Yikes!!! I’ve been lax about keeping up with all of the exciting goings-on at Good Housekeeping. So here’s a jumbo, three-month update with everything from August to October. Happy fall, y’all!  (The image above was designed by the geniuses here at GHK for the story about how not to blow up at your kids, but I feel this way about keeping up with all these clips!) 

PARENTING

How to Keep Your Cool Around Your Kids When You're Ready to Blow

The Best Empty Nest Advice for Parents Whose Kids Are Leaving the Coop

Why Do Children Have Imaginary Friends, and How Far Do You Have to Play Along?

Gossip Is the Best Toddler Parenting Hack (if You Do It Within Earshot)

What Is TikTok? A Full Guide for Parents

Justin Baldoni, Star of 'Jane the Virgin,' on Raising His Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes

Tamron Hall Reveals Her Toughest Parenting Moment, and It's so Relatable

What Are Standard Babysitting Rates? It Depends on Your Location, Family, and Priorities

30 Fun Things to Do at a Sleepover to Keep Them Busy All Night Long

These Will Be the Most Popular Baby Names of 2020

The Most Popular Baby Girl Names for 2020 Will Be Inspired by Nature

The Most Popular Baby Boy Names for 2020 Are Inspired by Travel

Best Jokes for Kids

ENTERTAINMENT

20+ Best Kids' Movies 2020 Has in Store for Families

Here Is Every Confirmed Original Movie Coming to the Disney+ Streaming Service

A Full List of Every New Disney Show Available on the Disney+ Streaming Service

A Full List of Every Disney Live-Action Remake Coming Soon 

A Complete List of Every Upcoming Superhero Movie, Including Ones From Marvel and DC

How to Watch All 23 Marvel Movies in the Correct Order

10 'Game of Thrones' Locations You Can Actually Visit in Real Life

20 Best End-of-the-World Movies for When You're in the Mood for an Existential Panic

Blippi's National Tour Won't Include the Guy Who Plays Blippi, and Parents Are Pissed

Build-a-Bear's 'Frozen II' Bears Will Melt Any Frozen Heart

Is Disney's Bedtime Hotline Free? What It Costs to Give Kids a Goodnight Message From Disney Characters

Everything You Need to Know About LEGOLAND New York, LEGO's Biggest Theme Park Yet

Mattel Makes History by Launching a Gender-Inclusive Line of Dolls

'The Haunting of Hill House' Season 2, 'The Haunting of Bly Manor': Everything We Know About the New Season

HOLIDAY

65 Kids' Halloween Costume Ideas for Easy, Creative, and Unique Trick-or-Treating 

20 Unique Toddler Halloween Costumes That Are Too Stinkin' Cute

What Is Trunk-or-Treat? Halloween Tailgating Is Genius When You Really Think About It  

40 Trunk-or-Treat Ideas for the Spookiest Car Ever

40 Best Halloween Movies on Netflix That Will Give You the Chills

20 Coolest Halloween Gender Reveal Ideas That Celebrate Your Little Pumpkin

10 'The Purge' Costumes for People Who Are Dead Serious About Looking Scary

20 Cute Baby Thanksgiving Outfits for Their First Turkey Day

60 Christmas Crafts to Bring a Handmade Holiday to Every Room in the House

The Best Types of Christmas Trees for People Who Want the Real-Tree Smell in Their House

20 Christmas Gift Tags for the Perfect Finishing Touch

How to Tell Your Kids About Santa Without Breaking Their Hearts

20 Baby's First Christmas Ornaments That Celebrate Your Growing Famil 

30+ Best Christmas Books for Readers of All Ages That Aren't "The Night Before Christmas"

20 Classic Christmas Cards to Delight Your Friends and Relatives

16 Creative Christmas Card Photo Ideas for Your Best Holiday Greeting Ever

GIFT GUIDES

The Best Star Wars Gifts for Kids, Adults, Rebels, Jedi, Princesses, Bounty Hunters, Sith, and Everyone Else

20+ Magical Unicorn Gifts for People Who Love Rainbows, Glitter, and Sparkles

20 Toy Advent Calendars for Kids to Get Them Excited About the Run-Up to Christmas 

These Cool Advent Calendars Make the Countdown to Christmas Extra Exciting

Chocolate Advent Calendars for People Who Want a Sugar-Filled Christmas Countdown

The Best Advent Calendars for Men Who Love Beer, Comics, Meat, and More

Stocking Stuffers for Teens That They'll *Actually* Want

Target Says These Toys Will Be the Most Wished-for Christmas Gifts

Walmart Says These Will Be the Hottest Holiday Toys for 2019

20+ Best Baby Gifts to Delight Brand-New Parents

The 10 Coolest Baby Girl Gifts to Buy in 2019, According to Parents and Good Housekeeping Institute Experts

10 of the Coolest Baby Boy Gifts to Buy in 2019, According to Parents

10 Fun Gender-Neutral Gifts for Babies Whose Parents Want to Be Surprised

SHOPPING/STORES

15 of the Coolest Kids’ Clothing Stores to Shop Online

The Best Baby Stores Online for Parents to Bookmark Right Now

Hasbro Promises to Remove Nearly All Plastic From Its Packaging By 2022

Disney Stores Are Setting up Shop Inside 25 Target Locations, and We Want to Live in Them

Walmart's Car Seat Recycling Program Means Savings for Parents — Here's How to Get Some Money Back

STORIES I EDITED FROM OTHER WRITERS

Do Girls Really Prefer Pink? There's No Hard-Wired Reason for Girls to Choose Pink Over Blue

13 Things Nobody Tells You About Postpartum Recovery (But Really Should)

Who Are My Kids Talking to Online? Internet Safety Facts for Parenting in a Digital Age

How to Spot and Treat Anxiety in Kids, According to Child Psychologists

Child Therapists Explain How to Stop Your Kids' After-School Meltdowns for Good

The Sunday Scaries Are Tough, but Here's How to Beat Them

The Best Ways to Handle Teen Anger, According to Psychologists

Long-Distance Relationship Tips for Couples Who Are Separated by Miles

Are There Foods That Induce Labor? Why Overdue Moms Can Skip the Eggplant Pizza

Do Kids Actually Need Playdates?

20+ Pretty Christmas Living Room Décor Ideas for the Coziest Room in the House

20+ Christmas Mantel Ideas for a Holly, Jolly House

ESSAYS I EDTED FROM OTHER WRITERS

I Happily Changed My Last Name After I Got Married, but I Didn't Realize What I'd Lose

I Won't Let My Son Play 'Fortnite,' and This Is How His Friends Reacted

My Husband and I Plan Our Whole Lives Around My Chronic Paranoid Schizophrenia

Breast Cancer Made Me a Better Mom

I Wasn't Ready to Talk to My 3-Year-Old About Death. Then Nana's Cat Died.

Parents, Why Do We Belittle Each Other's Problems?

My Daughters are Ditching Their Big Dreams for Their Cell Phones

The beginning of the year brought a little of everything, from quick news and service to holidays to first-person essays — even my old hat as a weddings editor popped back on. And, of course, Baby Shark never goes away. But my two favorite pieces for January and February were these:

The Best Royal Movies to Help You Truly Understand the Monarchy

Kind of related to the Oscars — and movies like The Favourite and Mary, Queen of Scots — and kind of to satisfy my own curiosity, I challenged myself to see if I could trace the royal lineage from Elizabeth II to Elizabeth I just through movies. I was able to do it, though some were obscure. But now I know that Colin Firth from The King's Speech is the current Queen's father. 

We're Officially Calling Blume Dolls the Hottest Toy of 2019

This was the first year I got to attend Toy Fair, and scout out all of the hot new toys for the year. And while I saw lots of great things, these cuties leapt out as an early favorite.

News

Parents, The Momo Challenge Isn't the Video You Need to Be Worrying About on YouTube

The Hatching Baby Toothless Is the Perfect Gift For Your Aspiring Hiccup

The Disney+ Streaming Service Sounds Like It's Going to Be Every Parent's BFF

Andy Cohen Was Just Dad-Shamed for Taking His Newborn on an Airplane

'Riverdale' Star Mark Consuelos Dishes on What It Was Really Like Working With Kelly Ripa

Kristen Bell Shut Down an Instagram Follower Who Said She's "Exploiting" a Kid for Her New Line

Kairi, the New Gerber Baby for 2019, Just Made History

The U.S. Divorce Rate Is Going Down, and We Have Millennials to Thank

Terminally Ill Girl in Wisconsin Just Wants Letters From Your Dog

Service

3 Tricks That Calm a Crying Baby, According to a Researcher Who Surveyed 800+ Parents

This Dad’s Trick for Getting Picky Kids to Eat Is Brilliant

My Daughter Wouldn't Sleep Away From Home Until We Got This Toddler Travel Bed

6 Apps That Make Potty Training Way Easier Than a DIY Sticker Chart

16 Lego Storage Ideas That'll Keep Every Small Piece Organized

15 Best Stargazing Apps for iPhones and Androids

The Best Books About Self-Love, Because We All Need to Pump Ourselves Up

Holidays

Watch This 'Peppa Pig' Chinese New Year Sneak Peek With Your Kids Tonight

15 Best Hallmark Movies to Watch Before Valentine's Day

14 Baby Valentine's Day Outfits for Your True Sweetheart

Easy Valentine's Day Games Any Kid Will Love

40 Quotes About Broken Hearts That Are Just Too Real

The 20 Best Irish Movies to Watch for St. Patrick's Day

The Best Irish Movies on Netflix to Stream on St. Patrick's Day

Milestones

14 Gold Wedding Dresses for the Bride Who Wants to Sparkle

15 Pink Wedding Dresses for the Most Romantic Brides Out There

Inspiring Backyard Wedding Ideas for Casual Brides and Grooms

Neon Wedding Signs That Will Give Your Reception Some Electricity

14 DIY Floral Garland Ideas for Spring Parties and Weddings

15 Grazing Tables Ideas That Will Make Any Party Stand Out

13 Creative and Thoughtful Ways to Ask: Will You Be a Godparent?

18 Mesmerizing Number Cakes We Wish We Could Eat Right Now

16 Cheap Neon Signs That Add Major Personality to Your Space

30 Quotes About Change, Because We Never Stop Evolving

Baby Shark

So, Where Did This "Baby Shark" Song Come From, Anyway?

Baby Shark Toys, Books, and Shirts Are Taking Over the Internet

A Baby Shark Play-Doh Set Is in the Works Because the Craze Will Never End

The New Baby Shark Toy Will Dance Circles Around You

Assigned Essays

Their Son Tested Positive for Strep Throat. Then Came the Severe OCD, Anxiety, and Hallucinations.

14 Reasons Parenting Teenagers Is Better Than You Think It Will Be

I Didn't Appreciate My Mother-in-Law Until I Had a Daughter

If there's one benign scourge on parents, it's Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" song. It's beloved by toddlers, reviled by parents, and always stuck in someone's head. So, when I found out that Wowwee was making singing Baby Shark dolls, I wrote about it — and it's definitely the most viral piece I've ever written. When I retire, they're going to write "wrote the Baby Shark" piece on my plaque.

Singing Baby Shark Toys Are Here to Get That Song Stuck In Your Head Forever

Other pieces I wrote for December:

Gift guides: 15+ Adorable Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers, 20+ Gifts Your Toddler Wants to Unbox This Christmas

And the anti-gift guide: Attention Grandmas: It's Better for Kids to Have Fewer Toys (grandmas on Facebook HATED this story)

Entertainment: The Best Movies for Toddlers, When You Just Need to Take a Shower, 'Sesame Street' Just Introduced a New Character Who Is Experiencing Homelessness, The 20 Best Romantic Movies on Netflix Right Now, 15 Movies to Watch on New Year's Eve, Because Going Out Is Overrated, See What Anne Geddes's First Baby Models Are Up to Now

Parenting-style explainers: What Is Permissive Parenting? Experts Say This Parenting Style Fails Kids, What Is Attachment Parenting? Parents and Children Share a Close Bond

More celebrations: 12 New Year's Traditions to Start With Your Family, 12 Awesome Things to Do on New Year's Day to Get 2019 Started Right, Genius 1st Birthday Party Ideas to Celebrate Your First Year of Parenthood

Misc. parenting: These Will Be the Most Popular Baby Names in 2019, 17 Parenting Memes That Make Moms and Dads Say, "It Me",

I also assigned some parenting essay from freelance writers that I particularly enjoyed:

I Raised Four Sons as a Single Mom. Now That They're Grown, I'm Off to Europe.

My Mother Died Before My Baby Was Born, But My Daughter Will Still Know Her

My Child Has a Severe Allergy, But I Secretly Ate Her Forbidden Food Anyway

Just before heading into the big, December gift-giving season, I got to do a trio of kids-room interior design stories, and, man, kids today are lucky! I'd love to have any number of these rooms for myself. See the design trends for boys' rooms, girls' rooms, and nurseries below. (I tried to cover a range of aesthetics, but I just love all the geometric black-and-white rooms!

Other stories:

Gift guides started: See gifts for 1-year-olds, book lovers, grandparents, and teachers.Also, if you ever wanted a toy Dyson vacuum that looks just like the real thing, such a thing exists. 

Entertainment: 15+ Best Christmas Movies for Kids on Netflix; 16 Best Family Thanksgiving Movies on Netflix, Hulu, and More; 24 Kids' Movies Coming Out in 2019 That Are Worth a Trip to the Theater; We Scoured Infinity and Beyond for these 'Toy Story 4' Details; 

Parenting Explainers: What Is Authoritative Parenting?, What is Attachment Parenting?

Miscellaneous Parenting: These Are BabyCenter's Most Popular Baby Names of 2018 for Boys and Girls, Rookie Moms and Dads: These 15 Parenting Books Will Turn You Pro 

Plus, a fun essay I didn't write, but got to assign and work on:

My Baby Completely Robbed Me of My Looks

Big news! I've moved over to GoodHousekeeping.com as the website's new Parenting & Relationships Editor. I'm still on the same beat, doing my best to support all the moms out there, but at a new publication.

I've done a lot of editing and updating of the parenting content there so far, but I've also managed to write some of my own stories. 

I started off with my own opinion about Bert and Ernie (having done hours and hours of "research" with my daughter).

As the Mom of a Toddler, I Don't Need Bert and Ernie to Be Gay, but Kids Should See More Loving, Same-Sex Relationships on TV.
This headline is a hard one, and possibly misleading. I wrote about what it's like to watch the show now, in its half-hour format (it's very different from what it was like when we were kids!), and what I found so beautiful about the male friendship of Bert and Ernie in an era of toxic masculinity.

Then I went back to my pop-culture roots for some movie recommendations.

20 Best Kids Movies of All Time

20 Animated Movies You Need to Watch With Your Kids Before They Grow Up

30 Christmas Movies for Kids to Get the Whole Family in the Holiday Spirit

20 Best Kids Movies on Netflix Right Now

And then a few other fun round-ups.

The Cutest Outfits for Baby's First Thanksgiving
(This includes the Carter's turkey dress my daughter's worn for three years in a row—the same one she peed on three times her first Thanksgiving.) 

16 Best Pregnancy and Baby Books for Those First 40 Weeks (and Beyond)

The 10 Best Halloween Horror Nights of 2018

I've been behind in posting my Bustle articles—very behind—but here are some of my favorite posts I've done in the meantime:

Mad Men Season 7 Premiere "Severance" Has An Ominous Title, But Does It Actually Tell Us Anything?

15 Selina Meyer Quotes That Prove The President (Yeah, President!) Has The Perfect Thing To Say In Every Situation

As Justified Rides Off Into The Sunset, Here's What's Going Ro Be Missed The Most

Aquarius Lead Sam Hodiak Vs. Fox Mulder: They Have More Than David Duchovny In Common

Halt And Catch Fire Season 2 Emphasizes The Women Of The Show & We Couldn't Be More Excited

Here are the rest of the TV shows I've covered since I last posted:

AD: The Bible Continues (2); Agent Carter (2, 3); American Odyssey; The Americans; Aquarius (2, 3); Battle Creek; Between; Black-ish; The Blacklist;  Blood, Sweat, and Heels; Brides Gone Styled; Catfish; The Casual Vacancy; Cleveland Abduction; The Critics' Choice Awards; The 87th Academy Awards (2); Dancing with the Stars; Empire (2, 3, 4); Gotham; 500 Questions; Forever; Halt and Catch Fire; Hindsight; The Josh Wolf Show; Lake Placid vs. Anaconda; Labor Games; The Last Man on Earth (2); Little Women: NY (2); The Lizzie Borden Chronicles (2); Mad Men; The  Making of the Mob: New York (2); The Messengers; MTV's Scream; New Girl (2, 3); Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards; Orange Is the New Black; Parks and Recreation; The Prancing Elites; Proof; The Returned (2); Saturday Night Live (2, 3); Seeds of Yesterday; Sense8; Shark Tank; Stitchers; Sons of Winter; Swab Stories; Texas Rising; 'Til Death Do Us Part; The Tony Awards; 12 Monkeys; Turn: Washington's Spies (2); Undateable; Weird Loners; The Willis Family

I also got to spoil Fifty Shades of Grey for people who didn't want to watch the movie and just wanted to know if the ending deviated from the book.

Image: Justina Mintz/AMC

For its 1995-themed week, The A.V. Club let me write about one of my favorite film subgenres: mid-'90s internet paranoia movies. 

1995 Marked the Birth of Internet-Paranoia Films

"...The internet and virtual-reality films of 1995 also show the emergence of a problem that filmmakers are still struggling with today: how to represent a digital world on screen. You can see early attempts to create some sort of cohesive visual language to stand in for the internet. Status bars, for example, are used in more than one of these movies as a quick way to ratchet up tension; the heroes have to wait until the bar reaches 100 percent before they can flee to safety. It’s a cheap thrill, and one we sadly haven’t outgrown yet.

Mostly, though, attempts to create a new look for the internet are hideous, trafficking in cheesy, psychedelic swirls of numbers and symbols and environments that look like video games circa Nintendo 64. Hackers andVirtuosity both fall victim to the allure of pop-art colors: Virtuosity makes is virtual exit quickly, bringing SID 6.7 into the real world, but Hackers often goes into the “architecture” of circuitry, with skyscrapers of squares and rectangles standing in for the systems they’re trying to break into, and dreamy-looking equations standing in for the data they want to collect. Today, it looks dated..."

Click through to read the full essay at The A.V. Club, or download the PDF.