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This highly-rated, hand-washable cardigan looks lovely for working moms. I like the bit of stitching and chiffon detailing — lovely — and the shape strikes me as more flattering than an unshaped cardigan, yet still loose enough to be pooch-friendly. It’s available in four colors for $49.95 (was $89!) at Anthropologie. Aral Cardigan (L-2)Sales of note for 3.28.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
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- Nordstrom: Give $150 in gift cards, earn a $25 promo card (ends 3/31)
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- 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 entire site
- Hanna Andersson – 30% off all swim; up to 30% off HannaJams
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 40% off sitewide; 50% off select swim; 50% off kids’ styles
- Old Navy – 50% off Easter deals
- Target – 20% off Easter styles for all; up to 30% off kitchen & dining; BOGO 50% off shoes & slippers for the family;
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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?
AEK says
Does anyone remember the mall store The Weathervane? Early-mid 1990s? This photo reminds me exactly of an outfit I had from there… long floral skirt, top, cinched cardigan. Probably little back boots or oxfords.
POSITA says
Yes! It does look like a Weathervane outfit.
Everyone is bad says
How do you respond to a 3 year old who says “Mommy is bad”, “Little brother is bad”, “Sitter is bad”, etc.? I’ve been responding “That’s not nice” or “Little brother is NOT bad”, which is not working. He only does this at home and I am sure he does it to get a rile out of me. Ignore him? Other strategies?
Maddie Ross says
If correcting doesn’t work, and he’s doing it to get attention, I would definitely just ignore. And probably emphasize how good he is more, too.
mascot says
Sounds like he doesn’t have the vocabulary yet to express how he really feels. eg- little brother stole my toy, that wasn’t nice/hurt my feelings, therefore little brother is bad because he makes me feel bad. So instead of just saying, no that’s not true, try to draw out the motivation. (Daniel Tiger actually has some good episodes on using your words and identifying your feelings). If we are working on reacting better to something, we play act with stuffed animals and let my child play the parent. It seems to help see his behavior from a different angle.
hoola hoopa says
Agreed. When he says it, repeat it in a rephrased manner. It makes him feel heard and understood, and teaches a more appropriate/accurate way of saying it. (Don’t argue – at least not until you’ve confirmed that you’ve heard his point of view).
Him: “Mommy bad.”
You: “You’re mad that I turned off the tv.”
Him: “Brother is bad.”
You: “Brother tore your book, and that makes you sad.”
As my kids get older, I have them start to repeat/rephrase themselves, but a 3 year old is still learning.
FWIW, I focus on naming an action rather than a person. I know some parents who discourage any ‘bad’ language, but I really feel it’s perfectly acceptable and normal to want to call something undesirable! Same for feelings vs people. (“He is feeling shy.” vs “He is shy.”)
POSITA says
My brother went through a phase at three where he just appended “poop” after everyone’s name who he was mad at, i.e., Mama-poop, Dada-poop, Ashley-poop, etc. Now we laugh and say that it was his version of a sh!t list.
What does he say if you ask him why he things that so-and-so is bad? Can he give you a reason?
OP says
Thanks ladies. His remarks come out of the blue and are not in response to anything that anyone is doing. He actually has an extensive vocabulary so he could easily explain himself, but when I ask him WHY X is bad, he just says ” because X is bad.” So..not too helpful!
Anon says
i found this happened with my kids when they were trying to understand concepts – we tried to emphasize that ‘little brother isn’t bad, he did a bad thing’ – assuming that applies to the context (eg. hitting/pushing). You could also try saying that “X is not Bad. Y is Bad” where “Y” is an example of something that is bad so that it gives him a concrete example of what the word ‘bad’ means. So like “Mommy is not bad. Hitting is bad.”
Anonymous says
I’m big on the book, How To Talk so Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk (check out the free preview on amaz0n). That book discusses how important it is NOT to undermine the child — when the child says, “X is bad,” for you to say, “oh, why do you feel that?” which it seems you have already done. Asking more questions — does X hurt you? does X make you sad? does X share with you? does X play nicely with you? Sounds like X does good things, not bad things — might help your little one see what it means to call something bad. Hope this helps.
sfg says
What do you think is the most versatile portable highchair-like contraption? The Fisher Price booster seems pretty good, but then I see people out and about with one of the types that clip on to a table. Just trying to figure out what we might use the most as my kiddo is ready to sit at a table with us but isn’t necessarily ready for a restaurant highchair. (Rather, I’m petrified that she will pitch forward and smash her nose on the table somehow.)
thanks :)
AEK says
This is the one I have my eye on:
http://www.diapers.com/p/inglesina-fast-table-chair-black-1008771?qid=2848713946&sr=1-2
D. Meagle says
I have this one. It is okay so long as the table is flat with no inner rim, or flat but not too thick, because you need to be able to lock on and the clamp needs to be somewhat far in (hence the rim being an issue) but it does not open THAT wide (hence the thickness being an issue). I cannot use it at my parents or my in-laws.
Also, from my experience, the pitching forward can really only be mitigated by shoulder straps (not just a lap strap), and since most of the travel chairs lack shoulder straps, its no difference to use a travel chair or a restaurant provided one.
I have the FP booster and think its the most versatile. And easy to clean.
sfg says
Ah – for some reason I thought the FP booster had a 5 point harness, but now I see that’s not the case.
Mary says
The inglesina one is great. We use it at home too – my baby loves it.
Anonymous says
Honestly, I’d just use the restaurant high chairs. We use them starting at the same age we use home high chair. Until then, parent lap.
POSITA says
Any suggestions for how you adapted your child care when you had kid no. 2?
We’re just starting to think about options. We’d love it if we didn’t have to use different caregivers, which would mean two pick ups and drop offs and different holiday/vacation schedules. We’d like to keep our active oldest (3y0 when I return to work) in a FT preschool program and put our new baby (6 mo when I return to work) in a situation with a low caregiver to child ratio–1:2 would be preferred, but this isn’t available at a center.
And then there’s the budget. We’d like to be reasonable, but costs are crazy. We’re looking at almost 5K a month for two in daycare at our current center. For this budget we have other options–nanny, au pair, home-based center. These options would require pulling the 3 yo from FT daycare and putting her in some sort of PT preschool. After being in FT care, I think she’d be bored (and thus annoying) at home most of the day with a nanny or au pair and a baby, especially since this situation would start during the tough fall/winter months. We could put just the baby with a nanny or au pair and leave the 3yo where she is, but then we have the two schedule, two drop off problem.
Has anyone found any creative solutions? What works for your family?
sfg says
Putting the problem of cost aside, with a nanny or au pair for the baby and leaving the toddler in FT daycare/preschool, you would eliminate the two drop off problem.
POSITA says
Unfortunately, I think that’s out of our budget. We could probably swing a nannyshare for the baby, but then we’d sometimes have two drop offs and we’d still have two different schedules.
Nannyshare says
I have experience with both ways, and can share our experiences. When I first went back to work, we cut my older child’s hours to part time and had a nanny pick-up (so she had new baby in the morning, and both in the afternoon). It worked very well in some (important) respects – we always had a “back-up” for when my older son couldn’t go to school -if he was sick, the school was closed due to weather or whatever. She also was able to do a lot more around the house, which kept me sane. Laundry, cooking all the food for baby, and prepping food for us. But, I didn’t love the nanny (we had a huge language issue), so it didn’t work. Key factor that you mentioned — my son, who was 2.5 at the time, also *hated* being taken out of school midday after going full days previously. If he got along better with the nanny, I don’t think it would have been as big of an adjustment, but again – the language barrier meant that he couldn’t understand the nanny and she couldn’t understand him. Plus new baby = miserable 2.5 year old.
So, after that false start, we ended up going with a nannyshare for younger and keeping my son in school full time. It is a marginal cost savings, but overall, it’s not a huge difference. But, we couldn’t keep my son in school full time with a nanny full time, which is how we spent a few weeks before we could start the nannyshare. On a day to day basis it works great. We exclusively host, and the nanny arrives before we have to leave, so we never worry about getting the baby ready or two pick up/drop offs. We love the other family, and it’s a joy to have their child at our house. But, we have no back up for our older son, and I miss not having to worry about the myriad days off during the school year. The house is messier, there are often a lot of people underfoot, and working from home is basically impossible with all the chaos. Also, it can be a tough, delicate balance to get the kids on the same schedule, and nannyshares can be minefields if everyone’s expectations are not aligned. Also, now that the “baby” is a little older, I think it’s a better set-up. The nanny is able to take the two same-aged babies to activities geared toward them; the younger isn’t being dragged along on the older’s schedule.
Nannyshare says
That last part is confusing. I meant to say that – notwithstanding some downsides – we have found the nannyshare and FT daycare set-up to be even better as time has gone on. As the nannyshare babies are getting older, they get to attend activities and go on outings that are geared for their age and schedule. If my now 3.5 year old was coming home midday, my younger child would not be able to attend the same classes/go on the same outings he attends now with his nannyshare buddy.
POSITA says
Thanks so much for the input. We had a nannyshare for almost 2 years with our first and it really worked well for us. If we can find the right share partner, keeping the 3 yo in preschool and using a nannyshare for the baby might be the best option. I think you (and others) are right that we shouldn’t take the 3 yo out of FT care. She really thrives on the structure and activity.
NewMomAnon says
Only one kiddo here, but I would strongly lean the way of the nanny/au pair for both kiddos during the fall and winter. That would protect the new baby from the awful daycare bugs your older one would bring home (and fewer sick days for you!), and could give you more flexiblity around holiday daycare schedules, etc. Have the nanny or au pair set up playgroups for the older kid and create a structured day for her; baby won’t care. Nanny can bring older child to PT preschool (or other enrichment; music class, dance class, gymnastics, karate, swimming, whatever). Then you would also have no drop off or pickup.
Lorelai Gilmore says
We tried that. My older child – after having been in FT preschool – loathed it. She wanted to be in preschool with her friends. No amount of enrichment fixed it. And the nanny had a hard time managing Older Child’s need for social enrichment together with New Baby’s need for napping.
anon says
No creative solution here. We just sucked up the cost of our center, for a few reasons: (1) don’t underestimate the convenience of a single dropoff/pickup, one calendar to follow etc. – now dealing with one in elementary school, juggling multiple calendars is a nightmare, (2) our center is extremely popular, and the waiting list for all but the infant room is very long – we wouldn’t have been guaranteed space when we wanted it, even with a sibling and (3) we loved our center and didn’t want to transition our oldest to a new place at the same time as introducing a new sibling.
Wow says
We went through the same considerations when our youngest was born 10 months ago. My 2.5 year old has been in daycare since he was 6 months old, he loves it there and so do we, and I thought it would be very disruptive to pull him out (even part-time). I know he would get very bored. I also think there is so much upheaval going on when a sibling arrives and we thought it best to give our older son some continuity by keeping him in the same daycare. I think a 3 year old needs to be in a structured “school” environment. I’d also consider that if he is with a nanny part time and you’re trying to establish a good sleep schedule with the baby (naps at home in the crib, etc.), your nanny is going to be limited in how much she can take your son for classes, to the playground, etc. (If you’re fine with your baby napping in a stroller then ignore this advice).
We pay for both in daycare. It’s $5500 a month. Insane, but we think of it as a short-term issue because the kids will be in public school soon enough. If you like your current daycare and there is a spot for the infant, I would strongly consider that as an option. My kids are currently in two different daycares (bc of a waiting list at my older son’s daycare) and it is a logistical nightmare. But we’re doing it.
Navy Attorney says
I second the structured environment for the 3 year old. We’re sending both to an in-home this year – baby and 3 year old. But I feel like our 3 year old is a little old to not be in some sort of part-time preschool where she’s not the center of attention. The plan for the 3 year old in September is full-day preschool 3 days of the week, and to the in-home two days a week. It will cost more; we get a huge discount for the second at our in-home. As I type, I wonder if I can start that arrangement this January…
POSITA says
Thanks for the input! It sounds like FT care for the 3 yo is the way to go. I’m not sure what we’ll do with the baby, but it does narrow down our options.
Butter says
As I’m starting to plan my maternity leave, I’m getting a bit nervous about how it’s going to unfurl. While I have my gripes, in general I love my job and am deeply committed to a project I’ve been working on for the last few years, which is scheduled to launch a few weeks before I’m due to come back. I’m trying to make sure all of the ducks are in order so that it will be in good shape when I do leave the office, but I’m having such a hard time envisioning being 100% disconnected during my leave. How did you ladies handle this? Is it completely unreasonable to think I might occasionally check in or follow developments along on email? I know the first few weeks are impossible, but I’m thinking more of after the first 4-6 weeks (I’m currently shooting to take 10-12 weeks).
Also along these lines I have Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak and The Milk Memos on my reading list (along with Unfinished Business). Any feedback on these or recs for others?
Maddie Ross says
I’m not sure what type of work you do, but as an attorney with my own clients, I was not at all 100% disconnected. I checked my email a couple of times a day (if nothing else, to clean things out and to forward things on to others to handle) throughout my entire leave. To be honest, I actually found it easier to check in and be involved in the first 2-4 weeks. Things hadn’t moved very far along since I was last in the office. The baby slept A LOT (not for very long each time, but there was some sleep after every feeding and I do not nap well, which left a fair amount of down time during the day). I thought it got harder around 6 weeks when she began to get more active and I could get out more during the day, and when I was farther removed from the day-to-day at the office.
Wow says
We went through the same considerations when our youngest was born 10 months ago. My 2.5 year old has been in daycare since he was 6 months old, he loves it there and so do we, and I thought it would be very disruptive to pull him out (even part-time). I know he would get very bored. I also think there is so much upheaval going on when a sibling arrives and we thought it best to give our older son some continuity by keeping him in the same daycare. I think a 3 year old needs to be in a structured “school” environment. I’d also consider that if he is with a nanny part time and you’re trying to establish a good sleep schedule with the baby (naps at home in the crib, etc.), your nanny is going to be limited in how much she can take your son for classes, to the playground, etc. (If you’re fine with your baby napping in a stroller then ignore this advice).
We pay for both in daycare. It’s $5500 a month. Insane, but we think of it as a short-term issue because the kids will be in public school soon enough. If you like your current daycare and there is a spot for the infant, I would strongly consider that as an option. My kids are currently in two different daycares (bc of a waiting list at my older son’s daycare) and it is a logistical nightmare. But we’re doing it.
grey falcon says
I agree with the above that the amount of disconnect can vary widely. There is actually a fair amount of downtime involved in caregiving, if downtime is defined as “not tending to the baby’s immediate need,” but how much, how it’s broken up, and what you can do with it is very individual. And hard to plan for– your baby may have higher or lower needs and you won’t know until s/he arrives, and whatever the needs, they are certain to change with time.
Structure as though you won’t be able to do anything. But when it comes to estimating what you might do, think more about yourself. Are you okay letting the kid play on a mat while you answer emails? Are you the sort of person who can jump in mid-stream to a chain of emails while running on little sleep and only having five minutes and make a useful contribution? In the main, if it’s important to you, you’ll be able to make some time for it even when you are the full-time caregiver. But the quantity and quality of that time may be variable and hard to count on, so set yourself up to succeed by planning for the worst case scenario. If the launch is really 8-12 weeks out, you’ll have plenty of time to figure out if you can usefully jump back in after your kiddo is here.
EB0220 says
One thing to consider is that you may not be allowed to work while on leave. In my company, the first 6-8 weeks of paid maternity are actually short-term disability, and that requires that you do zero work. We were given very strict orders not to do anything while on leave.
Butter says
Thanks all, this is helpful. And EB0220, that’s definitely a concern, as I will be using short-term disability for at least a portion of it. It sounds like I’ll have to play it by ear, but this makes me a bit more optimistic.