Magazine

Jess folding laundry while thinking about weird vintage movies and baby milestones

What 'The Baby 1973' Taught Me About Letting My Kids Grow Up

I was elbow-deep in a mountain of crusty toddler pants at eleven o'clock on a Tuesday, stress-eating stale Goldfish crackers while waiting for Etsy orders to print, when an old late-night movie caught my eye. Have y'all ever heard of...

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A toddler holding a wooden toy looking like they are trying to speak to their mother.

When Should Babies Start Talking? A Real Mom's Messy Timeline

I was sitting cross-legged on my faded floral living room rug, aggressively thrusting a plastic cow at my nine-month-old son, Wyatt, and loudly mouthing the word "MOOO" like a deranged person. He just stared at me, blinking slowly, probably wondering...

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A tired dad sitting on a hardwood floor watching his baby scoot backward.

When Should A Baby Start Crawling? A Dad's Messy Timeline

I was standing in line at a Portland coffee shop yesterday with my 11-month-old strapped to my chest like a very heavy, drooling backpack, when I got hit with three completely contradictory pieces of developmental advice in the span of...

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A mother sitting on a rug looking skeptical while her baby chews on a wooden block

Panic vs reality: exactly when do babies start to talk anyway

I was sitting on the beige rug in my living room, aggressively holding a wooden block in front of my ten-month-old's face, enunciating the word block like I was teaching a hostage how to defuse a bomb. He just stared...

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Tired mom holding a coffee cup staring at a baby monitor at night

When Can a Baby Sleep With a Blanket? (The Honest Truth)

It was 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in late November. I was standing in my hallway in a pair of stained fleece sweatpants, clutching a breathtaking, hand-knit merino wool heirloom blanket to my chest like a shield, staring at the...

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Coffee cup next to a baby crawling backwards on a rug

A Letter To Myself About The Chaos Of The Baby Crawling Phase

It's 2:14 PM on a Tuesday. I'm wearing black yoga pants that haven't seen the inside of a gym since 2018, and a gray t-shirt stained with breastmilk and what I'm desperately hoping is just mashed sweet potato. I'm nursing...

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London dad surrounded by nappies in a makeshift living room baby basket

The Great Baby Basket Delusion: From Wicker Beds to Foam Hoops

I'm standing in the hallway at 4:17 a.m. holding Florence, who's currently rigid with fury, staring at a pristine, Β£150 woven baby basket that looks like it belongs in a Victorian bakery. Before the twins arrived, I'd thoroughly convinced myself...

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Mother and baby reading a diverse board book on a playmat

Raising an Antiracist Child: Why Colorblind Parenting Fails

It was a Tuesday in 2019. I was standing in aisle four of our local Target, wearing a pair of violently pilled gray yoga pants with a mystery stain on the knee, clutching a lukewarm iced coffee like it was...

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Exhausted dad looking at twin toddlers who are currently chewing on the coffee table.

How to Survive the Feral Baby Hyena Phase of Human Toddlerhood

It happened at exactly 3:14 on a Tuesday morning. I was attempting the treacherous transfer from shoulder to cotβ€”a maneuver that requires the stealth of a ninja and the steady hands of a bomb disposal expertβ€”when Florence woke up. She...

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