Week # 3

Well, another busy week where I'm only just now getting a chance to sit down and think about something apart from study.

It's been a super busy week, I'm trying to get a start on my essay that is due in 4 weeks time. I know that sounds like a long way away, but already I've been at school 3 weeks and it has just flown. Also, this essay involves A LOT of research, so lots of time has and will be spent wading through databases looking for good quality research that supports my topic. It's very boring, very tedious and something that you can quite easily brush off to the next day. BUT I have to get a start, so I've given myself till next week to get all the research done and a rough draft written up.

I'm slowly getting into a study routine. Up until now, I've kinda felt a little lost with what I actually have to do. Now I've worked out a routine, found a way to organise notes from lectures and feel like I'm actually organised. I still have to write up a few lecture notes from the first weeks, now that I have my little system happening. I'm hoping that by taking good notes and having them all filed nicely, it'll make it easier come exam time. Crap, even just saying the word makes me instantly anxious. Must work on my relaxation techniques!

The kids are still coping well with the upheaval and changes. They are being a little bit of a pain come bed time, wanting a million books read before they'll agree to sleep. I'm reading 5 cause I enjoy it, and another 5 out of guilt. Mummy guilt has certainly stepped up a notch since I'm not around all the time for them. I didn't get home till 6.30pm last night, and Duane went out to a friends house not long after. The kids hadn't slept during the day at all, so I was hoping for a nice quiet evening of study. Well, they weren't on the same page, preferring lots of Mummy time and kept requesting more books to read. I read about 10, then left them to go to sleep. Both of them kept coming out of their rooms, not wanting to stay there. I was getting frustrated, as I had a full day First Aid course today and needed to get the theory completed. In my frustration, I managed to yell at both of them and make them both cry. Yep, going for Mother of the Year. I very, very rarely yell at the kids, so both of them just turned to a blithering, tired mess and it took ages to settle them back down enough to go to sleep. A very bad way to handle it I know, and not something that I am proud off at all.

So, I had the First Aid course today and that was a mix of interesting and scary. Gosh, so many things can happen. We first watched a real life resuscitation of a man at the beach, and that was quite distressing to see. I never really understood the physical exertion needed to perform CPR, but watching very fit lifesavers struggle to keep it up was an eye opener. We had to practice and then do an assessment on adult and infant mannequins. It is exhausting. Even just doing 3 minutes of compressions on a tiny infant is tough, let alone on an adult. I know that I'll be sore tomorrow, but I now feel confidant that I'd have a fair idea what to do if I had to use it. I really think that the Government should subsidise First Aid courses for everyone, it is so important in preserving life until medical help is available. We also got to do lots of bandage wrapping on each other and I'm inspired to update our first aid kit and I'm also going to make sure that we always have one in the car and when we go camping. It's amazing how a few simple things and the knowledge on how to use them can really save lives.

I'm really looking forward to having tomorrow off. It would have been even better if Duane didn't have to work in the morning, but at least he'll be home early and we can have some family time. I really miss all our time together, but I'm determined to make the time we do spend together, quality time.