Wow I have a reader!

Today was a good day and so was yesterday. I had logged onto write about why yesterday was a good day, and discovered that I have at least one reader! Welcome melanie! Thank you for introducing yourself and for your words of encouragement. I hope that I provide you some enjoyment. Thank you for helping to make today a good day. The other reason today was a good day was because I ran an analytical gel to determine the quality of DNA I had purified earlier in the week and it was great DNA. Yeah me!

Yesterday, I remembered why I thought having a baby while in grad school was a good thing - you can stay home just because. I decided to stay home since the monkey was being a bit out of sorts as he didn't sleep well all weekend, and neither did I. When the boy wakes up in the middle of the night I am too damn tired to sit with him. Which means he comes into our bed, irritating Mr.SM to no end as neither Mr. SM nor I get any rest. Why you ask? Because the monkey sleeps perpendicular to us, kicking Mr. SM in the head while hammering his head into my spine (and we have a king size bed!!!)t. But eh, if I have to suffer, so does Mr. SM :). So I stayed home and had a chit chat with a labmate of mine, we'll call her M3 as she is a mom to 3. M3 is the head technician in our lab and is definitely a mother hen to us all. I think, one of the reasons I am struggling right now is that she is off on sick leave and is not around to let me know that it is OK that I can not do everything right now. She also tends to protect us grad students from our supervisor (henceforth referred to as PI). PI is a great supervisor, very very supportive but he sometimes forgets that the quick little experiment that is going to lead to a wicked paper is not all that quick and is actually unlikely to lead to a paper. But I digress - the point is the boys molars are coming in, he has a bit of a cold and is being sensitive. I kept him home in the morning to keep and eye on him while having a wonderful chat with M3. M3 listened to me rant about the horribly unproductive lab meeting that I presented at last week (that would be the lab meeting that precipitated the beginning of this blog) and tried to remind me that it was not personal. I disagree with her. However after chatting with her and another member of the lab that was present, I have come to the conclusion that although the meeting was unproductive and it was a bit of a personal attack I can not care. I also can not show to the individuals responsible that their behaviour has affected me nor can I let it dissuade me from continuing or alter my belief in myself. I can only work hard and demonstrate progress. I am learning not to care. Again the point is that I was able to stay home and take a 'mental health' day. I didn't have to call in sick or explain where I was because as a PhD student I am in a way responsible for my own progress and my own research. After having the boy all morning and having a wonderful, supportive tea, I sent the boy to daycare and chilled all afteroon. Mr. SM doesn't get to do that. I only get to do that because I don't have "real" job like everyone else. The flexibility of being a grad student is excellent when you have little one(s) that get sick, injured or when you need to recover from a crazy busy weekend. Recommend reading mom101 today and motherhooduncensored