Magazine

Close up of a sleeping infant's ear with a tiny yellow gold stud

Choosing safe gold earrings studs for babies without panicking

My mother-in-law cornered me in the kitchen with a pair of twenty-two karat hoops, telling me it was tradition and that I was overthinking it. A few hours later, my old charge nurse texted me to say that piercing a...

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A mom looking stressed holding a vintage 90s plush toy in a messy baby nursery

To Past Jess: What to Know About That September 24th Birthday Plush

Dear Jess of six months ago: Right now, you're sitting cross-legged on the sticky floor of the Goodwill on Highway 84, aggressively Googling plush toy birthdates while your youngest tries to eat a rogue Cheeto off your shoe. You just...

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A dad holding a baby near a pellet smoker on a backyard patio

Before and After: Smoking Baby Back Ribs With An 11-Month-Old

It's 6:14 AM on a damp Portland Saturday, exactly 43.7 degrees outside, and I'm standing on my patio holding a squirming eleven-month-old in my left arm and a slippery rack of raw pork in my right. I'm staring at the...

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Toddler girl wearing a cloth baby doll carrier holding a stuffed bear

The Absolute Absurdity of the Baby Doll Carrier (And Why We Own Two)

My mother-in-law firmly believes that giving a two-year-old their own miniature baby wearing apparatus is mildly ridiculous and encourages them to grow up entirely too fast. The woman at our Tuesday morning playgroup—who wears floor-length unbleached linen in the dead...

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Mom sitting on a nursery floor playing pretty little baby chords while baby watches

Why Learning Pretty Little Baby Chords Beats Playing Mozart

Three years ago, I was sitting on my cheap living room rug, sweating through my nursing tank top, frantically trying to sync a Bluetooth speaker to a twelve-hour Spotify playlist called "Mozart For Genius Brain Development." My oldest son, the...

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Vintage cat plush toy sitting on a wooden nursery shelf next to baby books.

The Truth About Gifting an October 24th Birthday Twin

My mother-in-law unzipped her floral weekender bag and pulled out a vacuum-sealed plastic pouch with the solemnity of someone handling a transplant organ. Inside was a slightly crushed, orange and black plush cat. She had spent three weeks scouring the...

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Vintage Ty plush toy sitting safely on a high wooden nursery bookshelf

October 16 Beanie Baby Nostalgia: Cute Decor or Safety Hazard?

I was twenty-eight weeks pregnant, sweating through my maternity shorts in my mom’s un-air-conditioned Texas attic, when she pulled out the holy grail of our 1990s retirement plan: a massive, cracked plastic tub full of Beanie Babies. I was up...

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A vintage rainbow chameleon plush toy sitting on a modern wooden nursing chair

The 3 AM Hunt for the October 14th Beanie Baby

The screen of my laptop was basically burning my retinas, but I couldn't look away. It was 3:14 AM. I was thirty-eight weeks pregnant with Leo, sweating through a pair of maternity leggings that I had been wearing for, oh...

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A soft organic cotton baby doll resting on a folded woodland print blanket.

Choosing my first baby doll before the new sibling arrives

My daughter was holding the plastic newborn by its left ankle, dragging its bald, rigid head across the kitchen tile like a club. The eyes clicked open and shut with every hollow bounce. I was seven months pregnant with baby...

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