The brutal truth about baby cough medicine and what actually works
At 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was standing in my dark kitchen holding a thrashing, coughing toddler while my phone lit up with three different text threads. My mom was typing paragraphs about rubbing warm mustard oil on his...
Why a baby capybara is a terrible pet for your toddler
My sister-in-law texted me a video of a giant rodent eating a popsicle in a plastic wading pool with a message saying we needed to buy one immediately. Two hours later, a mom at the neighborhood park asked me in...
Let's talk about the newborn reality check with your baby baby
Listen. It's three in the morning and the white noise machine is making a rhythmic thumping sound that my sleep-deprived brain has somehow translated into that ancient baby baby justin bieber song. I'm staring at the ceiling fan, calculating exactly...
The parking lot panic and the truth about keeping kids safe
Dear Priya from six months ago. You're sitting in the back of your Honda CR-V in the Target parking lot on Elston Avenue. The doors are locked. The engine is running. You're sweating through your grey scrub top. You just...
Dear past Priya: Your flat head baby is going to be just fine
You're sitting on the bathroom tiles at 2 AM. You've just zoomed in on the Nanit monitor until the pixels blurred into a gray soup, staring intensely at the back of your son's skull. One side looks distinctly like a...
Surviving the bye bye baby phase without losing your mind
I'm standing in the doorway of a toddler room that smells like wet wipes and desperation. My daughter's fingers are locked into the fabric of my jeans with the grip strength of a rock climber. Another mother just walked in,...
A letter to my pregnant self about newborn clutter and tiny things
I'm writing this to you from the floor of the nursery. It's 2 a.m. in Chicago, the radiator is hissing, and I'm staring at a pile of miniature laundry that somehow multiplies when I blink. You're probably six months pregnant...
The Unfiltered Reality of Welcoming Baby Number Three
I was sweating through my favorite vintage band shirt in the middle of an August afternoon, staring at the back seat of my SUV with a tape measure in one hand and a half-eaten string cheese in the other. I...
The Huda Baby Daddy Drama, Digital Scars, and Real Co-Parenting
I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub at three in the morning. The ceramic tiles were freezing, but my toddler had finally collapsed against my collarbone after a three-hour marathon of teething-induced crying. I had my phone brightness...