This time of year in my world can be extremely hard as my husband is harvesting crops and gone by 8.45am and not home until after 9.30pm 7 days a week. It isn't the only time of the year though - seeding time he works midnight to midday sowing the

crops and is asleep when he's home.

My husband works on a very large property (20,000 acres) along with 7 other workers, the boss and his 2 sons. It is a very busy property which mainly does sheep and cropping but also has a small number of cows, so there is always something to be done. He is 2nd in charge of cropping so is quite often very busy managing the crops - irrigation, spraying, sowing and harvesting. We have 2 young boys - J is 3 and O is almost 2 - who find it very hard when their daddy isn't home much. J is I guess used to it a little and isn't too bad about it but O has been very much a daddy's boy since hubby had holidays in June this year and hates it when daddy leaves for work each morning and does his best to try and stay up until he gets home at night.

Before we had children I used to joke and say I was a harvest widow along with all the other farmer's wives around here - we all do it hard and miss our husbands around this time - but now I have children it's not just hard on me, and a lot of the time it can feel like I am a single mother. My husband hates not seeing the children much and is home any chance he gets....if it has rained at all and they can't harvest until later in the day he is the first person to say he will stay home and they can call him when they are ready to start. He really does his best to be here when he can and I can't fault him at all for that. Like tonight our boys are in their first ever Christmas concert and he is going to try his hardest to finish early and have someone drive his header from 6pm so he can come and watch....but I don't like his chances at the moment, we will find out about 5.30pm I guess.

I'm not saying we have a bad life - we love it and wouldn't have it any other way - we manage it the best we can and do everything possible to make it easier for the children. Once a week, if we can, the boys and I drive out to the paddock they are harvesting and give hubby his lunch and jump on the Header with him for at least half an hour - it can be a little sqashy with all 4 of us in there but boy is it worth it to see the smiles on the kids face's to see their daddy and "help" him at work for a while. Hubby's bosses are fantastic and are happy to let him come home if they stop harvesting for a few hours or let him stay home until they get going in the mornings. We make a real effort to let the kids spend some time with hubby in the mornings before he has to leave for work - whether it just be sitting and eating breakfast with him or going out and feeding the dogs together it all helps them feel their daddy is still here. At night before they go to bed we either ring hubby on his mobile phone or call him on the UHF so the kids can say goodnigth - it helps settle them for the night better and makes hubby feel special!

If you are like me and have a very busy husband and kids to consider, make sure hubby makes the biggest effort he can to spend as much time as possible with them - whether it be sitting for one meal together or playing a game or two at some stage during the day when they are home - it all helps the children cope better and makes your life easier when hubby isn't there.