With all of the sickness that has been going around in this house, I have started my disinfecting process (again) today.  I hope that I have stock in Lysol, because I am buying enough of it!  Just as we were getting over one cold, the germ-catchers started again with another snottier one!  (Come to think of it I should check whether or not I have stock in Campbells soup too!) 

Other than our children making us sick, we have been leading a pretty quiet life.  Staying home and watching movies, sleeping in on the weekends (last Saturday, I slept until 8 a.m.!!!!), and doing all the normal things that we do on a day-to-day basis.  It's been pretty cold here, so I've been making ALOT of soup.  Last weekend I made Turkey Soup from the carcass of our Thanksgiving bird.  It turned out great!  Next weekend I will be making Minestrone again.  I should post some of my recipes here.  I have quite a few...maybe I should write a cookbook...I'll have to think about that some more.

My son has pretty much stopped the biting thing - Thank God! - but still hits and pitches fits on a daily basis.  Some of the fits I can put down to being tired because he doesn't sleep very well when he has a cold, but others are just because he's two and can't process what is happening.  Yesterday, while he was at my sister's, he was running around the house screaming and crying, "I'm crabby, I'm crabby!"  He finally went into his cousin's bedroom and cuddled on the couch with a pillow and blanket - that's where I found him when I came to pick them up.  Today his nose is pretty snotty still, but he is wearing his camoflauge bibs, and calling himself "hunting guy", so he is pretty serene for a 2-year-old with a cold. 

My daughter also has a stuffy nose and cough.  She has lately taken to refusing her medicine and if I try to force it she throws it up, so if she doesn't want it fine.  She has also taken a serious interest in Christmas this year and wants to decorate the house.  I told her that we would do it on Saturday, but that hasn't stopped her from pestering me every five minutes since she's been awake to go downstairs and get the Christmas decorations.  The potty training is just about complete with her.  She has slept through the night twice now without a pull-up or an accident!

My youngest brother called last night and asked me for some help with a project.  He wants to write letters to our state legislators, governor, and anyone else who will listen regarding the state of the family law system and what changes need to be made so the laws are fair and equitable when it comes to the father's parental rights in custody.  This is not going to be an easy project.  He has been screwed yet again by the courts in this state, and cannot let go of his anger to look at this dispassionately.  You can't write a ranting letter to a Senator and expect any progress or even a reply.  It's my job to tone down his outrage and try to make sense of his rant and rage.

So my list of things to do this week go like this:

1. Clean the house

2. Disinfect the house

3. Clean out the downstairs freezer so I can fit more soup

4. Plan dinners for the next 2 weeks

5. Laundry, Laundry, Laundry

6. Brett's project

Well, I guess I better get started.  TTFN!    

I have always been reserved.  I don't like causing or being involved in scenes especially in public places.  I'm just not that type of person.  I grew up under the mantra "do as I say, not as I do" as I'm sure most people in my age group did.  I did not have to deal with any one of my 3 brothers biting, and hitting just wasn't allowed.  We all were a little bit afraid of our parents and we knew where our limits were most of the time.  When we got into trouble we learned not to make the same mistakes (or at least not to make the mistake of getting caught!) again for fear of a greater punishment than the one we received the first time.  My son, however, is a different sort of kid. 

He is a biter and a hitter.  He is only 2-years-old, but he continually bites either his sister or his cousin and then admits it when asked.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he's being honest with me, and I don't want that to change, but you would think he would have learned after being punished that the best way would be to deny it!  He has bitten his cousin several times.  Each time he has lost TV privileges.  We have tried a variety of other punishments with his continued biting...no snacks, timeouts, biting an onion - I even bit him once! - but nothing has worked.  He is angry about something and can't seem to vocalize it any other way then biting.  He doesn't bite adults, he saves the hitting, which is dealt with, for the adults.  Talking to him doesn't work either - I can get him to promise that he won't bite when I drop him off, and then come to find that he did anyway.  He's probably too young to understand the concept of promise, but I thought that it was worth a try.

{{Sigh}}...What am I going to do with him?

Well it has been some time since I have blogged anything.  We've been very busy around here lately.  My work schedule has been all over the place, and I just haven't had the energy or time to write down my thoughts.

Enough of the excuses...here's some highlights about what has been going on in Kim World.

Mackenzie is learning to write her letters.  We started with the capital letter a.  She does a great job on the magnetic drawing board, but when it comes to the writing tablet, she just wants to draw pictures.  She needs to concentrate a little harder, but that will come with time.  She hasn't even turned 4 yet, so I guess just a little more patience and practice will be the flavor of the day for her.

Xander hasn't undressed himself in a while (which means less mess for mommy!), however, he has turned to biting and hitting now.  I know that most two-year-olds go through this biting phase, but he seems to be angry about something and I just don't know what it is.  The thing is he only bites his cousin who is the same age.  I don't know if it's a competition thing or what, but sooner or later his mother is going to tell me that she won't babysit for him anymore and then I'm up a creek.  Any suggestions on how to curb the biting and hitting would be welcomed.

Pat and I have terrible colds right now.  The kids seem to be getting over their colds, but ours just seem to be hanging on...

Tomorrow we are going to a Halloween costume party.  The theme this year is TV characters.  The kids are going as Dora the Explorer and Scooby Doo.  I'm still working on my costume - I keep vascillating on what I want to be.

Well, my house is a mess, so I better get to it.  I'll write more later.

As the morning dawns on the 6th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States, I am thinking of all of the lives lost since that day exactly 6 years ago.  Look how much has happened since those people working at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on those planes lost their lives...Iraq is on its way to a dictator free society...Sadaam Hussein has been capture, tried, convicted and put to death...the United States abounds with national pride.

Since that fateful day that over 3,000 people needlessly lost their lives to terror, many more have gone to war and paid the ultimate price for the world's freedom.  My thoughts are with each and every family that has lost a loved one to terrorism in the last 6 years and my gratitude is with each and every soldier fightng for our freedom and stopping terrorism from takking over the world. 

Thank you and God Bless.

Mackenzie was a very good girl today for her aunt who was babysitting.  Xander on the other hand was a little heathen (to borrow a phrase from a friend of mine - thanks Becky) all day and spent most of the time that he was awake in timeout.  There are some days that I just don't know what to do with him.  He yells and screams at the slightest thing and at everyone.  He kicks and hits and his favorite target lately is his sister who over-reacts to everything.  Her middle name should have been drama queen.

I'm running out of creative ways to distract him from his disagreeable behavior and the timeouts really don't have much effect on him either.  I guess I'm just hoping that this is a really bad case of the "terrible twos" and it will pass.

Okay, this is just getting a little disturbing now!  My 2-year-old just told me to leave hime alone!  There he is at 10:00 in the morning, sitting in his bed, pajama pants around his ankles and his hands in his lap!  He took one look at me and told me to leave him alone!  I didn't know what to do so I turned around and shut the door behind me. 

Right now my husband is laughing hysterically while he is working...

My son has discovered that he has something he can play with attachd to him.  He is only 2 years old and still in diapers - not that it deters him in any way.  I went into his room yesterday to wake him up so that we could go to the babysitters to find that he had been reaching into his poopy diaper.  He had poop on his hands, feet and belly - like he was trying to wipe it off.  Needless to say he got an impromptu shower before we could go anywhere.

Then this morning in the tub he looked at me and said, "Mom, I hold my peepee."  Sure enough, he had it in his hand.  I know it's normal for a boy to do this, but I just didn't think it would start so soon!

I really don't miss much about being single.  I love my husband (even though he can really irritate me at times) and I wouldn't trade my kids for the world (even though some days it seems they are hellbent on driving me crazy with an express ticket).  I guess if I had to pick one thing that I miss most is the ability to just go.

Before I met my husband and had my children I could (and did) just pack a small bag and get in the car and go.  I took many weekend vacations to my Aunt's in Minnesota or up north to the lake either by myself or with my sister - some were planned and some weren't.

Now even going out to dinner with my husband is a major production - find a sitter, feed the kids, pick up the house (so the sitter doesn't think we are a bunch of pigs!), go get the sitter, pay the sitter, take the sitter back home - all for an hour or two of quiet time!  Add that on to te fact that my son has been having srious separation anxiety issues lately and most times it's just easier to stay home and eat popcorn!

I liked my life when I was single - I could do what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted - but I love my life now.  I am raising the future, with my soulmate by my side.  What could be more awesome than that?

The place I feel most at peace is Williams Cedar Point Resort on Big Trade Lake just outside of Grantsburg, Wisconsin.  My Great Aunt and Uncle have owned the resort for as long as I can remember.  There are 10 "house-keeping" cabins - each complete with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, living area and pier with boat (if you don't bring your own) - 2 campgrounds and a recreation hall with a small general store/bait shop.  Cedar Point is surrounded on three sides by the water of Big Trade Lake, so thereis only one road linking the cabins and campground with the rest of the world.

Days just seem longer and more relaxed when you're there.  I've been going up there every chance I get (It is in the far northwest corner of Wisconsin) as an adult.  My favorite way to start the day is to take a cup of coffee and sit at the end of the pier just watching the lake and the lake birds, waiting for a fish to jump or a loon to sing out.  The last time I was there a Blue Heron would hunt every morning along the lakeshore outside of my cabin.

After dinner, guests of the resort can go to the rec hall to visit and talk with other guests, put together a puzzle with our hostess, Pally, eat an ice cream bar or popsicle, or play pinball or pool.  After a day of fishing, taking walks, or going shopping in one of the nearby towns, the camraderie is the perfect end to the day.

It is worth the trip for me to reconnect with the lake and find my center again.  My most peaceful place is Williams Cedar Point Resort because of the relaxed atmosphere and no rat-race, emails, telephone and all the other things that bombard us in our day-to-day lives.