Magazine

Baby trying to sit up on a firm playmat surrounded by pillows

The brutal, messy truth about when your baby will finally sit up

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug, trapped in a fortress of couch cushions. My son, six months old and entirely unbothered by gravity, had just executed his fortieth faceplant of the morning. His grandmother was on FaceTime,...

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A close up of a curious infant looking up at the camera

The Great Melanin Firmware Update: A Dad's Guide to Eye Color

Hey Marcus from six months ago. You're currently standing by the window in our perpetually gray Portland living room, angling a five-month-old infant toward the meager sunlight, trying to determine if her irises are hex code #4B5320 (Army Green) or...

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A tired mom holding a teething baby in a dimly lit nursery

The 3 AM Teething Triage: Surviving the First Tooth

It was three in the morning, mid-January in Chicago, and the wind was howling off Lake Michigan. My toddler was thrashing in her crib like she was possessed, her sleep sack completely saturated with drool. I stood there running through...

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A tired mother holding a teething baby in a dark room

The Middle-of-the-Night Panic Search For Your Baby's First Tooth

I was staring at the ceiling of our Chicago apartment at 3:14 AM. The radiator was clanking. My son was gnawing on my collarbone like a starving hyena. His chin was a waterfall of drool, soaking right through my third...

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A smiling baby laying on an organic playmat chewing a wooden bunny teething ring

When Do Babies Start Babbling? A Tired Mom’s Guide to the Noise

There I was, sitting cross-legged on my living room rug surrounded by a mountain of unsorted laundry, aggressively waving black-and-white flashcards in my firstborn’s face. Leo was about four months old at the time, staring at me with the blankest...

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Tired mom looking down at her baby on a playmat waiting for a coo

When Do Babies Start Cooing? A Real Mom's Guide to Early Sounds

I was sweating through my third nursing tank of the day in the cab of my F-150 outside the local feed store in mid-July. My oldest, Wyatt, was exactly eight weeks old and sitting in his car seat looking at...

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Frustrated dad staring at a burp cloth covered in baby spit up

The Spit-Up Timeline: When The Milk Volcano Finally Stops

At exactly 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, surrounded by seven different brands of anti-colic bottles and covered in what smelled like old yogurt, I realized the biggest lie of early parenthood. I had spent three weeks thinking I could troubleshoot...

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Tired mom holding a baby wearing a custom cranial helmet and an organic cotton onesie

Why Do Babies Wear Helmets? A Letter To My Freaking Out Past Self

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago, You're currently sitting cross-legged on the dusty attic floor. You're wearing Dave's old college hoodie that smells intensely of damp cardboard, and you're literally crying into a plastic storage bin of Leo's outgrown...

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Dad holding a sleeping baby while reading pop culture news on his phone in a dimly lit nursery.

The Reality of Sparkle Megan's Baby Reveal (From a Tired Dad)

Dear Marcus of six months ago. It's currently 3:14 AM, the rain is aggressively battering the Portland windows, and you're sitting in the glider chair trying to figure out if breathing too loudly will wake up the tiny human currently...

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