Magazine

A cardboard box with a heat lamp and yellow baby chicks inside.

What I Wish I Knew Before Feeding Our Backyard Baby Chicks

Dear Sarah of exactly six months ago, You're currently sitting in the driver's seat of the Subaru in the Tractor Supply parking lot. Your iced coffee is sweating all over the center console, you're wearing that stained gray college sweatshirt...

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Stressed dad looking out at a backyard wooden deck with a baby monitor

When the Backyard Becomes a Skunk Nursery (And How We Survived)

At exactly 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was sitting in the dark, compiling a massive block of legacy code, when I smelled it. It wasn't the usual Portland ambient scent of wet pine needles and artisanal coffee. It smelled...

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A wooden baby play gym set up in a living room next to organic clothing.

What a Screaming Backyard Wild Bird Taught Me About Motherhood

It was 102 degrees in the shade, the kind of Texas summer afternoon where the air feels like hot soup and you sweat just blinking, and I was up to my elbows in diaper cream when the back screen door...

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A confused dad looking at a squirrel in a London park while holding twin toddlers

How Many Babies Do Squirrels Have? A Garden Mystery

The incident began on a particularly damp Tuesday in our local park, right around the time I was wondering if it was socially acceptable to drink a lukewarm thermos of coffee at 9 a.m. Maya and Chloe had their faces...

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Dad checking smoker temperature while baby plays on a bamboo blanket with a rib bone

Why Smoking Baby Back Ribs 2-2-1 Actually Works for Tired Parents

Let's talk about the biggest lie on the BBQ internet. If you search for rib recipes, every guy with a beard and black nitrile gloves tells you that the 3-2-1 method is the absolute gospel for your weekend cookout. I...

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Toddler testing balance on a three-wheel sit to stand infant scooter at the park

Why The Sit To Stand Infant Scooter Is A Major Motor Update

For the last eleven months, I operated under the assumption that tiny children on wheels were basically just tiny teenagers, meaning I had at least five years before I needed to worry about wheeled mobility devices. I was sitting at...

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A chaotic backyard barbecue setup with smoked baby back ribs and kids playing on blankets.

My Chaotic Weekend Learning How to Smoke Baby Back Ribs With Kids

I was elbow-deep in raw pork juice at 6:15 AM on a Saturday, staring blankly at a massive, slippery cut of meat while Maya, who's seven and currently entrenched in her "question everything" phase, stood three inches from my hip...

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Exhausted mom sweating on Ashlyn Peaks trail with baby gemini in carrier

My Chaotic Baby Gemini Hiking Story On The Ashlyn Peaks Trail

Whatever you do, please learn from my colossal screw-up and avoid attempting the south ridge trail at Ashlyn Peaks with a six-month-old Gemini strapped to your chest while wearing non-breathable Lululemon knock-offs, because it'll end in chafing and tears. Mostly...

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Toddler eating messy barbecue ribs on a summer patio

How Long to Smoke Baby Back Ribs Without Ruining Saturday

It was 5:42 PM on a Saturday in July, and I was sweating through a gray tank top that already had a suspicious smear of Sweet Baby Ray's on the hip. My husband was standing on the patio, staring into...

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