An Update on Ella Kate

I posted earlier that we were taking Ella Kate back to Vanderbilt last Monday and had planned on spending the night on Sunday and doing all kinds of things. Well, our plans got changed when Ella Kate woke up Sunday morning and sounded congested. We decided not to drag her all over Nashville and make the trip on Monday morning. We got up Monday and she still sounded congested, but was running no fever and didn't really act like she felt bad so off we went to Vanderbilt. The Dr. set her surgery for Feb. 26th. She'll be in the hospital for 2 or more nights and then out of commission for about 2-4 weeks. He will have to make an incision and reroute tubes from her kidneys to her bladder. Here is a picture of her before we left that morning.
After we left Vanderbilt we decided that she didn't sound too bad so we took her to Cool Springs to have her picture made with Santa. They requested you use no personal photography equipment so I have no pictures of her with Santa except for the $30.00 package I bought!!! So here are some of her after the picture. By the way, she LOVED Santa!
By the time we started home I got a little concerned with her breathing so I called her pediatrician and we took her right in. They gave her a breathing treatment and thought it was just a chest cold. Fast forward to Wednesday. I got her up Wednesday morning and got her ready for daycare. I thought she sounded a little worse, but still no fever and she still acted fine. I went on and took her to daycare. At 12:45 they called me and said she had been asleep since 9AM and had just gotten up and sounded terrible. I called the pediatrician again and took her right in. This time they tested her for RSV and guess what? She tested positive! Bless her heart, I felt terrible. So in the house is where we've been since last Wednesday and where we'll stay until this Wednesday when she can go back to daycare. She had really bad days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Yesterday was pretty good and so far today has been ok. I think she is on the mend now. There is nothing worse than a sick baby (except for maybe a sick husband-HA,HA!).
Well, she just woke up from a nap so until next blog, see ya! Love, Amy

A Special Prayer for a Dear Friend

One of my closest and dearest friends lost her son this week. Cathy and I worked together for 11 years before she left me and retired. We were with each other more than we were our families. I love her and I am hurting so much for her. Please take time to say a special prayer for her and her family. I know she needs them in her time of sorrow. I love you Cathy and I know that one day you will see your precious Josh again.

Another Post So Soon?

Ok, so I'm posting this on my lunch hour. I wanted to share a a couple of pictures from my adventure in shopping on Black Friday. Every year my sister, Jennifer, and I get up and leave town before 4AM. Why, you ask? Because we're CRAZY! No, really we do it for the excitement and the deals. This year I wasn't going for anything in particular just to go and buy whatever. I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping and just have a few things left to get. The first picture is one of Jennifer holding up a vacuum that I just knew we needed at home so I took the picture of with my cell phone and texted it to Scott to see if he agreed. Of course, he did since he does all the vacuuming and cooking (but that's a different story). Isn't Jennifer doing a great job at modeling? The next picture is of a couple of girls (that I do not know) that were shopping next to us. I just had to take their picture because of the one sitting in the kid seat on the buggy. Apparently she had had enough and it was only 7:45 AM!! I asked her if she minded me taking her picture and she no, just as long as I didn't show it to anyone she knew. I just told her I wouldn't, but that it would probably end up on my blog! :) I did get some great deals and I'm ready for next year.



I have also added a picture of my boss, Gary with his new Christmas CD that I got him. He LOVES Mannheim Steamroller and they have a new Christmas CD out this year titled "Christmasville". I bought it at Target on Friday and gave it to him on Monday so he could enjoy it before Christmas. Gary loves to have his picture taken! I wonder how he'll feel about seeing himself on here?

Well, until next post! Love, Amy

I'm FINALLY back to the blog world!!

Ok, so I've haven't blogged in over a month. I promise I am going to try to be so much better from now on. I have so much to blog about! We've had Halloween, an election, a scope at Vanderbilt, Veteran's Day, and Thanksgiving since my last blog. Where do I begin? First here's a picture of Ella Kate from Halloween since she's the only one who dresses up.
Next is a picture of Kyle from election day. He got to vote for the first time this year. I still can't believe he's 18!
Ella Kate went to Vanderbilt and had a scope of her kidneys done on Nov. 5th. Everything went great and the Dr. thinks he'll be doing surgery in January. We go back to see the Dr. next Monday the 8th. We are going to take Ella Kate on Sunday and see Santa and spend the night in Nashville. We hope to go to Opryland Hotel and see the Christmas lights. I hope to take tons of pictures to post. Here's a sweet picture of Ella Kate after her scope. Can you believe she's this happy after being poked and prodded?
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We celebrated with both sides of our families. The only ones missing were Allison, Scott's mom and grandma. They decided to spend Thanksgiving in a condo in Panama City Beach. They had a great time, but I missed Allison! I love Thanksgiving also because my birthday usually falls on it or right around it, I don't ever have to cook anything, and it's great to spend time with our families. This year we were especially thankful for our baby girl and her health. I'll leave you with some pictures of Thanksgiving. I've gotten the Thanksgiving decorations down and the Christmas decorations are going up. I'll be posting those pics in the next few days. Have a wonderful Sunday night! Love, Amy

Here is Ella Kate in her Thanksgiving turkey dress.

Here I am with Scott, Kyle, and Ella Kate. My niece and nephew read Thanksgiving prayers before lunch.Here is Ella Kate helping me pick out the best deals for Black Friday.
And I think this picture says it all. Good Night until the next blog!

I've been TAGGED also!

Ok, so I've been tagged by Jerri and Shanan! Thanks guys. The idea is to list 7 things you may or may not know about me and then tag 7 others. Well, all the other bloggers I keep up with have already been tagged so I guess the buck stops with me. Ok, I've been thinking all day of some really good things and this is what I have come up with.

1. I have many little quirks that people just die when I tell them. One of them is I eat M&Ms by color and alphabetically. Why? I don't really know, but I also feed Ella Kate her baby food by matching up her fruit and vegetable alphabetically.

2. When Allison was in preschool and elementary school I kept a list of what she wore each day and I mean each and every day and I still have these lists!

3. I am addicted to EBAY and buying clothes for Ella Kate. Just take a look at her closet! Call it what you want, but Scott calls it an addiction! Ha,ha!

4. I absolutely love Christmas and I start listening to Christmas music on November 1st. I try to watch a Christmas movie once a month and my house has 5 Christmas trees!

5. I have red hair and blue eyes and look nothing like my brown eyed, dark haired brother and sister. When we were in elementary school at Pembroke Elementary School in Pembroke, KY my sister told a lot of people that I was Reba McEntire's daughter and she couldn't take care of me because she was always on the road so she gave me to this family named The Loves because she just loved their name. People actually believed this story! Later I found out when reading Reba's autobiography that her great-great grandparents or further back were actually Love's from Oklahoma. My grandfather Love was from Oklahoma. Who knows maybe I am kin to her!

6. I hot roll my hair everyday! I know this is so 80s but it's the easiest for me and I've been doing it for about 17 years now. My hair is probably the longest it's been in 15 years also!

7. I am a HUGE Disney freak. Scott and I try to go to Disney World at least once a year just by ourselves and then we take the kids once every other year. Allison and I went by ourselves last fall break and had a blast! I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Ella Kate, but I still had a wonderful time! Here's a picture of us.

Ok, so there are 7 things I bet you didn't know about me. I could have listed a bunch more, but I really didn't want to bore you. Maybe one day I'll share some of my other quirks and OCDness (if that's a word)with you.

Until next post! Love, Amy

Happy 6th Birthday Ethan!

Today we celebrated my nephew, Ethan's 6th birthday! I can't believe he's 6 already. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. He had a Spongebob cake and got lots of neat presents! He told me he wanted a Wal-Mart "credit" card so he could buy whatever he wanted. Guess what, that's what we got him. Ella Kate had the best time watching all the kids. Below is a picture of my 3 kids at the party. Kyle looks excited doesn't he? He better get used to it because the holidays are coming soon and I intend on taking TONS of Ella Kate's 1st celebrations!

Thanks to everyone who has signed my guestbook. I will eventually be adding other "extras" to my blog, but haven't found time to do that yet. Thank you to everyone who reads my blogs. I hope they don't bore you. :) I hope to update at least every other night this week so check back soon! Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. Love, Amy

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Well, I have finally made it back to the blog world! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. We have been so busy and I hope to update on our activities soon.
Today we went to the pumpkin patch at Christian Way Farms. If you've never been and live in Christian Co. then you need to go. They have so many activities for the kids. Scott, Allison, Ella Kate, and I went with my sister, Jennifer and her three kids, Emma, Ethan, and Eli. We had the best time, but it was a little warm! Who would have thought it would be 85 degrees in the middle of October!! Two things Ella Kate does not like are being hot and having a wet diaper so I was a little worried about her, but she had the best time and was SOOO good (as usual). She loved watching the "big" kids.

Above is a picture of my nephew Ethan with Scott and Ella Kate. We rode a tractor back to the pumpkin patch to pick out our own pumpkins. Ethan searched for the perfect pumpkin for Ella Kate and he got this one that was just her size. Thank you Ethan for thinking of Ella Kate.
The kids also got to feed a donkey, play on a hay castle, dig around in a truck bed full of corn, and ride tricycles. It was a great day!
We hope to make this an annual tradition for the kids. We had fun, but were tired at the end of the day. Below is a picture of all 5 kids. Kyle is 18 and thought the pumpkin patch would be no fun, well boy was he wrong!

So until the next post I hope you have a wonderful night.
Amy

6 Months!

Ella Kate turned 6 months old on Saturday the 20th. I can't believe she is already 1/2 year old! It won't be long until I'll be stressing over planning a 1st birthday party. She started First Baptist Daycare on Aug. 4th and she loves her teachers. She is usually in bed by 7:30 and I have to wake her up every morning at 6:30 to get her ready for the day. She rarely cries, but she does not like to be wet or hot! She scoots forwards and backwards and has just started getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. So you know what's coming! CRAWLING! I am not ready for
that. The picture above is from last week. She is such a ham, but usually stops smiling as soon as I pull out the camera.




She went to the Dr. today at Vanderbilt and weighed 17 lbs. 6 oz. She sees a Dr. in Vanderbilt because she was diagnosed with Hydroneuphrosis before she was even born. She actually weighed 8 oz. and I was only 18 weeks pregnant when they found it. Hydronephrosis is distention and dilation of the renal pelvis and calyces, usually caused by obstruction of the free flow of urine from the kidney, leading to progressive atrophy of the kidney. After she was born we found out that she actually has duplicated ureters (the tube from the bladder to the kidney) coming from both kidneys. On June 6th she was put to sleep to attempt to perform a scope on her. She had what they call "bronchial spasms" and actually stopped breathing so they did not get to do the scope. On our last visit in July he told us that he would probably have to remove the top lobe of each kidney because one lobe was not working at all and one was working at about 45%. She's been on an antibiotic since the day she was born and he changed it to a different one today. At our visit today he told us that things have not gotten any worse, but haven't gotten any better either and that it was time to get things done. We have an appointment for October 30th for another scope. Hopefully things will go better and the Dr. said he was not worried at all this time. He told me not to worry, but you know I will! After the scope then he will schedule the surgery.
Honestly you would never know anything was wrong with her. She is such a happy baby, but we do know that if she wasn't on the medicine she would have infection after infection. I'll keep you posted on her health. She goes tomorrow for her 6 month checkup. These pictures are from today on the way there and at the Dr.'s office.

Thanks Melanie for signing the guestbook. I hope you are feeling better.

Good Night for now! Amy

Homecoming & Work Picnic

Hopkinsville High School had it's fall sports homecoming Friday night. When I was in high school it was referred to as Football Homecoming, but I guess now with golf, soccer, volleyball, etc. being played school officials decided to call it fall sports homecoming. Whatever! Hoptown got beat by Madisonville 21-20. There was a tie for homecoming queen which I have never heard of! Kyle went with his girlfriend, Leslie Ann. Don't they look good? Shanan, sorry I didn't get a video of the cheerleaders doing the Tiger Rag. They didn't do it. Hopefully, I'll get it next week when they play Christian Co.!

I had to include this sweet picture from the football game of Ella Kate and her friend, Mia Emerson. They are the tiniest Tiger fans and dressed in their Tiger best! Ella Kate had tigers smocked in the neckline of her dress. They were both very good and enjoyed the game and all the activity. Thanks Brook for holding the girls while Anita and I took their pictures!

Saturday night my boss, Gary and his wife Carolyn hosted the annual work picnic/cookout/potluck! We love going to this every year. It's a great time to visit with everyone outside of work. We always have the "golden girls" there. These are the women who have retired. This year Gary had the "golden girls" introduce themselves and then had all of us still working introduce ourselves and our job titles. I have been there (Christian Co. Circuit Court Clerk's office) for 13 years. For 12 of those years I worked in Circuit Criminal (felonies, murder trials, etc.), but last November I moved to Family Court. I love it! I loved Criminal Court, but it was time for a change. The judge is Jason Fleming (HHS Class of '90). I deal with divorces, child custody, child support, dependency and neglect cases, and paternity. It's interesting. I do come home at night and thank Scott for loving me so much and giving me this wonderful life. Divorces and child custody are not fun and some are just downright UGLY!!! Thanks Gary for cooking all day with the help of Trent and Kyle. I know they played many a game of cornhole and hillbilly golf! I'm already looking forward to next year! The picture of Kyle, Ella Kate, and Leslie Ann is from the cookout!

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Traci and Susan for signing my guestbook. I love to see who's reading my blog so be sure to sign the guestbook.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you're looking forward to a wonderful (and in our case busy) week!

Go Colonels (I don't think so!)

Hopkinsville Middle School played Christian Co. Middle School (our cross-town rivals) last night! The score? A not so pretty 30-0 won by the Colonels. I put Go Colonels as the title of my blog only because at one time I was a huge Colonel fan. Years ago I lived in the Christian Co. school district. When I finished 4th grade I was to go to one of the "fine" 5th/6th grade schools, but these schools were not up to my parent's standards so we moved to the country to a little town called Pembroke. Now, when my parent's told me we were moving to the country for my education I just cried and cried and said, "I don't want to be a country girl!". Then when they told me I would be going to Hopkinsville Middle & High schools I SCREAMED, "Well, I'm not ever going to be an ole' TIGER!". Well, guess what? I bleed orange and black now! We are such huge Tiger fans! My son graduated from Hoptown in May and was a star on the football and baseball teams. My daughter is now cheering for Hopkinsville Middle School and Ella Kate is already a huge fan! Ok, I know I have gone on enough about the Tigers so I will stop until this weeekend when I will have pictures of Kyle and his girlfriend going to homecoming!

Garrett you played great last night (for the Colonels) and I hope your hand is better soon!

Until later!

Thanks & Go Tigers!

I want to thank my friends Jerri & Shanan for getting me introduced to the blogging world. I have been apprehensive about the whole thing and I'm still trying to figure it out! Thanks girls! I hope my blogs are as great as yours!

Ok, now on to some football! My son, Kyle, graduated from Hopkinsville High in May where he played football and baseball. He broke the "most passing yards in a game" record last year in a district game vs. crosstown rival, Christian Co. This is the first time since he was 4 years old that he hasn't played some sort of sport. I am completely lost! If it weren't for the baby I don't know what I would do with my time. Allison is cheering at Hopkinsville Middle this year, but has decided that she would like to go back to competitive cheerleading (which she did for 4 1/2 years) next year so it doesn't look like she'll be cheering for Hoptown High. We are still huge Hoptown fans! My husband Scott is actually the announcer and national anthem singer for Hoptown football, along with Hoptown basketball and baseball. Here are just a few pictures from Hoptown games! Even Ella Kate gets in on the Tiger Spirit!! Tigers play tonight, so LET'S GO TIGERS!!!

Blog Name

Ok, so my friend Jerri started a blog and thought I should also. It's been a few weeks but here I am, finally!! First, we're going to talk about the blog name. I know, I know we only have 3 Colleys, a Graham, and a baby, but I thought 4 Colleys sounded so much better and after 17 years Scott has never treated Kyle anything less than a Colley so I thought the name fit. If you have a better idea let me know because I'm always open for suggestions.

I should have an Under Construction sign as it will take me a while to get everything up and running like I want. Please be patient with me. Now that there is Ella Kate we run on her time because you know it's all about her. :)

Thanks for reading and visit often. Amy