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I’ve long admired this simple maternity dress from ASOS — it looks grown up and flattering, but fun and versatile. And the fact that it’s $53.06 doesn’t hurt. The black seems to be sold out right now, but it’s still available in this light blue/orange belt combo, as well as a rust orange/cobalt belt combo. It’s $53.06. ASOS Maternity Slash Neck Skater Dress with Belt
(Actually: it comes in a lot of colors, as well as different sleeve styles, some marked as low as $17. Nice!)
Sales of note for 12.7.23…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Holiday sale up to 50% off; up to 40% off selected designer styles
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your purchase & extra 15% off sweaters
- Banana Republic – 40% off your purchase; up to 40% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything & extra 20% off purchase; Gap Inc. cardmembers take extra 25% off
- Eloquii – $19-$49 holiday deals; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – 40% off your purchase with code; up to 50% off coats; up to 60% off present picks
- Lands’ End – Sleepwear from $19; 60% off everything else & free shipping (readers love the cashmere)
- Loft – 40% off your purchase plus extra 15% off
- Summersalt – Up to 60% off select styles (this reader-favorite sweater blazer is 40% off)
- Talbots – 40% off your regular-price purchase; 50% off all sweaters, coats, shoes & accessories
- Zappos – 34,000+ women’s sale items! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 60% off sitewide; holiday deals $5+; up to 70% off clearance
- Crate&kids – Free shipping sitewide; up to 50% off toy + gift event; free monogramming for a limited time only (order by 12/15)
- Graco – Holiday savings up to 35% off
- Hanna Andersson – PJs starting at $20; up to 50% off the Holiday Shop; free shipping on all orders
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 40% off your purchase with code; up to 60% off present picks
- Old Navy – 50% off pants for the family; clearance styles from $2.99; 30% off your order, even clearance
- Pottery Barn Kids – Holiday sale up to 50% off; free shipping on 1000s of items
- Target – BOGO 50% off select toys; 30% off kids’ & toddler sleepwear; buy 2 get 1 free kids’ books
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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?
MomAnon says
OK, I’ll “bite” – what is slash neck? Is it the new term for “boat neck in front, v-neck in back”?
And don’t say, “Jack the Ripper’s favorite style” or, “You see it all the time on Law & Order SVU”.
anon says
I would have guessed it was another name for a notch neckline – the smallish v-shaped cutout that you sometimes see in the center of a neckline. But this looks like something between a crewneck and a boatneck.
Bargain hunter says
Sorry for the early TJ – I’m expecting my second child this spring, who will be about 3.5 years younger than my first child. They’re the same sex, so I don’t think I need a lot in the way of clothes, etc., but I’m wondering whether there are any can’t-miss baby/toddler products that have come out in the past 4 years or so that I may have missed. I don’t need any gimmicky new stuff for the sake of buying new stuff, but can anyone recommend any game-changers that may have been introduced? (I was an early adopter of the rock-n-play, so I already have that one.) TIA!
EB0220 says
I would definitely get a new monitor if you haven’t already. There is a huge difference between my early 2012 and my mid-2014 monitor.
JJ says
Oh, agreed. Also, the battery on my new monitor lasts a lot longer than my old one (Motorola video monitor). I know there are baby onesies now that close via magnet (as opposed to millions of horrible snaps), but I don’t remember the name off the top of my head. If you’re willing to splurge, 4Moms comes out with some really cool stuff. We had the Mamaroo and loved it.
Meg Murry says
Dear self- your youngest is 3, and you probably aren’t going to have any more kids. Stop considering buying more items marketed as maternity wear, even if the empire waist probably would work on you.
Love, me.
Anyone else still have too much maternity wear still in rotation even though your kids are older? Most of my t-shirts are still my old navy maternity from 3-8 years ago, mainly because they are long enough for my long torso and don’t cling to my post-babies pooch. Even when I buy new ones, I keep reaching for the old ones just because I like them. I think its time for a closet purge …
JJ says
omg yes. And just like you, I wear my maternity tanks and t-shirts (the non-shirred ones, at least) because they’re actually long enough on me. I bought some cotton maternity dresses from Target a long time ago that eventually pilled and stretched out, and I actually converted those to nightgowns. I need to purge.
OliveMac says
Is there a good consignment store near you that takes maternity wear? Or, an online one? I used to have trouble getting rid of certain clothes because I felt like I “should” love them, or they “should” look nice, and just didn’t. Once I found a place the consign, the idea of getting some cash back really inspired some purging!
Burgher says
I’m about to pop (due tomorrow!) with my 2nd/last baby, and the first project I’m doing when I feel up to it on leave is getting all the maternity clothes ready for consignment. I never want to wear maternity clothes again. If I couldn’t make a decent amount back on them, I’d probably be burning them instead!
EB0220 says
I have some of the Target Liz Lange maternity tanks that are so long and comfortable! I’ve retired everything else but those tanks are staying forever. I have a long torso, too, so it’s awesome (and rare) to find shirts that are long enough.
PregAnon says
I’m not even 8 weeks, and the mom-judging has already begun! I’m part of a group of friends that does hiking / backpacking trips together, and we’ve been doing it for about 5-6 years. Well we’ve been working on a Scotland trip for summer of 2016, and I hinted that I might be bringing a little one along (would be about 10 months at the trip). Mind you, there are 30 people invited on this trip, we’re not sharing any transportation or rooms, and the hikes are at your own pace.
Mutiny ensued, and they all told me basically I was a horrible hypothetical parent and that flying with a baby is “torture” for them and you should never do it. I already spoke with my doctor, she said you can fly with them no problem, and baby benadryl helps with the ear popping. I have friends that have taken their very tiny kids on hiking adventures around the globe…but apparently I’m a horrible parent.
Newly pregnant says
Ugh, how terrible. People say the most obnoxious things. Your kid will be fine, you will be fine, and your friends will be fine. You are not a horrible parent. Babies have a right to be on a plane as much as any other passenger (and frankly, I’d rather be on a flight with a crying baby than an older kid who is kicking my seat, or sitting next to someone who doesn’t respect my personal space. At least with a crying baby you can pop in headphones and drown them out.). Assuming at least some of these friends are good friends they’ll love your kid and have fun playing with him/her on the trip. Plus, 10 month olds are fun.
POSITA says
It’s too bad they’re reacting like that. Do any of them have kids? I have a 17 month old and would not have had any issue flying with her as a 10 month old. The baby will be fine.
That said, I wouldn’t have had any fun taking my 10 month old hiking or backpacking. She was a new walker at that age and only wanted to be on the ground crawling and walking. She had no patience at all for being in a backpack or stroller. None. (Cue non-stop screaming.) She also was compulsive about putting stuff in her mouth so I would have spent the entire time pulling chocking hazard-sized rocks out of her mouth. We stuck to clean carpeted areas for a while at that age, for our sanity. It wasn’t that we couldn’t have done a trip like that, it’s that it wouldn’t have been fun for her or us. I know others with kids with different temperaments who loved doing that sort of thing with their babies. I think it’s a know your kid and know their age/stage thing.
PregAnon says
Weird thing – they ALL have kids. Grown now, but they have kids. Totally get that it is a “know your kid” thing, and I plan to backpack with the baby from the start, but they didn’t have to be so horrible about it. Kind of a bummer considering I thought they were my friends. Also my feelings are probably extra hurt because I’m so dang hormonal.
Meg Murry says
If all their kids are grown, is it possible they are (passive aggressively) trying to say THEY think the idea of your 10 month old on this trip is torture and want you to back out without them admitting it? Or fear you will back out once plans start to be made? If I was past the stage of small kids/infants and planning a big and expensive trip, I personally wouldn’t be all that excited about going with a baby, especially if you are sharing a house as a group – because my 10 month old didn’t sleep well when they were off routine, and there was a lot of middle of the night crying. If this had previously been an adults only or adults and teens trip, I could see not wanting a baby along.
Can you just ask them? Or maybe they thought you were trying to back out and were offering you an easy out?
Last, not sure where you are located but will you have enough vacation time for a big trip like that the same year you have a baby? I used up all my vacation time on maternity leave and then daycare flu & colds for the first 2 years.
Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but your friends aren’t totally off base in telling you to think this through carefully. However, it does NOT make you a horrible parent, I am not saying that in the least, and if they implied that, well, that’s pretty jerk-ish.
PregAnon says
That’s pretty much it – they just don’t want a kid there. But the thing is – we’re not sharing a house. We’re not sharing rooms. We’re not sharing planes or buses or any other kind of transportation. It is more of a “here is the hike we are doing, let’s all book at the same time for a discount and everyone can hike on their own schedule!” By “they” I mean two women out of the 30 person mixed group.
I have plenty of vacation time saved up for the trip, so that wouldn’t be a problem at all. And I totally get that there is planning involved, and if I happen to spawn a crappy traveler than I would have second thoughts. But they basically said “flying and traveling that much is torturing your kid, don’t do it, and you’re a bad parent if you do!”
Meg Murry says
Ugh, that’s awful. I might think some people are horrible parents, or even pretty mediocre ones (and you are NOT one of them, FYI) but I’d never actually tell someone that. Sorry the mom judgment is hitting you, hopefully they get over themselves and you dont have too much more.
Katarina says
That is too bad. I have flown twice with my 17 month old, and he has been fine. One of the flights was a little traumatic for me, and probably disruptive to other passengers, but two out of three flights have been fine for everyone. The last flight was at 15 months, and would have been easier at 10 months. I also would have been fine hiking with my son at ten months, he loved to be worn, and I did a lot of light hiking wearing him at that age.
Burgher says
That’s ridiculous. At that age, my son had no issues flying and absolutely loved being in the baby carrier or backpack. It was a great age for taking him everywhere. I kinda miss it now that he’s a willful toddler.
Spirograph says
+1
Also, this trip sounds like so much fun! As long as you have realistic expectations of your child’s attention span and don’t have strict timelines, I don’t see any problem with bringing him/her along.
anonymama says
Pretend that their comments are not judging you but that they really truly mean well and are speaking out of concern for you, your child, and your enjoyment of the trip. People say thoughtlessly unintentionally insulting things, and the best thing you can do is smile, nod, and let it roll off your back.
That said, I’ve done plenty of travelling with a small child at every stage, on airplanes, and on backpacking trips, and it was actually pretty fun. I have found that my kids usually fly surprisingly well, something about the hum of the airplane engines makes them sack out for far longer than usual. It might be helpful to take a shorter airplane trip before going to Scotland just to get a feel for how you and the baby handle it, and to get the routine down. We took my son backpacking when he was not quite 2 and we all had a good time. Of course it depends on the kid, but I think doing lots of things with kids while they are young also helps them get used to it, so they are better at it, and so on. At 10 months baby will be crawling, but probably not walking much.
pockets says
We took our 10 month old daughter on a week-long international trip and she handled it fine. All things considered she probably would have preferred to stay home, but she didn’t really get a vote and I definitely didn’t view it as torturing her.
KJ says
I agree with everyone that your friends are being horrible. I would also caution you, though, that you might feel differently about this trip once your kiddo is here. Before she was born my husband and I toyed with the idea of trying to take our little one to Rio to visit friends. But it turns out that we live and die by our baby’s schedule and that trip does not sound appealing at all now. We just got done with a week-long trip only two time zones away, and it was *really* tough. Baby is almost 10 months old, but she reverted to a newborn-type sleep schedule with only 30-60 minutes between night-wakings at times due to (I think) the combination of the time change, a disrupted schedule, separation anxiety, and over-stimulating activity.
Maybe your baby will be an intrepid traveler, and, if so, that’s great – travel away, and eff your judgey friends! But keep in mind that might not be the case and plan accordingly.
Anon S says
Calling all moms who have used the uppababy bassinet! So, I understand that there’s a mattress, and then a mattress cover for the UB bassinet. UB customer service tells us that neither are waterproof but the mattress is “water resistant”. For those moms who have used the UB bassinet, did you also insert some sort of waterproof pad between the mattress and the mattress cover? Thanks in advance! :)
JJ says
I didn’t. The mattress has a sort-of plastic lining around it that was sufficient for our needs. We did buy several of the mattress covers, though, so that there would always be plenty in case one was being washed.
Also, the cover will shrink slightly in the dryer, so it will be fight the next time you put it one the mattress, but I promise it can be done.
CHL says
Yes! We usually did a sheet/plastic sheet/another sheet sandwich because our two were leakers and it was nice to just take the top sheet and plastic off in the middle of the night when it was wet.
Anon S says
CHL – where did you get the plastic sheet? It doesn’t look like uppababy has one?
Momata says
PSA for the tall girls: Gap has a midi-length back zip ponte maternity dress with sleeves on clearance. With code, it came to $15. Reviewers say it was perfect for taller women.
Momata says
http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1027099&vid=1&pid=139362002
Spirograph says
Can we play book club for a second? I made it most of the way through “Bringing up Bebe” (pretend there are appropriate accent marks there) over the weekend and really enjoyed it as an anthropological study and an easy read that validated a lot of how I feel about motherhood that is out of step with prevailing attitudes among women in my social circle. I’m going to experiment on my weeks-old daughter with that sleep training idea… I also want to move to France for the child care now. Anyone else read it?
Newly pregnant says
Yes, I read it and generally enjoyed it. I also thought that it aligned with my currently-vague-and-general parenting philosophy. My husband also read it and thought the same. Both of us are on board with the sleep training idea!
My (and my husband’s) only real gripe about the book was the way it seemed to put down the author’s husband as lazy, or emotionally unavailable, etc. Of course, she didn’t always portray herself in the best light either, so perhaps she was trying to be fair in her assessment of their faults, but I didn’t feel like it added anything to the narrative. Those sections reminded me of my friends who like to complain about their husbands as a form of making conversation – just not my style.
Ciao, pues says
A fried offered this book to me but I haven’t yet read it (I have a tendency to get overwhelmed by parenting books/ blogs/ advice). Can you describe the basic tenets/cliff’s notes version?
CPA Lady says
Cliffnotes version= the French believe their children are capable of following basic rules from a very young age. They are capable of being patient, will eat a wide range of food at set times during the day without endless snacking, sleep through the night from the age of 2-3 months old, and behave in public. Adults and children need time apart. Adults need adult time, and kids need time on their own to just chill out and explore their world without constant lessons and activities.
It’s basically anti-helicopter parenting, saying that kind of intensity is crazy and makes everyone unhappy.
She also talks a lot about the systemic differences between France and America that make this kind of thing possible, especially a really amazing daycare system in France.
PregAnon says
In that case – I like it and I’ll read it! Sounds very much like how I was raised.
Newly pregnant says
It’s really more like a story of an American woman who meets a guy, moves to Paris, and raises her kids there. Her husband is not French either (British, I think).
It describes the ups and downs of raising kids in France, which was very different than what she expected, especially coming from an American background. I would not say it’s a really heavy parenting book. It’s a story, with little lessons that she picked up in France. For example, how the French get their kids to sleep through the night at 3-4 months, or how the French get their kids to eat healthy, well-rounded meals. She also discusses a general French philosophy which is that, in a nutshell, kids are kids and expectations are set accordingly. As CPA Lady mentioned, children are not the center of the universe. Kids are taught that they need to be a member of society.
I know some people have said that the book puts down American parenting, but I didn’t really get that sense.
ECR says
One of the best pieces of advice in this book is to offer your kids a fruit/vegetable course before the main meal. It makes total sense to offer the healthiest elements of the meal first, when the kids are hungriest. We do this with our ten month old and it works really well. I offer cut up fruit in the morning before the rest of the breakfast. At dinner, our daughter gets broccoli, etc. while I’m prepping the rest of the meal.
EB0220 says
That is brilliant. New dinner plan!
SC says
DH and I do this to ourselves, at least at dinnertime :-)
CPA Lady says
That was the book that convinced me that I could be a mother after all. One of the amazon reviews of it said something about how in America parenting is constantly combative and all-consuming and that perfectly summed up why I was afraid of having a child.
As a culture we just accept that children are the center of the universe, we’ll never have a private minute or time for ourselves because we are constantly bowing to the whims of children, whom we view as tiny irrational tyrants. Realizing it didn’t have to be that way was very eye opening for me. And I actually think the French respect their children more than we do when they expect more of them. They believe they are capable of far more than we do.
FWIW, I did le pause from the beginning (le pause= give your baby the opportunity to learn to self-soothe rather than rushing in at the slightest little noise), and my daughter was sleeping through the night, 8 or 9 hours a night, by about 3 months old.
Spirograph says
I’m glad to hear it worked for you! We unwittingly did le pause with my son — he slept in a crib in his own room from the time we got home. Our room is just across the hall, but far enough that we didn’t hear him unless he ramped up to full-blown crying (when, obviously, someone would go comfort him). He slept through the night very early, but it didn’t prevent future sleep regressions. I have to be more intentional about it this time because I don’t want new baby to wake up the toddler, who is in the throes of a sleep regression brought on by new sibling, so I’ve temporarily taken up residence with her in the guest room and get the full brunt of not-peaceful baby sleep.
I feel exactly as you do about the paradigm of all-consuming parenthood. I had a happy, fulfilling life before I had kids; obviously I want to keep the aspects of it that made he happy, so the kids can’t take over all my time. I love them, but I also love me, and my husband! Along those lines, there’s also an interesting point in the book about the French tending to let kids be kids, and “awaken” and discover things independently and without pressure. Amen to that! — but I am definitely in the minority around here; the local moms listserv is full of people looking for music lessons and phonics tools for their 2 year olds, and my friends’ houses have enough toys to stock 3 daycares. I just can’t. I am the mom in the anecdote who brings only one ball on a picnic figures her son will have fun rolling in the grass (and he does, so why put in extra effort?). It made me feel better to know that there is a whole country out there where I’d be normal.
KJ says
I read while pregnant and liked it a lot. But after having my kid I realized that those techniques are taking place in a certain context, so I’m not sure it really translates directly to parenting here and definitely not for every kid. For example, she talks about how French parents don’t give kids snacks all the time. That’s great until your kid sees all the other American kids getting snacks at daycare or after soccer practice or whatever. Are you really going to be the parent that makes them sit out of snack time because that’s what French kids do? Also, I did “le pause” and my baby was sleeping 12 hours through the night at one month…until the 4 month sleep regression hit, followed by sleep training, followed by a million colds, teething, etc. It’s not as easy as she makes it sound.
I do think it’s valuable for the overall attitude about how mothers and “the couple” are just as valuable as the baby and need attention too. And I have adopted the “banish guilt” mantra for my own use.
KJ says
Also, if you liked Bringing Up Bebe, I highly recommend Baby Meets World by Nicholas Day. It’s a little more academic but a very fascinating look at different child-rearing practices across time and around the world.
Spirograph says
Thanks! I reserved it at my library. :) There’s a movie called “Babies” that had kind of the same idea on a smaller scale… I loved the juxtaposition of American helicopter parenting with Mongolian parents bringing baby home on a motorcycle and leaving him leashed to a bedpost all day so he couldn’t get into too much trouble while they were out tending the goats or whatever.
Newly pregnant says
I agree that some of the techniques (specifically, the snacking one) would be more challenging to implement in the U.S. than in a society that does not promote snacking.
RDC says
Yes! I read this a while ago – pre-baby – and remember it making a lot a sense at the time. It just seemed like a much lower-stress approach to parenting. I’ll have to go back and read it again now that we have a little one.
Incidentally, I second the approach of the baby sleeping across the hall and doing ” le pause.” Like Spirograph said, we don’t hear a lot of the little noises the baby makes (we turn off the sound on the monitor but leave the doors partially open), so he usually goes back to sleep on his own. We haven’t hit the 4 month sleep regression yet, so I assume there will be bumps in the road, but for now it’s working well.
mascot says
Not a book, but a magazine. On NextIssue, I started reading Today’s Parent. It’s a Canadian parenting magazine and it seems like some of the articles have a bit more “depth” than what I’ve seen in the US magazines. The advice given takes a slightly more hands off approach to child-rearing which is nice. And it doesn’t have “24 crafts to do with your kids” material in every issue.
Tunnel says
I loved this book and attitude towards parenting. I especially connected with the description of “good parenting” in America being related to how much a parent was sacrificing for their child like a martyr (e.g. I don’t sleep because I want to watch baby’s every second) versus parents in France putting themselves and the couple unit as an equally important part of parenting.