Magazine

Confused dad holding a tiny, stretched-out synthetic baby onesie.

Why My Spreadsheet Strategy For Budget Baby Clothes Completely Failed

At 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was staring at a pivot table I'd built to calculate the exact cost-per-wear of an infant's wardrobe. My son was three months old at the time, and I was treating his closet like...

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Tired mom holding a baby while looking confused at a rack of ladies clearance apparel.

The Truth About That Huge Women Clothing Sale For Tired Moms

The right wheel of my double UPPAbaby stroller was jammed so hard against the slatted door of fitting room number three that I couldn't pry it open if there was a fire. I was standing there in a local boutique...

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Mother organizing a minimalist baby depot of clothes and gear in nursery

Building A Bulletproof Baby Depot For Surviving The Newborn Chaos

It was three in the morning in the dead of a Chicago winter when I finally lost my mind. I was standing in my living room holding a screaming infant, staring at a corner of the house that looked like...

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Exhausted mom in sweatpants checking the diaper of a crying baby at night

That 3 AM Nightmare: Surviving a Wunder Po bei Babys at Home

3:14 AM. A Tuesday. I'm standing in the nursery wearing Dave's ridiculously oversized Villanova sweatpants with a mysterious yogurt stain on the knee, and ten-month-old Maya is screaming like I'm trying to actively murder her. It wasn't her normal "I'm...

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A frustrated mom holding a tiny red velvet holiday dress next to a comfortable organic cotton baby romper.

Dear Jess: Stop buying the velvet holiday dresses for your baby

It's currently July, you're sweating completely through your maternity shorts in the hundred-degree Texas heat, and for some ungodly reason, you're scrolling the internet looking at a stiff, synthetic red velvet monstrosity with eighty-two sequins on it. I need you...

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Wooden infant activity arch over an organic mat in a Chicago apartment.

The ugly truth about that neon plastic baby play gym you just bought

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug at three in the morning, holding a screwdriver and weeping quietly over a piece of molded plastic that required four D batteries. The box promised it would stimulate my newborn's cognitive...

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A tired mother holding a newborn surrounded by practical baby items instead of stuffed animals.

The Brutal Truth About Buying Actually Useful New Baby Gifts

I'm staring at a pair of infant converse sneakers. They're the size of a jalapeΓ±o. They have actual, functional laces. Someone spent real money on these at a baby shower last weekend, and I know exactly where they're going to...

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A confused dad looking at a mountain of plastic baby presents in a London living room

How to actually choose gifts for infants (without losing your mind)

Before my daughters were born, my mother-in-law insisted we urgently needed an engraved silver rattle because "it's tradition and builds character." The very next day, a hipster barista in Dalston earnestly told me that tiny babies only require the atmospheric...

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A pile of folded secondhand baby clothes next to a wooden toy

The No-Nonsense Guide to Buying Secondhand Baby Stuff Safely

I was standing in a humid church gymnasium at 7 AM on a Saturday, seven months pregnant with my oldest son, fighting a woman in a denim jumper for a plastic bouncy seat that smelled faintly of sour milk. I...

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