Magazine

Jess folding a mountain of essential baby and toddler equipment lumolog style in her Texas living room

My Essential Baby and Toddler Equipment Lumolog Guide

I was exactly eight months pregnant with my oldest, sitting on the floor of what used to be my craft room, sobbing into a plastic wipe warmer. My husband had just spent three hours trying to assemble a baby swing...

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Vintage plush lion sitting next to a modern wooden baby gym in a nursery.

Why The January 27th Beanie Baby Birthday Hunt Almost Broke Me

It was 2:14 in the morning, and the blue glow of my phone screen was the only thing illuminating the massive pile of laundry I'd been ignoring for three days. I was frantically refreshing a sketchy auction page, my thumb...

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A messy living room floor with a modern wooden play gym and safe baby toys

My Nightmare Hunting Down a January 18th Beanie Baby

It was 2:14 in the morning, the harsh blue light of my phone screen burning my retinas while I sat on the floor of my laundry room, folding the fourth load of toddler pants for the week. I had just...

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Vintage skeleton and dog plush toys sitting safely on a modern nursery shelf

Debugging the October 18 Beanie Baby Birthday Twin Trend

I was standing in the cramped, patchouli-scented aisle of a vintage shop on Hawthorne Boulevard, triumphantly holding a dusty plush skeleton from the year 2000. I thought I had just executed a brilliant parenting hack. My niece was about to...

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Vintage october 15 beanie baby next to a modern organic cotton bodysuit on a nursery shelf.

Chasing the October 15 Beanie Baby: A New Dad's Reality Check

My mother-in-law's package arrived at our Portland apartment on a rainy Tuesday, smelling faintly of attic dust and the Clinton administration. Inside was a neon-orange plush pumpkin with hard plastic eyes staring blankly into the void. Sarah, my wife, immediately...

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Me drinking cold coffee while my toddler plays with a silicone teething toy on the living room rug.

How a Tiny Mola Fish Baby Fixed My Sustainable Parenting Guilt

It was 6:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was wearing Dave’s old college sweatpants backwards because the dog had thrown up on mine. I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, clutching yesterday’s lukewarm coffee in a chipped...

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A slightly battered 90s unicorn plush toy sitting on a nursery shelf

The May 21st Beanie Baby Illusion: Vintage Plushies vs Reality

I was three pints deep into a Tuesday evening and aggressively outbidding a woman named 'Susan_Collects_94' on eBay for a slightly moth-eaten unicorn. My wife walked into the kitchen, took one look at the glowing iPad screen, and asked if...

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A vintage Ty Lizzy the Lizard beanie baby sitting next to a wooden nursery play gym

The chaotic truth about hunting down a May 11th beanie baby

Whatever you do, don't lie in the dark at two in the morning, covered in a thin but incredibly resilient layer of what I can only hope is regurgitated formula, fiercely battling a stranger on the internet for a stuffed...

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Vintage 1990s stuffed bear sitting next to modern organic baby toys

A letter to past me about the march 27th beanie baby obsession

Dear Priya of six months ago. You're currently sitting on the edge of the guest bathroom tub at two in the morning. The baby is finally asleep after three false starts, and instead of closing your eyes, you're squinting at...

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