Durham Parent March Break Guide: Camps, indoor, outdoor and silly activities for next week, including neat local places to visit.

The idea of a “baby brain” phenomenon that turns a woman’s mind to “mush” when she is pregnant is a myth and the child bearing process may actually improve the brain, research suggests: Hogwash. How many of you were ridiculously forgetful and incompetent while with child? My hand is waving in the air. And it continues after birth, too (especially with two). An old friend told me once that a good chunk of your brain cells are delivered along with the placenta. I agree.

Getting kids to eat vegetables and other healthy foods: An excellent follow-up to our discussion the other day about picky eaters. I love the tips about making food fun (Lucy loves when we make happy faces with ketchup), never make food a reward (oops), and avoiding a power struggle.

The Scrunge: Any of you have glass ceramic stoves? I love mine, but it’s a bitch to clean. Stuff gets burned on so easily (even water!), and it really hard to get off. But not with this baby. The Scrunge is chemical free — just a sponge-like scrubber — and works like magic. The top of my stove is now clean for the first time since August 2007 when we bought it. Thanks for sharing, Mom!

The world’s least surprising story: From the world’s worst role model for girls. “Paris Hilton spent day two in Hawaii yesterday, and did she make sure that every possible instant was documented by the paparazzi, even during her time underwater? Of course she did. Why wouldn’t she.”

Turning lemons into lemonade: Jen O. is battling ever parents’ dirty secret — a bad sleeper. Her daughter may be up there on the world’s most adorable baby list, but she is making a zombie out of her mother. Jen shared some fabulous sleep tips from her research, and lays out a plan to hopefully help her whole family get some more z’s. Go share your tips and love. She needs it.

Quick and dirty on sleep: Speaking of, my parenting guru Moxie has the best ever articles on sleep issues of all ages. Just search sleep on her site. This link is an excellent overview. Eg: Have you heard of the 2-3-4 schedule? That a surprising # of kids follow this pattern: Morning nap around 2 hours after waking, an afternoon nap around 3 hours after waking from the morning nap, and into bed around 4 hours after waking from the afternoon nap. This was so true with Lucy, and now that I’m reminded of it and using it with Alice, it makes so much sense.

Anie, one of the women from my weekly Durham Mom’s Night Out group, is due with her first baby right about now, and is already thinking about daycare for her daughter — and rightly so.

She is only able to take four months off from work.

Can you click here to pop over to the Durham Region Daycare blog, where I’ve done a post with her questions, and share some advice?

Thanks!

p.s. — I finally finished Alice’s birth story this weekend. You can find it here.

Looking for something to do with the kids this evening and tomorrow to ring in 2009?

Parent Source has a great calender of local events, including free skates, family countdowns, and mayor’s levees.

Check it out here.

Hope you’re happy and healthy and have a wonderful and relaxing night, no matter what you do. We’re staying in tonight, and looking forward to watching a movie with some snacks…hopefully without these two, albeit adorable, wee ones.

Happy New Year!

I’m mining your wisdom and creativity for a special person’s Christmas gift idea.

Visit the Durham Region Daycare blog to help, please!

I am missing Wednesday night out with the ladies so much. I knew before how important that one night a week to myself was — it completely re-energized me for the whole week — but it’s REALLY apparent now. And am needing it more than ever now, too, what with two darling yet demanding children requiring so much time.

We’re starting Operation Get the Baby to Take a Bottle in the next week or so, but until that’s well established and she’s sleeping a bit more at night — rendering Eric and I a bit less zombie-like in the evenings — regular nights out are still a ways off. I’m hoping to be back sometime in January.

That being said, the second annual Durham Mom’s Night Out Cookie n’ Treat Exchange is scheduled for Wed. Dec. 17, and there’s no way I can pass up dozens of delicious desserts.

Need a night out sans babies and partners, and want to collect a menagerie of baking for the holidays? We’d love it if you could join us. The more people, the more treats to exchange!

Interested? Email durhammoms@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our weekly email invite, and send you baking and location details.

For those of you already on the list, please RSVP by Wed. Dec. 10 so we have time to plan and shop and bake.

Hope you can make it!

p.s. — a bunch o’ enthusiastic people have joined DMNO over the months, but never made it out: Shy? Nervous? Strapped for time? This low-key, holiday-themed night is the perfect time to come out! Check out the site, linked above, to find out what we’re all about. Lots of new activities planned for 2009.

Durham Region Daycare is live, y’all.

Please go visit — even if you’re not actively looking for childcare — and let me know what you think.

I’m so thrilled it’s up and running. And oh so tired and bleary-eyed.

Better posts n’ pics coming the rest of the week. After sleep. As crappy as it is right now…

For those that know the shores of Lake Ontario in Whitby, can you help?

I’d like to plan another evening sunset stroll with the Durham Mom’s Night Out ladies (wanna come?) this week, and would love to check out Whitby’s waterfront. But I’ve never been south of Victoria, and have no clue where to meet.

Pulling this map down, I see the Lion’s Promenade, Rotary Sunrise Lake Park and Heydenshore Pavillion Park — all of those sound promising, but I’m not sure where parking lots are, if there’s a trail to waddle meander down etc. This Waterfront Trail site suggests Heydenshore and Sunrise as main access points with parking.

Suggestions from you Whitbites (Whitibians?) or those-in-the-know would be much appreciated…

I will even bribe you with a photo. Because how can you resist flour on the nose and the cute jutting chin?

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

I hope all of you have noticed the growing sponsors on the left sidebar.

I am a small town, community girl at heart. Although a decade ago I physically ached to bust out of my hamlet and catapult into j-skool at Ryerson, I knew after less than five years of living downtown Toronto that Big City living wasn’t for me. I knew after five weeks at the Toronto Star that a Big City reporter job was not for me.

And so — having picked up a fiance along the way — we moved back to Durham. In that full-circle way of life, I landed my first Big Kid Job at the very first newspaper I ever worked for (at the tender age of 15).

And so began settling back into the community feeling I felt missing from downtown. That closeness has only intensified after moving to north Durham — now with a baby — back to the stomping grounds of my youth. We are planting roots here.

So you have no idea how awesome it is to have these wonderful local businesses on the site. To have other people value and validate what is so important to me, and what I strive to achieve with this site, is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. And what better way to showcase Durham Region and the network of businesses that support it than share them with you?

I have purposely chosen not to go with a ad network. There is more money that route, but little if any control over content. There are restrictions on what you can say about your ads and advertisers (nothing, mostly), even where they can go on the site itself. I have no interest in that, and it defeats the purpose of what I am trying to create here.

Please take some time to visit them when you have a chance. A big fat thanks to all of you (and my endlessly patient and supportive sister) for the immeasurable help in reaching this point.