Magazine

A vintage bear sitting on a high nursery shelf out of baby's reach

The Truth About That December 18th Beanie Baby From Your Mom

My mom lugged the giant, opaque Rubbermaid tub through my front door right as I was trying to unlatch a screaming newborn from my chest, kicking off her shoes and announcing that she had finally found my inheritance. It was...

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Vintage Ty plush bear sitting safely on a wooden nursery shelf away from the crib

The Truth About Getting a December 15 Beanie Baby for Kids

My mother-in-law cornered me by the diaper pail on Tuesday morning. "You absolutely must get him the Ty toy with his exact birthday to keep in his crib," she announced, waving a screenshot from some Facebook collector's group. Three hours...

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A dad holding a vintage zebra plush toy next to a modern organic baby teether

The Hunt for a December 10th Beanie Baby Birthday Twin

At 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I found myself in a heated eBay bidding war with a user named PlushQueen99 over a stuffed zebra from 2003. My daughter was asleep in the next room, the baby monitor glowing on my...

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Vintage tie-dye Groovy the Bear sitting on a high nursery shelf out of reach

The 3 AM Nostalgia Spiral and the January 10th Beanie Baby

I was wearing my husband Dave's college sweatpantsβ€”the ones with the mysterious bleach hole near the left kneeβ€”balancing a lukewarm mug of dark roast on my nursing pillow, while frantically refreshing an auction site on my phone. My left breast...

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Vintage plush dog sitting on a wooden nursery shelf next to organic toys

Why That October 8th Beanie Baby Birthday Twin Belongs on a Shelf

My mother-in-law brought over Bo the Portuguese Water Dog last week. She proudly announced he was an October 8th beanie baby, which meant he was my daughter's exact birthday twin. My sister-in-law immediately texted me to put it in the...

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A vintage Beanie Baby sitting safely on a high shelf out of reach from a baby

A Note From The Future About That October 6 Beanie Baby Idea

Dear Marcus from six months ago, you're currently hovering your cursor over the "Buy It Now" button on eBay at 2:14 AM while your five-month-old is finally asleep after what felt like a system-wide hardware failure. You've just discovered that...

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Vintage October 30th Beanie Baby bat on a nursery shelf next to organic clothes

The exact october 30th beanie baby that broke my brain

I'm sitting on the cold linoleum floor of my laundry room in a nursing bra that hasn't seen the inside of a washing machine in at least three days, aggressively refreshing an eBay tab on my cracked iPhone with one...

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A vintage nineties plush toy sitting on a nursery shelf next to organic baby clothes

Dear past me, that vintage october 20th beanie baby is a trap

Listen, Priya from six months ago. You're sitting on the living room rug, staring at a crushed cardboard box that just arrived from your auntie in New Jersey. Inside is a pristine, tag-protected raccoon named Snoops. You're thinking it's incredibly...

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Vintage skeleton and dog plush toys sitting safely on a modern nursery shelf

Debugging the October 18 Beanie Baby Birthday Twin Trend

I was standing in the cramped, patchouli-scented aisle of a vintage shop on Hawthorne Boulevard, triumphantly holding a dusty plush skeleton from the year 2000. I thought I had just executed a brilliant parenting hack. My niece was about to...

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