momstown Victoria Baby Basics and Britax Prize Draw

Our 12-week momstown Victoria Baby Basics program is especially for moms with babies ages 0 to 12 months! A baby playgroup (our weekly Tumblebums playdate) alternates each week with a free seminar or workshop led by a baby expert! Baby Basics is your opportunity to connect with other new and expecting moms as well as enjoy high quality workshops and presentations. Topics will include sleep solutions, natural health, infant massage, baby signs and more. 

Tuesday, October 2

Sleep Seminar with Tumblebums Solutions

Brenda Kovitz is the owner of Tumblebums Play Centre and Toy Shop. After years of hearing about parents suffering with the little one’s sleep routines, it was time to become an expert on the topic. Under the guidance of the Family Sleep Institute and the Co-Founder of the the International Association of Child Sleep Consultants, Deborah Pedrick, Brenda has become a Certified Sleep Consultant. With training in many sleep methods, Brenda is a Certified Sleep consultant and able to help every family find the method that is best suited to them. 

http://www.tumblebumssolutions.com/

Thursday, October 16

Babysigns with Laura Shepherd

Join our very own Laura Shepherd for a special Babysigns class! After discovering the many benefits of baby sign language with her own daughter, Laura became a Babysigns Independent Certified Instructor. 

http://www.babysignsprogram.com/

Tuesday, October 30

Post Partum Naturopathic Care Seminar by Dr. Lisa Lau, ND

Many moms take care of themselves during pregnancy, but not so much once baby arrives. Post partum health care is very essential and it's important for moms to take care of themselves mentally and physically. Learn about natural health tips for a healthy mind and body, which will help your baby be healthy too.

Basic Infant Massage Workshop by Laura Kidson, RMT

Learn basic massage techniques to enhance parent/child bonding, increase parental confidence, improve blood and lymph circulation, deepen respiration, enhance gastrointestinal function, reduce hypersensitivity, modulate sleep and wake states, and provide general relaxation for both mom and baby. Specific techniques will be demonstrated and we will also discuss the use of safe oils and when massage can be performed on your baby.

http://www.victoriacentrefornaturalhealth.com/

Sign up for any of our amazing Baby Basics programs in October, and you could win this Britax Head & Body Support Pillow! One entry for every signup - up to 3 ballot entries!

Not a member yet? October is a spectacular time to sign up for a free 4-week trial! We do not share your information with any third party, and we offer high quality early education programs, events and resources to support and connect moms for only $45/year. Your membership cost goes back into growing your local chapter, and our awesome local and national sponsors help add to the value and fun!

Ask us all of your questions this weekend at Vancouver Island Baby Fair!!!

momstown Victoria Scholastic Tales for Tots: "Wishes" by Jean Little

Our Scholastic book selection this month is "Wishes," by Jean Little, a beautifully illustrated poem which begins with the old English proverb, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." The saying usually means that wishing is useless, but in this book, wishing is a doorway to imaginative possibilities. The children loved this book and were able to follow the pattern of verse, "If wishes were ____, then _____ would ______," using their own own imagination and whimsy to fill in the blanks. Drop by our momstown Victoria Tales for Tots program at Chapters Victoria on the 3rd Wednesday of every month, 10-11 a.m., for a free craft, story time, and book prize draw! You might win a copy of next month's book selection, "Let it Fall," by Maryann Cocca-Leffler.

We are happy to announce a second Tales for Tots program in Colwood! Join us this Friday, September 28th, 11:30 am-12:30 pm at the Juan de Fuca Library for a special storytime, craft and free draw for our wonderful Scholastic book. Please register at www.gvpl.ca.

We have so many other exciting events and programs coming up in October, including a Crafty Mamas night at Fired Up!, Little Scientists with Glenn Kachmar, a special Nutella Buddies Brunch and our very own Halloween Boo Bash! Sign up for these events and more on your free 4-week trial!

momstown Victoria Picassos in the Park with Tropicana - 'the good stuff!'

We had a wonderful time serving delicious Tropicana orange juice at our momstown Victoria Picassos in the Park event this month! momstown.ca is proud to team up with Tropicana to raise awareness of their Tree of Giving campaign, which aims to donate 300,000 servings of orange juice to Breakfast for Learning programs in schools across the country.
 

The sun was hot, and our momstown Victoria moms and kids were thirsty! As one mom told her child, we were serving 'the good stuff'!' The children loved our craft, which was an orange tree made with toilet paper rolls and tissue paper, and we also gave away orange balloons!

  

31% of elementary students do not have breakfast before going to school, and when you pick an orange from the Tropicana Tree of Giving website, you donate a serving of orange juice to the Breakfast for Learning programs, and get a chance to win a year's supply of orange juice. You can pick up to one orange each day.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by!

Free Rock 'N' Roll Literacy Show

Get inspired to enjoy reading and stories with your children.
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Join GVPL and the United Wayof Greater Victoria on Saturday, September 29th, at Burnside Gorge CommunityCentre for a free family event that will inspire you to enjoy reading and stories with your children. We'll start with a lively Rock'N'Roll Literacy show by author and speaker Sigmund Brouwer and then enjoy hands-on workshops for parents and kids. This event is free but spaces are limited so pre-registration is required. A free brown bag lunch will be provided and limited free child minding spaces will be available. The event is suitable for families with children aged 12 and under. Register online or call your local branch for more information. 

http://gvpl.ca/audiences/kids-and-tweens/

momstown Victoria Defining Moments: Adventures in Preschool

“Good night, Taliya.  I love you.”

“Good night, Mommy. I love you too. And Mommy?”

“Yes, baby.”

“I don’t want to go back to school.”

Huh? Did my 4-year old just tell me that she didn’t want to go back to school?  Yes, I admit it is debatable as to who was more excited about her first day of preschool – she or I? But really –How could she not LOVE it? When she came out of pre-school she had a big smile on her face. Was she smiling because she was happy to be leaving school?!

After an hour of lamenting the loss of her academia even before it started, I took a step back and saw the truth of it.

Nothing gave me perspective about how my life had changed in the moment that I held her for the first time. What joy! What elation! And then, what a big responsibility! And so for every day of her life, I wait for her to reveal her hopes, dreams, and passions so I can nurture them. Ah! What work this has turned out to be! Currently, she dreams of flying like Wendy-bird in Peter Pan and she is passionate about barking and howling like a wolf-pup in a wolf pack. She is better at the latter. In any case, why wouldn’t she love school? I had made sure to explain all the great things about school so that she could be as elated as I was about her next step of growing up.

And then, I suddenly realized that I might have set her up for disappointment. Had I hyped it up a little too much? I told her she would make new friends, play games, do art projects, learn new things, etc etc etc…but I realized I was not being realistic at all. I mean, she was only there for an hour (gradual entry for first-timers). No wonder she wasn’t crazy about school – it just wasn’t as fun as I had said it was going to be. She probably thought: What’s the big deal?

I’m still a new mom. I’ve never had a 4-year old daughter before and I got a little carried away with preparing her. Note to self:  First, Be cool. Second, Be realistic. Third and most important, Let her discover for herself what she loves about school.

“Mommy, I don’t want to go back to school”

“Are you sure about that?”

Long pause. “Well, maybe I can try.”

Melanie Matthews is a busy mom of a 4-year old girl and 2-year old twin boys. If you would like to become a guest blogger, please email melissa.hogg@momstown.ca for more info.

Family Fun at momstown 5th Birthday Bash in Victoria!

WOW, momstown Victoria rocks a Birthday party!!! Thanks to weeks of planning, incredible support from our sponsors, unwavering support from the momstown team and HQ, hard work from volunteers, friends and family, our momstown 5th Birthday Bash was a huge success!

From left to right: Chris Munkacsi and Michelle Underdown of The Munkacsi Group, myself, my sister Mel, and May. Volunteers not pictured: Melissa Alegria, Charles Hogg, Ian Matthews, Lisa Underdown, Mi-Young Jin, Ava, Cara, my mom Lolita, plus Kate Wall & Charlotte King-Harris for helping prep loot bags and prizes!!! 
Thank you for all your hard work and support!!!

Our loot bags from Today's Parent were bursting with goodies from our sponsors, including a full box of Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Iron Kids vitamin samples, Nature Clean wipes, Mr. Christie's Snak Paks, Clifford door hangers from Scholastic, Island Parent Magazines, Epicure samples, a free 4-inch footprint tile from Danielle Studios, and so much more! 

Heaviest loot bags ever!

Our wonderful sponsors provided fun and engaging activities that aligned beautifully with our six momstown program pillars. These were just a few of the fun things to do, see and taste at our event:

Nursing/Rest Area with Silk Road Tea

Kindergym area

Photo Ops with our special guest, Huckle the Cat, 
star of Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries!

Bouncy Castle & Balloon Animals from Par-T-Perfect

Play House Cleaning with Norwex consultant, Charlotte King-Harris

Teddy Bear Health Check with Dr. Lisa Lau, ND, and Laura Kidson, RMT,
of Victoria Centre for Natural Health

SPF Awareness with Angela Burnell of Avon

Social & Play with Island Farms

Island Parent Fish Puppet Craft

Jr. Chef with Epicure Selections

Reading Corner with Huckle the Cat from Kids' CBC 
& member of Victoria Storytellers Guild,  Jennifer Ferris.

Marshmallow Kids Experiment with Martin Newham
& Christina Gilbert of Investors Group

Farmer Vicki & Daisy the Cow kicked off our show!

Fitness Demo with Hot Mama Health & Fitness

Glenn Kachmar's Whiz Bang Science Show

Yummy ConAgra Snack Pack Pudding Station

Fisher-Price Toy Demo - and we gave away all 8 toys!

Our guests raved about these gorgeous and delicious cupcakes made by Kyrie Smith with simple ingredients and real butter at Wildfire Bakery! 

We did three mini prize draws with gifts from our local sponsors: Avon, Epicure Selections, Heart & Hands Health Community, Island Parent, Norwex, Par-T-Perfect, Suetables, Victoria Centre for Natural Health, 4Cats Arts Studio in Oak Bay, Victoria Butterfly Gardens, Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre and Intrepid Theatre! Then we capped off the event with a BIG prize draw from our platinum sponsor, Island Parent Magazine, and our amazing national sponsors, Britax, Fisher-Price, Thyme Maternity, Scholastic Canada, and Melitta Coffee! A whopping 35 prizes in total - thank you to all of our incredible sponsors and everyone who celebrated with us! We hope you had as much fun as we did!!!

Amazing Prize Table!

You can see more pictures on our facebook fan page!

If this is how great we treat our guests at a public event, can you imagine how we treat our members? ;) Our membership is only $45/year, and during August and September only, you will receive a BONUS one-year subscription to Today's Parent magazine with your new membership or renewal! Sign up, sign up, sign up for your FREE 4-week trial, and together we'll make momstown Victoria ROCK!!!

Today's Parent is offering a bonus one-year (12 issues) Subscription with every new or renewed 1-year momstown membership, ONLY in August & September! JOIN NOW!

A Note from Kate Wall, our new momstown Victoria Event Coordinator!

Hi, my name is Kate and I am the new momstown Victoria events coordinator for the Langford area. My family and I just recently moved to Victoria, from Ottawa, and we now live in Langford. I am a mother of 2 very energetic boys, along with my third little man due at the end of September, which can’t come soon enough! 

I have a passion for helping mothers meet other mothers which is fired from my past experiences. I have been a stay-at-home Mom for almost four years, and I have also moved around a lot in my life; my father was in the Military and my husband recently retired from the Military (after 10 years of service.) I know first-hand how hard it is, and how isolating it can be sometimes, to be a mother. 

I’m very excited to be part of momstown Victoria, and to start coordinating events in the Langford area. I see this as a fantastic opportunity to build a great group of moms from within the Langford/Westshore area (and beyond!) a reason to get out and socialize with other moms and their children and a great excuse to get out of the house. We are a very active family and we can’t sit still for long, entertaining my boys is easier when we are out of the house. We’ve enjoyed many momstown events, “Active Mamas” being one of my favorites. I also enjoy “Crafty Mamas” which is childfree and blissful! My sons really enjoy any events that involve going to Tumblebums! 

When we are not participating in momstown events we love exploring our new surroundings, there’s so much to do here! We enjoy going to Thetis Lake, exploring local trails, fishing in Langford Lake (but never successfully catching anything) and playing at the water park – just to name a few. I can’t wait to coordinate some momstown events at some of my new favorite places.

Join Kate at Tumblebums on Tuesday, August 28th, 9:30-11 am! Only $5 per play for members only, or when you come for a momstown playdate on a free 4-week trial! Sign up today!