Highs and Lows

Since Mae joined our family 2 months ago, we have been having a blast.  This whole 3 kids thing is much easier than I thought it would be....however, I know saying that will come back to bite me.   And perhaps that is because I had EXTREMELY low expectations.  Also, I know this is the easy time, when I can put the baby down and she stays where I put her.  And she doesn't talk!

Highs
1. Mae's cute little face and chunky thighs.
2.  The kids have been great.  They love Mae and she really responds to them.  Seeing how much they love each other, that has definitely been the highlight of the past 2 months. 
3. Andrew is the protective big brother, he calls Mae "My Mae."  How cute is that?
4. Grace is almost exactly 5 years older than Mae.  Seeing how much she has grown and changed is just amazing.  She is starting to read!  She can take care of herself in many ways, which is so helpful.  And she helps with her little siblings.  She watches out for Andrew and could not be sweeter to Mae.

Lows
1. Sometimes Mae likes to hang out and cry, grunt, and in general act uncomfortable in the middle of the night.  For a few hours.  Sometimes it makes me want to cry too.
2. Mae wants to be held all the time and cries if I put her down.  So I need to tune out a bit of baby crying or else I won't get a thing done, for someone that HATES noise, this is a challenge. 
2. Mae won't take a pacifier.  What kind of baby doesn't take a paci???  Sometimes I feel like her life would be much easier if she would just suck on the darn thing.
3. Mae pooped on my face.  Seriously.
4. Mae peed on her face.  Seriously.
5. I found myself making hamburger patties and watching kids and grilling about 6 hours after I got home from the hospital.  Seriously. 

And I won't really count these as lows, but I have been taking some shortcuts in the parenting department - it is a survival technique.
1. Andrew gets bribed with skittles, for pretty much anything.
2. If one of the kids is acting up or doing something naughty and I am too tired to discipline, I have just let them get away with it for a while.  Well we have been doing a major behavior crack down over here.  Lots of time outs and taking away priviledges.  Hopefully, they won't be juvenile delinquents. 
3.  Mae gets like 1 or maybe 2 baths a week.  But thats it.  She doesn't spit up often and is not that dirty.  At least that is what I tell myself.
4. I use tv and iDevices as babysitters.  It really doesn't amount to that much time, 15 minutes here and there, but still not ideal.  And Andrew is becoming addicted to the iPad.  And so have I (awesome to pass the time when Mae is eating), so sometimes we get into little altercations over the iPad.  He usually wins.