Is the $25 Baby Chair Ikea Sells Actually Safe for Weaning?
It was 98 degrees in late July, the Texas humidity was thick enough to chew, and I was standing in my front yard in flip-flops blasting a white plastic bucket seat with the jet setting on my garden hose. Neon...
The Marshmallow Myth And The Truth About Baby Car Seat Covers
I was standing in our gravel driveway at seven in the morning, holding a screaming toddler who had somehow locked all his joints so he resembled a rigid, puffy starfish. It was 38 degrees in rural Texas, which meant the...
Protecting Against Baby Bugs Without Losing Your Mind
My mother-in-law swore by a homemade paste of turmeric and neem oil that stained every piece of clothing we owned bright yellow. The incredibly put-together mom at our local park told me I just needed a proprietary blend of lavender...
What to actually do when you find a baby raccoon in the yard
Listen, I was trying to pull dandelions out of the garden beds last Tuesday while Maya sat on the grass. She pointed a sticky finger toward the fence line and made a noise that sounded like a question. I thought...
Before And After Nursing School: The Truth About Baby Reflexes
I dropped a metal travel mug on our hardwood floor at two in the morning. The sound echoed like a gunshot through our cramped Chicago apartment. My two-week-old son, who was dead asleep on his back in the bassinet, violently...
Finding a baby sitter near me without losing my mind
I'm standing in my own hallway, wearing hard pants for the first time in eight months, watching a nineteen-year-old named Chloe hold my son. She is holding him like a football. A fragile, screaming football. My husband is whispering that...
Baby Announcement Cards: A Postpartum Letter To My Past Self
It's two in the morning. The Chicago winter wind is rattling the bedroom window, and I'm staring at a stack of heavy-stock envelopes sitting next to a cold mug of chai. My breast pump is making that rhythmic, dying-cow sound....
Dear Past Me: What I Wish I Knew Before Naming Our Baby Akira
Dear Jess from six months ago—put down your sweet tea, close the Pinterest tab where you're looking at custom nursery signs, and for the love of everything holy, delete that hashtag draft from your Instagram. You're sitting there on the...
Why Looking At Baby Turtles For Sale Was My Rookie Dad Mistake
It was 10:45 AM on a Saturday, raining sideways in Portland, and I was hiding from my own house. My wife was attempting to get our 11-month-old to take his morning nap, a process that currently resembles negotiating a hostage...