Magazine

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Mother holding her toddler looking at a smartphone screen with vintage audio playing

The Connie Francis Pretty Little Baby Trend Made Me Cry

I'm sitting on the faux-wool rug of my Chicago apartment, staring at my phone through the kind of sleep deprivation that makes your teeth physically ache. Rohan is asleep on my chest, a dead weight of milk-drunk toddler. If I...

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A messy nursery floor with a soft pastel swaddle blanket and a coffee mug

The 3 AM Battle Between Crusty Pink Eyes and Pastel Aesthetics

It was three in the morning the night before our big extended family photoshoot. I was sitting on the nursery floor staring at two very specific things. One was my fresh manicure, an expensive gel job featuring those trendy baby...

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Toddler wearing a green baby g costume sitting next to destroyed holiday wrapping paper

Why the Viral Baby Grinch Trend is Actually Ruining Holidays

My mother-in-law told me I needed to establish firm dominance the second my toddler started acting like a green menace this December. The moms in my neighborhood group suggested the exact opposite, telling me to lean into the chaos and...

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A disassembled plastic doll sitting next to a damp cloth and forceps

The surgical reality of buying a baby alive doll for your kid

It's eleven at night. The lighting in my guest bathroom is deeply unflattering. I'm holding a pair of stainless steel tweezers in my right hand and my phone flashlight in my left. Pinned firmly beneath my elbow is a rigid...

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Frantic dad trying to shop for baby gear online with twins

The Great Megastore Myth and What Babies Actually Need

The most long-standing lie of modern parenting is that you can't safely extract a newborn from the hospital without first making a pilgrimage to a brightly lit, warehouse-sized retail behemoth. I distinctly remember sitting in the dark at 3am, furiously...

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