Magazine

Mom holding a fussy newborn baby with red acne bumps on his cheeks

My First Kid's Face Looked Like a Pizza: What Causes Baby Acne

I was sitting on my living room floor surrounded by beige tulle, two ignored piles of laundry, and absolute mounting panic. I was trying to wrestle my oldest—who's now five and still my primary cautionary tale for everything—into a perfectly...

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Infant sleeping soundly under a squirrel print blanket while twitching

I asked a doctor what do babies dream about and the truth hurts

It was three in the morning in our drafty Chicago apartment when my son let out a sound that was half-giggle, half-choke. I stood over his bassinet, gripping the edge like I was bracing for an earthquake. His eyes were...

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Exhausted dad staring at a smartphone screen in a messy living room.

The Absolute Truth About What A Baby Booter Actually Means

It's 3:14 AM. I'm wedged between a cot and a towering pile of unsorted laundry, typing with my less dominant thumb while one of the twins uses my left shoulder as a surprisingly absorbent drool rag. I'm simply trying to...

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Confused dad looking at a massive spreadsheet of baby registry items

What Is A Baby Shower (And Why I Was Totally Wrong About Them)

I'm currently staring at a spreadsheet I built eleven months ago titled Baby_Shower_V1_Final.xlsx. My original strategy for figuring out what's a baby shower was to treat it like a vendor procurement meeting. I thought we could just email our friends...

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A mother sitting on a rug looking shocked at her smartphone screen

What is a sugar baby: How one google search ruined my afternoon

I was sitting on my faded living room rug, picking dried oatmeal out of my hair, while my toddler chewed thoughtfully on a rogue cheerio he found beneath the radiator. It was a bleak Tuesday afternoon in Chicago. I had...

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Texas mom reviewing financial paperwork at kitchen table while baby plays with wooden toys

What Is a Trust Fund Baby? Building Real Wealth for Your Kids

I was sitting at my kitchen table last Tuesday, sorting through a chaotic stack of shipping labels for my Etsy shop, when I caught my oldest son trying to feed a twenty-dollar bill to the dog. This is the same...

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A confused dad looking at a bottle of plant-based baby oil next to a baby bath

Troubleshooting Dry Skin: What Is Baby Oil Actually Used For

It was exactly 68 degrees in the postpartum recovery room. I know this because the wall thermostat was the only illuminated object I had stared at for the previous four hours while my wife finally slept. I was holding a...

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Exhausted mom looking at a crying baby in a dimly lit kitchen

My absolute meltdown over thrush in babies (and how we survived)

It was exactly 3:14 AM. I know this because the glowing green numbers on our microwave were practically burning into my retinas while I stood barefoot on the freezing kitchen tile. Maya was maybe four weeks old at the time,...

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A dad looking stressed while trying to zip a severely overstuffed duffel bag full of baby items.

What to Pack in Hospital Bag for Baby: A Dad's Bug Report

I had one knee pressed firmly into the top of a 60-liter duffel bag in the back of our Subaru, trying to force the zipper shut while Portland rain soaked through my hoodie. My wife, currently 36 weeks pregnant, was...

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