The Reason for Going Private

On Saturday I received a Facebook friend request from a guy that stalked me in High School.

For a period of 3 months this guy stalked me repeatedly. My parents live 15 minutes from town in the country so it's not like we lived in a highly populated area. On my parents mile there was only us and one neighbor.

It started with my wallet being stolen out of my purse while in my car parked in the garage at my parents house. Then it was followed up by being followed home on numerous occasions, having him (which I didn't know who it was at the time) tap on the windows at our house at night when I was home alone and rattle the front door knob. On night I heard what sounded like footsteps on our back patio. Once the police arrived they found the sliding glass door partially open.

He also would stalk me at my boyfriend's house. For instance I was going to the bathroom at my BF's house and there was a tap on the window. As soon as I ran out and told my BF and his parents they went outside and there was footprints in the snow that led up to the bathroom window. Another time while at my BF's house when I had my car warming up and someone (assuming my stalker) locked the doors to my car while I was inside the house. My car idled for over an hour until the police were able to get the car unlocked.

A month after my wallet was stolen out of my purse all the items minus the money were returned to me in a mailed letter that said "I found these in my yard. I'm assuming they were lost or stolen." The evening after I received the letter when I was in town one of the cops was in the high school parking lot so I pulled up next to him(there was another car on the other side of him) and gave him the letter. While the cop read it I then looked across his car to see who was in the car on the other side and it was the guy who had been stalking me. The next night I was followed home after a High School volleyball game.

I never actually saw the guy stalking me but I kept having dreams it was him. My psychology teacher in High School studied dream analysis and I talked to him about it. He asked me if I ever talked to the guy. I said that he didn't hang out with any of my friends and the kid was anti-social and was never at parties, etc but I was friendly to everyone so if I saw him in the hall I would say "Hi" to him. (Our High School was small. Only 200 kids 9-12 grade so everyone knew everyone). The teacher asked me to approach the guy and try to talk to him again now that the stalking had started. One day when entering the library I noticed he was sitting at the table. As I walked by he looked up at me. I said "Hi" and he ignored me and got up and left the library.

How the stalking finally ended was that my brother was home from college one weekend at a party and the kid was at the same party (shocking because this kid and his "group of friends" were loners and didn't go to parties). My brother approached him and threatened him and said if anything else happened to me that my brother was going to go after him. I was never stalked again after this.

The whole experience has changed me. I'm extremely aware of my surroundings and I always close the blinds whenever I'm home alone. Before we activated the house alarm I would lay in bed at night and go through different scenarios in my head as to how I would react if someone broke in the house, etc. I'm forever marked by it.

So now 15 years later this guy decides to taunt me by friend requesting me on Facebook...CREEP!!! I blocked him from viewing my profile on FB, made my blog non-searchable and also removed my maiden name and have it non-searchable on Facebook. My blog will be private for the time being until the "threat" of him has past.

I use this blog for my friends and family back home to see pics of the kids and as a diary/virtual scrapbook for my children to look back at one day. There is no way I am going to let one freak of nature ruin that by taking my blog completely down.

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Tasty Tuesday: Baked Taco Ring

Another Pinterest Recipe. I made this for the Super Bowl and it was a huge hit.

BAKED TACO RING

Recipe and Image Source

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 package (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix
1 c. (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbs water
2 8-oz packages refrigerated crescent rolls
1 medium green bell pepper
1 c. salsa (optional)
3 c. lettuce, shredded
1 medium tomato, diced
¼ c. onion, chopped
½ c. pitted ripe olives
sour cream

Directions:

–Preheat oven to 375°. Brown the ground beef, then drain. Add taco seasoning and simmer.

–Unroll the crescent dough; separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle on a pizza pan with the wide ends toward the center of the pan, overlapping each other. It will look like a large sun with the points hanging half off the pan. There should be a 5 or 6 inch opening in the center.

–Spoon the meat mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough. (Filling will not be completely covered).

–Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.

–Shred lettuce, dice tomato, onions, olives, green pepper, and whatever other items you want to put inside. Place them in center of the taco ring and use that as your toppings!

Watch Me Grow - 3 Months

Weight: Won't know until next appt. I'm guessing 14lbs or more
Clothing: 6 Months
Diapers: Size 1
Feeding: 6oz every 3 - 4 hours
Night time Sleep: After several weeks of him waking up twice a night he's now sleeping through the night.
Updates: He is more tolerant of tummy time. When on his back he can roll to his side and almost to his tummy. Smiles and squeals. Extremely easy going and low maintenance. Loves watching Addison play and loves being in the Moby wrap. I used the wrap with Addison a little bit when she was a baby but now with 2 kids I use the Moby all.the.time.

Blog is Going Private

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Due to some recent security concerns (not with Blogger, but with an individual) I'm putting my blog back to private. If you had permissions to view it when it was private before the same settings should still be in place and you won't need to be granted permission again.

For anyone still wanting to read or follow this blog please leave your email address in the comments section and I will add you to my list of approved contacts. You can also email me via my personal email or FB and request access.

Once it is "Private" I will do a blog post on my reasons for making it Private.

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Phone Fun Friday

I'm happy to report that Enzo slept through the night last night(7:30p - 7a) for the first time ever. After 3 months of him waking up twice a night and thinking that the sleep deprevation would never go away, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I never had to deal with this with Addison because she slept through the night at 7 weeks. I've been reading books and doing sleep training the last few weeks and it finally worked.

A necklace I found on Pinterest that I fell in love with. This was my Valentine's gift from Brian. Love Love Love it!!

Tasty Tuesday: Creamy White Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

Now that I'm addicted to Pinterest (like I need another internet addiction) I've found so many great recipes. Every Sunday I've been making a new recipe that I've "pinned." I love artichokes and Brian loves lasagna so I thought this would be a great new recipe to try out. The only flaw to this is that I tried to use a shortcut by using the no-bake lasagna noodles and they were still slightly hard on the edges. I highly recommend you use original lasagna noodles that need to be cooked prior to putting your lasagna together. Nevertheless, this recipe was amazingly delicious and full of flavor. I will definitely be making this again.

CREAMY WHITE CHICKEN AND ARTICHOKE LASAGNA

Image and Recipe Source

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA, divided
1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil, chopped, divided
12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Directions :

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COMBINE chicken, artichokes, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan and tomatoes.

Beat cream cheese, milk and garlic powder with mixer until well blended; stir in 2 Tbsp. basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture.

SPREAD half the remaining cream cheese mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with 3 noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers of noodles and chicken mixture twice. Top with remaining noodles, cream cheese mixture and mozzarella; cover.

BAKE 25 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.

Phone Fun Friday

Our Big Girl

I look at these pictures and want to stop time. I can't believe how grown up she looks.

The Premature Twins Go Home on Valentine's Day

The twins I blogged about on Saturday got to go home yesterday. See the news story by clicking on the link below.

Click HERE

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Addison's Valentines

I don't consider myself a crafty person but since joining Pinterest I've been overwhelmed by the abundance of ideas and inspiration. When looking at Valentine's on Pinterest I saw one that I fell in love with. I used my friend Francesca's design skills and she re-created what I found. I was able to find the assorted color Swedish Fish at Target and the gift bags at Michael's.

CHD Awareness Week

My best friend's twin nephews were born December 12th at 32 weeks. Both were born with heart defects. February 7-14 is National CHD Awareness Week. Please keep Levi and Dylan in your thoughts and prayers as these little miracles have been through more in the last two months that most people experience in a lifetime. Please keep their parents in your thoughts and prayers as well. They have showed true courage and strength through all of this. To read their journey click HERE.

An excerpt from their Caring Bridge Site:
There is only one other set of identical twins reported in medical journals with pulmonary atresia and the geneticist told us that our boys may really hold key to this congenital heart defect. They have asked our permission to report our story to these medical journals. We want more than anything to help others through this if at all possible. If everything happens for a reason, which I truly believe it always somehow works out that it does, this could be our reason. To pay it forward and to help others.

This sums it up

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. ~Leo J. Burke

Two sick kids = very little sleep.

2 Month Dr. Appt

Enzo had his 2 Month Appointment on Friday. He got his shots and didn't cry at all. I was prepared for the crying because I remember so clearly the first time Addison got shots and hearing her first "hurt" cries. I was in tears with her. I am still in shock that he didn't cry or even whimper.

His stats are:

Weight - 13lbs 9oz (90 percentile)
Height - 25.5 inches (Off the charts!)
Head - 16 inches (50-75 percentile)

Phone Fun Friday