Magazine

A tired mom holding a wrinkled newborn baby who looks like a grumpy old man.

The absolute truth about those ugly baby pictures we all hide

I was sitting there in the hospital bed, wearing a gown that had somehow become completely unsnapped in the back, holding my literal firstborn child. My husband, Mark—who usually has absolutely zero filter—was completely silent as he held up his...

Read more

Stressed mom holding a baby in a plain white bodysuit in a waiting room

The Brutal Reality of Baby Modeling: What I Wish I Knew Beforehand

I was sweating completely through my only clean maternity bra in a strip mall off I-35 in Dallas, holding a screaming eight-month-old while twelve other perfectly coifed infants stared at us in dead, judgmental silence. My oldest son, who's now...

Read more

A baby lying on a white sheet taking a passport photo from above.

How to Take a Baby Passport Photo Without Losing Your Mind

My mom told me I had to physically hold my three-week-old’s head up from behind the scenes like a puppeteer to get his picture taken. The lady at the local pharmacy counter swore the only way was to photograph him...

Read more

A sleeping newborn swaddled in a breathable blanket near a bright window

Why That Viral Froggy Newborn Portrait is Actually a Photoshop Trick

I was scrolling social media at three in the morning during a seemingly endless feeding session when I saw it. A newborn, maybe six days old, propped perfectly upright with their tiny chin resting on their folded hands. The classic...

Read more

Mother standing near a bright window taking a photo of her sleeping newborn on a bed

How to Take Good Newborn Photos Without Losing Your Damn Mind

I was sweating through my third nursing tank of the day, teetering on a dining room chair with my iPhone hovering over my oldest son, Leo, who was currently screaming his head off in a hand-knitted Yoda costume my mom...

Read more

A stack of addressed baby announcement cards sitting on a messy wooden table next to a half-empty chai mug.

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....

Read more

Baby lying on a neutral blanket staring at a black and white contrast card.

The Truth About Infant Photos: From Contrast Cards to AI Scraping

The phone on my nightstand vibrates at 4:12 in the morning. The screen lights up the dark room with another WhatsApp message from my mom, reading simply, "send more babi images." She always mistypes baby as babi, mostly because her...

Read more

A one year old baby sitting on the floor making a massive mess with a vanilla frosted cake.

The Pediatric Nurse's Guide to the Perfect Smash Cake for Baby

I was standing at my kitchen island at eleven at night, aggressively pureeing dates to sweeten a dense, beige lump of oat flour. My son's first birthday was in exactly twelve hours. I had convinced myself that if a single...

Read more

Exhausted dad holding a wearable breast pump while looking at a newborn baby photographer in a hospital room

When Pumping Hardware And Hospital Photoshoots Suddenly Collide

The machine strapped to my wife’s chest sounded exactly like a PlayStation 4 struggling to render a massive game file. It was a rhythmic, mechanical grinding noise that echoed off the sterile walls of our postpartum recovery room. We were...

Read more