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Babyhumourinfant careParenting Guidesafety tipssummer baby
Toddler reaching for a plate of barbecue ribs on a bamboo blanket

Baby Back vs St Louis Ribs: Surviving The Family BBQ With Toddlers

My brother-in-law's backyard in Naperville smelled like hickory smoke and impending disaster. I was holding a lukewarm paper plate of potato salad while watching my toddler, who was wearing nothing but a diaper, aggressively gnaw on a piece of barbecued...

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Babybaby blanketNatural fibersorganic cottonsafety tips
A pile of organic cotton baby blankets next to a wooden crib

The absolute best yarn for baby blanket knitting and buying

I was thirty-four weeks pregnant, sitting heavily on my living room rug in the dead of a Chicago winter, surrounded by four giant garbage bags of yarn. My mother-in-law had just dropped them off. She had this grand vision of...

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Babybaby teethersbaby teethingparenting tipssafety tips
A tired British dad looking deeply concerned while his baby cheerfully chews on a silicone toy

Why That Horrifying Teeth Grinding Sound Your Baby Makes Is Fine

It was exactly 2:14 in the morning when I first heard it. A rhythmic, grating sound cutting through the otherwise silent nursery, like someone slowly crushing chalk with a mortar and pestle, or perhaps a tiny, furious geologist trying to...

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family careorganic baby clothesParenting Guidesafety tipsToddler
A very small tortoise sitting stubbornly under a heat lamp in a wooden enclosure

Why bringing a baby tortoise into a toddler home is a terrible idea

It's 2:14 AM and I'm standing in my living room using a digital meat thermometer to measure the ambient soil temperature of a wooden box. Inside this box is a creature roughly the size of a rich tea biscuit that...

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family careoutdoorParenting Guidesafety tipssummer baby
A cardboard box tied to an oak tree in a Texas backyard

What to Do When Your Kid Finds a Baby Squirrel in the Yard

"Drop the Similac, Tucker!" I yelled across the patio, lunging over a scattered pile of wooden blocks while clutching a squirming newborn to my chest. My oldest son—bless his animal-loving, highly impulsive heart—was kneeling in the damp Bermuda grass, holding...

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Babybaby careParenting Guidesafety tipsSolid Food & Finger Food
A mom holding a baby while looking confused at a jar of fruit spread and a bag of gummy candies

Sorting Out the Mess: Are Jelly Babies Safe for Your Toddler?

So there I was at our big family barbecue last Sunday, balancing my six-month-old on my hip while trying to wrangle my toddler away from the sprinkler, when the contradictory advice started rolling in. My mom, bless her heart, told...

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baby teethersbaby teethingparenting tipssafety tipssilicone teethers
A tired parent holding a chilled silicone panda teether while a baby violently drools in the background.

Surviving the 3AM Drool Fest: The Quest for a Safe Cold Teether

The blue light of the freezer illuminated my despair at precisely 3:14 AM on a Tuesday. Behind me, from the nursery, emanated a twin-stereo wailing that sounded less like human infants and more like a flock of seagulls fighting over...

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apparelnewbornorganic baby clothesorganic cottonsafety tips
A baby chewing on their foot while wearing a neutral organic sock.

My Epic Fail And Why Organic Newborn Socks Are Actually Vital

I was sitting on my faded living room rug, trying to pack up three Etsy orders before the mail carrier came, when I looked over and saw my oldest son treating his own foot like a pacifier. He was about...

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Babybaby teethersbaby teethingparenting tipssafety tipssilicone teethers
A baby holding a wooden bunny teething ring on a nursery rug

The Great Teething Toy Mix-Up: Babies, Bunnies, and Panic

It was 11:14 AM on a Tuesday in 2018, and I was wearing a pair of maternity leggings I legally should have burned three months prior. Maya was nine months old, screaming the kind of high-pitched, gum-throbbing scream that makes...

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