The Marshmallow Myth And The Truth About Baby Car Seat Covers
I was standing in our gravel driveway at seven in the morning, holding a screaming toddler who had somehow locked all his joints so he resembled a rigid, puffy starfish. It was 38 degrees in rural Texas, which meant the...
Baby Announcement Cards: A Postpartum Letter To My Past Self
It's two in the morning. The Chicago winter wind is rattling the bedroom window, and I'm staring at a stack of heavy-stock envelopes sitting next to a cold mug of chai. My breast pump is making that rhythmic, dying-cow sound....
What a Freezing Park Day Taught Me About Parenting Like a Wild Cat
It was 14 degrees in late January. Maya was maybe four months old, strapped to my chest in one of those trendy animal-print carriers that I paid way too much for because Instagram told me to. I had three layers...
Why giving your toddler a baby stanley is a pediatric nightmare
Tuesday morning. My fourteen-month-old has both hands wrapped around the base of my forty-ounce metal tumbler, trying to deadlift it off the coffee table. He is vibrating with effort. The cup outweighs his head. He manages to tilt it just...
The Hospital Wi-Fi Stalled Our Magic Baby Names
The fluorescent light in room 412 of Providence Hospital had this specific 60-hertz hum that was drilling directly into my sleep-deprived prefrontal cortex. I had a lukewarm, terrible cafeteria coffee in one hand and a state-mandated birth certificate form in...
The Brutal Truth About the Infantino Baby Carrier (My Meltdown)
I was standing in the Target parking lot at 2 PM on a sweltering Tuesday, wearing maternity leggings with a crusty mystery stain on the left knee, desperately trying to click a piece of stiff plastic into another piece of...
What to Pack in Hospital Bag for Baby: A Dad's Bug Report
I had one knee pressed firmly into the top of a 60-liter duffel bag in the back of our Subaru, trying to force the zipper shut while Portland rain soaked through my hoodie. My wife, currently 36 weeks pregnant, was...
The Search for the Best Humidifier for Baby (Without the Mold)
My mother-in-law handed me a vintage 1990s vaporizer and told me to boil eucalyptus oil in the nursery. Three hours later, the guy at Home Depot practically cornered me in the plumbing aisle to explain why ultrasonic machines are the...
Why the Zoe Baby Stroller Destroyed My Double Buggy Myths
I was wedged firmly in the doorway of a rather nice independent coffee shop in Soho, sweating profusely through a supposedly breathable linen shirt, while a queue of deeply unamused Londoners judged me. I was pushing a twin pram that...