Magazine
The Brutal Truth About Fox Pelt Blankets in Your Baby's Nursery
When my mother-in-law's sister visited right after my daughter was born, she brought a genuine silver fox fur throw in a massive garment bag. She told me real pelts were the only way to keep winter babies properly insulated, citing...
The utter chaos of dressing twins in retro kids clothes
My mother-in-law practically kicked our front door off its hinges last Tuesday to hand me a bin bag full of highly flammable, heavily synthetic 1984 baby rompers that my wife apparently wore, insisting the twins needed to wear them immediately....
Why That Freezer Teether Ring Is Actually Making Your Baby Cry
It was three in the morning in the middle of a Chicago February. The kind of bitter cold that seeps right through the windowpanes and makes the old apartment radiator hiss like an angry cat. My toddler was cutting his...
Why My Wife Wears a Nursing Necklace (And I Got Yelled At)
There was exactly one drop of blood on Sarah’s collarbone. It was Tuesday at 3:14 AM, the nursery temperature was holding steady at an best 69.2 degrees, and our then-five-month-old had decided that nursing was no longer a standard food-acquisition...
Why That Ice-Solid Teething Toy Myth Needs to Die Immediately
It's 3 AM and you're staring into the abyss of your freezer. Next to the ancient bag of edamame and the breastmilk stash you're too paranoid to throw away, there's a plastic ring shaped like a starfish. It's frozen completely...
A Letter To Past Me About The Winter Onesie Sweater Situation
Dear Tom of six months ago. You're currently standing by the radiator in the front room of our freezing London flat, staring at your hands. The boiler is making that ominous clunking sound again, Alice is attempting to eat a...
The Puffy Coat Meltdown and the Magic of Toddler Boys Sweaters
It was 7:14 AM on a Tuesday, heavily sleeting, and I was standing in our driveway wearing one of my husband’s old flannel shirts that smelled faintly of stale coffee and desperation. Leo, who was three at the time, was...
Debugging the architectural nightmare of a newborn sweater set
I’m currently staring at a tiny, cream-colored cable-knit tube of fabric. My wife Sarah is in the other room, and my son is lying on the changing table, doing that terrifying infant stiff-board maneuver where every muscle in his three-week-old...
Why bamboo preemie clothes are the only thing you should pack
I'm standing at the warmer in bed spot four, untangling a mess of yellow and blue lead wires. The mother next to me is holding up a standard zero-to-three-month onesie that someone gifted her at a shower she barely got...