Surviving Twins: Why We Chose Baby Snoopy Over The Baby Snoo
I was standing in a damp Oxfam shop on Mare Street, aggressively wiping a half-masticated rice cake off my coat lapel, when I locked eyes with him. It was a slightly faded, ridiculously soft plush beagle from 1996. One of...
Surviving the Second Baby: Real Talk on the Two Under Two Chaos
I was sitting on the cold tile edge of our bathtub, leaking breastmilk through my only semi-clean t-shirt, while my 18-month-old methodically unrolled three entire rolls of toilet paper directly into the sink. I couldn't stop him because I was...
The ugly truth about transitioning to a toddler wearable blanket
The biggest lie they tell you at the twelve-month pediatrician visit is that your kid is finally old enough for a real blanket. People hear that milestone and immediately run out to buy tiny, expensive quilts. They carefully tuck their...
Stop Trying to Swaddle With a Receiving Blanket
It was 3 AM in late January. The wind off Lake Michigan was rattling our bedroom windows, and my daughter was doing the newborn startle reflex thing. She looked like she was trying to conduct a tiny, frantic orchestra in...
The Messy Truth About That Washable Newton Baby Bassinet
My mom sat on the edge of my couch, sipping iced tea, and told me to just put the baby in a plastic laundry basket lined with a thick quilt, because bless her heart, thatβs exactly what she did with...
Finding the Normal Temperature for Baby Without Losing Your Mind
I was sitting on the edge of the nursery glider at 2:14 in the morning, staring at the glowing red screen of a plastic forehead scanner, completely convinced my firstborn was boiling from the inside out. He felt like a...
Why I Have Major Trust Issues With Heavy Recaro Baby Car Seats
I was standing in our crushed-granite driveway in late August, sweat pooling in places I didn't know could sweat, trying to shove a piece of metal and memory foam the size of a mini-fridge into the back of my SUV....
Why that viral I love you baby song became my 3 AM survival tool
The digital clock on the microwave reads 3:14 AM. The radiator in our Chicago apartment is making that rhythmic hissing sound it only makes when it's negative ten degrees outside. I'm pacing the narrow hallway between the kitchen and the...
The 3 AM Baby Handoff Protocol: Surviving The Night Shift As A Dad
It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was holding my son like he was a live grenade with a faulty pin. He had been screaming for forty-five straight minutes. I had run through the standard troubleshooting checklist: diaper...