Left Coast Mama » family

Labour Union: Father’s Day Giveaway

Gwen — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:41:19 +0000

I don’t do a lot of giveaways, but when Holly and Roger of Labour Union Photographers asked if I wanted to do a giveaway for Father’s day for them I jumped at the chance. These are the two photographers that donated their time and space for the top 30 Vancouver Mom Bloggers gala. The lovely head-shot adorning my twitter profile and about page are proof of their fantastic talent.

Who they are:

Labour Union Photographers is comprised of two artists, Roger and Holly, who have come together in business (and in life) through their shared passion for photography. Though they’ve each found expression for our passion in a distinctive style and unique point of view, it is when their photos are experienced together that the magic truly happens. The result is a union of two individual styles that perfectly compliment each other to create a treasury of images that are at once enduring and contemporary, joyful yet intimate. Their mission is to be their clients’ photographers for life, to help them capture the important moments in their lives from their wedding, to pregnancy, to babies, to their 50th wedding anniversary and everything in between.

Based on their success photographing their clients’ weddings in Vancouver with Union Photographers, Roger and Holly launched the Labour Union this spring. Opening the Labour Union, focusing on maternity, baby and family photography, is a natural extension of our wedding photography work.

What the prize is: a portrait session and $100 print credit for a total value of $250. This is your chance to get a nice family portrait without the awkward contortions of trying to do the photography your self.

You can have up to 6 people at the session including parents and children. The session can last up to 60 minutes and can be in the studio or a place special to you within the Vancouver area.

How do you qualify? Simply post a comment on this post by midnight PST on Friday June 18. A winner will be chosen and emailed by Saturday June 19. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before another name is chosen. The Labour Union is located in Vancouver so you must be able to come to their studio or somewhere in the city of Vancouver proper) to claim the prize.

Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #labouruniondads or copy and paste this: Enter to win a portrait session with Labour Union Photographers from @LeftCoastMama http://bit.ly/bLPxML

So what if I don’t win? The Labour Union is also having a great Father’s Day Promotion. They are offering 20 minute mini portrait sessions at their studio for just $125 including an 8x 10 print! Call or email them to book your session on Thursday June 24th or Saturday June 26th. They will happily send you a gift certificate to give to the special Dad in your life on Father’s Day.

Disclosure: I am not being paid or compensated in anyway for running this giveaway. I just think that Holly and Roger are fantastic photographers and I think this is a great giveaway.

Casa Italia and Kinder Surprises

Gwen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:36:21 +0000

On Saturday we were fortunate enough to be invited to a kids party at Casa Italia that was sponsored by Kinder of the Surprise eggs. In our house there are two things we love, chocolate and the Olympics so we enthusiastically donned our Olympic gear and headed down to Yaletown.

Just One of the Tables Full of Kinder Chocolate

Casa Italia is being housed in the Roundhouse, and we were being let into the part of the house not open to the public. There were lots of things for the kids, including face-painting and dancing and all the chocolate they could possibly eat. There was a professional photographer there taking pictures of the kids in front of a blank screen and when they are photo-shopped onto the background of our choice they will be emailed to us. We got a nice one of Aidan by himself and hopefully a nice one of all three of us. As soon as I have the pictures I will update the post.

Aidan Posing With a Snowboard

Rocking the Casa Italia

Aidan and Quinlan had a ball. Aidan got the chance to be a dancing machine for Italian television as he led the kids and adults in dances that he made up like the roller coaster. Really I think he has the soul of a disco dancer as the roller coaster is running around and rolling his hands around each other. The people who organized the even and the Italian host seemed to love him. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. He was really well behaved and didn’t take very much chocolate. (We also brought some of the chocolate to share with his preschool class.)

Aidan Getting Down

Quinlan Dancing With a Good Look at His Black Eye

It was lovely to see some of my favourite Vancouver parent bloggers and their kids. We also got to meet some others bloggers that we hadn’t met before. There were only two things that I would have changed. One, I’d open the doors because it was very hot. Second I would have invited some of the Italian athletes. It would have been really nice to get the kids excited about the Italian teams as well by having a few ambassadors there.

Thanks to Kerry for sharing her invites and to Andrea from Harbinger for putting together the event.

© 2010 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Adventures, Aidan, Family Time, Quinlan, Vancouver 2010 Olympics, family, outings.

Merry Christmas!

Gwen — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 06:06:01 +0000

It is so hard to believe that it is Christmas Eve and the kids are in bed and the presents are under the tree. Now a bit of relaxing time before we hit the sack and wait for Santa to come.

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. For those far away we miss you and wish we could see you. I am sure we will be talking to most of you at some point in the next couple of days, but I wanted you to know that in the meantime Aidan and Quinlan also wish you Feliz Navidad, and Anthony and I send our very best wishes.

Love to you all,

The Left Coast Floyds

Christmas Eve in Vancouver

Gwen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:13:59 +0000

I know that last year when I was searching for service times in the lower mainland it was a little difficult to find times on the web. I also know that sometimes your own church doesn’t have a time that suits your family. I would love to go to the 11:00 pm service at my own church Holy Trinity at 12th and Hemlock or even the family service at 7. These services don’t make sense for us though. We will want both boys to be in bed by 7 and 7:30 respectively, so staying out late isn’t in the cards this year.

We do have some other choices in and around downtown for some early Christmas Eve Services and I am not sure what we will choose.

At Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver at the corner of Georgia and Burrard there are several options starting in the early afternoon. For the 4pm, 8 pm and 11 pm you need to be there early as they are full to capacity 45 minutes early. Maybe they will start the services early. Oh and there is parking next door at Cathedral place, and the skytrain stop is right across the street.

Gospel Christmas for the City: 1 pm A service led by gospel singers and musicians, with favourite Christmas songs, hymns and carols, and a children’s story.

Carols for the City: 4pm A Salvation Army band and worship leader, carols, and a children’s story.

Mass for the City: 8pm and 11 pm Music is led by the Cathedral Choir and guest musician, and the preacher is Bishop Ingham.

St. Andrew’s Wesley at Burrard and Nelson There is a parent and tot service from 2: 30 to 3:15 pm, Christmas Eve Jazz Vespers with Karin Plato, Jennifer Scott, and Kate Hammett-Vaughan at 4pm, a Family Service at 7 pm and a Candlelight Service at 11pm.

Canadian Memmorial Church and Centre for Peace on 15th and Burrard. There is the pageant at 4 pm geared toward families with children, the celebration service of songs and readings at 7:30 pm and the Cosmic Candlelight Service with Communion at 11 pm. (Yes you did read that correctly.)

St. Mary’s Kerrisdale at 37th and Larch has some afternoon Christmas Pageants as well as some evening services. The pageants are at 3 and 4:30 pm, and the evening services are at 7 and 11 pm.

St. John Shaunessy at the corner of Granville and Nanton has services at 4:3o pm, 8pm and 11 pm. The 4:30 service is their family service.

St. Paul’s on Jervis south of Davie. They have a family Christmas service at 5 pm and a midnight mass starting with special music at 10:30 pm.

St. Anslem’s at UBC (Across from the golf course.) There is a service at 4:30 pm including a pageant, and one at 9:30 pm.

St. Phillip’s in Dunbar (27th, half a block from Dunbar) They are having a Children’s Service at 5 pm, communion at 7:30 and midnight mass at 11 pm.

These are some of the Anglican and other churches in Vancouver proper, though there are many more. A quick google search should find you more options close to where you live.

Lists Are Made to Be Crossed

Gwen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:06:44 +0000

On most days I have an idea of the things I need to get done. Sometimes I actually make a list so things can get crossed off and I can feel like I have accomplished something. Today was one of those days, and there were six things on the list.

1. Clean Living room,and Dining room

2. Vacuum

3. Take out recycling/garbage.

4. Put Cooler down in the storage.

5. Bring up some of the Christmas Decorations.

6. Take Family Christmas Pictures.

Luckily we were able to take care of all the list and I feel pretty good. Since we had to move all the furniture we even were able to get under the sofas clean. Anthony was able to take some nice pictures even though it was difficult to get the boys to stay still long enough to get the shots.

Finally a nice one of the four of us.

Mommy I want you to be a sled.

This test shot turned out nicely.

Still cute even though Quinlan isn't looking at the camera.

These guys are way too cute for their own good.

© 2009 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 2 comments
Related: Aidan, Anthony, Christmas, Gwen, Holidays, Pictures, Quinlan, cute, family, organization.

Of Blood and Babies

Gwen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:10:03 +0000

I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I got busy and didn’t finish it. Now with a little editing and some finishing words I think it is ready to go. I am interested in the questions I pose and I would love some feedback from other parents. Where is it ok to bring your kids? What if you have no choice in where you need to bring them?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I had a great post in my head and on some small pieces of paper in my car today while I was waiting for Aidan to finish preschool and Quinlan to finish his nap. It was started with the thought that I was going to take the boys to the blood donor clinic. I then started to think about where I take the boys and what they, especially Aidan, have seen and done. Where do people take their kids when they have no other choice?

When I was pregnant with Quinlan, Aidan was at all my doctors appointments. In fact because of the timing of the appointments, Aidan was at the appointments much more often than Anthony was. He heard Quinlan’s heartbeat at every appointment and if it looked like we were going to forget he was really quick to remind Dr. I. He bonded with Quinlan before he saw him. He was present and involved, and I wonder if this helped us avoid most of the sibling pitfalls you hear about.

I was not worried about how Aidan would react to the blood coming out of my body into the tubes and through to the bags. I knew that he would be ok. I knew he would ask lots of questions and be incredibly interested in what was happening. He was interested and wanted to know exactly how the blood was going to come out of me and go into someone else. I guess something got a little lost in the translation because he drew a picture of the blood coming out of me through tubes and into someone else via an elevator. Who knew that was the way of it?

On more mundane chores, both the boys go grocery shopping and on other errands with me. If I didn’t take them we would never have any free time on the weekends to do any fun family things. I don’t have a family support system out here in Vancouver, so I can’t leave the boys with their grandparents while I run out to go shopping. There is only so often Anthony can miss part of work for doctors and dentist appointments. The main reason I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time is that I draw the line at bringing the boys while I get my teeth cleaned or a cavity filled.

With Advent and Christmas coming up soon the boys will be on more and more errands. I will be the one trying to buy something for one or the other of them and not let them see at the same time. They will also be going to choir practices and other fun things. Plus I am looking forward to all the other holiday favourites like taking the Stanley Park Christmas Train, and going to see Santa Claus or making the holidays brighter for a family who is less fortunate. There are some things that are more fun with the boys and I am looking forward to every one of them.

One Year and a Birth Story

Gwen — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:50:16 +0000

Last year this time I was a bit of an uncomfortable mess. I was ready to not be pregnant, but Anthony and I were a little worried that my mom wouldn’t make it here in time. I really wanted my doctor to be the one to deliver Quinlan and she was on call the Friday but not the Saturday and I had a feeling that I would be delivering sometime that week. I cancelled an appointment with my hairdresser because I wasn’t sure if I would make it or not, and it was a good thing I did. I won a ticket to a green family conference for the Saturday and I thought that I would try to go. Aidan and Anthony had Preschool Curiosity Club also on the Saturday morning and my mom was due to arrive from Halifax at 1 pm.

I didn’t think that Quinlan would take me so literally that I wanted him to be born on the 25th. I know I kept telling him that he couldn’t come until the 25th in the evening because then Nana would be there to take care of Aidan. We did have some back ups, but the few days before Tammy was away at a conference in Colorado, and we felt a little uneasy about calling Tomer and Carla in the middle of the night if we needed too. Anthony wasn’t sleeping very well that week either because he was so afraid I would have the baby and we wouldn’t have anyone to look after Aidan.

We thought we were in the clear. Saturday morning we all woke up, we knew my mom was in the air on the way here, I was feeling good and all of us had breakfast. The boys were going to drop me off at the Wall centre for the conference and all would be good. Then just after breakfast my water broke. It was 8:30 am and I should have called Dr. I then. I found out later that the switch over time was 9 am and she would have stayed for the birth with me if I had called then. I was still planning to go to the conference since there was no pain, but luckily Anthony decided that it would be a good idea to stay home and put Tomer and Carla on standby.

My contractions started at 9:30 ish and they kept getting closer together. The on call doctor told me to call him when they were 5 minutes apart. By 11 am they had gone from 8 to 7 to 5 to 4, and by the time we got through to him they were just coming with almost no time in between. Anthony called Carla, and when she said she was going to wait for Tomer to get back. She must have heard the very tense voice Anthony had and decided not to walk leisurely, but made it in just over 5 minutes running. Thanks god for that because things went really quickly from there.

Anthony and I got to the hospital at about noon and with the paperwork we were in pretty quickly. After being assessed they were getting me ready to go up to the nice delivery/staying rooms but decided that with the way my contractions were going and the dip in Quinlan’s heartbeat that they should get me into a delivery room right away. We got into the delivery room at a little before 1 pm and I had to push. There was no stopping it and no time for the epidural that I so desperately wanted. I am pretty sure that the nurse pulled a resident into the room because the on call doctor (I cannot for the life of me remember his name) was somewhere getting his scrubs on. Anthony had no time to re-park the car or find something else for me to hold other than his hand. Like the independent little cuss he is, Quinlan had decided that enough was enough and he was coming out right NOW! Crushing Anthony’s hand I gave another push and Quinlan came into the world at 1:10 pm.

There is no way we would have made it up to the posh delivery/staying suite. I would have had Quinlan in the elevator instead, he was that determined to come out. At 2 pm my mom’s plane touched down in Vancouver. It turns out that while Quinlan listened to the date I wanted him to be born, he was a little fuzzy on the time.

In looking back I can see in his delivery the type of personality that Quinlan has developed. He is so determined to do everything. He is curious, independent, and fast. He loves to be close, but he is also not afraid to go and explore. He is growing so fast and trying so hard to do all the things his brother does.

I can’t believe it has already been a year. My infant will be an infant no longer. My newest toddler. My 1 year old. But always, always, my baby.

© 2009 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 4 comments
Related: 2nd Pregnancy, Aidan, Anthony, Birthdays, Firsts, Gwen, My Boys, Quinlan, family, milestones, pregnancy.

“I Wish I Was at Blogher” BBQ and Pity Party

Gwen — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:15:39 +0000

I joked on twitter, and at a couple of meet ups recently that we should have an “I’m not able to go to blogher for the umpteenth year in a row and I am so jealous pity party.” There actually seemed to be a significant number of people who would love to be at Blogher 09 In Real Life, and we (well I) thought we should have an In Real Life party of our own. That being said we actually are going to have a party of our own while all those lucky people are attending People’s Parties, and Mamapop Sparklecorn and Room 704 parties.

Friday 24th July 2009 starting around 3 pm and going till we stop, we are having a family friendly barbeque at Spanish Banks West. Bring your kids, your husbands, your partners and we will have a great time. Since we are doing this on our own (no sponsors yet) we will need to bring our own barbeques, food and drinks. I will stake out an area and try to have some bright balloons to mark out where we will set up.

Since we will be at the beach bring the sand toys, water toys and your bathing suit. Let’s have fun and make the most of the fabulous city we live in.

If you think you may be able to make it please leave a comment here or email me at leftcoastmama@gmail.com.

If you would like to Sponsor this event email me, Gwen Floyd, at leftcoastmama@gmail.com.

Can’t wait to see everyone!

About a Mother

Gwen — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:58:31 +0000

About a month ago I started to see tweets fling about a super idea for Mother’s day. As far as I know it started out as a glimmer in @KimPlumley’s mind, and today Twitter Giver launched its first contest. Along with Yoyomama and now CBC Vancouver, Twitter Giver has a huge prize worth over 3000 dollars for the winning tweet.

So how do you enter? It is as easy as writing 140 characters. Write about your mom, or help your kids write about theirs and tweet it with the tag #cbcgiver. You have until 11:59 pst tonight and the winning tweet will be revealed tomorrow on the Early Edition on CBC radio 1. If your mother won’t see your tweet, send her a copy, because prizes aside, how you feel may be the best present she receives.

Show your love for your mother. Here is mine:

You always helped us believe, never let us know how hard things were, were there 4 others in trouble, thankyou @NanaLorraine Love U#cbcgiver

On the East Coast

Gwen — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:41:52 +0000

We are now on the other coast for a month. It has been an interesting few days full of many changes in routine, time and eating habits. I always forget how long it takes me to adjust to the time and eating changes. Add to this a toilet-training toddler, a second trimester pregnancy, later spring, allergies, a bigger house and a new big boy bed and you have a recipe for a bit of chaos.

My allergies in Vancouver this year have been really bad and I got a cold just before heading here to Nova Scotia. Yesterday the cold seemed to have totally cleared up but the allergies are getting worse. Added to that I am so mixed up in when I should be eating that I had my fist vomiting morning sickness ever. I have always gotten the nausea but never to the point of actually throwing up. It didn’t help that I was coughing up what was left of my lungs as well.

Aidan is adjusting to the changes really well. The first night he was in the crib in the nursery and had a hard time with the new room and a new anxiety that his dad and I would go home without him. This has since cleared up and he is now sleeping in the new big boy bed with the Thomas the Tank Engine sheet and comforter set. He has never slept in a bed so big or so high. In fact his first words when getting ready to sleep there were “This is a very big bed!” I was a little nervous about how it would go but he did ask to sleep in the big bed so I figured what the hell, let’s try it. He did pretty well the first night and last night he only cried out once and wasn’t actually awake. Anthony and I are hoping that he will be fine going back into his toddler bed when we get home. If not we will have to look into bunk beds.

The other really nice thing about being here is that the back yard is full fenced with a lot of room to run around. Well that and the sand box that grandma and grandpa bought him to play in. With the trucks he already had here Aidan is having a ball playing outside by himself. He has learned that if he wants to come in all he has to do is come up to the back door and knock. We are watching out for him, and he is having a grand time playing “On the GRASS!”

We are keeping up the toilet-training here and sometime this week or weekend we are going to try the training in underwear. He is getting a lot more consistent though a little distracted since we have been here. The bribery still seems to be working and hopefully soon we can space the bribes out a bit. I can’t keep up with the dinkies forever.

Other than a quick trip to Halifax for some expensive sushi (lunch with Nana) we have been pretty close to home, but we expect to expand that this weekend and I am hoping to have a few playdates next week with some friends. Hopefully Anthony and I will get some geocaching in and have a bit of time to take some nice pictures.