Magazine

Baby wearing tall ribbed socks pulled over leggings on a playmat

The Great Baby Footwear Debate: Why Tall Options Are The Only Way

I was standing in the produce aisle at H-E-B trying to remember if we needed cilantro, while my mother-in-law texted me that putting any kind of footwear on a three-week-old would permanently stunt his foot growth, right as a sweet...

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Folded organic cotton baby blanket on a wooden nursery rocking chair

What the hospital ruined about my cozy baby blanket fantasies

I'm currently staring at a hand-knit, cable-stitch monstrosity that my great-aunt sent from Delhi. It weighs about as much as a small dog. Before nursing school, before I had a child of my own who treats sleep like a hostile...

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A wrinkled bamboo sheet stretched tight over a small mattress next to a laundry basket.

Why I Finally Ditched Cotton for Bamboo Mini Crib Sheets

There I was in a La Quinta Inn somewhere outside of Waco, wrestling a sandpaper-stiff cotton sheet over a travel mattress at two in the morning while my oldest, Tucker, screamed like he was being exorcised. Every time I got...

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A tired dad researching sleeping bags for infants online.

Why We Switched To Sleeping Bags For Infants (And You Should Too)

My mother-in-law told me to pile three heavy quilts on him because Portland nights are drafty and he was going to freeze. The exhausted NICU nurse at the hospital swaddled him so tightly in a receiving blanket that he looked...

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A frustrated toddler trying to pull down stiff dress shorts in a hurry

The Absolute Nightmare of Buying Toddler Khaki Shorts

I was sweating through three layers of sage green bridesmaid tulle in a 104-degree Texas July, standing inside a rented porta-potty that smelled exactly as bad as you're imagining, frantically trying to unfasten a button the size of a baby...

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A messy but highly functional baby room with a wooden crib and changing dresser

Must-Have Babyzimmer Essentials (Minus the Pinterest BS)

I was sitting cross-legged on the floor of our spare bedroom at 2 AM, eight months pregnant with Leo, aggressively weeping into a half-assembled IKEA dresser. I was wearing one of my husband Dave’s old college hoodies that smelled faintly...

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A tired parent washing a silicone baby teether at the kitchen sink

Why the Haakaa style silicone teether finally ended my 3am nightmare

I'm standing at the kitchen sink at 3:14 in the morning, wearing a dressing gown that smells faintly of sour milk and despair, aggressively attacking a tiny nylon mesh bag with an old toothbrush. In the background, Maya is wailing...

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A messy crib mattress featuring a soft, rumpled bamboo toddler blanket draped over the edge.

Dear Past Me: The Bamboo Toddler Blanket Is Actually Worth It

Dear Jess of six months ago. You're currently sitting on the floor of the nursery at 2:14 AM, using your teeth to try and unjam a zipper on a fleece sleep sack that somehow got stuck on a blowout-ruined diaper...

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Marcus holding a folded universe pattern baby blanket in a nursery

The Truth About Crib Bedding Sets and Bumpers For Your Baby Boy

I was standing in the middle of the nursery, holding what looked like a tiny, quilted life jacket covered in cartoon bears. My aunt had generously shipped us a massive nine-piece bedding set for our baby boy, and I was...

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