Newborn Photos

As soon as we had Porter I knew that I wanted some newborn pictures taken of him. I'm not the biggest fan of the artistic style photos (you know the ones where the baby is wrapped really tight and put in a basket). They are cool, just not for me. I like the kind that are real, the kind that actually happen in life. So we asked a brilliant photographer Jennie to take some photos for us. She had taken our Anniversary photos and I loved all of them so she was my first pick! She is amazing and if you are in Calgary and want some photos I highly recommend her!

Check out her website: http://www.guenardphotography.com

Here are some favourites! 

(Soo almost all the ones we have, since they are pretty much all my favourite)

Little feet.

Our life currently.

Daddy admiring his new best friend.

We are a happy family. 

Porter on the quilt his Mamma made for him.

He loves me, can't you tell?

And then he got hungry.

Little hands.

Porter is 1 Month old!

My baby is a month old! As of September 18th Porter turned 1 month. I can't believe how fast this month went! This was the hardest month of my life. We had some troubles starting out, I had a third degree tear to cope with, while learning how to be a mom. I am grateful for my little boy and the happiness he brings, but there were definitely some days I wanted to sell him to the highest bidder. That's when Grandma's come to the rescue. I am soo grateful for my mom and mother in law. They have been a huge help this past month and I know I would not have survived without them!

I've learned a little bit about what foods he can tolerate and what exactly makes him gassy. Well now that I've eliminated dairy, wheat and sugar there isn't much left to eat! It also turns out that my body is really good at making milk, too good, so much so that he basically has to try not to drown while I feed him. Now there are a million blogs, articles and links that help you boost your milk supply, not so much when you look for how to lower your milk supply.

So on Porter's 1 month we went to see a lactation consultant. She told me: 1st, Porter had a tongue tie, which makes it harder for him to keep up with the milk supply. 2nd, my body makes way more milk than he needs, which means that every time I feed him, he struggles to swallow and takes in big gulps of air, leading to a fussy, gassy baby. Well hallelujah it's not my fault! A combo of the tongue tie and too much milk are making my happy baby colicky and sad. So because of this, my little guy got his tongue tie clipped. He cried really loud but took it like a champ and nursed right after. I'm hoping this helps with his colic and gas! He's such an awesome little guy, but colicky babies are no fun!

Porter Maxwell Whiteley
Age: 1 month
Weight: 10lbs 4oz
Wearing: 0-3 month old clothing, his newborn onesies aren't long enough! He isn't so much chubby as he is tall.
Favorite things: Baths, sleeping, eating, spending time with Gramma Whiteley and Nanny Cooper, putting Mommy through the ringer, pooping on Daddy, cooing and making Mom and Dad smile.
Favorite clothes: Mommy loves his mustache sleeper, and anything blue, he looks great in blue.

Now enjoy some adorable photos, because he's the cutest baby in the world.

Chillin on Daddy

He loves his cousin Macie.

The two new additions to the Cooper clan! 

Tucker Eli and Porter Maxwell

Porter meeting his new cousin Tucker. They are going to be best buddies for sure.

The cutest baby I ever did see!

Such a happy littte man (most of the time)

Nanny loves the fohawk

We Had A Baby!

Sooo in case you missed it, we had a baby!

We found out December 11th that I was pregnant, which was soo exciting for us. Getting pregnant wasn't easy for us. We tried for about 2 years before being referred to the fertility clinic. After numerous tests they decided to try me on a drug called Clomid, to help regulate things in my body. We did 2 rounds and the 2nd round worked for us. It was a long process, and a tough one and waiting was the hardest part. I kept our struggle to myself and tried so hard to be happy for the many pregnant friends that seemed to announce every other day that they were having a baby. We were eventually blessed to find out that we too were going to have a baby. December 11th was one of the happiest days for Matt and I.

Well fast forward, pregnancy is not glamourous. I think I had it pretty easy compared to some, but at the same time it was really rough for me. I had morning sickness for the first 3 months combined with a persistent headache. I would have a headache pretty much every day, and when I didn't have a headache, I had a migraine. No bueno. My 2nd trimester was astronomically better, I started seeing a chiropractor and my headaches lessened and I felt like a person again! Then on to the 3rd trimester, which seemed to be the longest one! Up until about the last month of my pregnancy I felt pretty good. Then 32 weeks hit and I was done. My feet were swollen, I walked like a penguin and I had to pee every 5 minutes.

Porter was born August 18th, 2014. On his due date. Did you know only something between 5 and 10 percent of babies are born on their due date? Yeah, it was pretty cool. Wanna hear my birth story? If not you can stop reading here!

Well the week prior to Porter being born was a rough one. I struggled with high blood pressure the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy and had an appointment on Tuesday August 12th. At that appointment it seemed that my blood pressure was exceptionally high, my normal doctor was not in the office and I was seeing a different doctor. So after taking 4 readings, they sent me to the hospital and told me I would most likely be induced. Well we went to the hospital, they put me on a monitor to check my blood pressure every 15 minutes, they took blood and ran a whole slew of tests. After 4 hours everything came back clear and they sent me home and told me to make a follow up appointment at my doctor's office to check my bp again. So Thursday I had another appointment with the doctor. Well same thing happened. I was sent to the hospital again and told they would definitely induce me. They were wrong. After another round of tests, an ultrasound and 6 hours in the hospital they sent me home and told me I was fine. Well that was frustrating.

Then, on Sunday August 17th I went in to labour. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and I was eating dinner at my parents house. I started to feel a little sick and had some minor cramping. Well the cramping seemed to be happening on a pretty regular basis. I would eat a couple bites of dinner and have a cramp. This continued and after dinner I went to lie down on the couch. I texted Matt from the living room saying I didn't feel well. Well my mom came in and things started to hurt a little more. After about a half hour she said she thought this was real labour. Well that kind of scared me! My mom had taught me a breathing technique to help get through pain. You breathe all different colours. So I went upstairs into my parents room to lie down on the bed (I was crying at this point, partially from pain, partially apprehension). Then after lying in bed for a bit, I went down into the basement to watch a slideshow my Dad had put together for our family. I had contractions all the way through. At about 7ish (it's a little foggy in my memory as to what time it was) I asked for a blessing. My dad, brother-in-law and husband gave me a wonderful blessing. We then decided it was time to head home.

I had contractions all the way home, still not long and not super close together. We arrived home and I honestly can't remember what I did for the next hour and a half. I know that I took a shower, and it felt soo much better. Around 9pm Matt called our Doula and said that it looked like I was in labour. We had been timing contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart, lasting 30 seconds. She told us she was on her way and headed over to our house. We stayed home until around 1:30am (during which I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, while managing contractions). Once we got into the hospital they took me to triage to check things out. Well in triage they said I was only 1-2 cm dilated and that my cervix was posterior and that I was not very effaced. My contractions had slowed down and they thought about sending me home. They then decided due to my high blood pressure (this time it stayed high through their monitoring) they would admit me. At around 3am I was admitted. They checked me again and said that I was now dilated 3cm, fully effaced and that things were progressing. Shortly after being admitted, my water broke (I hear that's uncommon). I don't think the nurse believed me when I told her, but sure enough, it had broken. Matt took me into the washroom to get cleaned up and that's when things got really hard. I decided that it was time to ask for an epidural. I really hadn't wanted one, but I was exhausted and in a lot of pain. The anesthesiologist was in our room within 15 minutes. I was lucky and mine was the only birth happening that night. He gave me the first epidural, well it only froze 1 half of my body. My left side felt no pain, but my right side felt every contraction. So they gave me another epidural, this time it took and I could feel nothing except pressure. It was heavenly. I was able to get some sleep and at 6am they checked me again. Now I was 6cm dilated and progressing well. They walked me to the bathroom so I could use it (another thing they said was uncommon, the fact I could walk) and then I went back to sleep. Around 10:30 or so, I called for the nurses. I felt a ton of pressure and I couldn't find the button to increase my epidural, I thought it was wearing off or something. They checked me and told me that I was 10 cm dilated and fully effaced and it was now time to push. They brought in the doctor, Dr. Flowers (who I had met at my Thursday trip to the hospital). He was an awesome doctor, he spoke to me, and helped me understand what was going to happen. Well after 56 minutes of pushing our baby was born! He was beautiful right from the get go! I suffered from a partial 3rd degree tear and had some stitches, but my little boy was there! Matt was amazing through the whole experience, he really helped me to focus and breathe through each contraction. He got to cut the cord and had the stomach to watch the whole birth. I couldn't have done that without him.

Porter was born August 18th at 11:26am. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 21.5 cm long.

They kept us another 24 hours and then we got to take our little guy home!

Here's his first photo shoot!

After the eye drops, he really didn't open his eyes much.

My amazing husband.

Soo happy to meet his little guy.

Seriously though, have you ever seen a more perfect newborn?

Cuddling with Mommy.

Daddy enjoying his brand new little man.

The Last Hurrah!

As I was perusing my blog, I realized that I never finished our little love story. So here goes. We were dating. 2 weeks in he said I love you. We talked about getting married. Fast forward to June. In June we went to "look" at wedding rings. Notice I said "look", well we ended up buying one. The first one I tried on we bought. It was a strange experience really. We went into Spence Diamonds because of all the radio ads, it sounded like a good place. So in we walk. They were really nice, helped us out and said just walk around and try on rings, if you find one you like, hold on to it. Well we walked around the whole store. The very first one I picked up I loved.... every single ring after that didn't quite measure up! So we picked the ring, we got to pick the diamond and check it out under a microscope. Pretty cool if you ask me. Well after that they said it would be a few weeks wait to get it set up and all ready. That was it.

Minutes after we were engaged!

One unsuspecting day Matt got a phone call, I was in the car with him. The ring was ready! He didn't want me to know this so he pretended like it wasn't a call about the ring, but something completely different. He then proceeded to wait before proposing.. just kidding! He did it the night he got the ring. He took me out to look at puppies (I'm a sucker for puppies) and then asked if I wanted to go out to the North of Calgary to check out the Temple site. For those of you reading who might not know what a Temple is, it's a really special building to members of my faith. It is a symbol of purity and is a place where many people come to worship our Savior. It's a really amazing place. Well they had just broken ground for the building and we were going to go take a look at where this beautiful building would stand.

One of my favourite engagement pictures!

So out we drove the half hour drive out to the site. We stood on top of a hill and looked out over the city of Calgary. It was a gorgeous view! You could see soo much of the city and a beautiful view of the mountains. So as we stood and looked out on this gorgeous view I started to get really cold (Calgary isn't really your typical warm destination, even in the summer). So Matt, being the awesome guy he is went back to the car to get a jacket. After putting the jacket over me I stopped to give him a hug. He hugged me back for a minute and then stepped back a bit and said "Hey Em", I looked up from my hug and he was down on one knee, "Will you marry me?". The easiest question for me to answer. I quickly said "Yes!" and the ring was on my finger. We kissed and stood there for a few minutes looking out over the city, I was probably crying, I can't quite remember. It was absolutely perfect! We were engaged June 28th, 2010. After some pictures and hugs we got back in the car and called my family first. Matt's family next and of course my best friend Brigitta. It was an awesome night.
Well we were married October 16th, 2010.

A really cool wedding picture.

After only 3 months of planning, and no help from Pinterest we were hitched! Seems like a short span of time but it was just perfect. I know I made the best decision of my life that day and I would not change a thing! Our wedding was great. I loved every second of it (minus a minor mishap with a hairdresser not showing up and my groom almost not making it to the wedding because of a major car accident). Our colours were Navy and Lime, we had a brilliant photographer who took both our engagement and wedding photos, our families attended (all that could) and we had a blast!

We took our Honeymoon in Vegas, saw 2 Cirque du Soleil shows (yeah I'm spoiled.), went to a Blue Man Group show, saw some lions up close, ate a lot, went for a ride on a gondola and just spent time together.

We have been married for almost 3 years now, it's been tough getting used to another person's little things, the way he loads the dishwasher isn't the same way I do it, he can sleep anywhere, I have to have the exact right environment.. things that aren't really important and neither of us are wrong, just sometimes you need to get used to the way the other person does things.


I am soo happy with our life. Hopefully we can add to our little family in the future, but we will cross that bridge when it comes.

I hope you enjoyed our little love story. I know it's my favorite.


<3

Emily