Summer Madness

I've had quite the hiatus from the blog, facebook & tweets. Having Hunter home for summer has presented some real challenges. I realized all the hours I was logging each week on the internet was taking away from  some of the qualilty time with Hunter & the little ones. Hunter needed more one on one time & entertainment, Logan needed more intense monitoring (this kid is in to everything!) and Grady needed more face time, tummy time & general attention.
Some of my friends have commented to me how put together I am, how calm I appear and how easy I make motherhood look. This is an amazing compliment, but I must really have everyone fooled. I am mildly-moderately overwhelmed all the time. Apparantly I should have followed a career in acting because this mom gig is hard and I bet the Hollywood sets look way better than the scene I'm in right now.
Take for instance, as I'm typing this I'm trying to finally finish my breakfast at 11am and get my 1st glass of water down all day. Hunter & Logan insist upon eating everything I make for my self, even though I stuffed them with waffles and fruit for breakfast not more than 2 hours ago.  Logan is straddling me while I attempt to type around him, as he begs for bites of my cereal and english muffin. (Hunter & Logan ate my first so I made another.) Then Logan just drooled milk back into my cereal bowl, making it less than appealing to me now. (That's another comment someone made, was how skinny I was appearing, must be from the lack of finished meals.)
Yesterday was a crazy day, I'm pretty sure Grady is teething and I know Logan is teething he has the 2 white tips to prove it. Which means LOTS of whining and runny noses. I can't seem to go 15minutes without someone wailing, which grates on you. I feel like I'm spinning in circles on an endless groundhog day.
Ok, now I'm nursing Grady while typing, with Logan screaming at my ankles to be held. Hold on little guy, only one person at a time.  It's nap time for him, so as soon as I finish feeding Grady I can't wait to put him down for a few hours. Then it's usually fairly quiet around here.
Last week Hunter started the summer reading program at the library from 1:30-2:30p. I took the double stroller (LOVE THAT THING!) and pushed the little one's around the neighborhood while he did crafts in the library with some of his classmates. Unfortunately, it was about 90 degrees outside so all I got out of the walk was back sweat. I'm hoping today with the cooler weather it won't be so uncomfortable outside. I'd love to stay in the cool air conditioned library but with 2 babies under 2, that are cranky, the librarian tends to frown at you.
This week Hunter started swim lessons, another way to keep him busy & entertained. But, also another wee bit of a challenge with the 2 little ones. Luckily we got the 4:15p slot so Jared is able to take him now after work & before water. Good thing the lesson is only 30min. and Jared can be there so I don't have to.
Ok I just put sleeping Grady down and am holding a cranky, screaming Logan in arms. Time to stop typing for now...Holy cow the house is silent. Music to my ears. Hunter is outside playing and Logan is drifting off in my arms, between sobs from crying so hard a minute ago.
I feel so bad, really everyone is sacrificing this summer in the madness that is now our reality of life. Hunter gets shorted because he's the oldest and most self suffient. He gets sent outside or downstairs to  play quietly while I attempt to get the two little ones down for their morning naps.
Logan gets shorted because he's the middle one, too young to do what his big brother can do. Too young to understand boundaries and desperately wants to participate in things beyond his abilities. He's also too rough & big to play well with Grady. He's too big to be held all the time yet young enough that he wants to.
Grady, the baby, he's always getting put somewhere out of the way, so that his brother's can't get to him. In the swing, in the bouncer, in the jump up, in the bassinet, in the play pen, on the bed, anywhere just out of reach. And, there he stays until he gets fussy enough to require me to turn my attention from Hunter or Logan, back on to him. He's such a good baby, very calm and easy going. But I feel bad, we haven't worked more on tummy time with him because we're always so worried the other two will hurt him somehow. I swear that's why Hunter did everything so early, we were only focused on him and pushing him to acheive greatness and no one to distract us. I hope Grady isn't behind in everything because he suffers from the lack of attention we can devote to him and him alone.
Well, silence is golden and means it's time to run like mad to clean this house and finish up tasks before the maddess starts all over again. (Oh and try to squeeze in some one on one time with Hunter while his little brothers aren't awake to steal the limelight.)