SNOW In Louisiana!

We haven't gotten this much snow for about 10 years!  I remember when we did get this much snow, my sister Cassie and I, and our friend Hadeal, went sledding down the hill near La Tech's Natatorium.  It was ALOT of fun!

Schools closed early Thursday, was cancelled for Friday, and work was closed Friday.  It was nice!  Kids got up around 7am(the girls did), and I slept until 8am until they insisted I get up to go play in the snow.  It took a while to get everyone together to get outside though!  Here are some pics!

The deck surrounding our pool:

My car

Madelyne, MacKenzie, and Maddox

Tink the dog

Our house

Me with Mallory in the sling

An up close of me with Mallory

Maddox

Madelyne

MacKenzie

Our cat Jasper

WOW

So this week has already been crazy!  Im dealing with so much at work.  Its been pretty stressful, and spending 4 1/2 hours at court yesterday was not fun...especially when my last case was dismissed and reset for March 9 due to the attorney not showing...OK so you know you have a case coming up, and you just don't show up?!  How does that work ?! 

However, I got to see Baby K today..She's my 6 month old premature baby(ok I really thought she was like 4-5months and was shocked to learn she's already 6 months..it goes by so quick!)  She has a feeding tube now and is growing so well...up to about 11 1/2 lbs!!

Tomorrow I see my big boy S and will take him to visit his mom.  He's a pretty good kid and I cant wait until he and his mom are reunited this summer.

Im also pretty sad for my new girl G.  Shes a teenager too and her grandmother is not friendly..didnt even talk to her at court :(  Im hoping I can get her a great visiting resource.

Then I have 6 other kids in my cases...and they are keeping me busy!

But that's OK!  I will do it and earn a lot of overtime in the process.(not that we get paid for OT!  Its just extra leave we can take or save).

As for the kids...They are all doing well.  Maddox's thumb is healing from where Bryan slammed it(accidently) in the shed door.  MacKenzie has had some problem behavior in school lately though...talking too much and dancing in class some, but today was a better day for her.  Madelyne has also been doing well.  Her speech therapy is really helping her articulation issues...I imagine she will need speech throughout Kindergarten next year, but that's OK too!  Mallory...had her 2 month appt today and shots.  She is 10lb7oz, 22 3/4 inches, and 40.1cm head.  I believe her weight is around 40% and her height is 95%.  She's finally gaining a lot better.

Also, I saw my friend Tina today...She looks SOOO good!   For those that don't know...Tina had a car accident on the job(she works with me), and her lungs were compromised when the airbag went off..she was out of work for I think a month..shortly after that she got really sick with pneumonia and bronchitis and went into the ICU for at least 4 weeks..honestly I think it was 6 weeks...she was on a ventilator for about 4 weeks then had a trachea moved in...Finally they moved her to the rehab in Ruston...Honestly, she looked bad when I saw her there.   She looked so depressed, couldnt talk, and it was just bad.  She got to home right before Christmas(although had to go back in to the hospital around the first of January due to lung issues)  At this time, she has 58% of her lung function back.   And unfortunately now, s he might lose her job:(    I truly hope not since she already has enough to worry about :(

So What's Been Going On?

Well, let me tell you!  There have been a ton of changes in the Ferguson Household.  Bryan is no longer working at Walmart.  He is now a stay at home dad...at least until he finds a job that he likes and where he gets hired on.  Which is hard because 1)the job has to pay enough to cover gas getting to the job, childcare for four children(185 for my older 2, 325 for Maddox, and 375 for Mallory..of course that doesnt include summer care which is 375 for both girls during the summer).  So very high!, and 2)the economy isn't that great, so there aren't a lot of well paying jobs out there.

The other news is that we had our baby girl on December 8, 2009.  Mallory Jane was born a week early according to my OB's due date of Dec 16, 2009...and about 2 weeks early according to my due date of Dec 20, 2009.  She was 8lbs13oz..a pretty big girl.  The only complication really was that she had low blood sugar for a few hours after birth and she developed jaundice...Oh she also had a heart murmur, but that has gone away thankfully!  I had Gestational Diabetes so I was expecting a bigger baby, but was happy with her weight. 

Ill start back work tomorrow, and I am mixed on it.  On one hand, I am looking forward to getting back to my clients/kids.  On the other hand, Im now the caseworker to 5 families..At least that was the count when I last checked in a few weeks back.  And most of them are babies!  My second day back to work will be court day, and surely I won't have to testify with me being out of work for 2 months! 

Family of Five Plus One=SIX!

Wow, so the Friday before Easter we found out that #4 was on the way...Needless to say...We were a bit shocked! We knew it was a possibility since we had an "oops moment", but were hoping that wasn't the case. It took us both a while to get over it, but now I think we are excited...Although we still have not worked out the logistics.
Such as, we have a 5 person car...and will soon have 6 people in our family. Yet money is tight...and going to be even tighter with a new baby in daycare. We are trying to figure out something.
At the moment, my mother in law has said she will babysit for the first year after I get off maternity leave(which I plan to take around 10 weeks depending on what my leave looks like when it's time!). If she is willing to do that for gas money, since she is the one begging to babysit the new baby...then that will allow us the finances to purchase a new vehicle...YAY!

As for the pregnancy itself, I have told my sisters and a few friends at work...and the inlaws found out. Otherwise we are not sharing for at least 2 more months. I know my dad is not going ot be happy so Im not looking forward to that one..but he will get over it and love this baby as much as he loves the others(well as much as he shows his emotions lol!).

I have not been really sick..I had a week where I ate everything in site, and now this last week I havent been able to eat hardly anything. But no actual throwing up thank god and not too terrible nausea which is a plus. I had an u/s last week...and measured about 5 days behind..no heartbeat yet..but it was super early..so no heartbeat should even have been there yet anyway.

I have another appointment with my new OB set for May 4 and Im hoping she will set up an u/s for dating purposes...and yes I do plan to fib a little bit about my dates lol!

More later....