Outnumbered

Well, as you can see we had a pickle-tastrophe.  Let me start at the beginning...first there was Tyler, sweet little Tyler who I managed to do great with.  Time to play with him, sleep when he sleeps, limit tv time and play games with to stimulate his growing brain.  Then there was Jacob.  Ah, Jacob, the screamer.  So, Tyler got  little more tv time which I felt okay about because I was just trying to survive Jacob's first year.  Now Jacob is very sweet, stubborn, but sweet.  He always makes us laugh.  I still had time to play with them, but now comes Maggie.  Everyone says to sleep when the baby sleeps, well, that works in theory but when you have multiple children it just isn't going to happen.  Television has become a babysitter and go-gurts my snack of choice.  Maggie's sleep time is my time to get the boys and myself dressed, eat food and then before I know it she is awake again.  So fatigue is an issue, all mothers know what I mean.  But the biggest change is simple math--I am outnumbered now.  And my older kids are smart.  It took only a matter of days before they realized that when mommy is feeding Maggie, she doesn't get up!  So Maggie's mealtimes are a free for all in my house.  The boys get into the fridge (hence the pickle disaster--Jacob tried to carry a brand new jar of pickles over to me, but didn't make it very far, so I stop feeding Maggie to clean up.  I've got Maggie screaming, me sopping up pickle juice and Jacob trying to pick up pickles amid all the broken glass to eat them).  The boys also fight, get into everything and more when I am nursing.  I threaten them with time-outs but it loses it's effectiveness when I shout it (quietly shouting because I've got Maggie) from the other room.  I say, "Go to time out."  They reply, "Ummmm, no."  SO what do I do?  Every parent knows consistency is key, so I am consistent in that I let it go.  I have learned to stop threatening time outs and generally let them destroy themselves for the half hour I am glued to the sofa.  Then I clean up the mess.  Ah, adventures in mothering.  It is not for the faint of heart....  I only fear what happens with 4 kids.....