Magazine

A messy toddler eating shredded smoked pork ribs on a bamboo blanket in the grass.

Toddlers and Smoked Baby Back Ribs: My Messy Survival Guide

It was the Fourth of July, 2021, and I was wearing a white linen Zara sundress because I'm apparently an idiot who likes to tempt fate. Leo was just barely fourteen months old, sitting in his high chair on the...

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A sleepy baby wearing a soft organic cotton romper on a changing table.

A Letter to My Past Self About Buying Rompers for Newborns

Dear Jess from six months ago. You're currently standing in the baby aisle at Target, holding a pair of corduroy overalls size 0-3 months, and you need to put them down immediately. I know you're nesting, and I know the...

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Dad holding a baby wearing a fluffy organic cotton bubble romper

My Humbling Defeat to the Baby Bubble Romper: A Tech Dad's Guide

Tuesday, 2:14 PM. That was the exact timestamp on my smart home logs when I realized trying to wrangle rigid denim onto a screaming eleven-month-old is a foolproof way to break your own spirit. My wife was at a conference,...

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A confused dad standing next to a backyard smoker holding a baby and barbecue tongs.

A Dad's Guide to Smoking Baby Back Ribs for Tiny Humans

Dear Marcus from exactly six months ago, You're currently standing on the back patio in the Portland drizzle. You have a pair of metal tongs in one hand and your phone in the other, aggressively Googling Traeger recipes. Inside, your...

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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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A small cardboard box lined with a soft blanket for a rescued baby possum

Finding a Backyard Rescue: What Do Baby Possums Eat?

My oldest son, Jackson, is a walking cautionary tale for why you should never let a five-year-old play unsupervised near a woodpile. Yesterday, he came marching through the back door holding something gray, hairless, and wriggling in his hands like...

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Stressed dad looking out at a backyard wooden deck with a baby monitor

When the Backyard Becomes a Skunk Nursery (And How We Survived)

At exactly 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was sitting in the dark, compiling a massive block of legacy code, when I smelled it. It wasn't the usual Portland ambient scent of wet pine needles and artisanal coffee. It smelled...

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Pregnant bridesmaid wearing a light blue dress while holding an iced coffee

Baby Blue Bridesmaid Dresses: The Pregnant & Nursing Mom Guide

I was physically trapped inside a chiffon prison. I was seven months pregnant with Leo, sweating profusely in a tiny bridal boutique fitting room that smelled heavily of vanilla aerosol spray, and my husband Dave was standing on the other...

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A wooden baby play gym set up in a living room next to organic clothing.

What a Screaming Backyard Wild Bird Taught Me About Motherhood

It was 102 degrees in the shade, the kind of Texas summer afternoon where the air feels like hot soup and you sweat just blinking, and I was up to my elbows in diaper cream when the back screen door...

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