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The Nordstrom Fall Clearance Sale has started, and there are a ton of great things. (Stay tuned later today at Corporette for a roundup of workwear!) For today’s featured “everyone” piece, though, I’m liking these lovely Kendra Scott studs, 50% off as part of the sale. I like that they’re pretty substantial, but still demure — you get a nice dose of color near your face where you may need it (if you are like me and perpetually tired, not wearing as much makeup or otherwise taking care of your skin as well as you used to). Before kids, I was always opposed to studs (we all know I love a good pair of huggie earrings!), but post-kids, the less things that dangle, the better. These lovely studs come in amethyst and turquoise; they were $45 but are now $22.50. Kendra Scott ‘Hazel’ Stone Stud EarringsSales 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
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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?
Stephanie says
Someone please help me justify the Rag & Bone Margot booties…
Sfg says
It’s all about price per wear.
Maddie Ross says
Goodness, you never should have told me those were included. Having the same issue now!
Anon in NYC says
We’re starting solids in earnest next week (where has the time gone?!) and I was wondering how people handle the logistics of feeding their kid solids. How much do you make in advance? How do people build this into their day? By the time we get my daughter home from daycare she’s usually tired and hungry, which sounds like a recipe for disaster when it comes to experimentation.
oil in houston says
sorry, see answer below!
Stephanie says
Don’t make too much in advance since you don’t know what your kiddo will eat. As far as trying new foods – do it in the morning so that if she has an adverse reaction, you can call the doctor.
Lkl says
It was tough to figure out at first, timing-wise, but it does become routine! For the first couple weeks we did just one meal, either fruit, veg, or cereal, whatever we had on hand. Started with dinner, added breakfast, and then added lunch at daycare. You may find it easier to keep milk and meals separate at first — ours would get full from milk and then not want any food. This made breakfast tricky at first because of our timing, so we did end up offering food before milk at breakfast time even though they’re supposed to get nutrition from milk (it hasn’t reduced his milk intake at all, ha).
It’s usually easier to puree a larger amount than a smaller one, if you’re making it yourself, so we just freeze whatever is left over in an ice cube tray and then keep them in a ziploc in the freezer. Easy to plunk a few cubes in a container for daycare. We also like to introduce a lot of new foods, what we’re eating, so we’ve naturally ended up with quite a freezer supply of leftovers. If the baby doesn’t like a food item now, he or she very well might in a few weeks, so it’s worth saving the extra.
Lkl says
Plus, in fairly short order (a couple weeks to a couple months depending on how old your baby is now) your baby will be able to eat things that aren’t quite so smoothly pureed, which means that you can just smush up things that you already have, and don’t have to rely on the freezer so much — although it’s definitely nice for daycare or hurried mornings.
Lyssa says
One thing to keep in mind is that the kid doesn’t really care when or about getting them on specific schedule until it actually does become a real routine, so don’t worry too much if you wind up skipping a few days or whatever. It’s more about getting the idea down, rather than actual nutrition, so it’s fine to just do what works for you. (This is one reason that I like starting early, too – less pressure to get it done.) Right now (my girl is 4.5 months), we’re making and introducing something new on weekends, and I’m trying to offer her some sort of solid while we eat dinner. It doesn’t seem to matter too much whether it’s really a mealtime or between bottles for her, and I like the idea of her learning to eat when we eat, so I just set her up right next to our table and feed her between my bites. Since she’s still only eating tiny amounts, I’ve been making the bare minimum of what I really can easily puree, and some of it will still get thrown out, but oh, well.
K. says
We did baby led weaning starting at 6 months, which is basically just starting with “real” food and not purees from the beginning. We just started by feeding our daughter what we were eating for dinner. We did make adjustments to our dinner plans though so that something would be served that she could eat. We started eating more sweet potatoes and braised meats or ground meats, for example. We started with a few things at a time, but by about 10/11 months she was eating just about everything that we eat, with the exception of maybe nuts and raw veggies. I really loved this and it fit with our life style along with baby’s personality too.
anon says
As a counter-point, we attempted this and were overcome by our baby’s extremely sensitive gag reflex. Just not willing to have the baby gag and vomit his entire milk feed at every meal. Very disappointing because I was really hoping to do it, but it just didn’t work for our baby. So I think the answer is know your baby!
sfg says
Plus one for know your baby – I also really hoped to do BLW, but so far mine is only interested in mushing food with her hands.
Claudette says
Yes! This is a good PSA. Our pediatrician recommended BLW, but our daughter would not eat “real” food when we started introducing solids at around 6.5 months — she didn’t merely gag but actually threw up. But she loved all the purees, so we got a variety of baby food in jars and just went with it. Now, three months later, she loves real food (often eats whatever we are having for dinner) and refuses all baby food purees except fruit. So, yes, know your baby (and her stage)!
Anon says
Baby Led Weaning also pushes back introduction of solids, but there’s evidence that introducing solids closer to 4 months may help reduce allergies, asthma and eczema. So even though I love the idea of baby led weaning, we’ll be introducing purees as early as possible because asthma and eczema run in the family.
Manual food mill says
To threadjack a threadjack, does anyone have a recommendation for a good, manual food mill to puree baby foods? Looking for something inexpensive, simple, and easy to clean. Thanks!
Meg Murry says
I never had a food mill, but we used an immersion blender a lot to puree small amounts of food for my oldest when he was a baby – he didn’t like being spoon fed, so we pureed a lot of things with cooked rice or oatmeal to make them into a thick paste and then spread them on toast or crackers. We didn’t buy one specially for making baby food, but borrowed it from my father and then after not returning it for a while bought him a new one. I especially like that ours has an attachment so you can use it like a mini food processor as well.
JEB says
Honestly, we relied upon daycare to introduce solids. We’d introduce things on weekends (primarily new foods, so we could watch her carefully). Our daycare provides food, so I just made sure to keep them informed as to what she had already tried. She was extremely disinterested, and we had a very hard time getting her to eat. I fully credit daycare for the fact that she’s a great eater now. They offered her solids four times during the day (pretty much after every bottle), and we tried to do the same on the weekends. As for which foods to introduce first, I found the website Wholesome Baby Food (google it, and it should be the first link) very helpful. Some kids are picky about purees versus pieces they can pick up themselves, so try a few different methods. Good luck!
Stephanie says
Daycare was a great help in introducing solids! We had tried BLW and some purees but he was indifferent, so we didn’t really ask daycare to feed him solids. They actually broached the subject with us since he was so interested watching the other kids eat. At 16 months he’s still a much better eater at daycare than at home – peer pressure FTW?
Anon S says
We started almost a month ago, and so far, so good! My husband makes batches on Fridays/weekends, and then we freeze them in a silicon baby food ice cube tray. Each cube is a serving for my daughter. We feed her twice a day. The night before, we put a cube in a glass jar with a lid and put it in the fridge and label it (for the nanny). So far the system is working great. Each silicon tray has 9 cube slots, and we have two of them, so we make 18 cubes a weekend. She gets 2 cubes a day, so we’re making a little more than what she’s eating, so we can have some backup if needed (but we’re going to toss the cubes in the freezer after a month). My daughter breast feeds at 7am, and then she has her solids breakfast at 8am. She gets her afternoon bottle (or boob if I’m home) between 3:30 and 4PM, and then she’ll have her solids dinner 1 hour after the start of her afternoon bottle. Hope that helps!
Meg Murry says
Rather than tossing the cubes entirely, you can use them in your own foods if you want. I kept making pureed cubes long after my kids stopped eating baby food, because I like being able to throw some sweet potatoes in the mac and cheese, fruit purees in our yogurt or oatmeal, or just about any veggie cubes into soup/stew/chili.
When she outgrows the silicone ice cube tray size, silicone cupcake liners work well for the equivalent of 2-3 cubes. Now that my kids are older, I use the silicone liners to freeze plain yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, etc.
Anon S says
That is an awesome idea, thank you!!
sfg says
We did everything “wrong” (i.e. new foods at dinner, not waiting three days in between new foods) BUT we don’t have a history of food allergies. Mine is almost 8 months and can gum some soft foods, but still mostly eats purees. We make batches on the weekend and freeze in these awesome trays that will also double as ice cube trays eventually: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Baby-Freezer-Protective-Cover/dp/B0038JE5Y2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446743759&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+baby+food+freezer+tray
Breakfast was the hardest to introduce for us. Right now, she nurses upon wakeup, then gets solids after her first nap, followed by bottle/nursing. Typically gets lunch midday, followed by a bottle/nursing. Another bottle after her afternoon nap, then dinner between 5:30 and 6:30 depending on when she woke up from her nap. She usually eats purees and/or whatever we’re eating, if appropriate for her.
For guidance, I really like the Science of Mom blog on solids, as well as the Wholesome Baby Food site mentioned above (for ideas).
Anon in NYC says
Thanks, all! My husband and I have been (lightly) worrying about this for a few weeks and questioning how people manage this when both parents work. Although, I did say to him this morning that if we were on our second child that we’d probably just put the baby in the highchair and start! There is something reassuring in knowing that it’s really not rocket science.
anon says
We were anxious too. Yes, we have to budget an extra 10 minutes in the morning for breakfast, but the baby eats dinner while we do, and if anything dinner goes faster because she has to go to bed immediately afterward. Other meals are at daycare. Prep is quick and jars are okay if you need to! You can do it!!
oil in houston says
I tend to have enough for about 2 weeks in our freezer, I make it all in one go on the weekends with my baby cook (which I love) ,and I store them in great 2-oz containers I bought at baby r us.
I do the ped-recommended 3 days per new food, and start at lunch on the weekends so I can see if anything wrong is happening.
Now that she is on a more ‘adult’ schedule (she’s almost 10 months), I send breakfast and lunch to daycare , as well as a small snack (usually yogurt) that they give her just before I pick her up so she’s not starving in the car.
At the start though, we started with just rice cereals, in the evenings at the same time as we had dinner, and after I nursed her to avoid her being super hungry. Remember, she might only get a tablespoon at first, and it’s ok.
kids & chores says
I will probably cross-post this on C-r e t t e when it slows down a little…
We have 2 kids 5 & 7. Both FT working parents, typically 40-50 h/week each. Both kids are in public school, and there’s no one in the house during the day. I’ve somewhat resigned myself to knowing that the house just isn’t going to be as neat & clean as I would like it (before the youngest went to school, we had a daytime nanny that took care of a lot of tidying & all the kid laundry), but it shouldn’t be an excuse to let ALL of my standards fail.
That said, does anyone have any really good tips/resources/processes/whatever for getting kids to chip in more? I feel like I’m constantly following them around (even in their absence) and picking up messes. Do you have a basket or a bin for each kid so that they can collect their things throughout the day/week? Or a bin per room so that you can corral things to get put back away? I’m really looking for any/all ideas that you have to manage the household on a daily basis. I get that they’ve been in school since mid-august, but I still feel entirely behind and overwhelmed.
Anonymous says
Some ideas:
Do not tell them to “pick up in your room”. This is as if somebody told you – clean the basement. Tell them, “go your room and pick up 10 Things”. Or pick up all blue toys. Or all the cars.
Also, make it a Family thing: after dinner, everybody run around. Set the timer for 10 min and go.
Scandia says
That was be, forgot the name
MomAnon4This says
good point. I actually made a checklist for my 4yearold that he loved –
books (drew picture of a book) – put books on shelf
stuffed animals (put stuffed animals away – on shelf?)
clothes (dirty clothes go in hamper)
toys (toys go on shelf)
That was about all he could handle by himself at the time. And still now. He’s almost 7.
anon says
Not a daily method, but we have two “clean-up” days – Sunday, before movie night, and Tuesday, before our cleaning person comes. That at least helps the clutter get under control.
NewMomAnon says
I’ve been trying to implement a policy of “put away the thing you are doing before you start the next thing.” It’s hit or miss with a toddler but would probably work better with older kids.
Also, consider where you store their toys. I was keeping my kiddo’s toys in the living room, and the awful mess every day drove me crazy. I finally moved all of her toys into her bedroom. Now we can pick out one thing to bring into the living room, and it has to be put away before anything else can come into the living room (or at least, that’s what I try to enforce). Her room is a mess sometimes, but at least that doesn’t interfere with our use of the family spaces.
And send them outside as much as possible. I started implementing an “after dinner walk,” which replaced the “throw everything on the floor and let Mom pick up later” routine we had been doing after dinner. So much better.
EP-er says
5 and 7 year olds are really capable to pitch in around the house! Our 7 year old is responsible for getting himself ready (dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed) in the morning, making his bed, and getting his backpack/ lunch/snack together (with supervision.) He helps set the table & clears his dishes. After dinner, he does piano practice & homework. Before TV/video game time, the kids need to make sure that their stuff is cleaned up from around the house and put away.
My biggest problem is all of the papers that the kids bring home. I am pretty ruthless about recycling papers. We have a bulletin board for long term items (monthly reading logs, bus schedule, school calendar) and then magazine boxes on the counter for “active work” — weekly spelling lists/homework sheets/etc. Special projects/progress reports/report cards get filed right way into a divided folder for the school year. At the end of the year is is all together & gets rubber banded & filed. Most other things get tossed.
Anonymous says
They are definitely old enough to help. I don’t expect my similarly aged kids to pick up 100%, but they make a significant contribution.
We also (try to) follow the pick-up last thing before getting out the next rule. It’s hard when adults are occupied and they go through three activities before we notice, but we do a pretty decent job.
If they are having a hard time putting things away, thin out their belongings and organize what’s left. They can help with both. We do it about twice a year and I’ve found the best bribe is going out for ice cream if everyone (including adults) gets through it without crying or yelling. It’s surprisingly painless.
They can also fold laundry, empty dishwasher, clear dinner table, make beds, and dust/clean windows.
We don’t have a schedule or payment. They are just expected to help when asked and often they offer, because we’ve explained that they get more time with parents if they help us finish the work.
And dear lord, the paper that comes home from school! About once a week I go through the house and put it all in a bag except for a few prime items that get hung up for display (or forms filled out, etc). It goes into the garage for a week, I recycle last week’s bag, and I wait to see if anyone is missing anything.
We have a major cleaning day on the weekend and have some amount of tidying before bedtime every evening, depending on mood, time, and messiness.
Free (or almost free) clothes says
I don’t usually like to post about referral links, but this website gives a $20 credit if you get referred and I also got a $10 credit for starting a “collection” of clothes. They have free shipping, and they are charging me CA sales tax (which is not that expensive), but I don’t know about other states. They have really cute baby clothes and they also have clothes for older kids and adults, including maternity, and you can get a bunch of gently used clothes for the $20. If anyone is interested, you can email me at southbaysocialtea at gmail dot com. Also, it may be a good place to donate clothes to, as part of the money goes to schools.
I guess they are trying to get the word out with the free shipping, but it seems like a good marketing campaign to me and if I like the condition of the clothes I get and the shipping is not that expensive once they start charging for it, I may keep shopping there…