Koala Turnes One

My Koala Bear will turn one this week Friday. I cannot believe that a year has passed us by so quickly.

We threw Connor his party on Saturday(Yesterday) I had a lot of fun putting together his party. Matthew and I chose a sports themed party for Koala, The reason we chose sports is simply because Koala likes to play with any sports balls, From Soccer to tennis he loves things that roll.

Chantal Warren helped me make a banner for the canopy that said Happy Birthday, and the amazing chocolate covered strawberries. I made a beautiful Football shaped cake, And no I did not get a good photograph of it *Tear*

Becoming a Doula

As many of you know, this past weekend I attended Labour Doula Training through H.A.L.O
It was a great class. I learned a lot, and I cannot wait to get started.
If you are wondering what sent me on this journey I will tell you.
My first pregnancy with my oldest son H was a difficult pregnancy, I spent the whole 9 months with morning, noon, and night sickness. at 28 weeks I was told that the baby was sitting in the upright breech position. I did not know much about being pregnant, nor did I know much about birth and my choices. My O.B. then told me that a breech baby was to be delivered via c-section. I was so disappointed as I did know that I wanted a natural birth. When I asked if there were ways to get the baby to turn around she said no, and not to try, that trying to turn the baby could harm the baby. March 2nd 2009 H was born by C-Section. After my c-section I was unable to hold H, I had a difficult time breastfeeding, and felt nauseous and itchy from the morphine that they had given. The 8 weeks that followed were difficult and painful, recovery was hard and having a husband who works in the mining industry meant night shifts alone with the baby, and having to get out of bed on my own to feed baby.
9 months after H was born, I was pregnant again. This time I was determined to have the birth that I wanted. I called the local Midwife and asked if it was possible, I was so pleased when she said yes.

I spent my 9 months reading on birth and my options, I filled my thoughts with positive energy. Be Positive! was my new mantra, Positive in- Positive out. I met up with mom groups and other moms who were going to have a VBAC, and moms who had had a successful VBAC. I enjoyed every moment of this wonderful pregnancy.
I did have some problems with sleeping and comfort towards the end, but with my positive attitude I was able to say to myself that every mom goes through this, Since the beginning of time. Trust my Body!

I was around 32 weeks pregnant when I attended a Preparing for Birth workshop ran by two local Doulas. They were so positive and showed so much trust and faith in a woman's body. This is where I learned about doulas, I had no idea they existed before this.

At 34 weeks I remember having these horrible braxton hicks contractions, and we had discovered that my baby was breech. I of coarse cried thinking that I would have to have a c-section. When I went to my appointment, my midwife told me that there was no reason to worry, There are ways to turn a breech baby.... This was news to me. We tried moxibustion, a Chinese acupuncture method at 36 weeks. While burning the moxi stick by my toe I could feel the baby move around, but was not sure if the baby had turned or not. I also did numerous pelvic tilts on my bed before sleep and on the stair case. "Wash your floors on your hands and knees" the midwife had recommended, Why do you think we have so many more breech babies, we spend less time on our hands and knees these days. I was so excited at my 37 week appointment when I found out that the baby was for sure head down. IT WORKED !!!

I was so THRILLED!

38 weeks and 5 days I went in for an appointment, where the midwife told me I was between 2-3 cm, This was a Tuesday, I joked about going into labour on the Friday and she said that she would be out of town on Thursday and Friday.

39 weeks to the day, Thursday September 9th, at 5 am I was woken with unexplainable energy, I was having contractions. I did not want to believe that I was in labour as I knew the midwife would not be in town for my delivery. I sent my husband to work saying that it was only braxton hicks, I ran a bath and relaxed as a contraction hit me every 15 minutes. As soon as I finished my bath at around 7am I told my mother to call my husband home. I also told him to get a bagel and cream cheese and an iced cap, on his way home, When my contractions were 5 minutes apart my husband was still driving to every Tim Hortons to find me a bagel that I wanted.

He finally arrived home, with bagels, ( that never got eaten )

We went to the hospital when my contractions were 3 minutes apart. I could still text and Facebook on my blackberry. I let everyone know when I arrived that I was between 5-6 cm. I was so Proud that I made it that far.

At 1:38pm September 9th 2010 baby C was born VBAC.
This was my proudest moment! I DID IT!

After this moment I couldn't help but continue to think about it. Days Later I decided I was going to take a doula course... And there I was googling Doula Courses... And I found It... HALO was coming to Sudbury, Just a 3 hour drive.

So there started my journey...
Since then I have photographed a birth and I have two more births booked to photograph one at the end of october and another in December.

As one File Closes another Opens

Natalie and Matthew's wedding was a pleasure to shoot. They got full coverage, From 9am to 12am....

I was tired at the end of the night, but this allowed me to shoot from the morning with the ladies getting ready all the way to the cake cutting. What a Beautiful Cake it was too.

Finally after Countless hours of editing (Actually I counted... 84 hours) ... I finished the album, It will complete uploading by tomorrow (hopefully), I'll be able to set the album settings for them and present it to Natalie and Matthew.

I would like to Thank Liisa Sefton

You can find her blog here

http://liisaseftonimages.wordpress.com/

for helping me with no hesitation, She jumped on board the for the wedding that was to be both mine and her first official wedding shoot.

She did a wonderful job in helping me, As you can see by her work.

I would also like to Thank Lydia De Cecco (My Sister In-Law) Who Carried equipment, and ran back and forth for lenses for both myself and Liisa.

And Finally to Thank the Bride and Groom for giving me the opportunity to grow my experience, and giving me a chance.

I remember at my "Monkey's" First birthday a year ago now, Natalie first asked if I would do her wedding for her, I did inform her that I had never shot a wedding before, and had very little Idea on how to do it. She insisted that I would do a great job.

As a trial run with them, I did an engagement shoot, (Also the first engagement shoot I've done) All went smoothly and Natalie and Matthew were happy, In fact my shot was featured at their wedding in a 16x20, for guests to sign around.

Now Before I forget I should also thank my Husband "Papa Bear" He was so understanding when he came home from work for the past two weeks he took the kids no problem and and let me work for the evenings. From 5pm to 10pm every night, and weekends I was constantly on the computer. (not to mention the waking up at 6 in the morning, feeding Monkey and Koala, and working till 8...

So as I finish one wedding I begin another.

This Wedding was a 100% Surprise for most.

Melissa contacted me out of the blue...

Some of the message that I got on facebook is below:

"are you busy on may 21, 5pm? I'm having a surprise marriage (tell no one!) at my sons bday party.... need someone to take some pics... "

I was shocked and excited... I checked my schedule... Nope Nobody on that Saturday.

Melissa was so sweet, A Photographer herself, she knew how to pose, I got some great shots and quite a bit to work on for the 3 hours that I was there, Thank-you Mrs. Hutchinson for letting me in on your surprise and congratulations. :)

more on the surprise wedding to come. ...

So I haven't had a chance to blog about my life much, as I have been glued to the computer when I'm not entertaining my children.

So instead of going back and trying to fill everyone in... I'll Just start with last night.

Last night I came up with a brilliant idea, To begin my idea I need several strongly opinionated women who like to write.... If this is you send me an e-mail and I'll discuss the idea with you.

This will launch July 1st.

This morning we went to Hershey Lake, Monkey and Koala and I, met up with Heidi, and her two "F" and "C" Monkey was playing with Miss C, they had so much fun running around on the beach. Both of them wanted to go into the water so badly. While Mr F Slept, and Koala dug in the sand... and probably ate some of it too.... yes Koala who doesn't eat anything eats dirt.

While we were packing up, Koala had a dark brown thing in his hand, I lunged toward him thinking the worst (POOP!) Thank-Gosh, That it wasn't poop, It was a chocolate timbit... Still had to dig it out of his mouth, He didn't like the sandy timbit too much anyways.

Anyways Enough typing, Hayden is done with lunch, and Its time for me to put him to nap and work....

-Kayleigh May

All Things That Grow

Photography

Gaining a Son-in-Law.

"We feel that we are not loosing a Daughter, But gaining a son-in-law"

Speaches.

So you havent heard from me in a little while. I have been quite busy trying to get all these edits done.

I have been working through my kids naps, all evening when Matthew gets home, and at 6am while Hayden and Connor watch T.V. and eat breakfast... I'm almost done. I have 3 small sections left.

I can't wait to share them all with the bride and groom. Liisa and I are working everyday now uploading onto our website, we currently have 475 pictures online,

These photographs will be available for purchase for anyone who attended the wedding.

Now to What I wanted to say,

The Speeches...

I loved the speeches, You know when the Photographer is shedding tears at the speeches, that thay are good. They were all Sweet, They kept the speeches short, and the words said had such an impact on everyone in the room.

Here are some of the selection of the parents speeches. I hope you like them.

Kayleigh May

All Things That Grow

Photography

Groomsmen...

The Groomsmen,

These guys made me laugh, You could tell that nobody really wanted to pose for pictures, But they were very excited for the reception.... Who wouldn't be.

When it came to the groomsmen I tried not to give them Flase poses. I wanted to photograph them naturally. After trying a posed shot with them all under the tree, I had a thought, And It came at Matt's expense.

Poor Matt looked slightly worried that they would actually throw him in the pond, Although with a suit like that, who wouldn't be.

Thanks guys for the great shot, and the great laugh.

-Kayleigh May

All Things That Grow Photography

Mother and Son

I'm finally at the Park...

These are turning out so well.... And How could I not Blog this one.

Matthew (the groom) And his Mother Vicky Cloutier, Matthew Wanted to make sure that his Mother was safe going down the slopes to the bridge.

Being a mother of two boys, this made me smile.

I have heard a saying before and I am paraphrasing:

You can always tell how a man will treat his wife, by the way he treats his mother.

Natalie, I am pleased to see that you are in good hands :)

Kayleigh May

All Things That Grow

Photography

First Kiss

The First kiss as husband and wife.