Everyone Thursday: Shawl-Collar Sweater Jacket

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Shawl Collar Sweater: Alfani Shawl-Collar Sweater JacketMacy’s has a number of cute sweater jackets right now, including this machine washable shawl jacket. I like that it has a bit more structure than a drapey cardigan but still seems very easy to wear. It’s $45, sizes XS-XL. Alfani Shawl-Collar Sweater Jacket (L-2)

Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
  • J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
  • Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interestworking mom questions asked by the commenters!

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Can I ask how many sleeps you can get out of a swaddle or sleepsack before it needs to be washed? We ended up with ~5-8 swaddle-type of things (swaddlemes, nuroo swaddlers, a couple of sacks, and A+A swaddle blankets) and it seems like overkill but then I didn’t know if they are like baby clothes and 1 wear = 1 wash (assuming they get dirty) or like sheets where you might get a few uses until mess.

How many outfits do I realistically need for a baby in each size range? I would like to keep things minimal, but also don’t want to constantly be doing laundry because kid only has a week’s worth of outfits. Also, I realized yesterday that I have a bazillion 3 month onesies and a bazillion sleep sacks/swaddlers, but I only have 3 pairs of actual pajamas (like the footie/sleeper things). Do I actually need pajamas for a baby or can I just use onesies, socks, and sleep sacks/swaddlers?

What are some of your best “working mom life-hacks”?

I had an aha moment over the weekend around setting out all the kids clothes the night before… this seems so obvious but I had never thought to do it! Any others?

So… I got referred to a RE to start looking into fertility treatments. I’m actually really excited – I’d almost given up hope of having a baby, even though it’d only been a year… it had just lost the excitement of omg, we’re going to parents!

How did any of your ladies who’ve been through this manage the time off from work? Already I’ve had 2 OB and 1 fertility appointment in the span of a month, and I assume given how much monitoring there is involved in IUI, plus any pre-IUI tests like HSG, etc, I’ll be having to miss a lot of work. I have zero worries about actually getting my work done; yesterday for example I just worked from home after my appointment.

I’m more concerned because my boss is a man, and not at all a family type, who always wants to know my whereabouts, and made noise when I asked for an afternoon off after a dental surgery (like, really? Do you want me drooling and bleeding all over the office, cracked out on pain meds??). I’m concerned he’s going to start questioning why I have so many doctor’s appointments…

How do you all deal with kid stuff taking over your house? Especially after the holidays, I’m feeling smothered in our small-ish space with the millions of toys, gifts, hand-me-downs that they received. I feel like I can’t Marie Kondo the stuff because *most* of it does not bring me joy, but these things were gifts and with these gifts I feel like there is some emotional attachment by the giver . . . wanting it to be used and wanting to see it being used.

We have tried to nip this in the bud, asking for experiences, consumables, etc. (We would like to scrap gifts almost completely, but that plan just won’t fly.) I think there is a generational gap between us and our parents, who seem to believe that kids should have a hundred toys to open on Christmas morning. This all makes me feel guilty, ungrateful, and wasteful. So how do you deal?

Our kid (10 mo) has been “using” a sippy cup for about three months. He loves using it, and knows how to suck the liquid out. But he just spits it out! Doesn’t matter if it’s water or formula. Sometimes he’ll swallow a little bit, but mostly … out it comes. Same with an open cup — he knows how to get the liquid in his mouth but then spits it all out instead of swallowing (often while grinning widely). Is this, like so many other things, just some thing that he’ll eventually figure out? We realized he was still on the newborn-flow bottle nipples so have replaced with faster flow in case he is having trouble dealing with the fast flow of liquid from a cup, in case that was the issue, but it doesn’t seem to be. I am leaning towards “this will sort itself out in time,” but wondering if others of you have gone through this.

My almost-2 year old has abruptly begun waking up an hour earlier. He’d been sleeping 7 – 7 without much incident for at least a year, and I relied on that morning hour between 6 and 7 to get some work done from home and/or to get myself ready for work. I’d really prefer not to adjust my morning routine to begin at 5, but I can unless someone here has some good advice to get him to sleep in longer …

I did try moving his bed time back to 730 or 8 (difficult because he still becomes tired and cranky around 7) but he still wakes up at 6. Is this just the new normal I need to adjust to, or is there any way to get him to sleep in again?

For reference,

So I’m not good at maternity leave. Although I love my kid and am very happy to spend all day with said kiddo, I miss my job and miss the structure that going to work provides to me.

Let me first say that I know just how lucky I am to be able to take any time at all off. Part of what I am having a hard time with in admitting this to people around me is that I am one of the rare, fortunate people in the US who is able to financially and professionally manage more than a bare bones leave.

After several years’ worth of hoarding vacation and sick time, I had planned on a lengthy leave; however, I’m now wishing I could go back sooner. I don’t think think this is an option due to my husband’s work travel schedule and daycare waiting lists, but man… going back even 2-3 days a week would really be nice.

I don’t know what I’m looking for… advice? sympathy? reassurance that I’m not a crappy ungrateful mother?