Magazine

Exhausted young mother looking at a massive pile of bright plastic toys from grandparents

Surviving the Baby Boomer Years of Grandparenting

Don't, under any circumstances, politely accept the garbage bag full of your own crusty childhood stuffed animals just because your mom has misty eyes. I did this when my oldest was born, and let me tell you, it was a...

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A delicate floral baby loss tattoo on a mother's inner forearm

My Baby Loss Tattoo: Why I Needed Ink After the Worst Day

I was staring at the popcorn ceiling in my bedroom at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday, listening to the hum of the ceiling fan and absolutely nothing else. The house was dead silent. My oldest was at preschool,...

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Confused dad looking at a laptop searching for a baby shower near me

The First-Time Dad's Guide to Searching Baby Shower Near Me

I had exactly thirty-two tabs open in Chrome, my laptop's cooling fan was sounding like a Boeing 737 at takeoff, and my wife Sarah was giving me a look that translated roughly to a severe compilation error. I had literally...

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A chronological guide to helping family select a baby's headstone and processing the logistics of infant loss.

When Your Brother Asks You to Help Pick a Memorial Marker

The fluorescent lighting in the monument showroom was humming at a frequency that felt like a localized cyber-attack on my nervous system. I was sitting at a faux-wood desk next to my older brother, Dave, staring at a catalog of...

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Marcus looking confused at a basal body thermometer while holding a tiny bamboo blanket

Decoding the Spirit Baby: A Tech Dad's Unscientific Parenting Pivot

The smoke alarm in our Portland apartment started screaming at exactly 9:14 PM on a Tuesday, completely interrupting my attempt to build a predictive Python script for my wife’s basal body temperature. I leaped over the coffee table, ripped the...

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Pediatric nurse's reality check on having a baby and postpartum life

The Brutal Reality Behind the Romantic Let's Have a Baby Idea

I'm standing in the kitchen at 3 a.m. scraping dried spit-up off my shoulder while my husband snores from the guest bedroom. Four years ago he pulled out a ring on a beach in Mexico and whispered marry me let's...

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