It’s our first birthday, and we’re celebrating over here.

We’re having a garage sale Saturday and getting ready to head to the cottage next weekend — keeping us occupied enough — but there’s also a ton of things going on in this fun region of ours the next week or so as we roll into Canada Day:

• Parent Source’s Canada Day Guide: Find out what your town has planned to celebrate our country’s 141st birthday, including where to go for fireworks
• Durham events from the local paper: Check out Metroland’s day-by-day event listings from across the Region
• Durham Tourism: All our local attractions
• Beach water testing: See if your local waterfront is safe for swimming
• SummerActive: Want out of Durham? This government of Canada website has event listings by age group from across the country

Y’all know how much we love consignment shopping at Chez McDougall-Foster, which is why I’m heading to south Ajax later tonight to partake in Once Upon a Child’s Midnight Madness Sale.

Click the ad over there on the left toolbar to check out all the details and the best hours to shop. It’s always a tough decision to go early and take advantage of the best selection, or go later to get the best percentage off. I’m stuck working this morning (boo!) so the decision was made for me.

Happy shopping!

• May 21-28: Mastermind warehouse sale ‘08 — Richmond Hill at 9325 Yonge St.; click link for hours. Discounted, discontinued or slightly damaged packaging. Items include toys, board games, arts & craft and puzzles, from brands such as Melissa & Doug, Playmobil, Gund and Ravensburger.

• May 24-28: Samko & Miko spring toy warehouse sale — Toronto at 77 Fima Cres., and Richmond Hill at 60 East Beaver Creek; Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wed.-Fri. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Toys, books and arts & crafts, from brands such as Crayola, Graco, Fisher-Price, Mattell, Hasbro, Step 2 and little tikes.

Even with Lucy’s birthday already passed and Christmas so far away, I’d totally check these out if we weren’t down to one income…

Happy shopping!

While I didn’t get a booth at either the Mamas and Chicks Show or Mompreneur Market this spring, I did donate two stuffed gift baskets to raffle off.

This morning one finally went in the mail to Theresa in Oshawa, and the other was picked up for Andrea of i’mnotsurebutshewasveryexcited.

I have to thank the following generous local businesses who donated products. Please support them if and when you can, as they help keep this site going, are Durham-based and Canadian and make things especially for you!

• Shelby from Natural Earth Tones natural body care in Oshawa
• Alexandria of Clippopotamus hair and soother clips in Pickering
• Tamarra of Lollipops & Lizards children’s boutique in Pickering
• Kristen of T Bag & Co. gourmet market totes in Uxbridge

Tomorrow is the Durham Parent Family Show in Pickering, and Sunday is of course The Mamas and Chicks Show in Oshawa.

We can’t make the show Saturday (heading to Toronto with Eric’s brother and his wife to the Green Living Show! Very excited.), but are definitely going on Sunday. If you see Lucy n’ me (or Jen. O and Eirinn or Lauren and Owen) say hi! There’s, like, 40 of you free ticket winners going, so chances are our paths will cross.

Next Saturday is my FAVOURITE SHOW EVER, the Durham Parents of Multiple Births Associations gigantic consignment clothing sale. I so wish I knew the sex of the baby in time for that. Hopefully their fall show lands before the Parasite2 makes his/her appearance…

That day is also The spring Mompreneur Market, at Wooden Sticks in Uxbridge (10 a.m.-6 p.m.). We’re not in it this season, but are definitely going after the clothing sale.

Have a great one!

The fluffy little Easter Bunny is hopping around town. He always sneaks up on me each year.

He’s at both the Oshawa Centre and the Pickering Town Centre until this Saturday — click the links for hours, photo packages and more.

Lucy is at the age where she’s totally ready for an Easter egg hunt, and I’m so excited to have one this weekend. As Jen O. said, I’m not entirely thrilled about loading Lucy up on sugar, but am planning more of a modern day hunt: There will be some chocolate and refined sugar, but also some notepads and stickers and markers and other small little presents any toddler would love.

My Mom bought Lucy the most adorable dress for her birthday, perfect for Easter: It has embossed bunnies, sequins, ribbon, little chicks and other whimsical bits. She’s going to look adorable. She’ll probably smear her dinner or dirt on it 0.598 seconds after we put it on her, but that’s part of toddler living, right?

Sunday we are heading to my parents’ house to visit with them, my Grandma and Aunt Judy and Uncle Randy. It will also be my birthday dinner, as I turn the big 29 on Saturday, March 22. The last year in my twenties! Friday I’m celebrating with the Game Night Hooligans and Lucy with Thai food at my fave restaurant in Ajax, followed by ruckus back in the Boonies after. Gooood times.

Got any Easter plans? Big hunts planned for your wee ones? Giant dinners with family? Chocolate gorge fests? Can I come?

The first two months of the year are happily spent with new calendars and planners at Chez McDougall-Foster. I’m not sure what it is about writing in dates on a fresh, empty bunch of numbered boxes, but I really dig it. That and putting stuff in new address books. Oh, and filling out forms. What’s up with that?

Some of the dates that get ultra highlighted and even (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) stickered are upcoming local baby/parent shows. I love to see what our community has to offer, and to support local businesses.

Here are the upcoming Durham shows on my calendar so far:

Sunday, March 2: Welcome Wagon’s Baby Shower @ Pickering Recreation Complex

Wednesday, March 26: Mother-to-Be Expo @ Carruthers Creek Golf and Country Club in Ajax

Sunday, March 30: Welcome Wagon’s Baby Shower @ Oshawa Legion

Saturday, April 26: Durham Parent Show @ Pickering Recreation Complex (ugh: same locale. Last year the set-up here was AWFUL because of the narrow aisles. Let’s hope they fix it…)

Sunday, April 27: Mamas and Chicks @ Holiday Inn Oshawa (look for an exciting contest next month!)

Saturday, May 3: The Mompreneur Market @ Wooden Sticks in Uxbridge (last year was fun as an exhibitor!)

Saturday, May 3: Durham Region Parents of Multiple Births Association spring consignment sale @ Oshawa Curling Club (ooooh, our favourite sale!)

(Hmmm: looks like May 3 will be a busy day… Know of more shows? Want to promote them here? Let me know.)

Speaking of calendars, did you know today is Pancake Tuesday? I think it has some other religious name, but like a good non-believer, I just scoop up the holidays and use ‘em. Which means I’m looking forward to some pancakes with real maple syrup for dinner tonight!

It’s BookClub week at Durham Mom’s Night Out, and this month we read The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

I started it last night and finished it this morning on the exercise bike. This powerful passage (pg. 126) really resonated with me:

“Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them — a mother’s approval, a father’s nod — are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.”

I really don’t think you truly understand your parents until you have children. How can you? How can you understand the sacrifice and love and heartache and pride and sadness and endless guilt that accompanies parenthood unless you experience it yourself? I’m not even two years in and I’m just starting to get it.

Having Lucy changed my life in endless ways, but one of the most profound was a renewed respect for my Mom and Dad. It put a new filter on my life, made me see it from a completely different perspective that wasn’t just through my eyes anymore, but theirs, too.

I view events differently — how incredibly difficult it must have been for my Mom to live in Mexico alone for all those months (contract work when I was in Grade 8), how terrified my Father must have been as, essentially, a single parent (which might explain locking us out of the house one evening and his oft scary attempts at home cooking — one such concoction prompted a long-distance call to my Mom, begging for permission not to eat it).

My memories are now altered in a much less self-centered way. Sometimes I’m bothered by this revelation — it removes some of the innocent, childhood sheen of growing up — but mostly I’m glad. It’s like catching a glimpse into a secret world. And now we’re creating one of our own that hopefully one day Lucy will appreciate, too.

I’ve spent an eye-crossing amount of time updating and adding to the links section the past week or so. They desperately needed to be done to preserve my sanity, and also in response to what Mr. Google says people are looking for (namely: stuff to do, places to go, and birthday party centres — all for Durham).

Things are now split into what I hope are easier-to-navigate categories for y’all:

Durham links: The main entrance, also found on the right-hand toolbar over there, and directly above, under the logo

Places to play: Municipal recreation programs, indoor gyms, dance, birthday party centres

Stuff to do: Get out of the house with grown-ups (including, of course, Durham Mom’s Night Out!), Early Years Centres, public libraries, event listings, travel/tourism links

Durham daycare/nannies: Places to find childcare, resources

Safety and support: Recalls, breastfeeding, car seat safety checks, postpartum depression, parenting etc.

Local businesses and mompreneurs: List of consignment stores, baby gear, online sales, local entrepreneurs

Health: Labour, fitness, beauty

Fave Canadian retailers: The Eh! online stores we love the best

Coming soon: Baby shows, crafts and photography. Got any to add?

Have a site you love you want listed? A category to suggest? Business to add? Leave a comment or drop me an email. These are ever-expanding.

Enjoy!