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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A dad looking confused at a pile of pre-cut quilt fabric squares on a table

Dear past me: What to know about baby quilt kits before you start

Dear Marcus from exactly six months ago, I know what you're doing right now. You're standing in the dining room at 2:13 AM, staring at a rotary cutter, a cutting mat, and three yards of woodland-creature-patterned fabric. You have convinced...

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Messy baby eating puree from a reusable silicone food container in a car seat

The Great Puree Glitch: Debugging Dinnertime

The ceiling of my Subaru Crosstrek currently has a modern art installation made entirely of organic sweet potato and turkey puree. I was driving down Interstate 84. My 11-month-old son, Leo, was screaming in the back seat. The temperature was...

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Dad holding twin babies safely in the water without neck floats

Dear Tom: Put down the baby neck float and step away from Instagram

Dear Tom from six months ago, You're currently perched on the edge of the downstairs loo at 2am, hiding from the twins, staring bleary-eyed at your phone. The Instagram algorithm, sensing your big exhaustion and desperation for a quiet life,...

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A stylish diaper bag hanging on a stroller with a monkey keychain attached

The Truth About That Cute Baby Milo Keychain (And My Mom Guilt)

It was a random Tuesday in October, like, 2018 maybe? Maya was about seven months old, and we were sitting outside this aggressively hip coffee shop in Brooklynβ€”the kind where a basic iced oat milk latte costs seven dollars and...

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A mother serving soft slow-cooked lamb to her baby in a high chair

The brutal truth about feeding your baby lamb meat at six months

My mother-in-law nearly dropped her chai when I told her what was in the slow cooker. She looked at me like I had personally wandered into a petting zoo and kidnapped a newborn animal. There's this bizarre, pervasive guilt in...

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Toddler reaching for a coffee table near a glass of whiskey

Why baby jane bourbon is a childproofing nightmare

When my son's first tooth started aggressively pushing its way through his lower gums last month, I received three distinct pieces of troubleshooting advice. My dad, operating on legacy parenting code from 1989, told me to just rub a drop...

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A toddler sitting in tall spring grass looking at wildlife

The Day My Toddler Brought a Wild Baby Hare Into Our Kitchen

I was elbow-deep in cold dishwater trying to scrape dried oatmeal off a plastic bowl when my four-year-old marched through the back screen door with his hands cupped together like he was protecting a fragile treasure. He had that specific,...

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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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