Magazine

A slightly chewed cardboard book sitting on a messy nursery floor next to a sleeping infant.

Dear Past Jess: The Messy Truth About Board Books for Babies

Dear Jess from six months ago. You're currently sitting on the peeling linoleum of the kitchen floor, surrounded by three baskets of unfolded laundry, staring at your youngest child. You just had to stick your index finger into his mouth...

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Bottle of Balcones baby blue whiskey next to a wooden teething ring on a high shelf away from kids

Balcones Baby Blue 750ml: What Parents Actually Need to Know

My husband walked into the kitchen when Maya was exactly three weeks old, holding a heavy brown paper bag by the neck. He had this proud, exhausted smile on his face, the kind you only see on new fathers who...

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Tired mom holding a sleeping newborn baby wrapped in a soft blanket

Surviving the three am panic over mysterious newborn baby lesions

I was staring at a tiny, raised red bump on my son's cheek at two in the morning, convinced I had somehow broken him. He was fourteen days old. The nursery smelled heavily of sour milk, zinc oxide, and absolute...

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Tired mom sitting on floor playing with baby and soft building blocks

The Messy Truth About First Words (And Why I Stopped Panicking)

I was wearing those awful grey maternity leggings that I refused to throw away, smelling faintly of sour milk, sitting on a beige rug that's now permanently stained with something I refuse to identify. Leo was fourteen months old, pointing...

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Toddler playing with physical wooden toys instead of a digital screen on a rug

A Letter to Myself About That Ridiculous Digital Baby Tiger

Dear Jess from six months ago, I know you're currently standing at the kitchen island, elbow-deep in raw chicken while the baby aggressively throws cheerios at the dog, but I need you to drop the tongs and walk into the...

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Messy living room floor with safe wooden toys and an organic baby blanket

Unpacking the Baby Three V3 Toy Trend and Having a Third Kid

It was Sunday morning and I was standing in my kitchen wearing the exact same cranberry-colored yoga pants I had slept in, desperately waiting for the coffee machine to stop dripping, when my sister-in-law walked in and handed my seven-year-old,...

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A toddler sitting in a dental chair getting ready for a baby teeth xray.

How to survive your toddler's very first baby teeth xray appointment

Listen. You don't really know pure, unfiltered anxiety until you're sitting in a pediatric dental waiting room off Michigan Avenue, trying to convince a two-year-old that the giant mechanical arm hovering near his face isn't a decepticon. He's wearing a...

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Mom folding laundry while toddlers play on a wooden mat (max 125 chars)

Why I Finally Banned Baby Super Bratz Movies in My House

I was up to my elbows in Etsy shipping labels, frantically trying to beat the rural Texas post office cutoff time, when I heard the unmistakable sound of my good MAC lipstick being dragged across the hardwood floor. You know,...

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A small wingless nymph bug crawling near a wooden baby play gym

What no one tells you about finding baby stink bugs in the nursery

My mother told me to sprinkle turmeric across the doorway because the insect was clearly a bad omen. The mom in my local WhatsApp group told me it was definitely a tick and I needed to bag my toddler's clothes...

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