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I just traveled last week and brought my cheap foldable flats and was surprised by how much use I got out of them — I’m now in the market for some that are a bit nicer than the ones I have. Tieks are great, but a lot to spend; these Yosi Samra ones look like a great, more affordable option. They have a ton of color combinations (and some with an ankle strap, which I am sorry to say come in camo prints); the pictured shoes have a rubber outsole and a neoprene upper. Yosi Samra Samantha Neoprene Flat (L-4)Sales of note for 3.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off sale; $50 off $200
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; up to 40% off almost everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off women’s dressed-up styles
- Lands’ End – 10% off your order
- Loft – 40% off your purchase
- Nordstrom: 4,400+ new markdowns
- Talbots – 25% off your purchase, including markdowns
- Zappos – 37,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – 50% off pajamas & free shipping on all orders (ends 3/18); at least 40% off everything
- Hanna Andersson – 30% off all dresses; up to 40% off Easter
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 40% off kids’ dressed-up styles
- Old Navy – 50% off everything (ends 3/20)
- Target – 20% off tees, tanks & shorts for all; BOGO 50% off kids’ books, board games, activity kits & puzzles; up to $150 off select Apple products
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
FWIW says
I taste metal in my mouth, I’m low grade nauseous from 8am to 10pm, and I can smell everyone’s skin.
I just needed to let that out. Note that this is not a complaint, merely an observational statement.
meme says
Are you pregnant? I’ve had the metal mouth with nausea when sick before (but not pregnant) – it’s been long enough that I can’t remember whether it was full-blown flu or just a stomach bug, but I remember it going on for awhile – a week to 10 days.
FWIW says
Yes, newly enough where just my so and I know. Unfortunately, this morning that means that you poor internet strangers had to hear my whining.
mascot says
Congrats. I’ve always been really attuned to scents so to have that ramp up during pregnancy was rough. There were certain foods we couldn’t even have in the house.
Newly pregnant says
+1 to the pregnancy question. The metal taste in your mouth can be a first trimester pregnancy symptom (look up dysgeusia). Also, there was a week during my first trimester where I could smell if a person ate onions or not. I had eaten scallions the night before and I could smell it seeping out of my pores. I swore off onions for a few weeks after that!
ETA – congrats!
anne-on says
Ugh, my sympathies. I had nausea so bad during pregnancy I couldn’t even look at pictures of certain foods because it would make me sick. Fun times.
due in June says
My sympathies. In my first tri, elevators were the worst places for me. I could smell someone’s cologne/perfume/lotion long after that person had actually used the elevator. I also had a sudden and deep aversion to meat. Ground meat in things was ok, but sliced cooked chicken? SHUDDER. Pretty sure I lived on greek yogurt, tofu and rice, and mac and cheese for four months.
JEB says
When I was pregnant, I could smell people’s dirty hair. Taking the metro every day was awful for this very reason (among others). And I remember I could smell the plastic in bathroom stalls, so much that it was overwhelming.
Congrats :)
CPA Lady says
The metal mouth thing is the worst. For me the two worst smells were peppermint and bread. I could not go grocery shopping for weeks because the bread smell was so overwhelmingly sickening. It’s so weird what things become disgusting. I still cant use the shampoo I used during the first trimester because the smell still makes me feel sick like a year later.
Anon says
Experience with au pairs? For those who decided to go that route, what were the considerations? And how did you choose a placement service?
Also age of your kids?
Wondering if it might be a good idea for our infant daughter but most people I know have traditional nannies so curious to hear others experiences!
RDC says
I don’t have personal experience, but a couple friends of mine have used au pairs. One seemed to love the arrangement, especially the flexible schedule and cultural exchange aspect. I think her au pair was also teaching the baby her language. The other has been less happy, and said she didn’t fully anticipate the awkwardness of having the au pair live with them full-time. (Basically, she’s always around.). The second mom wasn’t into the cultural exchange as much, so maybe she’s less willing to accept the drawbacks. You probably already realize this, but au pairs aren’t necessarily trained or have experience in child care, so especially with a baby (as opposed to an older child) I think it’d be really important to screen and interview carefully.
TBK says
I think they are required to have a certain number of hours of childcare experience, and a certain amount of experience with infants if they’re caring for a child under the age of two. It might just not be formal experience. That is, they might have watched a young family member or babysat the neighbor’s kid vs worked in a daycare center.
Meg Murry says
I looked into it a little, but one part of the requirements (at least at the programs I looked at) is that au pairs have to be able to take a certain number of classes/credit hours at an accredited college. Not sure if online schools/programs would count now, but that made it a no-go for us at the time because we don’t have a school close enough that has appropriate evening classes.
TBK says
We have one and we LOVE her! We kind of defaulted into it. With twins, daycare would have cost somewhere close to $40k, and good luck finding one with two infant slots open at the same time. And we couldn’t afford a nanny, and who wants to do a nanny share with twin babies? So au pair it was. At first, I was really unhappy about having a stranger move into our home. Some people have a nice secluded bedroom/bathroom suite (in a walk-out basement or over the garage) but we just have a third bedroom on the second floor of our not-so-big townhouse. So once we decided this was what we’d have to do, I just kind of jumped in and embraced it. And I’ve come to love the idea of having another “family member” around the house.
So here’s what it’s like and how we got there. First, pick a good agency. We went with Au Pair in America because they were so highly recommended. A good company will provide a lot of support. We were impressed both with how thoroughly they screened the au pairs and with what they offered once you had an au pair. Our area coordinator is very approachable and available. We haven’t had any problems (and don’t really anticipate having any) but it was important to us that she could serve as an experienced and neutral mediator if we were having problems with the au pair (or she with us — we’re really glad that there’s someone the AP can go to confidentially if she has a problem she doesn’t feel she can bring up with us, and that she’ll get help addressing the problem with us). The selection process was fairly easy. There was a lot of information available about each AP on the website. We wound up interviewing three and it was a no-brainer to pick the one we did.
As for interviewing, I had been told to trust my gut, which seemed vague to me. But there really is a big personality factor. I interviewed one girl who seemed great but I knew she was just too high-strung and too Type A for our family. I think she’d be a terrific au pair…for someone else. When I talked with our au pair, A, it was like talking with a friend. Her English was good enough that we could have a good conversation. And, most importantly, I felt like when I asked her questions, she seemed to understand not just the question but the concern behind it.
We were clear that we find family time to be important and we wanted an AP who would want to be part of our family, not just a random person living in our house. Most days, A comes downstairs at 9:30, when my husband leaves for work (I leave at 8:00). She plays with the kids in the house, takes them outside for walks, takes them to story time at the library, and sometimes meets up with other APs and their kids (whom we’ve met and approved) in a park or somewhere else nearby. She does all the housework related to the kids during the day. She does their laundry, cleans the nursery, makes their lunch and dinner, and cleans up after meals. I come home at 6:30 and although A is off duty then, she stays and plays with the kids for another 10-15 minutes while we talk about the day.
She goes upstairs to her room and Skypes with her family or friends while I put the kids to bed and make dinner. My husband gets home around 7:30 and we all eat at the table together. Sometimes we have just a brief conversation, but often we have long conversations about whatever. Or we compare life in American to life in Brazil. (Or, last night, we taught her how to clearly pronounce “beach” vs “bitch,” which she pronounced the same, and then taught her a bunch of swear words. Cultural exchange and all.) After dinner, she helps to clean up, washing pans and knives, putting away leftovers, clearing the table, etc. She typically goes upstairs for the night and watches TV in her room or talks on the phone/Skype. On the weekends, she sometimes goes out with other au pairs and sometimes goes with us if we’re going out to brunch or going to an event. If she does go with us, she helps out with the kids.
The kids absolutely love her. When she comes down in the morning, they bounce and squeal and point (they’re 13 months old). We love that she gets down on the floor to play with them and is very warm and loving toward them. Although she had no formal experience with children, she did have experience caring for her baby niece. She’s also very bright, has excellent judgment, and has a stellar work-ethic. If you were to hire a nanny of her caliber, you would be paying a considerable amount of money.
Ultimately, we’ve found that having a “stranger” in the house is plus — that is, we had initially thought “oh, we have to have someone live with us because it’s cheaper” but now I’d pick having an au pair over a nanny or daycare any day. We just enjoy having her around. We say it’s like having a niece or young cousin staying with us. Also, my husband travels a bit and I love knowing there’s another adult in the house in case there was an emergency.
I would say the drawbacks are: (1) you have to give up some space in your house; (2) you really need to embrace the idea of having a new family member — my husband and I have had to move to our bedroom to “finish” a fight before, but maybe that’s for the best; (3) she’s limited to 45 hrs/wk, which can get tricky because we honestly need more like 50 hrs when you figure in commute time, etc., but we’ve made it work with off-setting schedules etc. ; (4) you have to figure in the hidden costs, like paying for another person if you go out to eat or travel (since you should include her in anything you’d include a family member in); and (5) if you get someone really good, you immediately start stressing about the fact that they’re leaving in a year.
Hope that’s helpful! (I know it’s a lot of info. But, really, we are so, so happy with our situation.)
Anon says
This is very helpful!
Does she speak Portuguese with your children, or English? What was your preference and how is it working out?
TBK says
We had initially wanted a Spanish speaker because we’d like our kids to learn Spanish, but we’ve heard that the au pairs typically speak English with their kids anyway because almost all of them are here to improve their English (ours needs to be fluent to get into the graduate program she wants to do). So A really just speaks English to the kids. She does sing to them in Portuguese and sometimes plays Brazilian kids’ videos for them on her phone. We do like that they’re being exposed to another language but at their age, it’s not really a big deal. We’re still just trying to get them to say dada and mama.
TBK says
I just posted a LONG LONG LONG reply and the system ate it! I really can’t retype all of it. But I guess the quick version is
– have an AP and are super super happy
– it’s like having a niece living with you
– you’ll be happier if you embrace the idea of having a new person in the house (see it as a plus not a minus)
– they often go off and do their own thing nights/weekends
– make sure your personality clicks when you interview by Skype
– it’s really an amazing option and I highly recommend it
Annoy Law Mom says
We also have an au pair. Kids are 3.5 and 16 months. She’s been here for a year and is staying for an extra 9 months. Our house is nicely set up so that she has a very private area. She usually eats dinner with the kids and me around 5:30, helps with dishes, then does her own thing. She does her own thing on the weekends, too, unless we are having a family event, and then she usually wants to come. So we have a lot of private time. It is really great. My first was in a nanny share, but nannies are really expensive in our area ($60k or more for two kids). We did not want to pay for a nanny on our own plus preschool. We got lucky to find someone who we get along with so well, and it is nice to see her interacting with the kids. I know she’s doing a great job when we’re not around because I see how she acts. We used au pair care. I’d go with one of the bigger agencies in case you end up in rematch. The downsides are someone living with you (not a problem for us), potential language or cultural issues (also not a problem), and potentially less childcare experience than nannies or daycare. You can find au pairs who have worked as nannies or in daycares in their home countries, so you might look for someone with that experience if that is what you’d like. I remember seeing a lot of German girls who wanted to take a year off their daycare jobs to au pair.
JDJD says
I could use some travel advice from the hive: I am traveling for a wedding this summer, and my daughter will be around 4 months old. We are trying to decide whether to fly first class without getting her a seat or coach and getting her a seat (the miles are the same for both options).
For those of you who have flown with infants, are there restrictions on whether the infant must stay in their seat for the duration of the flight? I remember flying with my baby sister when she was a toddler, and at that time, she had to stay in her seat and it was quite a struggle. I would like to nurse my little one for take off and landing to help with the pressure in her ears, but wasn’t sure what the regulations were now. TIA!
NavyLawyer says
A seat is not required for a child under 2. If you’re flying with someone, you won’t need an extra seat, you can just pass baby between the two of you. Definitely nurse for takeoff and landing. Also a little bit of Benadryl can help; since you child is so so young I’d consult a doctor. Our daughter was 7 months so we gave her 1 or 2mm. She was teething so we’d already tried it out before trying it on a trip! I always wonder how would the baby stay in a seat – I mean you can buckle an infant carrier with the seatbelt, but airplane seats are not as deep as the back seat of a car! Baby won’t really want to go anywhere at 4 months anyway.
Btw, since you’re a first time flyer, checking car seats and strollers is free! You can check it either at the ticket counter or at the gate. And tell the TSA agent before you go through that you have breastmilk and a pump (if applicable). For all of the mothers who fly daily with babies, you’d be amazed at how uninformed TSA can be. Only the random a-hole will insist on testing it.
Jen says
Depends how long your flight is. When we flew with LO at 5.5 months, we didn’t get her a seat for our 3 hour flight. I was in the aisle, DH was in the center, and a stranger was in the window spot. On the return flight, we had the full row b/c the plane wasn’t empty.
Both ways, baby nursed / slept for most of the flight in my lap- we planned flights strategically to overlap with her nap/bedtimes. A seat for her was completely unnecessary (we checked her carseat).
We flew with her again at 12 and 16 months; in both cases having her own seat was critical- she was itching to get out of my lap and run around like a banshee. We were able to keep most of that confined to our row by strapping her into her carseat and playing with toys. Would not have been possible in my lap or even in a seat w/out carseat.
Nonny says
Yikes, your description of flying with your 16-month-old has me a little scared. I’m flying with my LO (who will be 16 months by then) in about 10 days and have not gotten her a designated seat. Luckily the flight is only about 2 1/2 hours! I was anticipating some running up and down the aisle but I hope that she will sit on my lap and play with new toys at least part of the time!
FVNC says
If it makes you feel any better, my now-19 mo old daughter has flown every few months since she was born, most recently at 13 mos, 16 mos, and 18 mos, sometimes alone with my husband. We’ve never bought a separate seat for her (although a few times we’ve lucked out and gotten a row with an empty seat) and she’s been fine. Granted, she is fairly mellow for a toddler, and small for her age, but keeping her on our laps hasn’t been a problem.
Maddie Ross says
We flew with my daughter a handful of times between a year and 24 months (i.e., before a seat was required for her on domestic flights). On some of those flights we had an empty seat on our row (three cheers for open seating on SW), on some we didn’t. It’s definitely easier if there are two of you so you can pass back and forth, but mostly it was ok for shorter (3 hours or less) flights. I packed lots of food and all my rules about snacking went out the window. Same with TV. We brought books, we colored, we watched a couple of episodes of Daniel Tiger. Every time she got fussy we’d bring out another snack – cheerios, fruit snacks, pouches, the mini pretzels the plane gives away.
Jen says
I should add that we did not use an ipad. If we had, she would have been glued to Elmo on repeat. We are trying to avoid screens, so only during decent when she had particularly HAD IT did we bust out the phone and look at pictures of her on it. I also packed some fruit snacks which are Very Special Treats and used those and stickers in times of desperation.
Also, because she had her own carseat, once she was in it it was like the car: needing entertainment, but knows what’s expected. When she was on one of our laps, all she wanted to do was jump down and crawl under the seats, over the seats, or get into the aisle.
Nonny says
Maddie Ross: how did you handle the sound on the iPad when you were on the plane? I can see the wisdom in downloading some Peppa Pig or Daniel Tiger in advance, but I don’t want to be one of “those” parents who are letting their children use electronic devices without the sound turned off. I can’t see my LO dealing well with earbuds…
Nonny says
Jen: I am trying to avoid screens too, but honestly, for this I may end up letting all those rules go out the window. If she won’t settle down, the iPad may be my best option!
Katarina says
I flew with my son at 14 months and he did not have a seat. The flight was tough, but I don’t think a seat would have helped, because my son is very cuddly, though. I spent most of the flight standing up near the flight attendants. Flying at nap time did not work for us…
Flying with a 4 month old was easy, he nursed/slept the whole time on my lap. I would only get a separate seat for a long overnight flight.
Jen says
I never bought an extra seat for my now 2 and 4 year old before we had to. A few times we flew we were upgraded to first class and it was lovely but not necessary. It’s way easier to nurse in first class and not crowded economy but it was still okay. My kids are far from perfect but I will take air travel over car travel any day. We eschew screen time guidelines when travel and between the iPad, coloring, random toys and snacks the only flight that was miserable was coming home from Europe with a toddler who displays an paradoxical reaction to Benadryl (TEST BEFORE YOU GO!!!!!!!). I would say with a 4 month old, it is completely unnecessary to get an extra seat but I would probably do first class instead of buying another one if you feel like you’ll need more room. The only restriction I’ve been given (I fly Delta almost exclusively) is that you can’t have the baby in a sling when you’re taking off/landing — you must just be holding them.
Mom-to-be says
I hear that 4 months old is a fine time to fly. Bring an ergo/bjorn/Moby or whatever and wear the baby through security. I highly doubt she’ll need her own seat, but first class might make you more comfortable.
Lots of babies fall asleep on flights, because, like adults, they react to the decrease in oxygen.
JJ says
We flew with our 4-month old and it was a great age to fly. I nursed him to sleep during take off and he just slept on me for most of the flight. Nursed again during landing. That age is nice because they’re old enough to have a semi-schedule, but not mobile.
Nonny says
We flew all the way to Singapore when my daughter was 4 months old – so 12+ hours to HK, then another 3 hour flight to Singapore. We did not take a car seat or get her a designated seat on any flight. My LO slept about 8 hours each way on the long flights and she was quite happy to cuddle with me or my SO the whole time. I second the recommendation to bring a carrier. In addition, I recommend bringing a ring sling if you have one – when my LO fell asleep on me I was able to tighten the ring sling around her and then I had my hands free while she slept. Otherwise I would have had to hold her the entire time and my arm was getting a bit tired after an hour or so!
RDC says
We flew with our baby at 3 months on an 11 hr flight. We paid for a seat and strapped in his infant car seat; he slept in it the whole time (it was overnight). It was convenient for DH and I to be able to sleep a bit better and not worry about holding him. But either way is fine, it’s a good age to fly.