Magazine

Frustrated mom holding coffee next to a pile of vintage 1980s baby gear.

When The Grandparents Bring Over Their 1980s Death Trap Baby Gear

I was wearing my husband’s stained grey sweatpants, the ones with the mysterious hole near the left knee, standing in my driveway at 10 AM on a Tuesday while clutching a mug of coffee I had already microwaved three times....

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A tired father inspecting a baby cot mattress with a flashlight.

What Finding Baby Bed Bugs at 3 AM Actually Does to a Parent

The glow of my phone screen at 3:14 AM illuminated what I can only describe as a tiny, malevolent sesame seed crawling across Maya's fitted sheet. I had only come into the nursery because she had done that specific, high-pitched...

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Exhausted dad kneeling beside a bathtub holding a wet baby wrapped in a towel

Surviving Twin Bath Time And The Suction Cup Seat Illusion

Before I had even figured out how to turn on the taps in a way that wouldn’t instantly scold or freeze my daughters, I was already fielding contradictory instructions from everyone I knew about how to wash them. My mother-in-law...

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A tired dad holding a baby backpack while examining a baby covered in a messy blowout

Debugging the Baby Bag: The Mobile Hardware You Actually Need

I'm standing on the wet sidewalk outside Stumptown Coffee on SE Belmont, holding my eleven-month-old son at arm's length like he's a highly unstable radioactive isotope. It's forty-three degrees, misting in that relentless Pacific Northwest way, and my child has...

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A dad trying to put a long sleeve organic cotton romper on a squirming baby boy

Debugging The Complete System Failure Of Dressing A Baby Boy

I'm currently staring at a pair of dark wash, rigid denim jeans in size 9-12 months. My son is actively executing a perfect alligator death roll on the changing pad, and I'm supposed to somehow force his chaotic, rapidly expanding...

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A bewildered dad holding a baby while looking at a fluffy duckling

Backyard Baby Ducks: A Dad's Guide to Feathers, Fluff, and Chaos

If you've ever seen a cartoon or read a children's book, you probably think a baby duck’s default state is bobbing happily in a crystal-clear pond while eating breadcrumbs, which is exactly why I nearly short-circuited when my wife pointed...

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Why the happy baby pose saved my structurally ruined spine

When my lower back finally gave out, I received three distinct pieces of advice from three very different people. My mother-in-law told me I needed to sleep on a plank of pine wood because that’s what her uncle did in...

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Mom organizing a messy bathroom drawer full of Frida infant care items and tubes.

The Brutal Truth About Frida Baby Gadgets from a Mom of Three

The biggest myth about bringing a newborn home isn't about the sleep deprivationβ€”it's this weird internet lie that you're going to maintain your dignity while dealing with bodily fluids. Instagram shows you these beige, spotless nurseries where some glowing mother...

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Tired British dad sitting on a beige rug surrounded by his twin toddler girls and toys

A Letter To Myself About Raising My Down Syndrome Baby And Her Twin

Dear Tom from six months ago, put down the NHS developmental milestone leaflet before you give yourself a stress-induced ulcer. You're currently sitting on the beige nursery rug, mainlining cold coffee, watching Millie try to scale the bookshelf while Daisy...

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