Thursday, 13 June 2013

Being FIFO Mum: children's honesty

FIFO Mum: ... the mess of my house

Being a parent is a challenging job let alone when one parent is away half the time! You really do know you are a mum when you are constantly covered in food and/or snot, your trackies count as going out clothes and when every time you look in the cupboard those damn clothes shrinking fairies have been at it again! When the cloths fairies strike I'm left remembering children's honesty and Mr 3 kindly saying "look at your big fat tummy Mum! baby use to live in your tummy house" with a big grin on his face. Children really tell it like it is!

Your a Mum have to change your ways of doing things, be very selfless, your values change actually your whole perspective on life changes. You never take free time for granted ever again! There are no hot meals or hot cups of coffee anymore, you become accustomed to drinking cold drinks, eating cold meals and it feels like all you do is kid stuff all day long. Then there is the talking and nagging its constant from the second the kids wake up in the morning to when they finally fall asleep at night and all you want is a few quiet hours by yourself to relax, have a hot drink ... or do you run straight to bed to sleep. Im too scared to go to sleep at the moment as the second I lie down bubs it awake and crying! I swear they know! 

Then there is the guilt of wondering if you are making the correct decisions - the right ones for your kids and this pressure is magnified when you dont have your other half to bounce the ideas off. They only have a week at home to see the children and its hard to fully comprehend what it is like to be the one and only centre of attention for your children. Granted the weeks hubby is home ill have an angel baby sleeping all night or a really co-oprative preschooler. Then bam when they leave the whole house ends up with an illness and sleepless nights where you are zombie Mum. This is just the way it is no changing that its our way of life.

One thing I find incredibly frustrating as a parent is the 'it will get easier' line.... Ahh when?! My opinion is that maybe the sleepless nights get better but there are constant challenges that change every day. You go from that aha moment I've cracked the code straight into another challenge. 

I know for certain I love my boys no matter what they do and I suppose you have to trust that you are doing the best job at being parents as you can give your way of life :).

x A

Friday, 7 June 2013

FIFO Mum Recipe: Chilli Con Carne

With winter fast approaching I thought something to warm you up instead of a sweet treat. This is our Chilli Con Carne recipe we have made and adapted to our likes and I hope you enjoy it!

Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients:
500g Mince Beef
1 onion
2-8 cloves of garlic
1 Can kidney beans
1 Can diced herb tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 Jar of pasta sauce
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
2 teaspoons of oregano
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
2 Bay leaves
Jalapeno chillies to your liking
Chilli flakes to your liking

Method:
Heat a small amount of oil and cook beef
Add onion and garlic
Add tomatoes
Add herbs, spices and chilli
Simmer for 1-2 hours

How to serve... well this is up to you! In tacos, on nachos, as a pie or on a bed of saffron rice baked with cheese melted on top with sour cream and avocado. Yum!
To make into a pie I use puff pastry and a pie maker however you can also make mini pies in cupcake tins.

x A

Monday, 3 June 2013

FIFO Mum becomes the Googly Eye Dinosaur

We have this lovely Mr 3 who is absolutely crazy for dinosaurs. It seems he lives and breathes them! It was magnified after the dinosaurs visited Taronga Zoo and it is quite a let down now when we visit the zoo as the dinosaurs haven't come back!

The Pterosaurs, the flying one, holds a special spot in Mr 3's life as he is the dinosaur that can take him to see daddy at work. It seems all the dinosuas are for the boys in our house. So while Mr 3 assigns Daddy, himself and bubs to be a T-Rex and only boys are allowed to go flying on the Pterosaurs ...

I hear you ask which one is Mummy? A question I wish I hadn't asked! Poor Mummy is assigned as being the 'Googly eye dinosaur' followed by a fit of laughs by all the boys. Now the only way I can explain to you what this lovely specimen of a dinosaur looks like is this photo below...

FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/
Surely I could be the triceratops or the dipolodocous. Umm nope the mummy one is the googly eye one. So along with signing off I now get to sign off as the googly eyed doody head mumma dinosaur ... now all he has to do is add the work poo to the end and im all set! :)

x A