I'm joining this group...

[bubaloo1979]

Well it looks like DP will be going away for work starting next week. He just has to pass his medical on Monday and will probably fly out Wednesday. We're going to miss him loads! Although won't miss picking up after him. I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder so I'll really appreciate his time at home. He'll be away for 5 weeks and back for 1. Off to Gove in NT.

We're going to buy a video camera so that I can send him DVD's of our little princess growing up. I thought that if I got some footage of him talking to our DD that I could play it for her every day or so. I'd hate it if she just looked through him when he got home and I think that's his biggest fear too! I don't know if the video footage will work but it's worth a try.

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what I could try to help keep him in her head? I mean she's only 8 months so I hope that she remembers him.

It's good that there are other families in the same predicament that I can talk to. Although looking at the few threads in this forum, there don't appear to be that many of us.

[bearsmummy]

hi terese and welcome:wave:
i know exactly how you feel....:fingerscrossed: your DPs medical goes well.
i have to admit there is less mess without my DF here all the time:laughing: and yes absence does make the heart grow fonder. we all appreciate each other so much more now.

good idea with the video camera, i also let my bubba joel listen to him on the phone most nights for a few minutes too just so he knows his voice.

another idea i got was i bought this baby toy which is a photo album. you just slip the photos in side the plastic sleeve and the pics are safe. its all soft plastic and bright colours too. its made by sassy and is sold at kmart and target for around 12 dollars.
joel just loves his and you can see his favourite page is the one of his daddy!
let me know if you want one and you cant find it... im more than willing to send one over.

wow gove hey? one of my girlfriends grew up there... her name is terese too!

well keep me posted on how things are going....doesnt seem to be much activity on this thread at the moment... lets hope it picks up a bit.

feel free to add me to your msn too if you have it... you can get me on melissahazzard@bigpond.com blake works 2 on 1 off so its gets pretty lonely here some nights, im always looking for a chat:ecomcity:

take care.... mel

[jacobsmummy]

Hello,

I was just looking thru this site and thought i would say hi! My husband also works away, he works 11 days on 3 days off. He is only 3 hours drive away but its still hard! We have one little man who just turned one on the 7th July it was a great day and dad was home for it but than had to turn around on the sun and go back to work. Im not going to lie, but it doesnt get any easier over time, i still find it hard especially at night. I think you take for granted having someone to talk to at night when the kids go to bed and also just having someone sleeping beside you. although i dont miss the nagging!! ha ha.

Hey mel do you know if kmart still has those photo albums, i might try and get to kmart tomorrow and have a look, what section would i find it in?

Every second mon when i say goodbye to my husband i just keep telling myself that there are other mums doing the same thing and that by working away at the moment it will make us financially better off later in life.

Cheers Mel & Jacob :)

[bearsmummy]

hi mel im pretty sure kmart still stock them as do target. they are in the baby sections usually with all the bubba toys. let me know if you cant find one and we can swap email details and maybe i could post one to you if thats ok with you. im willing to help any mum thats in the situation i am... theres not many of us out there that understand each other:D

your right though... there are others but it still hurts doesnt it? we are doing it so we can build our first home, but since then blakes realised he loves this job and wants to stay on for the long haul... we will see how we go when the boys get to their teen years lol!

well take care , hope to chat to yas soon, blake got home last night for the week so i better go give him some attention:laughing:

:wave: mel and joel

[jacobsmummy]

Thanks Mel,

Dave is home this weekend aswell, but goes back out on Monday. :crying:

i will go to kmart tomorrow and have alook, they may have it our kamrt but our target wont cause we have target country which is a smaller version of target but its not very good.

Have a good week with blake and i will write again later when he goes back out. He needs all of your attention!

Chat soon
Mel & Jake:smiliedance:

[Di-78]

G'day
I have finally decided to join this thread. My partner has worked away on and off for a few years now (at all different places) and I'm still not used to it.

"Jacobs mummy" are you in Gladstone? Thats where Kurt just flew to last night.

I am at home with a 4month old, a 6 year old and a 7 year old.
My family and friends don't understand why and how we do it. We do it so he can have time off through out the year, usually only works 1/2 the year. He does work in town sometimes but they just don't pay enough. We travelled around Aus for a year when the older ones were babies!
Feel free to add me to your msn too "rustynutter5@hotmail.com"
I'm keen to have a chat. Swap ideas that help us through the tuff times. I just try to remember that it is just as hard for them missing out on seeing their kids and wifes.

[jacobsmummy]

Nice to hear from you. Yes im in gladstone, how long will your partner be here for? Is he just doing shutdown work?

It's not easy being on your own, and i think that only other people in our situations understand why we do it. I get annoyed with having to justify to people why we do it. There is no work in gladstone at the moment for what my husband does so to support his family and to allow us to hopefully soon get a home, we need to do it finanically.

3 children must keep you busy! My little boy just turned one and he keeps me busy.

I best go as im at work so i will jump on later for a chat.

Cheers Mel:smiliedance:

[Di-78]

Hope all are having a good day/night!

Kurts just there for the shut for the next 3 weeks. They have been trying to get him to stay!
Where is your partner and what work does he do?
Kurts a Boilermaker and Supervisor so he just goes whereever he enjoys the work (or the people), and of course who is offering the best deal, there are a lot of places he will not work .
We just do our best to get through each day!
Last year I worked 4 full days while hubby away, as well as being pregnant! I burnt out in the end it just got to much, but I kept plodding along until the contract stopped.

Talk later got dishes to do!

[jacobsmummy]

hello,

Hope you all had a good weekend. I had my partner home this weekend so it was nice, we took jake to the beach. He loved it! the water was a bit cold but he didnt care.

The only problem after a nice weekend is saying good bye again. I hate mondays as its the start of another fortnight by myself.

Dave only started in construction when we had our son as before that we lived on site managing a motel and restuarant but decided it was going to be too much for us when jake was born. So at the moment dave is employed as a rigger/dogger but also just does labouring/ta work. There is plenty of work in gladstone if you are qualified. They keep saying that there is more coming but not till christmas. Daves been told he has work at blackwater till then.

Gladstones not a bad town, is kurt working on the car shutdown? Is he staying in a motel in glt, they said in the paper that most of the men were staying at the reef hotel/motel.

I feel sorry for the guys having to work away, but its unfair how they get everything done for them. They dont have to cook, clean or look after the children and they can sit down in the after noon, have some time to themselves and watch tv undisturbed!:yelclap:

Hope everyone has a good day, i better go do some work, talk soon

mel

[bubaloo1979]

Well firstly ladies I must apologise. It's like I dropped off the face of the earth since posting my thread! Darren passed his medical and flew to Gove last Monday. It's been a week and a half so far and I'm suprisingly doing really well. DD has a nasty cold so we haven't been able to be as busy as we usually are. We "barred" from any of the kids activities that we normally indulge in so it's been quiet.

I guess I've really enjoyed not having to cook up a storm, clean up and having a solid night's sleep cause I'm usually a light sleeper and wake when DD wakes and also when DP rolls over in bed. I guess the fact that we haven't spent a night apart in the last 2 years has made me appreciate the space. In saying that, I do really miss being able to talk to him about the usual stuff that goes on during the day and having a short time out from DD when he gets home. We talk on the phone every night but I need to write a list because I forget what I need to tell him by the time 9pm hits.

Mel (bearsmummy), thanks very much for the recommendation for the sassy toy for the photos. Darren went and bought it before he went away and we open it up every day. I got video footage of Allana and daddy playing in the park before he went and the other night when I had it on, she stopped playing with her toys and didn't move while watching it for at least 5 minutes. It was like she got a sad look on her face, as if to say that she knew she hadn't seen her daddy for a while. Then when he was pushing her on the swing, she laughed so that was real nice. I'm trying to teach her to say "dada" for when he comes home. Don't know how I'll go.

It's a major coincidence that you had a friend who grew up in Gove and her name was Terese! I guess we weren meant to get in contact with each other. I believe that coincidences don't just happen.

I thought he was away for 5 weeks but it's only 4 on, 1 at home so we're half way. As much as I appreciate the space now, come closer to coming home and I'll want it over. And who knows how stint number 2 and beyond will go. The money is worth it and he suffers a lot more than me I think having to leave the 2 of us. At least I've got her to give and receive affection from. Plus I've had dinner invitations with friends and ppl dropping over to feed me/give me company. I don't know how long that will last though.

Thanks for everyone's input. It's so good to know that there are more of you out there. I might be doing really well so far but I don't know what the future holds or how tough it is. I think the one thing that is promising though is that I know the busier Allana and I are, the less lonely I'll feel. We were busy 5 days a week until lunch time and still will be so that should make the weeks fly.

Mel, I don't have MSN but I will join so I'll keep an eye out for you. If any of you want to contact me, please feel free. I promise I won't disappear for 2 weeks again! theresegraham@optusnet.com.au is best. I'll add my msn email to this thread as soon as I get it up and running.

Talk to you all soon,
Therese.
PS - big hugs to you all. :hugs: You all do a great job without your hubbies, especially those with more than one child - Mel, I don't know how you do it. 1 is hectic enough...

[jacobsmummy]

Hey Mel,

I went to kmart on the weekend to look for a sassy toy that was bright colours, but couldnt find anything. I found some keys that you put little photos in but it wasnt made by sassy. Can you tell me what the description is of the one you have so i can have a better look.

Cheers Mel

[bubaloo1979]

Hey Mel,

Darren looked for it in KMart but couldn't find it so he went to Target to get it. I was in target the other day and saw it there as well. It's among all the Sassy branded toys.

Take care,
Therese :wave:

[bubaloo1979]

Sorry Mel. I didn't read your thread properly.

It looks like a book with a bright blue handle with white polka dots on it. The front page has "who loves baby?" written on it and red and yellow stripes around the border. Then each page has a different design like polka dots, different coloured stripes etc. There's 6 pages with plastic sleeves for you to cut to size the photos and put them in. I hope this helps.

Therese.

[joshmum]

Hi there,

As I am very new to this site and I came across this thread with partners working away.

I know how you all feel when your love one goes away to work.

My Hubby is a interstate truck driver. There are times when he is away for weeks. Hubby was home yesterday and went back out and now he will not be back home till next weekend. We have a seven month old boy and feel very sorry for him as he does not get to see his much.

I miss my hubby very much when he is away.

I must be off now you all take care and hope to chat with you all soon.

Feel free to add me or you may email me coolmouse72@hotmail.com

Cheers Jodie and Joshua

[bearsmummy]

hi girls sorry i havent been on much. i have tonsilitis really bad and blake flew out to work on wednesday, the day after we had a funeral to go to:gloomy: .
not much else to tell really, blake will be gone for 3 weeks this swing instead of 2 as he has changed crews and he has just gotten a payrise which seems to make him working away a little more worthwhile

yep therese you described that book down to a t... hope you found one mel, let me know if you havent and maybe i could send one to you.
therese i hope your little girl is feeling better. i know how you feel bout not having to cook up a storm, some nights i just love saying nah lets just have spaghetti on toast or something easy like that lol.

im a little bitter at the moment...i know this was our choice for blake to work away but i thought i would have a little support in times like now... i feel like s%&t, i can hardly talk and all of my inlaws know im sick (my folks live far away from me) but the only one that has offered to help me is my SIL who is almost 12 weeks pg and has a 1 year old of her own and just getting over pneumonia. i dont expect her to help me in anyway, she needs her rest not 3 boys lol. but all the others just dont seem to give a damn. im a firm believer in treating others how i would like to be treated but for some reason this never really happens:banghead: i just want my man home *sob*

sorry thats my little whine over with now......

welcome to jodie, ill add you to my msn and we can chat soon.

its amazing how many of us there are out there. together we can get each other through this:hugs:
we found that too Di-78, pay rates in the city were pitiful and we were never going to start building our house at the rate that blake was being paid at... hes an electrician. but now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel yay!

well this week my middle boy daniel has his school photos at kindy and im taking my bubba joel to get some photos done as well. my girlfriend is bringing her bubba too who was born a day before joel so we have decided to get a pic of them done together... should be soo sweet, joel and his little girlfriend :) so that should keep me occupied for a day... as for the rest of the week who knows?
i cant believe a week hasnt even gone yet and i still have 2 to go.... hopefully once im feeling better i wont miss him as much.

how are all your bubbas and kiddies going? daniel keeps asking every night if we are going to get daddy from the airport... poor kid, he just doesnt understand time. i might have to look into getting him a little calender to mark the days off or something. any other ideas?

well girls i think i might go and have a lay on the lounge and cuddle the kids. i hope all of you are doing well.
take care, mel and the 3 boys xoxo

[bearsmummy]

ooh just another question whilst i think of it.... just got my census form today... the fella explained to me that i dont put blake down on the form as he wont be here on the night. (he will fill out his own on the mine) so that will make me person #1 and the kids #2 #3 and #4 so when i answer the question about what the relationship the kids and i have there will be no mention of blake is that right?:confused:

well until the end when i add him in as an absent person and then i just answer he is my partner but nowhere to mention he is the kids daddy...hmm does that all make sense??

sorry if i have confused anyone with my rambling:ecomcity: .... i just wondered that all

chat soon... mel :wave:

[jacobsmummy]

Thanks Girls,

Now that i know what the toy looks like im gonna head to target after work and see if they have it here.

Thanks for the info

cheers Mel

[Di-78]

Good evening all

Bearsmummy, Mel, hope your feeling better and the sickness has gone. I've experienced the same situation with really bad tonsilitis, my doctor couldn't believe I wasn't in hospital. We just soldier on. The family issue is similar also. Both our oldies don't agree with Kurt working away but they help out whenever they can (even though they live 1 hour away). Unfortunetly my Sisters don't understand and their negative attitude gets me down. Both parents always offer their time and help out and are supportive. I should take them up on their offer of babysitting and helping out but I feel bad. Kurts brother works away heaps too and so did his Dad, must be a family thing.

I am having trouble keeping my household organised (and tidy). I set myself unrealistic goals, then get myself upset when I can't meet them. End up running out of energy by the end of the 2nd week. I have to make sure I go to playgroup every tuesday or else I keep myself in the house (or yard) working and have no OUT time. Then by the time Kurts due back I am so exhauseted and the house looks like a bombshell. Don't know what I do with my day, feel like I'm chasing my tail. Anyone else feel the same or am I the only disorganised one. The kids are healthy and feed healty food and the floors get swept and moped regularly but theres always **** spread from one end of the house to the other. UGGHHHH!!!

Healthy vibes to all. There are so many nasty bugs going around. This Ekka wind doesn't help.

Have a good night.
Di

[jacobsmummy]

:)

Hi everyone,

Yeah!!! Its friday and my DH is home tonight! We are heading off to hervey bay to the whale festival. Should be nice and relaxing to get away. They have a day in the park with markets and entertainment tomorrow and than an evening street parade and fireworks. Looking forward to it.

We took jake to his first local show on wed night. He absolutely loved the clowns that you put the balls in their mouths, he had a few goes as he was sooo excited!

Hope everyone is feeling better, there is always something going around at the moment. I had tuesday off as little jake wasnt 100%, i think he actually had a bit of wind and teething again!

Thank you for the information on the sassy toy, i finally got one, our target did stock them, so when i finish today im going home to pick out my favourite photos.

Our families understand why dave works away and are pretty supportive(mum has jake on mondays as its her day off) i think because my dad done it when we were kids, they know that we will be financially better off. (hoping to buy land in couple of weeks yeah).

Di, i understand your troubles with your house. Mine always looks like a bomb hit it. i try hard to keep it clean but by the time i get home from work, have some quality time with jake playing(toys end up everywhere), than dinner and before you know it its time for bed and nothing gets done. Every second fri i work an early shift so im home before dave gets home, so i use this bit of time to do a quick tidy up, i dont have to but i dont like him coming home and having to clean up because before he goes back out on mondays he vaccums and mops the floors and changes all the sheets and gets up to date with the washing so when he does walk in on fri i try to make the house at least look tidy (try)!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend, anyone else have their partners home this weekend?

Cheers Mel:wave:

[Di-78]

good morning all.

Well...........Kurt has the weekend off but decided not to fly home. Was not impressed. He'll only be up there another week then a few weeks (or days) off then back again. I was so excited as the kids have Monday and Wednesday off school due to public holidays and sports day on Tuesday. So I am going to be quite stressed out. They are going over to some Island with their motorcross bikes for a "play". We were so looking forward to him coming home. I have not been sleeping well and Bub's has a cough and the kids are missing him. DOn't know if the kids miss him more or miss being able to ride their motorbikes around the back paddock. I am going to try to go with them tomorrow. We make a rule that only when Dads around as I can't keep my eye on everyone, but will try. They just upgraded their bikes and are doing very well. We built a motorcross track last holidays and extended the dam so we could use the dirt.

Jacob's mummy (Mel) what size land are you looking to buy and what area? Kurts been having a look around up there also. Work keeps offering him permanent job (like hounding him really asked him 3 times this week). I told him give it till end of year and we will look at it then.

That little book with photos in it sounds like a GREAT idea. Next time I go to town I will have to look for one too. I wonder if my 4 1/2 month old remembers her Dad is her Dad? When she does see him she seems to remember his voice and face and gets all excited. She loves people and will smile or chat to anyone but it seems different for Dad. Any one know???????

Have a good weekend all. Enjoy the time with your partners if they are home.

[bearsmummy]

Hope everyone is feeling better, there is always something going around at the moment. I had tuesday off as little jake wasnt 100%, i think he actually had a bit of wind and teething again!

Thank you for the information on the sassy toy, i finally got one, our target did stock them, so when i finish today im going home to pick out my favourite photos.


im feeling soooo much better now thanks :D and woohoo mel!:smiliedance: glad you found a book :thumbsup:

Di-78, know what you mean about the whold daddy thing... i guess they know, instinct i guess. Kids always have a thing for their daddys :D

just wondering if we should make an actual chat section or all merge into one thread... we seem to be spread over 2 different threads here! LOL!
well let me know what yas think....

i have made a post in the other thread if u all want to read how im going... too slack to write it all again. LOL!

take care girls, mel & 3 boys xoxo