far today...

How do you manage your working hours Yummy (and anyone else)? Do you have any kind of childcare? Dd goes to nursery 2 days/week and I couldn't manage without that. I know exactly what you mean about the lit review - you need a good long spell to digest stuff - it doesn't work well in short bursts of reading.

I start my (hopefully) final year this Oct and I've booked dd to start 3 days/week (which will take just about all my grant...) but I'm getting really cold feet about it. She seems to be enjoying nursery now she's 2 (it was very on and off before that) but I'm worried about her going up a day. I just went away to that conference for 6 days and when I got back she would have nothing to do with me and was really angry. We've 'talked' about it at bedtimes since then and she's come round but still talks about it (dd sad, dd miss mummy, mummy airplane, dd happy see mummy, mummy here etc) - I feel so guilty about it all. I'm just so afraid that if I don't increase my time/week I'm not going to finish on time and then my grant will have run out and the sky will fall in eeek!! I wonder if I could manage on 2 days/week if I just got more organised and worked more at night (ugh!!!). Jill

it really is difficult. My ds1 is at pre-school now but that is closed all summer and he only goes a couple of times a week. and I still have ds2 (20mths). For the last month we've hired one of the pre-school girls to look after the boys in the house while I work upstairs, which has worked really well, but its only 10 hours a week and this is the last week!! Agh.... I tend to work once we've got the kids asleep, which seems to take forever, and then our youngest is up 4-5 times a night still...I feel exhausted just thinking about it. So I try and start about 9 pm for a couple of hours but all I'm fit for is a glass of wine and half an hour of easy telly. So most of it I get done around all the family stuff at w'ends. My dh has taken all his holiday to try and give me long w'ends on it etc, but with family crisis etc. thats all gone now. I'm never on top of the housework, laundry, shopping etc. etc..

My family has been fantastic, although they live a long way away, my mum is visiting for a week near the end of September and will help with the boys so I can have a week block to work on my discussion - if I can finish the lit. review before then!!!

When I finish the thing I will be really proud of myself, writing up with children has certainly made a difficult thing even harder, boy will we have a party when its finished!

If you can afford childcare that you trust then I'd suggest you use it but make sure you balance it out, your dd will only ever be this young once, so you don't want to miss anything...xxxxxxxx sorry for ramble....

I'm very impressed that you are doing this with 2 kids and less childcare! How long have you been at it so far? Dd was born at the end of my 2nd yr and my last yr will have taken 3 yrs. I took 2 yrs out for maternity and will go back officially this Oct. There is no part time option officially, so this has made it possible for me to spread the load over 3 yrs - but mainly the next yr. I know I'm going ot have to work evenings more but I really am so knackered - it's a glass of wine and trashy telly here too.

I'm still umming and ahing about going up to 3 days at nursery. Thing is, I think if I do that I will still need to work evenings and weekends. I'm desperate to submit 'on time' (not counting my 2 yrs 'out') - that would be Oct 08.

I'm preparing my data right now (zzzzzzzzzzz) - with the occaisional peek on mumsnet.... JIll

Hi there

thought i would say hello, i am mum to a 16 week old darling boy and due to make a start on my changes to my thesis. I had my viva just before i had baby, and have been asked to resubmit after making some fairly big changes to thesis - am hoping to have childminder care one day a week and dh care one day so that will give me two full days a week - will have to see how it goes from there! Anyway would love to stay in touch with fellow phd mums!

Hi MumG - how long are you hoping it will take to resubmit? Did they set any kind of deadline?

I'm still getting the hang of switching gears quickly between todder momdom and research. Just had another conference last week and tried to put an internal censor on 'babytalk'! Interestingly, none of the other women I met had any children - even the older ones - yet all the married men seem to have more than one a piece. Jill

I am 'hoping' that it won't take me longer than six months - My uni regulations state that students have a year, which would mean due to resbmit in Jan but i am asking for maternity time to be added just in case i need it! To be honest, until i make a start i have no idea of how long it will take me to get it done - but my supervisory team are obviously looking for me to agree deadlines. I shall have two full days a week, probably early mornings rather than late night sessions as they work better for me, i would rather be at the pc at 6.30 am trying to write than 9 pm. I think it will be a case of weekend blitz's on the housework front! May have another day a week at childminders if it all works out and we can afford it.

I am a feminist academic myself so am definately not surprised about your conference experiences, it is a reflection of a much bigger picture! It is not made easy for female academics and i definately feel that by having a baby i have put my career on the 'backburner'.

ISWYM re censoring baby talk!

I am currently finishing a conference paper which I am delivering on Wednesday and it feels like it has been going on for ages. I am really grumpy with it, can't wait to get it over and done with, and then I can crack on with the PhD.

Good luck with your paper Jazz, i am interested in criminology, what is it about?

Hi Mum2G, it is about the criminalization of social policy, and whether it can be seen as a positive thing for small welafarist agencies.

Blimey! I will have to go and look that one up!

Hi Mum2G, I really would not bother, it is as boring as it sounds!!!!

Didn't sound boring just was intriguied (sp?)by the concept of criminalisation of social policy - maybe that makes me boring The old grey matter could do with some stimulation!

Most people glaze over when I talk to them so it is great to find someone interested. It is basically the encroachment of crime control aims and objectives in the day to day working practices of agencies and organisations whose core tasks are welfarist in nature.

Can it be positive for small welfare agencies - what was your overall slant Jazz? Do you ever dread being asked what you do because you know people will regret it...?? Or worse, people think it's like a mild hobby.

Mum2G - I hope the changes don't turn out to be too onerous. What do you think you will do after you've finished? jill

Hi AC, well plan A is teaching and research, what about you?

That's my Plan A too. I also want to be able to get dd from school twice a week - I'm just hoping I can work that in somehow (always supposing I'm lucky enough to get a job!). Could be difficult as new PhDs aren't really in a strong bargaining position. Jill

yes i suppose it depends on your teaching timetable, and then there's all the meetings!

have you applied for stuff? i have applied for a couple of full time teaching posts in the past just to get the experience it has definately benefited me in terms of developing my confidence and my interview techniques - didn't get either job but got useful feedback

Did work briefly in a full time NHS research job after submiting thesis then got pregnant!

Hello, hope you don't mind if I join in - I had no idea there were so many PhD-ers on mumsnet! I am pg with dc2 and am just starting to write up. Haven't even finished a chapter yet and I already HATE it - did any of you actually write up when very pg/with a newborn? Am I insane to even consider it?

Good luck with the corrections mum2G

Acinonyx - does that mean you're due to submit in October 2008? me too

yummybunnymummy - no sunshine excuse now - hope you're writing hard!

Hi MRSS, well i don't know about writing up with a newborn, as with G he is my first and so it was all a complete life change for me, and i wouldn't have wanted to even think about writing up for the first three months, G is 4 mths now and things are settling down and i feel able as G usually only wakes once a night (touch wood!).

So unless you are some kind of superwoman (!), i wouldn't expect too much from yourslef in terms of getting writing, but having said that you have another child and may feel different to how i did, and of course any writing that you do get done is better than not doing any - so if you feel ready then i would say go for it!

I also think for me there were emotional issues to do with having to make corrections in order to get the phd, some of which i don't agree with, so i think to some degree i needed some time to calm down, and accept that examiners rule!

Oh I know that must be so hard mum2G - my Dh has just got his first draft back from his supervisor who has told him it needs major changes and he has to write a couple of chapters from scatch. He is gutted

I certainly don't think I'll be writing chapters in the first two-three months after dc2 is born but I don't want to go over the three years and run out of funding so I really need to get writing. Had a nice chat with the guy in charge of postgrads today and he said that if I managed to submit on time he would keel over in admiration for me! Not the most inspiring of things to say.. and I am certainly no superwoman

I just really envy all the young ones who can work on their PhDs any hour they fancy, stay up all night if they like etc.. But of course I have my beautiful dd so I'm sure they envy me too LOL

Mrs Skiddaddle - good luck with the writing up. I took on some writing after dd was born and it was pretty tough going. I'm also very anxious about my funding but took 2 yrs out and now I'm taking up my last yr of my grant (2 yrs was the absolute max I could drop and still keep my grant). Of course that is made possible by depending on dh's salary - so if your dh is also a grad student I'm not sure how that would work finacially. I think it's very tough to not take ANY time out for maternity though. I decided I would rather take the time out up front than run over the 3 yrs officially.

Yup - Oct 2008 is my Goal.

Mum2G - it has never occurred to me to apply for any jobs yet. I think I'm quite ignorant about how to do that. (I have changed profession radically to do this.) Did you apply for full time lectureships? But how could you have taken them if you were still working on your PhD - was this just prior to submitting? I think it may be too early for me to do that but maybe I should try it next year.

What is your subject?

Dd has a relatively easy temperament but she was a TERRIBLE sleeper for the first year. Hence my taking another year out.

I can imagine being pretty * at major revisions. That's something you'd hope a supervisor would pick up before the final draft - but then if it's just someone else's opinions you still have to do it because we are so low on the academic foodchain. I hardly see my supervisor so I do worry about this. Jill

Hi Ac, yes i applied for lectureships when i was close to fininshing my thesis, i think i just had my some of my discussion and my conclusions to write. As long as you can verify that you are close to finishing many depts will consider you for posts, but of course they do grill you re this at interview.

Re supervisors picking up on corrections - what can i say? No one was expecting the outcome of my viva, certainly neither i nor my supervisors anticpated any probs, i guess at the end of the day you do your best to defend what you have done, but if the examiners don't agree then they have the final say. I don't know of many people who have had this expereince though so i wouldn't worry too much,

it probably didn't help that i was recovering from hyperemesis (severe pregnancy sickness) whilst having my viva, i cancelled it once due to this, and still wasn't really at my best when i did it, just pick your examiners carefully.

Btw I am a psychologist and my research is in the area of violence against women.

Am hoping that ds will sleep well through the night til thesis is done!

Mum2G - I am also a psychologist - children's reading development though so very different...

I have also been applying for jobs acinonyx - but post-docs not lectureships, don't think anyone would let me loose on all those impressionable young minds just yet..

Would love to take a full year off with this dc but just can't afford it as dh is also living off a grant (which runs out in December, eek) but at least with a PhD you can choose your hours so hopefully will be able to juggle everything...

Your viva sounds horrific Mum2G - especially as your supervisor thought it would be fine. When you hear stories of major rewrites, the person has almost always fallen out with their supervisor so it's understandable. What did your supervisor say about it? He/she must feel terribly responsible.