Magazine

Frustrated dad trying to fold a massive baby stroller in the rain outside a coffee shop.

The V1.0 Stroller Bug: Why My First Hardware Purchase Failed

It's 43 degrees, pouring that specific sideways Portland rain, and I'm violently kicking the back left wheel of a $900 piece of baby gear while my wife Sarah watches from the passenger seat of our Honda Civic. This was my...

Read more

Pregnant mother sitting on floor surrounded by baby shower gifts and neutral decor.

The Truth About Surviving Your Own Baby Shower

I was thirty-one weeks pregnant, sitting on my incredibly dusty apartment floor in Chicago, staring at a mountain of tissue paper while my mother-in-law asked why I hated color. She had wanted royal blue balloons everywhere. I had asked for...

Read more

A mom holding a baby registry scanner gun looking overwhelmed in a store aisle

The Great Registry Meltdown and the Weird Return of Buybuy Baby

I was twenty-four weeks pregnant, sitting in the sweltering heat of my Ford F-150 outside a suburban strip mall, ugly crying into a half-eaten sleeve of saltines. It was July in Texas, my ankles had officially merged with my calves,...

Read more

A tired mom looking at a massive pile of baby clothes on her living room floor

The Brutally Honest Guide to Surviving the Baby Gear Avalanche

When I was pregnant with my first, I got three completely different pieces of advice in the span of a single Sunday dinner. My mom, who firmly believes the 1990s were the peak of human parenting, told me I needed...

Read more

A bewildered father holding a mountain of unnecessary baby items while his twins look on.

The Great Baby Accessories Delusion: What Parents Actually Need

I'm currently staring at a twenty-pound velvet baby fedora. I found it in a plastic storage tub at the back of our loft, resting gently atop a pristine, battery-operated wipe warmer. This box is essentially an archaeological dig of my...

Read more

A huge pile of folded organic cotton baby clothes scored during a massive online clearance.

Dear Past Jess: How to Actually Win a Bio Babykleidung Sale

Dear Jess from six months ago. You’re currently sitting on the floor of the nursery, staring at a mountain of stained, weirdly stiff fast-fashion onesies, crying because the new baby is coming in three weeks and our bank account is...

Read more

A dad staring confused at a massive pile of complicated baby shower gifts

Decoding The Perfect Infant Gift Set Without Crashing Your System

I'm currently staring at a miniature denim jacket that features six fully functional, incredibly stiff metal buttons. My son is eleven months old now, but when he was a newborn, someone handed us a beautifully wrapped box containing this rigid...

Read more

Stretchy organic cotton baby t-shirt with envelope folds being pulled over a baby

The Chili's Parking Lot Blowout: A Real Guide to Baby T-Shirts

I was sitting in the driver's seat of my Honda CR-V in a Chili's parking lot, staring at my four-month-old firstborn, Carter, and seriously contemplating just leaving my favorite diaper bag in the car and walking home. It was 98...

Read more

A dad looking at his phone while his baby plays with a teether in a coffee shop

Hunting Down The Discontinued Baby Jogger Vue: A Dad's Reality

I'm currently crouched behind a faux-reclaimed wood table at a Portland coffee shop, obsessively refreshing Facebook Marketplace on my phone while my 11-month-old attempts to deep-throat a cork coaster. Before I became a dad, my entire philosophy on gear was...

Read more