The Best Blogs, Newsletters, and More for Mamas-To-Be

11/13/2014 by Kat 18 Comments

This post is from the early days of CorporetteMoms, when most of the content was in the form of email newsletters. We’re sharing this one again so that more moms and moms-to-be can weigh in and share tips!

I’ve already rounded up some of my favorite pregnancy books — but it took me longer to find blogs, newsletters, and other resources to help me with the lifestyle changes that were coming. These are some of my favorite, must-read resources — some for maternity/mom fashion, some for registry prep, and some for just general working-mom-lifestyle thoughts. Readers, which resources have you found to help you through this life transition?

BabyCenter – Put in your due date, get a weekly email telling you how your baby is growing. The site has other helpful resources, like a pregnancy weight-gain tracker (should you dare).
Baby Bargains – This is a great book as you’re setting up your registry and nursery — be sure to get the latest edition. There are reviews on specific products, stores, even the registry process — and the authors are very up-to-date on the latest product recalls. (The website offers additional information and tools, most available at no charge.)
Baby Cheapskate – Great deals! I’m particularly a huge fan of her “toys that actually get played with” lists, updated regularly.
Hellobee – Multiple mamas blog about their experiences. There are SAHMs, WAHMs, WOHMs… There’s also a great forum section filled with smart ladies.
Lucie’s List – I only found this one during my second pregnancy, but her week-by-week emails are super helpful to give you the real mom’s approach to pregnancy issues and registry issues.
The Mom Edit (formerly Ain’t No Mom Jeans) – The bloggers here are mostly past the baby years, but there are still some great posts in maternity/postpartum fashion in the archives. The fashion aesthetic is much more casual, but it’s fun to see real mamas putting kid-friendly looks together with a laid-back approach.
Motherlode – The NYT’s blog — excellent.
PopSugar Moms – I liked the news roundups here the best.
Pregnant Fashionista – This blog has a great, fashion-focused approach to pregnancy. The author of this blog has a great eye, a rich taste, and details on all of the haute lines of maternity wear. She bore four children in six years, so she definitely knows her stuff.
Working Mother – I started getting this magazine before I was pregnant, and highly recommend it to every working mother.

Readers, which favorite blogs, newsletters, and more have you found to help you through your early motherhood planning?

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N.B. PLEASE KEEP YOUR COMMENTS ON TOPIC; threadjacks will be deleted at our sole discretion and convenience. These substantive posts are intended to be a source of community comment on a particular topic, which readers can browse through without having to sift out a lot of unrelated comments. And so, although of course I highly value all comments by my readers, I’m going ask you to please respect some boundaries on substantive posts like this one. Thank you for your understanding!

Filed Under: Parenting, Pregnant, Working Mom

“Family-Friendly” Jobs — What Are They, and What Questions to Ask to Find One

11/06/2014 by Kat 25 Comments

Here’s a fun question for the hive: What do you consider a “family-friendly” job? Have you changed your career or job to seek one? What questions did you ask while interviewing — and which ones do you wish you’d asked? Do different perks and accommodations matter as your child moves through childhood — you need one set of things if you have small children, and another set of perks and allowances if you have older kids? I’m curious to hear what readers say.

For my own $.02, I went from a BigLaw job to a nonprofit with an 8-person staff, thinking it would be a family-friendly job. I wound up leaving after two years to focus on the blog, but part of me thinks I would have ended up leaving anyway because, looking back, I think the job would have been perfect for someone with older kids but not young ones. The staff was so small that not only were we not covered by FMLA, but it would have been difficult to imagine taking anything but a very basic and quick maternity leave of 6-8 weeks — there was no one else to give my work to! Furthermore, the 9-5 hours, which seemed so great compared to BigLaw, would have been difficult to manage with daycare drop-off and pickup, and last minute scrambles in the event of a sick kiddo would probably have grated on my boss’s nerves if they occurred too often. There was travel required for the job, as well… and at the end of the day the salary would not have been enough to sustain our lifestyle in NYC.

Maternity Monday: Maternity Tights

10/06/2014 by Kat 57 Comments

Hmmn: I am slightly alarmed (for you guys, at least) that my favorite pair of maternity tights — ASSETS by Sara Blakley — seems to be really hard to find right now. Amazon still has them, though, so stock up. Ladies, which are/were your favorite maternity tights? The tights are $18 (plus shipping, alas) at Amazon. ASSETS by Sara Blakely Marvelous Mama Terrific Tights

Edited to add: D’oh, of course they’re available at Target, which may even be where I bought mine originally…

Filed Under: Maternity, Maternity Fashion, Recent Recs

Pregnancy Books: Some of My Favorites

10/01/2014 by Kat 32 Comments

I read a ton of books during my first pregnancy, and thought I’d shout out a few of my favorites here…

What To Expect When You’re Expecting: For some reason, I considered this book the “duh, everyone gets that book for pregnancy,” and so it took me by surprise when I realized how hated this book is by many in the pregnancy industry. As near as I can understand it, the first edition of the book may have had harsh advice, and I’ve often heard people describe the book as “fear-mongering.” That said, I loved the fourth edition. Far from fear mongering, I thought it was a gentle warning of what I might expect each month, or a reassuring explanation of what I was already experiencing. I only read one month at a time up until about 32 weeks, when a little scare made me think I should at least skim the final chapters to see what to expect of the labor/postpartum experience.

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Filed Under: Parenting, Pregnant

Working Through Your First Trimester

09/10/2014 by Kat 29 Comments

How do you work through your first trimester — and keep your nascent pregnancy on the down-low? Trust me, the exhaustion of the first trimester can take you by surprise, so how do you stay productive at the office when all your body wants to do is nap? (Particularly when you’re probably not telling most people!)

When I got pregnant with my first child in late 2010, I was still trying to juggle a full-time job as a lawyer and a nearly full-time second job as proprietor of Corporette. I’d worked long hours in BigLaw and thought I’d seen it all — I had even gotten mono and two bouts of strep throat and barely slowed down. All of this, it turned out, was nothing compared with growing a human being inside of me.

We had a much longer discussion on how to work through your first trimester on Corporette when I announced my pregnancy (including about whether it hurts women to talk about the hardships of pregnancy), but I thought these tips might be helpful to those of you actually trying to work your way through your first trimester:

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Filed Under: Pregnant

Maternity Monday: Jersey Wrap Dress

09/08/2014 by Kat 76 Comments

I never splurged on Rosie Pope dresses during my pregnancies, but this wrap dress looks like a great basic for work, and I like that “wash cold” laundering instruction. It even looks like it could be a great option for pumping and for the postpartum period (when you may or may not fit into your regular clothes). It’s $178 at ShopBop. Readers who’ve bought Rosie Pope, please chime in — what were your thoughts on the quality? Did anyone have this exact dress? Rosie Pope Jersey Wrap Dress