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.
Ooh: I love this slim clutch from Alexander Wang — and it has credit card slots, score. I love the crazy colors, texture, and sleek, “I am not carrying several pairs of pants, undies, and diapers, and enough snacks to feed a library story group” look to it. It’s $295 at ShopBop. Alexander Wang Embossed Prisma Flat Clutch
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Zappos – 26,000+ 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 – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
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!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
ANP says
C-Moms: can we talk about 2-year-old sleep regressions? Is that A Thing? My 23-month old son is KILLING us (slowly, slowly) — he used to be a terrific sleeper but is now popping up from roughly 1-2:30 AM every morning. I think there’s a slim chance it could be a wet diaper issue, but he weighs 30+ lbs so we’re already in size 6’s. Any other ideas for me? Dying over here…
Spirograph says
We’re still a few months shy of 2 years, so I have no idea and can only hope this isn’t A Thing. But my son has been sleeping terribly for the last few weeks, too (last night he woke up 3 times, each time yelling first for mama, then dada, then a banana. really?). Could it be the weather/dry air/mild sniffles? I’ve noticed MY nose and throat are really dry and uncomfortable when I wake up in the middle of the night these days, and if I were a toddler and not perpetually sleep-deprived that might be enough to wake me up…we’re going to dig out the humidifiers this weekend and see if that helps.
Anonyc says
Yes, totally has happened with my kids and is so much worse than baby sleep issues because they can just get up! Both of my older kids did this somewhere after the 2-year mark, and would just come into our bed. I have no solid advice because my exhausted self didn’t have anything in the tank to fight the sleep-retraining fight, and I just let them sleep with us (I was pregnant when the oldest tried this, and was pregnant for part of the time with the youngest, so I really couldn’t handle loosing any more sleep).
With my oldest we moved after this started, so he sort of was jolted back by an external factor and it solved the issue. With my second kid, we ended up flat-out bribing her (in desperation my husband started a chocolate-chips-in-the-morning-if-you-sleep-all-night-in-your-bed regime); I was shocked that it worked.
Probably the right answer is to take the kid back to their bed, and wait with them until they fall back asleep or let them stay there and play quietly until they get bored, but for two FT-working parents who get not enough sleep as it is, plus a small apartment with shared bedrooms, allowing a 2.5 year old to rage it out was just inconceivable to me.
JJ says
Yup. My 2 year old went through this (and is currently going through something similar, as well). The only answer for us was to have someone get up, not say anything as much as possible, and put him back to bed. And repeat every time he got up. He would cry the first few times, but would then calm down and go back to sleep. After two or so rough nights, he was back to sleep all through the night again. We’ve been blessed that he is generally a very good sleeper, so it may take a little longer for different kids…but I’ve heard from many people that it works.
Kat G says
Jack was horrible from January-August of this year, honestly, when he turned 3, but I thought it had more to do with the transition from the crib to the twin bed — and a loooong transition where he needed the afternoon nap less and less. But he never got up in the middle of the night, it would just take us 3-4 hours every.dang.night to put him down.
Meg Murry says
Are you using overnight diapers? We found that they really are worth paying extra for, and they last a while considering that you only use 1-2 a day. We liked Huggies overnights better than any other brand, although things may have changed in the last year or 2.
Alternately, have you tried adding an insert to the diapers to make them more absorbent, like these? I never used them myself, but they have good reviews online. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4417048
And I’ll admit, we generally just pull them into our bed with us when/if they wake in the middle of the night, wait until they get into a bad habit of it, then spend a weekend breaking the habit. Not the best way to go long term, but when you are desperate for sleep, anything goes. My husband is apparently capable of retrieving a crying kid from his bed, bringing them to our bed and falling back asleep without remembering it, and being surprised to find said kid in the bed in the morning.
JMDS says
Any moms of babies/toddlers with eczema on here? Just wondering what you have tried and what works for your kids. I have an 8 month old with I would say moderate eczema. We are able to prevent severe flares, but he is always red in parts. We use california baby wash, cetaphil cream, aquaphor, and desonide. A&D and TriplePaste on the diaper area, and honest company diapers.
Just curious what has worked for other moms, and if your kids grew out of the eczema at a certain age, or grew into any food allergies.
Lyssa says
My almost 2 year old has had really dry skin and what I think is eczema all his life, though it seems better, he still gets some red and bumpiness. We’ve found that the Aveno Eczema Baby lotion, at least once a day and always after baths, helps a lot.
greenie says
When she was an infant we did a bath once a week with aveeno or mustela followed by lotion right away. This prevented all over dryness. We used mustela stelatopia daily to get her clean instead. For extremely dry and red areas we would put aquaphor on and then cover so she wouldn’t scratch anymore. Mustela products were a life saver for us.
Maddie Ross says
Aquaphor has worked best for us. We also use a humidifier at night, which has helped a lot. If it’s gotten worse lately, it’s probably the cold weather more than food. My daughter had terrible problems with it on her upper legs last year – to the extent we went to the doctor several times. It all went away over the summer though. It’s back this year (she’s 20 months now) but not as bad.
KJ says
My baby appears to have inherited my eczema. I hope she will grow out of it, but right now here is what’s working pretty well:
1) Limited baths. We do 3-4 week.
2) California Baby super sensitive on her hair and no soap applied directly to her body.
3) After the bath slather her head-to-toe in Aquaphor.
4) If any areas start looking red (most often her cheeks and chin) they get extra Aquaphor applications throughout the day.
5) Humidifier in room in addition to the whole-house humidifier we are running.
In the summer we did Cerave cream instead of Aquaphor, but when the weather got cold that clearly wasn’t sufficient.
hoola hoopa says
Similar. My oldest has fairly profound eczema. We’ve played around and landed on this, which is very successful for her.
1) Limit baths to once per week (wipe down other days with water or mild soap as needed), keep brief.
2) CA baby here, too! Once she was a toddler, we started adding to bath water for the bubbles, but we have to limit her time.
3) We do cerave with vasaline on top in high-need spots. We also use hydrocortisone (generally 1% OTC, but sometimes RX 2.5%) as needed.
4) Additional hydrocortisone, cerave, and/or vasaline as needed.
5) We really should, but I have a bizarre hatred of humidifiers. Instead, I leave a pot of water on the stove all day on low (when we’re home), which helps (less than a humidifier, but a little). I didn’t need to do anything when we lived in our 1920’s home, built to ‘breath’ (ie, no insulation), but our current home built to modern standards definitely needs more moisture in the winter.
JMDS says
This is interesting about the baths, because the National Eczema foundation (or whatever it is called) actually recommends bathing every day. I found that his eczema got worse when we cut back on baths.
hoola hoopa says
It can go either way, from my understanding. We were initially instructed to bathe briefly but often (at least once a day), but by accident discovered that rare baths made a dramatic improvement.
greenie says
not bathing often was key for us!
Newly pregnant says
Favorite parenting books? I could use something with a lot of basics, like, how to keep your baby alive.
OliveMac says
Hilarious. And, good question. I could use that, too. And if anyone attributes a sleeping baby to book rather than the Best Luck Ever, please share!
Goosebumpy says
I’ll second Bringing Up Bebe, and I 100% attribute my daughter’s awesome sleep habits to that book. Really.
mascot says
Heading Home with Your Newborn From Birth to Reality and also Food Fights- Dr. Shu was a pediatrician in my child’s pediatric group and I liked her attitude and advice.
I also like Baby 411 and Toddler 411.
Watch the Happiest Baby on the Block video to learn how to swaddle/sway/shush for a fussy baby.
For sleeping, the Ferber book, No Cry Sleep and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child all have some good stuff in them.
Maddie Ross says
I also read Happiest Baby on the Block, which was helpful to feel “prepared” (quotes because you will NEVER actually feel prepared) for soothing and sleep issues at the beginning. Be warned, I read Baby 411 sometime in the second trimester and just cried and cried and cried. It would need to eat ever 3-4 hours? And that’s from the last time they started eating, not finished? And that’s all night, too? I started freaking out about what I had done to myself. If you have a similar reaction, put it down. It’s not worth it. From there out I read about a month ahead in What to Expect the First Year. My child is 20 months and still alive and kicking.
Quailison says
I laughed out loud at this because I read the feeding chapter of 411 last night and had exactly the same reaction: every 2-3 hours? For potentially an hour?!!?! I also then proceeded to freak out about how miserable that sounded. I can’t decide if I should just set my expectations so low that reality will exceed them or put down the books and figure it out as we go, with troubleshooting.
KJ says
For the first couple of weeks my baby ate every hour all night. But don’t worry, that part doesn’t last very long. It feels like death when you’re in it, but I’m 8 months out now and it seems like it was the blink of an eye. You can do it!
Nonny says
Have no expectations. That will help things considerably. Based on my experience as a mother of just one baby, the only way I got through the first few months was by simply going with the flow. It is hard for us Type As but absolutely necessary.
Maddie Ross says
I promise when you’re in it, you just do and get through it. As KJ says, it doesn’t last for very long. And you will hardly remember it once you’re out of it. The fear of it was so much worse for me than the reality.
PregLawyer says
I just got the Baby 411 book from a coworker. He said that it was his and his doctor wife’s favorite baby book and described it as the “Cliff’s Notes” version of most prominent baby books. I’m just getting into it.
pockets says
Second Happiest Baby on the Block, although I can summarize as such: 1. swaddle your baby (but a velcro swaddle); 2. shush them loudly in his/her* ear; and if that doesn’t work 3. while the baby is lying down, pat/shake his/her tummy to get him/her to go to sleep.
If you’re just worried about keeping baby alive, it’s not that hard. If they cry, feed them. Change their diaper once every 2 to 3 hours, or after they poop. Buy a baby carrier so you can wear your newborn around the house.
The tricky stuff is getting them to sleep for more than 3 hrs at a stretch at night. I had the Best Luck Ever so I am no help.
*we really need a gender-neutral singular pronoun
JJ says
Baby 411 was my Bible for keeping the baby alive and calming me down when I thought the world was ending (he hasn’t pooped in a day!!!). Toddler 411 was very helpful once they got older.
For semi-helpful advice but an easy read, I’d also recommend The Girlfriend’s Guide to Babies. The Happiest Baby on the Block was incredibly helpful in soothing my colicky, acid-refluxy second born. And my doctor swears by, and we have very successfully used, Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child for sleep training.
Also, I wanted to hate Bringing Up Bebe – but I actually enjoyed it and thought there was interesting, useful information in there.
NewMomAnon says
Look at the books for new dads! I liked them, they assumed I knew nothing which was pretty much accurate. I also got a thick white paperback book and I think the title was “The First Year” or something boring like that, but it laid out basics like how to bathe your baby, how to handle illnesses and rashes, developmental milestones, etc. all without much agenda pushing.
And download the Wonderweeks app soon after baby is born – it has helped explain several of the huge sleep regressions we’ve had and I think it’s fascinating to know what baby is learning during each developmental leap.
Nonny says
Yes to Wonder Weeks – when my daughter is super fussy or irritable I think, “aha! bet there’s a developmental milestone coming up”, and lo and behold, the Wonder Weeks app tells me that’s the case. So helpful.
PregLawyer says
A really funny one for new dads is “Be Prepared: a Practical Handbook for New Dads.” My husband was chuckling out loud while he read it.
KJ says
My husband like that one too, and he said it actually had some useful, practical information too.
Spirograph says
My pediatrician gives everyone a copy of What to Expect the First Year. Between that, the Baby Care 101 class at the hospital, helpful advice from my mom and grandma (the best of which was “if you put him in his crib and take a shower, you can’t hear him crying”) and unsolicited but occasionally helpful advice from everyone else, I’ve managed so far.
I’ve heard good things about Happiest Baby on the Block from all of my friends and actually own a copy… but I totally lucked out with a pretty easy baby #1, so I never made time to read it.
pockets says
hahaha yes to inability to hear crying in the shower! So true.
hoola hoopa says
For newborns, absolutely Happiest Baby on the Block! I struggled to find something as helpful for older babies that addressed transitioning to solids etc, but there may be better options now.
Also, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Ferber. Even if you aren’t going to sleep train. Ferber’s known for his CIO, but that’s not all that’s in the book. I’ve read a lot of sleep books and this one had by far the best overall information and advice.
FWIW, Dr Sears was kind of helpful but kind of disappointing and I think a little bit wrong.
Most important: If a book just doesn’t jive with your experience with your baby (every parent/child is a unique pair!), then quit reading even if others felt it was helpful.
Newly pregnant says
Thanks, all! This is really helpful.
PinkKeyboard says
I’m 8weeks 1 day pregnant after IVF and on Wednesday we found out we lost the twin. I’m still pregnant (as far as I know) with our remaining baby who had a strong heartbeat and was a little ahead in growth, but we had already seen the heartbeats and it’s just really thrown me for a loop. Has anyone else every experienced this? I was worried about miscarriage before but now I’m extra worried because it happened to one of the babies in there now.
CHJ says
I’m so sorry to hear that you lost one of the babies. This exact same thing happened to one of my friends who did IVF. She lost one of the babies right around the 8 week mark, and went on to have a healthy, strong pregnancy with the other baby and delivered a healthy, full term daughter who is now a toddler. Another friend of mine got pregnant with twins naturally and also miscarried one of the twins, but went on to have a full term, healthy pregnancy with the surviving twin. I think it’s sadly common to miscarry one twin, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will lose the other twin.
I’ll be rooting for you and your baby – be sure to give us an update on how you’re doing!
mascot says
I have several friends who each had a vanishing twin. Both of them went on to have healthy pregnancies that resulted in healthy babies. My understanding is that this happens more than people think in a multiples pregnancy. I’m sorry for your loss.
Anonyc says
I’m so sorry for your loss. My friend lost a twin early on in her non-IVF (though chemically-assisted) pregnancy and now has an awesome 11-month-old. I think it was hard because they had just started getting okay with the idea of twins and because it’s always hard to loose a baby, but ultimately she felt some relief because the initial twin-finding had itself thrown them. Will also be cheering for you.
Maternity Leave says
Has anyone struggled with going out on maternity leave? I feel guilty even asking this question, but I’m starting to transition my workload for leave. Emotionally, the process has been much more difficult than I anticipated. I’m excited about the baby and being home with the baby, but it’s also been hard for me to let things go. Anyone else?
hoola hoopa says
I think that’s pretty normal. I’m kind of a control freak with my work, so I hate leaving my projects to whoever is covering.
If it makes you feel better, I don’t think about work at all when I’m on leave. It’s stressful in the month or so before hand (so much to finish! so many notes and instructions to write!), but when I walk out the door I’m done.
oil in houston says
ah, I’m going through that was we speak, one more week left… my ob actually said today that I might not deliver until mid Jan, and I actually turned to my husband to ask if I should push my leave and risk loosing vacation days, and then I came to the office, realised half the team wasn’t in even though it’s a critical time for us, so decided I’d stick to my original plan if only to be rested when baby arrives…
but yes, the guilt is there, and knowing other people will take care of ‘my’ files is hard….
noob says
I felt that way during the transition, and even dealt with things after I had gone on leave ( I took ‘off’ a week before my due date, since I was pretty miserable and exhausted). But, once the baby was here? I checked out with no guilt or emotion. For me, the baby really was such an abstract concept that I couldn’t wrap my head around not being responsible for my workload until she was here.
Also, what helped logistically is about a month before my due date I set up a spreadsheet with all of the ‘action items’ that were due during my leave and had notes by each one, so if I had to go out before my planned leave, I could hand it over to my supervisor and not worry about it.
Philanthropy Girl says
Anyone have any good suggestions for mommy & me workout videos? I hate giving up my precious time with the kiddo to go to the gym, but these preggo pounds have got to go!
CHJ says
Does the baby need to be involved in the workout? If not, T25 is a good, very fast (25 minutes) program, if you can find a time to squeeze it in.
Although for me, the only way I ever manage to exercise is taking the baby out for hikes/walks/runs in either a carrier or the jogging stroller. He likes being outside and I feel like we’re still doing something together.
Philanthropy Girl says
I’d love baby to be involved, but anything at home would be better than heading to the gym. I could do a 25 minute workout during an evening nap….
We like walking too but the weather (and lack of daylight) here in the northern midwest isn’t conducive to being outside either before or after work. Here’s wishing for spring!