Elspeth with gas :)

We have just had a lovely family weekend, with my parents and my brother visiting Canberra to see Elspeth and I (and Aidan but he was working for most of it). It is the first time my brother has met his neice; I think they'll get along better when she's a little older. My apologies for the very poor image quality - I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me, so these were taken on my phone.

The weekend has been a complete write-off in terms of study, so I have to get back into it fairly solidly tomorrow, but it's been worth it - great to see my parents again. Especially my mum - she is LOVING being a nana, taking every opportunity to hold, touch, or even just stare at Elspeth!

Half an hour ago when I said goodbye and left their hotel room to come home, I was really tired. The walk back here in the cold, then changing and feeding the bub, have woken me up so now I can't sleep... which sucks - I was hoping to take advantage of her being asleep before Aidan gets home from work, which should nicely coincide with the next time she'll need feeding... oh well, it won't work out now. The best laid plans, etc!

Now it is time to gloat about how good I am.

Not only do I have a happy, healthy, three-week-old daughter, and not only was the real estate agent pleased with the property inspection this morning, but I am also keeping up with my (officially) "full-time" study load and getting quite good marks!

I've been really surprised and quite impressed with myself; in the past, when attempting online study, I've quickly lost motivation and ultimately failed. However, with just three weeks of this study period to go, I've kept plugging away at my two subjects and remained interested.

Here is where I currently stand:

For the Myth unit, I have to submit four tutorials (all of which I have done) and one major essay (which I am halfway through). I'll be graded on the essay and the best two of my tutorials - I've got one 7 and one 8 out of 10, which I'm fairly happy with.

For the Religion unit, I have to submit a 500 word tutorials on each of the six religions covered, and one major essay. I've done three and two-halves of the six tutorials, but have not yet started my major essay. This unit is quite flexible and permits extensions, and my course co-ordinator knows I've just had a baby, so I will be taking full advantage of that, but I'm still pleased that I've done as much as I have so far. (Incidentally, for the three completed tutorials so far, I got a Distinction.)

Having one child has given me a new respect for mothers of multiple children, particularly twins. However my own mother (who had two of us) has expressed admiration for my efforts at mothering and studying together. Go me!

My next challenge is to figure out what, if anything, I should do in the next study period (which starts at the end of this month). I know that, as Elspeth gets older, she will take up more time and won't sleep as much, so I will probably only do one unit instead of the two I did this time. But which one? I would love to do an English subject, but there's a lot of reading involved and I'm not sure that I'll have the time or the concentration to do it justice. Another history unit would be interesting; I was thinking perhaps one on the fall of the Roman Empire. Creative Writing could also be fun, but again I'm not sure I'll have the required concentration - unless I could write about babies!!

So anyway, I've got some thinking and some work to do. I'm really very glad I did decide to undertake some study - not only does it improve my future prospects, but it also keeps my mind active and gives me something other than Elspeth to think and talk (and blog) about!

Elspeth is now officially a formula baby. After breastfeeding of late she's been irritable, extremely gassy, still hungry, and difficult to settle (most likely because of the above). However after two bottles of formula today, each time she has had very little gas and settled down well again afterwards. She just seems to react better to the bottle than the breast. I can't say I'm all that disappointed; honestly I was quite depressed and stressed about breastfeeding anyway, but willing to keep trying so long as it was best for her. But that appears to no longer be the case. Perhaps I'm just not producing enough. At least with a bottle I know just how much she's getting, which is something that had bothered me the other way - why don't breasts have measurements marked on them? Very poor design. I will do my utmost not to feel guilty about this decision; at least she had over two weeks of the good stuff, that's more than many babies get.