http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813 When my daughter was born three-and-a-half years ago, I did what anyone about to become a first-time, stay-at-home-dad, with no family and only a few friends with kids in town, would do: I turned to the internet. I looked for things to do with my babygirl in Bakersfield, for answers to all the questions my wife and I had, for cool baby gear to buy (or lust after, at least), and for other new parents to talk to and connect with. Now, I&rsquo;m proud to introduce you to RaisingBakersfield.com, an online community from The Bakersfield Californian for local parents. Here, you&rsquo;ll find an event calendar filled with things to do with your family in your area. You&rsquo;ll find discussion forums where you can ask questions of and share your wisdom with other local parents. You can start your own online journal, and read and comment on others&rsquo;. You can share family snapshots in an online scrapbook. You&rsquo;ll also be able to find bargains and deals from local businesses in our Parent Perks discount program, place and peruse online classified ads aimed at other parents, and enter contests to win exciting prizes. Our print newsletter will be a monthly sampling of what&rsquo;s waiting for you online, with photos, articles, and journal posts contributed by your fellow parents. You&rsquo;ll also get event listings and local shopping deals, more of which you&rsquo;ll find on the website. You can also sign up for a weekly email newsletter that will catch you up on the latest contests, the newest events, and the most interesting discussions and journal posts from your fellow parents. RaisingBakersfield.com is a place, on the web, where we can connect and reflect together. Parenting is both the most challenging and the most important job we will ever have, but we can&rsquo;t do it alone. We shouldn&rsquo;t have to. This is our community, one we are building for the sake of our children, and together, we are all Raising Bakersfield. [Edit.: Check out my update on site features (as of April 24).] When my daughter was born three-and-a-half years ago, I did what anyone about to become a first-time, stay-at-home-dad, with no family and only a few friends with kids in town, would do: I turned to the internet. I looked for things to do with my babygirl in Bakersfield, for answers to all the questions my wife and I had, for cool baby gear to buy (or lust after, at least), and for other new parents to talk to and connect with. Now, I&rsquo;m proud to introduce you to RaisingBakersfield.com, an online community from The Bakersfield Californian for local parents. Here, you&rsquo;ll find an event calendar filled with things to do with your family in your area. You&rsquo;ll find discussion forums where you can ask questions of and share your wisdom with other local parents. You can start your own online journal, and read and comment on others&rsquo;. You can share family snapshots in an online scrapbook. You&rsquo;ll also be able to find bargains and deals from local businesses in our Parent Perks discount program, place and peruse online classified ads aimed at other parents, and enter contests to win exciting prizes. Our print newsletter will be a monthly sampling of what&rsquo;s waiting for you online, with photos, articles, and journal posts contributed by your fellow parents. You&rsquo;ll also get event listings and local shopping deals, more of which you&rsquo;ll find on the website. You can also sign up for a weekly email newsletter that will catch you up on the latest contests, the newest events, and the most interesting discussions and journal posts from your fellow parents. RaisingBakersfield.com is a place, on the web, where we can connect and reflect together. Parenting is both the most challenging and the most important job we will ever have, but we can&rsquo;t do it alone. We shouldn&rsquo;t have to. This is our community, one we are building for the sake of our children, and together, we are all Raising Bakersfield. [Edit.: Check out my update on site features (as of April 24).] en-us <p>&nbsp;nice picture, Jason. Nothing like a little promotion worked in there. :)</p> <br /> http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224622 http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224622 <p>&nbsp;nice picture, Jason. Nothing like a little promotion worked in there. :)</p> <br /> <p>&nbsp;thanks again jason. you're awesome!</p> http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224632 http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224632 <p>&nbsp;thanks again jason. you're awesome!</p> <p> Great intro, Jason.  I especially like the end... it got me all goose bumpy.  :) </p> http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224650 http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_224650 <p> Great intro, Jason.  I especially like the end... it got me all goose bumpy.  :) </p> <p> I wish there something like this for parents when we moved here 3 years ago.... You all have done a great job :)</p> http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_225232 http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_225232 <p> I wish there something like this for parents when we moved here 3 years ago.... You all have done a great job :)</p> <p>&nbsp;Thank you all for the kind words and, most of all, for being here!&nbsp; I'm really excited about what we're building here, so thank you for being a part of it.&nbsp; (Oh, and Pelly, glad you liked the picture!&nbsp; Heh.&nbsp; That was at Little Feet Repeats.&nbsp; And Christina, I feel you--that's why I started blogging, b/c I couldn't find anything/anybody, at least not easily.&nbsp; I'm so happy I get to come full circle and work on this project.)</p> <br /> http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_225291 http://www.raisingbakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jason/24813/#c_225291 <p>&nbsp;Thank you all for the kind words and, most of all, for being here!&nbsp; I'm really excited about what we're building here, so thank you for being a part of it.&nbsp; (Oh, and Pelly, glad you liked the picture!&nbsp; Heh.&nbsp; That was at Little Feet Repeats.&nbsp; And Christina, I feel you--that's why I started blogging, b/c I couldn't find anything/anybody, at least not easily.&nbsp; I'm so happy I get to come full circle and work on this project.)</p> <br />