Happy Birthday to Me!!!

This is a thank you post to everyone who made my birthday so wonderful! Granted I had to work the night before and the night of so I spent aproximately 13 hours of the actual day working and 6 hours of it sleeping, but somehow it still turned out to be great. The kids at work colored me pictures, painted my nails, and made me a bunny necklace. It was so sweet! My mom sent me a beautiful boquet of my favorite flowers (irises). My good buddy Tasha brought me an ice cream cake to work (YUM!). My hubby and Liv bought me a new awesome pair of jeans, and my girls went in together and bought me a new wok so that I can cook all kinds of fancy asian dishes. All the rents sent monies which was promptly turned into new clothes! All in all being 28 isn't that bad. I have an awesome family, great friends, and a job where I get to play Candyland with cute kids. Life is good (=

Snow and Daffodils

I love Arkansas. Really I do! The only thing is...well, this crazy weather kills me! I am really trying to take it in stride this year, though. I mean, it is almost comical that just last weekend we were having snow and this weekend we were headed to the daffodil festival. Both were great photo ops so I just thought I would share!



Liv and Hyland cheesing it up at breakfast.




Yes, those are socks on her hands...you wouldn't buy new gloves after February either!



Liv and Sam having a snowball fight.



Our Little Family



McPretty



Liv n Me



Liv counting her flowers

Update!

Things have been crazy busy around our little home. I really think this is the first week in a while that neither Hyland, Liv, or I are sick! Anyway, I have been hearing the rumblings going on about my lack of posts as of late so I thought it was time I got on here and gave everyone an update on my teeny little family!

Liv is doing great! She is getting so big it makes my heart hurt a little. I almost brokedown in Target the other day when I realized I don't have to go to the baby section to buy her one single thing anymore! She even uses grown up bowls and forks!

Anyway, she is really in to puzzles lately. We're not talking "baby puzzles" either. We have bought out all the little 24 piece puzzles I can find, and she tends to get them done in about 2 minutes. The next step up, as far as I could find, was a 150 piece Disney Princesses puzzle. I, of course, worked it with her, but I was completely amazed at how well she could hold her own on it. She would see a piece across the table, know it was part of Sleeping Beauty's skirt, turn it just the right way and then place it. I know I am probably partial, but I really think the kid has some seriously advanced visual-spatial skills.

Hyland is just moving right along with pharmacy school. I think he has really found his thing. I mean, it all just seems to come so naturally to him, and how an understanding of pharmicokinetics could ever come naturally to someone is beyond me! Oh yeah, and he really thinks it all interesting!

Since I have started working night shift Hyland has been absolutely wonderful with helping out around the house and with Liv while I try to adjust to my new zombie-like state. I think the fact that he is getting to spend more alone time with Liv is really great for their relationship too. In fact, she actually chose him over me to cuddle up with while watching tv the other night. At least she did until he made a big deal out of it and annoyed her. Then she was right back in my lap (=

I think pretty much everyone knows that I am now working as a real licensed RN at Arkansas Children's Hospital now. I work on a general medicine floor, which means I get to see a little bit of everything. Our unit is mostly focused on babies to age 3, but sometimes we get kids a little bit older. Other than the adjustment to working nights I am so in love with my new job. It can be really stressful, tiring, and sad, but for the most part it is just completely rewarding, interesting, and fun. I absolutely love working with the kids! I can't imagine that I will ever work a shift where I won't learn something new. I also really like the role that I have in helping to educate the parents. The one major down side is that I feel like I am constantly fighting getting sick. The other nurses on the unit say it takes about 1 year to build up your immunity. I really can not wait for flu/rsv season to be over!

Anyway, there is my little update. Liv and Hyland are geniuses and I love my job!

Funny Valentine

Here is a play by play of a very funny conversation we just had with Liv...

Liv: Quincy is my boyfriend now.
Mom: Really? Why is that?
Liv: Well, I was sitting in the music room and Quincy was in there with all the boys and I told him I was his girlfriend now.
Mom: Wow! So what did Quincy say?
Liv: He told the boys that Livi was his girlfriend now, and then he asked me for how long.
Mom: What did you say?
Liv: I told him 20 hours.
Mom: Why do you want Quincy to be your boyfriend?
Liv: Cause he can read a book all by himself. He's 4!
Daddy-Hy: So do you love Quincy?
Liv: Well...I love him, but I don't want to marry him.
Mom: That's good. You probably don't need to think about marrying anyone for a long time!
Liv: Oh mom, don't worry. You will have a boyfriend one day too.
Mom: Thanks Liv.(=

Just thought this was very funny.

My Newest Obsessions!

So I have recently acquired two new obsessions. The first is Guitar Hero. Over the holiday's my brother Mike and his wife Monica introduced me to the mind numbing joy of playing Guitar Hero on Xbox 360. I haven't actually played it since we left Mom's house, but if I had a million dollars I would totally buy an Xbox just to play that stinking game!

My second obsession is saving lots of money on my groceries by clipping coupons from the newspaper and playing the Grocery Game. The Grocery Game is this really cool website www.grocerygame.com where they keep track of all manufacturers coupons along with the sales at your favorite grocery store, and they put them together to get you some seriously major savings. How major of savings you ask? Well, today I went to Kroger and saved $71! My bill that would have normally been $185 ended up being $114. I have only been playing the game for a couple weeks so I am not even saving the full amount I could if I had all the coupons from the last 12 weeks.

The website is really cool. Every Sunday morning they post a new list for that week. It is divided into 3 categories...things you can get for free (yes, I said free-I got Liv two toothbrushes, some excedrin, and a South Beach Chicken Cesar lunch wrap for free today!) , things you can get at rock bottom pricing, and things that are on sale but not as low as you could get them at a later date. The idea is to stockpile the items you use alot when they are at rock bottom pricing. My ultimate goal is to only spend about $45 per week on groceries which according to the message boards on the site is a pretty realistic goal.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Grocery Game, but I will warn you that it is a little time consuming. However, I feel that the time spent is totally worth it when you save all that money! Another thing is that it costs money to get the list...only $10 every 8 weeks, but it's totally worth it seeing as how I saved more money on my first trip to the grocery store than it will cost me to receive the list for a whole year!

Okay, now I sort of feel like a commercial, and Hyland is totally making fun of my enthusiasm, but I just really wanted to share this with my friends and family. If any of you decide to sign up for the Grocery Game list please be sure to use my e-mail as your referral so I can get a few extra weeks for free! jaime.gigliello@gmail.com

Obstacles Are What You See When You Take Your Eyes Off Your Goal

I did it! I have officially obtained my nursing degree! It feels like I have been working toward this moment for so long that it is still rather surreal that I am finally done. When Hyland and I first started dating we both talked a lot about how we weren't really happy with what we were currently doing professionally. We both had very clear thoughts about what kinds of careers we would really love to pursue if only... For so long I think we had both moved along separately knowing what we would really like to do, but somehow thinking there were just too many obstacles in our way. Going back to school seemed like a non-option to the single mom me who was barely scraping by with two jobs. I think in some ways Hyland felt like he had little chance of actually getting accepted into pharmacy school so he just didn't put forward the effort required to take the entrance exam and apply. I still don't remember who convinced who but somewhere along the way we started making plans...crazy plans! We would both go back to school! In fact why not go back to school together as soon as possible! We can do this thing together and then we will be stronger and happier for it. This was our mentality and looking back I am still not sure how we convinced ourselves to look past all the tremendous obstacles that stood in our way and take the leap, but we did. And so it started. We got engaged, 3 months later I received my acceptance letter, 2 months later we were married, 1 month after that Hyland received his acceptance letter, and 2 months later we were both full time students living on loans and love. I won't say it was easy, but we have always had a home, food, and plenty of joy in our lives.

Looking back I am still not sure how we got through that first year. There was the ever present stress associated with finances, but that was nothing in comparison with the all consuming guilt I would experience when I would have to put Liv in front of the TV for a 3 hour time span after already spending the whole day at school because mommy needs to study just a little bit longer. I don't have the words to express to you the feeling that came over me when I lied down with my sweet little girl on graduation night and she wrapped her little arms around my neck and told me she was proud of me. All I could say was that I was proud of her too. For being such a wonderful child and rolling with what was at times a very chaotic and stressful year and a half. I also realized that Hyland and I were right at the very start of this thing when we said we would be a stronger and happier family for doing this.

And I really can't officially end this post with out thanking both mine and Hyland's families. I have no idea how we would have made it through without you guys. Your love and support mean the world to us. Thank you so very much!

Tree Farm

I am positive that my favorite Christmas tradition my little family has is to head out to Motley's Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our own live tree. It's so much fun to walk trough all those trees in search of the "perfect" one. Then when you find that tree you cut it down with a saw they provide, and walk back to catch the hay ride. The hay ride takes you all over the farm and you pick up your tree along the way. Then they shake out out the needles for you, wrap it up, and even tie it to the top of your car. Once all that is taken care of you can go partake of the complimentary hot chocolate and fresh roasted peanuts. It's so much fun and so much less expensive than those trees you get out of those lots off the side of the road. We always have a great time, and I can feel good about laying down some of those happy childhood memories for Liv.