This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I like this casual, hand washable cardigan from Bobeau — it’s soft, flattering, and easy. (Their maxi skirts are also pretty great for a casual summer day.) The cardigan is $29-$42 at Nordstrom. Bobeau Open Front Cardigan (L-3)Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ 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 – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
Click here to see our top posts!
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?
Philanthropy Girl says
I have a similar one from Philosophy I got at Macy’s and I love it!
Has anyone every done a “working interview”? I have one scheduled next week and I’m not sure what to expect. I’ve been asked to be available for an entire working day at a small NPO.
Daycare location says
Question for the hive: If both parents have 30-45 minute commutes in opposite directions (one by car and one by public transit), where does it make sense to look for daycares?
Near home might be best for spliting pickups/dropoffs and not having to commute with baby, but a place near one of our works maximizes time in the office during daycare open hours and it will be easier to pick up a sick kid, so there are arguments on both sides. Thoughts appreciated from anyone who’s been here!
Famouscait says
Splitting drop-offs and pick-ups is key for us keeping everything manageable. Sorry – no advice on the rest of it as we don’t have similar commutes.
anon eagle says
I would pick a daycare that is convenient for the car person and near your home. I take a commuter bus that departs from the city at noon, 2pm, then on a regular schedule starting around 3pm. There are no morning options for me to depart the city unless I metro to farthest stop, taxi to commuter lot, walk to car, drive to daycare. From the time I get THE CALL from daycare, I have 1 hour to pick up the child(ren).
Do you or your partner drive the car? What is the commute like for the public transportation person?
RDC says
This is the way we’ve done it – the car person (DH)handles all pick up and drop offs since it’s quicker. I take transit and only do pickups if DH has a conflict. One month in and so far it’s working but I’m not sure yet if it’s the best long-term strategy.
FVNC says
My husband and I have 45 min commutes in opposite directions. We chose a daycare close to our home. Otherwise, one parent would have 100% of daycare pickups and dropoffs, plus a long commute with the kid.
Pigpen's Mama says
In a similar situation we went with a daycare close to home. Husband and I commute in opposite directions, about 20-30 min each way depending on traffic. We decided on a daycare that’s 5 minutes from home and on both of our commutes.
That way if either of us has to travel or is sick, the other doesn’t have to take an hour to drop off baby, then go to work, and it lets me work from home some days. Also, if your baby hates driving in the car, that commute would be horrible. Public transportation can also be tricky with babies.
The downside is if there is an emergency, getting to her would take a little more time — but if she’s sick, then she’s at least in a comfortable spot, rather than in the car for a 30 minute drive home.
PregAnon says
We have this problem. My commute is 30 minutes south into downtown, and husband’s is mostly in the southwest direction, also about 30 minutes. I’m usually in the office from about 7:30-5 or 5:30, and he is a contractor so he leaves the house by 6am but is back by 3 or 4. We will definitely be splitting pick ups / drop offs, so we chose one close to home. We had the same concern about one person being out of town, or sick, or whatever – then the daycare is always near home base so no extra commute time.
anon says
Definitely close to home. You need to be able to share pickup/dropoff. This also means baby will spend your commute time at daycare rather than in the car, which is probably more enjoyable/pleasant for them.
Anonymous says
We’ve done both ways (daycare next to my office for a year; daycare next to husband’s office for 2 years; currently preschool on our street) and there are pros and cons to both options. When one of us did both drop off and pick up, it felt like an unfair division of labor and also caused massive disruption when that person traveled. Splitting drop off and pick up is better for when one of us travels, and also when I (the pick up person) am running late because I can call a neighbor and she will pick up. But it causes more daily disruption in my schedule.
Also when my son was a baby he hated the car and would cry the entire 1.5 hours home everyday. So terrible. By the time he was commuting with my husband, he was into vehicles and enjoyed the ride.
MomAnon4This says
Something else to consider – we are lucky to have grandparents in the area (about 30 minutes from our house, but also a 30 minute drive from my office, further from Husband’s office). These gparents are the Emergency PickUp People – we are lucky to be able to choose a QUALITY daycare near their house, too, so that they can pick up as needed. It is the same inconvenience to me, to have a daycare nearer the house or nearer the office (YMMV) but infinitely more convenient for them & more comforting to me to have the emergency people close by like that.
Burgher says
We have a similar situation (though husband does 95% of the daycare drop-off & pickup, because my schedule is more variable). We chose close to home for multiple reasons: minimizing the amount of time the kids are stuck in the car, closer to emergency pickup person (my mom lives a few blocks away from us and my dad a few miles), they can continue to go there for before/after care once they get to school age since it is close to the elementary school they will attend, better daycare options near our house than downtown or in the boonies where he works, & close proximity to the public transit stop so it is very convenient when I commute. All convenience related things aside, we just really like this particular daycare, so it worked out wonderfully for us. Additionally, we have both already changed jobs once since having kids, and my job working for a contractor can change location frequently, so I never have a permanently known commute. If we were to choose based on a job location and that changed, I would hate to have to pull them from everyone they know and are comfortable with and find another daycare.
EB0220 says
I would pick a place close to the house. You don’t want to have one parent solely responsible for drop-off and pickup. I have experience with both – my baby goes to the on-site daycare at my office, and my preschooler goes to a school close to our house. Close to the house is much easier. Many daycares open at 6 am, so it doesn’t seem like it would be a problem to get to the office on time. Someone would probably have to leave right at 5 for pickup, but you could easily alternate. days/weeks.
Famouscait says
We’re going to be introducing solid foods this weekend to my 5 1/2 month old. I’d like to try making baby food to start. Do you just steam and puree a bag of green peas, for example? Or do I need a “recipe”?
Philanthropy Girl says
I just puree (bananas, peaches, etc…) or steam/puree (green beans, peas, etc…) or bake/puree (sweet potato, squash, etc…).
My Baby Bullet came with a recipe book and most of the Stage 1 purees are very simple. It was helpful to have some guidelines of how much water to add and an approximate number of servings – but not at all necessary. There are many online resources if you want a few helpful guidelines before you get going, but you can always just wing it.
anne-on says
I just steamed and then puree’d. If I was feeling fancy, I’d steam, shock the fruits/veggies (veggies mostly) in cold water, and then puree. One caveat – my doctor suggested that for all foods that are potential allergens (stone fruits, tomatoes) that we steam them as it the impact of reducing the chance of an allergic reaction.
Oh – even though my son is well past the puree stage, frozen pureed spinach, fruits and carrots are still in regular rotation for us to stir into applesauce or oatmeal, use in baking, put into smoothies instead of ice cubes, or put into tomato sauces. Just something to keep in mind as a way to get some extra nutrition into their food.
Meg Murry says
For some basic recipes/techniques, and info on which foods to introduce early vs which ones to wait on, wholesomebabyfood.com is a great resource. I only tried a handful of their more involved multi-ingredient recipes, which provide to be too much work for me for baby food since I don’t love cooking.
Meg Murry says
for specific “stage one” first food “recipes” this is my go-to: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/stage1_homemade_baby_food_recipes.htm#.VS_JedzF9wt
pockets says
second wholesomebabyfood.com. I also look at the fancy pouches for inspiration on combining foods.
I freeze the food in ice cube trays and my limiting factor is always the trays (I have 2). I would buy at least 4 trays if you’re planning on making baby food.
Famouscait says
Great idea to look at the pouches for inspiration – thanks!
Nonny says
third wholesomebabyfood.com. I went there for inspiration once my LO was past the single-ingredient stage and I came up blank on what to do next. They have great recipes.
Like those above, I froze the food in ice cube trays, but I then transferred it to Ziploc bags marked with the specific food, and kept those in a plastic box in the freezer. So when I was making lunch I could quickly go to the “applesauce” Ziploc and pull that, and then the “yam” Ziploc and pull that, and knew when I was running low and needed to make a batch of something. It was a great system.
Lyssa says
We steamed and pureed (and by steam, I mean microwaved from frozen); it was very simple, cheap, and worked very well.
I tried to use as little water as possible and incorporate it into the puree, just to keep the nutritional value up. And keep in mind that your baby will only eat tiny amounts at first, so if you’re preparing really any quantity, make sure to freeze most of it. (Ice cube trays work, but I found that a silicone mini-muffin tray was perfect.) I don’t think that I ever used a recipe, but as baby got more used to it, I tried mixing and incorporating more flavors (i.e., banana and pumpkin goes really well together, or adding cinnamon or curry powder to the puree).
Meg Murry says
Seconding ice cube trays and silicone muffin pans/cupcake liners for freezing food (once frozen solid, you can pop out and put into ziplocs). For making just a small quantity of food like enough peas for one meal, or just blending up last night’s leftovers, I found a hand/stick/immersion (whatever you want to call it) blender to be great. When my kids reached the stage where they wanted to feed themselves, but I didn’t have any good finger foods, pureeing together veggies and meat (and adding rice or baby cereal to thicken it up) with the hand blender and spreading it on toast or crackers.
Famouscait says
Thanks all! These are great suggestions.
EB0220 says
This is a great thread – thank you!
K. says
We did baby-led weaning (which uses a British term for weaning, which there basically means introducing food), which means we never did purees, but just introduced solids at 6 months. YMMV, but it worked out really well for us! We started with ground meat and soft foods cut into smaller pieces (like banana, sweet potato, broccoli, spinach, hamburger). I often planned our meals so she was just eating what we ate, minus salt. She is almost 9 months now and still has no teeth, but yesterday her menu was breakfast (egg yolk omelet and bacon), lunch (steamed carrots, salmon, broccoli), dinner (zucchini, hamburger, raspberries). If you do decide to go that route, definitely read up on gagging versus choking (there will be gagging–our child really handled it well and was good at coughing it up–I’m not sure if you do purees if you have the same kind of gagging, but when dealing with solids, it can result in a stressful few seconds), along with what to do if baby chokes (which we fortunately never had to deal with and there is some evidence to suggest a baby’s gag reflex works better with solids than purees). There is tons of info online about that if you look up baby led weaning.
Sorry so long, but I wasn’t completely sure about it when we started, yet it has worked really well for us and our baby loves to eat!
Famouscait says
Thanks for posting! What’s the benefit of introducing food this way? Less prep for parents? Or is there something else I’m missing?
I don’t think I’d be cut out for it period – because fear of baby choking is always on my mind, and he’s still on bottles! – but I’d like to learn more about this.
K. says
The biggest benefits to me include her amazing hand/eye coordination–she developed a pincer grasp at 7 months and has only fined tuned her motor skills–and because she has control over what she is eating, she is learning to eat until full which is good for self control with eating.
Also, less prep and also much more enjoyable meals–she serves herself food with her hands.
Advocates of baby led weaning also believe it is safer than purees because children develop a gag reflex before swallowing reflex, but if a child is spoon-fed an adult is by-passing the gag reflex. I’m not sure how true it is–the safety issue though hasn’t really ever been an issue. A couple times when she really had to cough it out, but she knew how to take care of the situation and it didn’t upset her at all.
PEN says
This is what we did too—my now one year old is a great and non-picky eater. We did it because my husband and I are a little lazy—-it seemed much easier to just feed our baby what we were eating and to let him feed himself. Our daycare and pediatrician had both recommended it.
Carine says
This is what we did. My daughter’s first solids were diced avocado and bananas. I made purees a couple of times, but she really wasn’t into them. We just gave her little bits of food to try, always soft in the beginning and no salt–from what I remember, until 12mos they don’t nutritionally need more than breastmilk or formula, so the goal is to let them get accustomed to food at their own pace, practice pincer grip, etc. I will say that she had more than four teeth at 6mos, so she was able to chew, but I think babies without teeth do just as well with their gums, especially since everything is soft anyway.
Gigi says
Did any of you experience a transient drop in fetal heartbeat during an ultrasound? I had my 20-week ultrasound today, and while the heartbeat was strong at 162, my doctor said that the heartbeat slowed until it almost stopped several times. He indicated that it may be because I was on my back and the baby’s position, and referred me for a fetal echocardiogram. Has this ever happened to you or anyone you know? I am trying not to freak out, but I just want everything to be ok. Thank you!
MomAnon4This says
They super-duper check the heart a TON. Totally normal just to make sure everything is normal/rule anything out. Not sure if this is helpful to you at all – but internet hugs. I had an extra ultrasound because they thought there might be an (easily fixable) heart murmur – which is like an extra hole in the heart that lets out too much blood. Look at it as just getting more information, is all.
Anonymous says
Agree with MomAnon4This. For different reasons, I had a pediatric cardiologist do a fetal ultrasound for my first. For my second, also had a pediatric cardiologist do a heart ultrasound at age one week. In both cases it was actually very comforting. My second actually does have a heart defect but it is very minor and likely will resolve itself on its own as he grows. Good luck, Gigi!
Mom-to-be says
I just read in Expecting Better that sometimes babies just go to sleep in there and their heart rate goes down. This was in the context of fetal heartrate monitoring pre-labor, but I think it still applies. Try not to worry too much. They’ll tell you when it’s worth worrying about.
greenie says
This happened with my first… everything was A-ok at the fetal echocardiogram a few weeks later. They are very cautious and I had to just remind myself over and over they are just being extra careful.
anon says
SAD POST- regular poster going anon for this. A family member is terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons. Given the stigma and second guessing that comes along with such a situation, they are being understandably vague in telling the outside world no more than they lost the baby and feel somewhat alone in this. (fwiw, family is super supportive). Does anyone have any resources (books, websites) to help them through the grieving process?
Meg Murry says
Oh, I’m so sorry! there was actually a story I read in the news roundup here a few weeks ago (thanks Kate & Kat!) that might have some good resources for them: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/03/23/3636298/ended-wanted-pregnancies-website/
This was actually my worst fear in telling my co-workers I was pregnant – if there turned out to be a condition that we would choose to terminate for medical reasons after we had already come “out” as pregnant. I didn’t have the risk factors (or resources) for very early genetic testing, and I was terrified we would find out something where we would have to make a quick decision before coming up against legal limits, or that my doctor wouldn’t/couldn’t counsel me on termination since he was part of a Catholic hospital practice.
Sorry to threadjack with my own concerns. I am so, so sorry for you and your family’s loss. Have they already named the baby (or will they)? Could you help them arrange a funeral or memorial service (a small one, maybe just for the people they are telling the whole story) so they can grieve together?
anon says
Thanks for the link. They also are very close to the legal limit in their state which made things that much more difficult. We are following their lead for memorializing and letting them give us information as they feel comfortable.
PregAnon says
I’m going through this worry right now. I’m 19 weeks and pretty obviously showing, and despite really low early risk factors after lots of tests (Panorama came back 1:10,000 for Downs / other genetic issues, NT scan 1.7 so very good), they found a bright spot on his heart yesterday and I’ve got to go see a perinatologist and get a high res scan and genetic counseling. OB says it is 100% nothing to worry about, it’s a CYA thing and we “get” to go have the better ultrasound and it will be covered. BUT of course, and THANK YOU so much for the moms that shared their stories yesterday, you worry anyway even though you probably shouldn’t.
And you can bet this worry was the first one that popped into my mind.
I’m so sorry for her loss!! I really like all of the suggestions that have been given already.
E says
A friend in a similar situation found the group A Heartbreaking Choice enormously helpful. So sorry, what an awful situation.
E says
wrong place
ANP says
Hi gang — looking for morning-routine advice. We have a five year old in school and a two year old in daycare. I noticed this morning that my little guy was total sunshine and light as he woke up, when we ate breakfast, etc. — but once we started getting his sister up and doing more “get out the door” things with her and my husband (DH was in the shower when I rescued DS from the crib, got him dressed and fed him) he starts to get really tantrum-y and cranky. This has become a pattern with him and I’m not sure what I can do to combat it, other than leaving a lot of time to snuggle and sloooooowly get out the door (which isn’t always possible). FWIW, he loves daycare and always runs in ahead of us at drop-off, so I’m not worried about that part — I think it’s something about the morning rush that makes him sad/crabby. Anyone else seen this happen with their own kids?
Mom-to-be says
The morning rush makes me crabby. :)
Sometimes parents of older kids stick the kid in front of a tv or otherwise occupy him while getting the younger kid ready. That could be an option? Maybe he’s bored, or just wants attention?
Nonny says
Completely unrelated to anything, but….what’s the deal with Garnet Hill? I’d heard of them but hadn’t really looked at the website until today. Kind of looks like LL Bean/Lands End but not as outdoorsy? Are their house brand products as good as the reviews say? I’m curious…
Maddie Ross says
I’m a Garnet Hill fan. I’ve bought several gifts there from the household/decor items and been very happy with the quality. I don’t know about the sheets/linens, but the decor items have been very nice and well received. I’ve also purchased some brand name items from them (a chan luu bracelet and born boots), as well as Garnet Hill branded cashmere (which is super soft, but super boxy). My biggest complaint might be that there does not seem to be a way to avoid paying shipping, which I hate. Most places anymore if you go over $100 (if not less), it’s free. Not so much with GH, which I hate (as their stuff is pricey to begin with).