Magazine

A tired mom looking at a massive pile of baby clothes on her living room floor

The Brutally Honest Guide to Surviving the Baby Gear Avalanche

When I was pregnant with my first, I got three completely different pieces of advice in the span of a single Sunday dinner. My mom, who firmly believes the 1990s were the peak of human parenting, told me I needed...

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Priya reviewing a list of baby names scribbled on a hospital notepad

The brutal truth about picking baby names that won't ruin them

My mother-in-law cornered me in the kitchen at twenty weeks pregnant to gently suggest that our child's name needed to reflect our deep ancestral roots. Later that afternoon, my hipster neighbor in Logan Square casually mentioned over the fence that...

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Sweaty baby wearing a plain organic cotton armless bodysuit in summer

The Real Reason My Babies Live in Sleeveless Summer Bodysuits

I was standing next to a kiddie pool in my sister-in-law’s backyard, sweat pooling entirely too fast in my nursing bra, staring down at my firstborn son who looked like a boiled hot dog. It was the Fourth of July...

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Exhausted dad staring at a thick knitted jumper with impossible wooden buttons

Surviving the cursed reality of the chunky knit baby outfit

We were at my mother-in-law's house for Boxing Day when I realised we had made a terrible mistake. The thermostat in her living room was set to what I can only describe as "equatorial," and the twins were both strapped...

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A stressed mom holding a baby henley romper over a pile of laundry.

Why the Henley Romper is the Only Baby Outfit You Need

Dear Sarah from last November, You're currently standing in the middle of our sister's nursery, sweating in that beige oversized sweater that makes you look like a sheep, holding a lukewarm Yeti mug of day-old coffee. You're staring at a...

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Messy pile of mustard yellow yarn and a half-finished baby sweater

The messy truth about trying to knit your own baby clothes

I was thirty-four weeks pregnant, sitting cross-legged on the floor of a craft store in Lincoln Park, quietly crying over a skein of mustard yellow yarn. My feet were swollen to the size of small hams. My lower back felt...

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Toddler chewing on a solid beech wood grasping ring on a playmat

Toxic glue and the truth about aesthetic baby holzspielzeug

I'm standing at the stove at two in the morning, watching a forty-dollar organic maple rattle slowly disintegrate in a pot of boiling water. The water is turning a suspicious murky brown. A smell like burning nail polish remover is...

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Toddler Leo knocking down a wobbly tower of wooden bausteine kinder in the living room.

Why I Stopped Overthinking Bausteine Kinder & Let Them Crash

It's 6:15 AM on a Tuesday, and I'm sitting on the cold kitchen floor wearing David’s faded college sweatshirt that has a completely unidentified yogurt stain on the cuff, gripping a mug of lukewarm coffee like it's a literal life...

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A bewildered father holding a mountain of unnecessary baby items while his twins look on.

The Great Baby Accessories Delusion: What Parents Actually Need

I'm currently staring at a twenty-pound velvet baby fedora. I found it in a plastic storage tub at the back of our loft, resting gently atop a pristine, battery-operated wipe warmer. This box is essentially an archaeological dig of my...

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