Magazine

Tired mom sitting in a modern baby recliner in a nursery room

Why Your Back Deserves a Real Baby Recliner (And What to Skip)

It was 3:14 AM, and I was glued to an antique wooden rocking chair that my mother-in-law graciously insisted we use for our firstborn. Jackson, who's now five and is my permanent cautionary tale for basically every parenting mistake I’ve...

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First-time dad mapping out floor dimensions with painter's tape

Exactly How Much Space Do You Need for a Baby Grand Piano?

My mother-in-law confidently told me we should just stick the instrument right against the front bay window because the natural afternoon light would look gorgeous on the polished mahogany. The guy at the local music shop told me that if...

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A stressed dad looking at a baby floor seat instruction manual

The Kitchen Island Incident: Rethinking the Baby Floor Seat

It was 2:14 PM on a Tuesday. I had a P1 server outage flashing red on my left monitor, lukewarm cold brew in my system, and a 4.5-month-old stationed on the kitchen island right next to my keyboard. I had...

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Tired dad looking confused at a bouquet of baby's breath flowers

Decoding the Baby's Breath Flower Meaning (And Why I Panicked)

I was standing in our kitchen at 3:14 AM, wearing sweatpants that hadn't been washed since Tuesday, staring at a massive glass vase on our island. We had just brought Maya home from the hospital three days prior. The vase...

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Stressed mom holding a blue baby blanket in a messy nursery

Dear past Jess: Put the eucalyptus baby blue plant down now

Dear Jess from six months ago. You're currently standing in the floral section at H-E-B, balancing a squirming six-month-old on your hip while your toddler tries to systematically crush every bag of tortilla chips in the next aisle. You look...

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Vintage Ty plush toy sitting safely on a high wooden nursery bookshelf

October 16 Beanie Baby Nostalgia: Cute Decor or Safety Hazard?

I was twenty-eight weeks pregnant, sweating through my maternity shorts in my mom’s un-air-conditioned Texas attic, when she pulled out the holy grail of our 1990s retirement plan: a massive, cracked plastic tub full of Beanie Babies. I was up...

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A vintage rainbow chameleon plush toy sitting on a modern wooden nursing chair

The 3 AM Hunt for the October 14th Beanie Baby

The screen of my laptop was basically burning my retinas, but I couldn't look away. It was 3:14 AM. I was thirty-eight weeks pregnant with Leo, sweating through a pair of maternity leggings that I had been wearing for, oh...

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A dad sitting on a nursery floor organizing tiny baby socks next to a wooden play gym.

The Existential Dread of Nursery Organization at 2 AM

I'm currently sitting cross-legged on the floor of my daughter's room at 2:14 AM, using a camping headlamp to sort her organic cotton socks by color gradient. The smart thermostat is locked at exactly 69.5 degrees, the humidifier is outputting...

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A close up of a baby's hand reaching near a baseboard in a nursery.

What Does a Baby Cockroach Look Like? My 2 AM Nursery Panic

Dear Jess from six months ago, Put down the heavy shoe, stop crying into the clean laundry basket, and take a deep breath. You're sitting on the nursery floor at 2 AM with a flashlight, going down a frantic internet...

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