3/21 Happy First Birthday, Brady!

We took Ella Kate to her first "friend" birthday party. Brady H. is one day younger than Ella Kate. They had a very good time and as you can see Brady really wanted her hairbow.

Happy Belated 1st Birthday, Ella Kate!

I cannot believe that our baby girl is 1 year old! Where has the last year gone? This baby girl, Ella Kate Colley, came into the world on Thursday, March 20, 2008, at 12:35 PM. Just as the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament was starting. As a matter of fact, Georgia was playing on the TV in the background as she was being born. She was 5 1/2 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs. 10 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. Ella Kate was born with red hair and blue eyes. Hmmm, I wonder where she got that from? Well, that's all she got from her Mama because she looks exactly like Scott and Allison. We were so excited when she was born. She was a very BIG surprise to us. We already had a 17 year old son, Kyle and a 13 year old daughter, Allison. We were to the point where we would take off and go somewhere (usually Disney) for a week by ourselves. We had one almost grown and the other not too far behind. But God decided to give us the precious baby girl and we wouldn't trade her for the world. I promise you, if I knew they were all as good as she has been (& I could afford them), I'd have 5 more!

Ella Kate got to come home on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 which was also our 14th wedding anniversary. The Dr. said that because Ella Kate couldn't get to Wal-Mart to buy a present, then this was her special gift to us. What a wonderful present!

From the moment she got home she was spoiled rotten. She had a closet full of clothes and there were always hands wanting to hold her. She slept in a bassinette for 8 weeks in our bedroom and got up about every 3 hours (the schedule they had her on in the NICU). She was the perfect baby. Below is her Tiger dress she wore to Kyle's baseball games. He was a senior at HHS a year ago where he played football and baseball. Of course, she had to be a Tiger from the get go.

Of course, a good deal of time has been spent at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital visiting the urologist, having scopes of her kidneys, and other tests run on her. After her recent surgery we are hoping everything is ok. We go back next week for a check-up. Look how happy she is at her Dr.'s appt. last July.

Here she is sporting her shades. During the summer you didn't catch her without them or a headband in her hair. She is such a girly girl!

She loves her big sister and...

thinks her brother is mighty fine! They love her so much and spoil her rotten. She is now 1 year old and she is still not walking or talking much for that matter. She just points and everyone runs.

We are so lucky to have the precious baby girl in our lives. I can't imagine my life without her! She is now 1 and can stand on her own, takes no bottles, has no fear of anything, loves to put her face down in the water in the bathtub, loves her Love Puppy, has only 2 teeth, and about 100 outfits in her closet. :) We love you, Ella Kate and hope you had a wonderful 1st birthday!

I will post pictures from her party in the next few days! Good night to all! Love, Amy & Family

Ella Kate's Very First Birthday Card

Ella Kate got her very first birthday card today in the mail from a sweet older couple, The Cady's, that go to our church. I'm sure this is just the first of many she'll get this week. I can't believe our baby girl will be 1 on Friday! As you can see in this picture she is much more interested in the remote control than she is in the card. This is what happened when I took the remote control away from her.

And now she's happy again! Do you think she may be just a tad rotten? :)

Here she is in just one of 5 birthday outfits she has for the week. I love dressing her up!

Scott & I will be decorating the church tomorrow night for Ella Kate's party so I'll be back on Friday to post about Ella Kate's first birthday! Have a wonderful night! Amy

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2009!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Colley's!! Allison decided to play around and add a bow to her hair like Ella Kate. She DID NOT go to school that way even though I thought she should! This is Ella Kate's 1st St. Patrick's Day and she was born 3 days after. Her first birthday is Friday so look for more posts about her BIRTHDAY week!

We hope everyone wore their GREEN today and didn't get pinched! Luck of the Irish to you and we hope you find your pot of gold! The Colley's

What to do when a baby won't sleep? Organize hairbows, of course!

Well, we brought Ella Kate home from the hospital last Saturday, the 28th. She is on the road to recovery and we can see a little bit of the old Ella Kate, but we are still not feeling 100%. This is the baby that is in the bed by 7 o'clock every night and up around 6:30 or 7 during the week and 8 on the weekends. Now she's up a few times a night crying. It's not too bad, but I feel like I've brought home a newborn. One night last week when she couldn't sleep we organized hairbows. Below is a picture of the finished product. As you can tell, we looooove headbands and hairbows. For those who know my older daughter, Allison, know that she wore hairbows until she was 10 and then she wore ribbon, so you just knew Ella Kate would have them too. Here is Ella Kate with her "love puppy" that Kyle brought to her at the hospital. She has become very attached to it.

This is the "face" that Kyle used to make when he was the very same age at Ella Kate. Here you would just think she is the happiest baby, but in a second it can turn from happy to mad or more pain very quickly.

Her hair is finally long enough that I can pull it up on top and put a hairbow in. She is pretty good about keeping them in, but every now and then she remembers that it is there and she'll pull it out. She does bring it to me when she pulls it out. She looks really happy below, doesn't she?

We take her back to Vanderbilt on the 30th for a check-up and then he'll set up the appointment to have the stints removed. I'm guessing that will be the end of April or first of May. Please keep praying for us. She is much better than she was, but we still have some recovering to do. Thanks for reading our blog! Love, The Colley's

The Doctor Came In

Dr. Brock just came in and said he feels like we can probably go home tomorrow. He took the catheter out and she slept right through it. It didn't even bother her. She has kept the last 2 4 oz. bottles of pedialyte down so that is good. She's sleeping again and she even went for a wagon ride earlier. She didn't think she was going to like it at first, but she enjoyed it after we got started. We hope she will be able to eat some baby food tonight, but the Dr. said he's just glad she's kept the pedialyte down this afternoon. One funny thing that happened yesterday after surgery was Dr. Brock came out and talked to us and one of the things he told us was that Ella Kate probably wouldn't feel like eating or drinking for a while after surgery and that was fine. Well, by the time we got back to recovery she had already downed 4 2 oz. bottles of apple flavored pedialyte and they were already trying to wean her off of it because she had taken so much. Leave it to Ella Kate to prove the Dr. wrong. Below are some pictures of her wagon ride. So, until tomorrow. Good afternoon!

Update of Ella Kate

This is Ella Kate this morning after sleeping about 16 hours and just getting up once to eat. She is running a fever this morning and not keeping her clear liquids down so she hasn't been able to start eating "real" food. They are a little concerned, but hope it will get better as the day goes on. She still has a catheter, an IV, and a drainage tube coming from her stomach. We hoped they would take the catheter out today, but it looks as if it may stay until tomorrow. Right now she is sleeping very soundly. Below are some pictures from yesterday.
This was us before surgery yesterday morning. She was still happy. :)
Kyle and Allison came to visit yesterday after school. She slept most of the time they were here, but did get up for a little to read a book and get a pink puppy dog that Kyle brought to her.
Here she is looking at Kyle after she woke up.
Uncle Bobby thought she looked funny after getting some Lortab for pain. Bless her heart.

Thank you again for the prayers and encouraging messages we have gotten. I hope to update sometime later. Love, Amy