Magazine

Priya sorting through a pile of useless baby shower party trinkets in her kitchen.

The Brutal Truth About Shower Gifts That Guests Actually Keep

I'm standing in my kitchen, staring at a tiny resin carriage I just found in the back of my junk drawer. I honestly don't know whose party it came from. Before I had my own kid, I thought you had...

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A woman holding a pen over a blank baby shower card next to a gift

What to write in a baby shower card without losing your mind

I'm sitting in the passenger seat of our sedan, balancing a small square envelope on the dashboard while my husband dodges Chicago potholes. We're twenty minutes late to my cousin's baby shower. The pen I dug out of the glovebox...

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A tired dad looking at a smartphone while a baby plays with wooden toys nearby

The Baby Shark YouTube Dilemma: Troubleshooting Infant Screens

My mother-in-law swore that firing up a specific bright yellow video was the only way to hard-reset a tantrum. My senior dev pinged me on Slack claiming that same video permanently alters neural pathways. And the guy steaming oat milk...

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Tired mom holding a toddler and a coffee next to a car seat in a messy minivan

The Great Baby Seat Illusion (And What Actually Worked For Us)

It was 87 degrees, I was exactly four days postpartum, and I was sobbing into a half-eaten blueberry muffin in the back of our Honda CR-V. Maya was screaming in her brand new car seat like we were torturing her,...

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A messy nursery floor with empty cardboard boxes and a wooden play gym

The Real Truth About People Actually Finding Your Baby Registry

I was sitting in a literal pile of bright pink cardboard boxes on my living room floor, four days after my first baby shower, ugly-crying into a burp cloth because not a single person bought the organic crib sheets I...

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Wooden bear rattle toy resting on a clean playroom floor

A Rat in the Playroom and Why I Tossed All Our Plastic Toys

I was holding a lukewarm mug of chai, stepping over the scattered debris of my toddler's morning play session. Beside the television stand, there was a grey lump. At first, I thought it was just a discarded lint ball from...

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A messy highchair tray covered in squished air fried potato pieces

Troubleshooting Baby Potatoes: Air Fryers, Skins & Starch

I was wrist-deep in my eleven-month-old’s mouth, desperately trying to scrape a wet, glued-on piece of potato skin off his hard palate while he shrieked like a dial-up modem. My wife, carrying a laundry basket, froze in the doorway, took...

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Jess standing in a Texas driveway holding a cardboard box and a toddler

That Time A Baby Possum Taught Me Everything About Infant Sleep

I was standing in my gravel driveway at two in the afternoon, sweat pooling in the small of my back, holding a literal shoebox containing a shivering, bald little creature while my oldest toddler screamed so loud the neighbors probably...

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Exhausted mom holding crying baby in dark nursery while looking at her phone

My 3 AM Colic Panic and the Truth About Gripe Water for Babies

It's 3:14 AM. Tuesday. Or maybe a Thursday, time is a flat circle anyway when you haven't slept more than forty consecutive minutes in a month. I'm wearing my husband Dave's gray sweatpants with a mysterious crusty stain on the...

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