Magazine

Mom lying on floor making funny faces at her baby under a wooden play gym

Why The Way We Do Baby Talk Actually Matters

Standing in the H-E-B checkout line back in 2019, I was balancing my oldest son on my hip while digging for my wallet, doing that incredibly high-pitched, brain-melting nonsense voice we all fall into. "Does my widdle smoosh-smoosh want his...

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Toddler hands covered in sheer pink adult nail polish

Why OPI's "Baby Take a Vow" Polish Caused a Panic in Our House

The smell hit me before I saw the damage. It was that sharp, chemical scent of a beauty salon, floating down the hallway and completely overpowering the faint aroma of stale oat milk and damp wool that usually defines our...

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Tired mom holding a baby in a soft ribbed cotton t-shirt while folding laundry

The Honest Truth About Baby Tees and Sensitive Skin

My mom told me to put three layers and a fleece snowsuit on my oldest when we left the hospital in mid-April because she swore "a chill will get him" the second we stepped outside. My younger sister, who doesn't...

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Jess sitting on a messy living room floor trying to coax her stubborn toddler to walk

The Hilarious, Tear-Stained Baby Steps Story Every Mom Needs

There I was on my hands and knees in the middle of our living room, sweating through my third messy mom bun of the day, holding a half-eaten cheese stick like a carrot in front of a very stubborn fourteen-month-old....

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Toddler taking first steps barefoot on a living room rug

The Baby Steps Metacritic: Stop Treating Walking Like A Game

I was sitting on a damp park bench in Wicker Park last Tuesday, nursing a lukewarm coffee, when a mother I barely know ambushed me. She had that specific, tense energy of a woman who'd just read four different parenting...

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A stressed mom holding a cold coffee while scrolling baby sitter profiles

How I Survived The Hunt For A Baby Sitter Without Losing My Mind

It was 11:42 PM on a Tuesday and I was wearing Dave's oversized grey college sweatpants that had a questionable bleach stain on the left knee from a laundry incident we don't discuss. I was hunched over the kitchen island,...

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A confused toddler staring blankly at a wooden play gym and baby blankets

Why my timeline for a new baby sister is completely broken

I was staring at a plastic stick with two bright pink lines on our bathroom counter, right next to a half-chewed rice rusk that Leo, my 11-month-old, had abandoned to go fight the bath mat. My wife picked up the...

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Mom holding her bottom-down baby in an organic Kianao bodysuit.

When Your Kid Folds in Half: Surviving a Frank Breech Baby Delivery

"Put a frozen bag of frozen peas on the top of your belly," my neighbor Shelly told me at the grocery store, cornering me between the canned beans and the tortillas. "Stand on your head in the swimming pool," my...

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A messy baby sitting in a highchair eating a bowl of warm semolina porridge

Why Homemade Baby Suji Saved My Grocery Budget and My Sanity

"Just give him rice cereal in a bottle," my grandma told me over the phone while I was actively scraping a dried crust of mashed banana off my kitchen cabinets. "No, skip grains entirely, meat only," a girl in my...

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