Magazine

Toddler hands playing with safe silicone toys on a playmat

The ugly truth about the peachy baby slime trend

My sister-in-law swore the viral slime was a sensory miracle that would make my toddler a genius. The neighborhood mom-group president warned us it was highly toxic chemical waste that would melt our floors. Then my old ER charge nurse...

Read more

A tired dad sitting on a nursery floor looking at his phone in the dark

Debugging Infant Sleep With The Taking Cara Babies Framework

The glow of my phone screen at 3:14 AM was the only light in the room, illuminating my desperate, one-thumbed Google search: taking cara babi sleep help please. Outside, the endless Portland drizzle was doing its best to act as...

Read more

Messy baby eating sugar baby watermelon slices

What the Heck is a Sugar Baby (And Why My Kitchen is Sticky)

I was standing at my kitchen island yesterday, scraping dried oatmeal off the counter with a thumbnail while trying to fulfill three Etsy orders for custom nursery signs, when I nearly dropped my phone into a lukewarm mug of coffee....

Read more

A confused dad tangled in a long piece of soft fabric trying to figure out a baby carrier.

Solly Baby Wrap Setup: A Dad's Guide to Not Dropping the Kid

It was raining, because it's always raining in Portland, and I was standing next to my Subaru holding a screaming eight-pound potato while seventeen feet of buttery soft fabric aggressively soaked up a puddle of dirty rainwater. My wife watched...

Read more

Overwhelmed mother trying to quiet a crying baby at a formal event

The Real Shiva Baby Dilemma: Taking Infants to Solemn Events

"Leave 'em at the house," my grandma told me over the phone, her voice crackling through the spotty rural Texas cell service. "Take them, babies represent the circle of life!" my mother-in-law insisted the very next day while aggressively shoving...

Read more

A messy living room floor with a half unwrapped wooden baby gym

How To Survive The Santa Baby Phase Without Losing Your Sanity

There I was, sweating profusely through my favorite flannel shirt in a seventy-five-degree Texas December, trying to wedge my screaming firstborn into a faux-fur trimmed sequin outfit while Eartha Kitt purred the santa baby lyrics from my phone speaker perched...

Read more

Purple 1997 memorial bear sitting in a dusty attic box next to modern wooden baby toys.

Don't Give Your Kid That 1997 Purple Bear

I was standing in my mom's sweltering Texas attic last July, sweating through my t-shirt, while she rummaged through a stack of plastic storage bins. She finally pulled out a Ziploc bag with the reverence of someone handling the Declaration...

Read more

A sleeping newborn baby wrapped in a soft blanket

What no one tells you about bringing a jaundice baby home

My mother-in-law told me to put him in the living room window like a houseplant. The hospital lactation consultant told me to feed him until my nipples literally fell off. My deeply sleep-deprived husband downloaded three different tracking apps, poking...

Read more

Tired dad singing to his 11-month-old baby in a dark Portland nursery

Hush Little Baby Bribes: A Late Night Letter To My Past Self

Hey Marcus of exactly six months ago. You're standing in the dark right now, aren't you? It's 3:14 AM. The nursery thermostat reads exactly 68.4 degrees because you checked the app three times. Your left shoulder is completely numb, you've...

Read more