Budget Thursday: Dolman Top
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A reader at Corporette recommended these Jaclyn Smith tops for work, saying, “I recently found in Kmart (believe it or not) these short-sleeve shirts to wear under blazers. They are better than a cotton dress shirt, look nice, don’t wrinkle, and are fast-drying. They also are only $9.98.” Sounds pretty great! They come in several colors (you can see them all here and here) in sizes S-XXL, and there are other colors and patterns and slightly different styles too. These would be great if you’re traveling or need something fast-drying because you end up getting something on your blouse, whether you’re pumping or you have a toddler with sticky hands — or both. Jaclyn Smith Dolman Top
Two plus-size options are here and here.
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Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
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?
We have explicitly told our parents not to use screens in front of our kids, period. I think we did so nicely and both sets of grandparents said ok. It hasn’t been a problem—-and I think all four of the baby boomers are ADDICTED to their screens. On the rare occasion it has happened, we just gently remind them.
Possibly a little late in the day for many responses, so I may repost tomorrow am.
Yesterday my sister asked me a parenting question that has me kind of stumped. She has a almost 5 yo and a 2 yo. Our mom is in her 70s, still fairly active and sharp, but not quite as sprightly as she used to be, so she can’t go, go, go anymore. When she’s at home she has her hobbies to keep her occupied (lots of sewing and quilting) but when she travels, she tends to be on her devices a lot during down time. She has an ipad and an iphone, and has tons of pictures on them that she likes to look at with her grandkids– family members, zoo animals, etc. She also has crossword type games she lets my 5yo niece “help” with, since niece knows her alphabet and can click on the right letter if my mom tells her which one to click.
I’m pretty lax with screen time, so I don’t really care, but my sister is more on the “screen time is the devil” end of the spectrum, and whenever my mom comes to visit her, the kids are OBSESSED with the shiny, novel, devices. They want to be on them 24/7 and my mom is happy to oblige. My sister called last night to talk about how much this bothers her and was asking if I thought she could ask our mom not to have her devices out in front of the kids.
Any thoughts?
I was thinking she could ask her to limit the time the kids could look at them to certain times of the day, since I think it’s kind of weird to tell your mom she can’t be on her phone. Yay, technology. (Also whoever thinks only millennials are attached to their phones is crazy).
Any recommendations for a GPS tracker for a stroller that is discreet? I think my nanny is taking Baby inside other people’s houses. She says she’s not, but I want to make sure.
Cross-posted from the main site:
I just found out a few days ago that I am pregnant (4 weeks on Saturday). This is my third child and was not planned. I received an offer today for a job – I wasn’t pregnant when I interviewed, and I didn’t expect to become pregnant anytime soon. I want to accept and wait to disclose the pregnancy until I am past 12 weeks. Would it be better to disclose before I accept the offer, and try to negotiate maternity leave (since I won’t be covered by FMLA)? The new job is a remote staff attorney position at a very large law firm. If the pregnancy had been just a few months later, I would have been guaranteed a four-month paid maternity leave (groan).
Any advice is appreciated!
My daughter’s preschool JUST emailed me to tell me that they have to close for the next 2-3 weeks starting tomorrow because they’re about to be out of city regulation. They promoted a teacher to a new role, but to be in compliance they need to have a second teacher present and they can’t do that in the immediate term.
I’m calling Bright Horizons for backup care, but any other suggestions? Thanks!
Looking for advice on two matters-
1) hosting an informal get-together for friends with kids who range in age 15 months, a bunch of 2 year olds, and then a few older kids. Any snack recommendations or other suggestions to keep the kiddos happy?
2) I am looking for a gift for someone having a scheduled c-section. I would like the gift to be for the mom-to-be as I am separately buying gifts for the baby. Any words of wisdom from moms who have had c-sections? Best gifts you received?
TIA!
This may be kind of a dumb question, but when your baby suddenly becomes a good eater, do you increase formula or introduce more solids? My almost 5 month old (next Monday) has become ravenous in the last 24 hours. He’s a little underweight, so we’ve been introducing cereal as per pediatrician reccomendation, but that seemed to curb his appetite for formula, so we scaled it back to one cereal feeding per day. Should we add more cereal, try pureed veggies, or just increase formula? Or should I ask the pediatrician?
Hi M, who do you use in the DC area for a $125 townhouse clean? Currently looking- thanks!!
I appreciate that this is a pretty non-judgy group, but I was reminded yesterday why we shouldn’t judge other moms (or parents generally). DH texted me in the middle of the day yesterday to say he was sick. I agreed to pick up Kiddo from daycare and pick up pizza on the way home. I left work early and got to daycare at the last possible second. I placed the pizza order, and the wait was longer than usual. I didn’t have a sippy cup, snack, diaper bag, or toys with me. Kiddo fell asleep in the car on the way to the pizza place, and I had to wake him up to take him inside. So I went in for a 15-minute wait with a hungry, thirsty, tired kid. The pizza place was too busy to offer us a table (there are chairs to the side to wait for pick-up orders), none of the staff offered water, and they were all too busy to flag down and ask. So I settled into the waiting area with Kiddo on my lap, streamed an Elmo video on my phone, and prayed to avoid a melt down. Kiddo did not melt down at that point, so I consider it a win. But even if he had had a meltdown, I was doing my best in the circumstances.
In retrospect, it would have been a good night for delivery. But we can only get delivery from the “fast food” type pizza places, and we enjoy having good pizza if we’re going to give in and have pizza. I also didn’t anticipate how busy the pizza place would be on a Wednesday night–but it is summer!
How did you decide when to stop bfeeding? Baby just turned 5 months, I exclusively pump, and am struggling to make 20 oz per day. We supplement the rest with formula, and are playing around with purees, avocado, etc. To make it to 20 oz, I have to pump 6 times per day, 3 of which are at work. I have an office door, so it’s not the worst thing, but I’ve got some work travel coming up that I do not have a stash built up for and it’s all just kind of wearing on me. Also, despite eating healthy and working out with a trainer, my weight has stayed about 20 lbs above where it should be – like my arms and legs look great, but nothing has changed with my belly and butt. Googling it suggested that maybe I’m one of the unlucky ones whose lbs do not just drop off and I am stuck with this until I stop bfeeding.
Weight loss by itself is not a reason to stop, I know, but I’m kind of getting to the point that it is weighing on me to pump so often and it bums me out to have it be this struggle to get to 20 oz each day (an arbitrary goal I set for myself). What should I do? At what age did you stop bfeeding? I know it’s probably all across the board, but I’m mostly looking for others who have made this decision to help me feel ok with it. And if I decide to stop, how do I do it? Just start by dropping one pump?
Are there any options to quiet her life down a bit? Perhaps she could stick with one camp for the rest of the summer? What after care will she be using this fall? Could she start with that person or setting early to minimize transitions and stress? Does she have a longstanding childcare provider who could watch her at home a bit between now and the end of the year? That sounds like a lot of changes for a 5 yo. I know childcare is really hard, but anything you could do would probably help.
As a word of warning, my husband went on a 4 day work trip about a month after our youngest was born. My 4 yo melted down and it took us about 4 months to recover. She felt abandoned and insecure. She lashed out. She sobbed and screamed and spit and fought us. It was a terrible time for all of us. She eventually recovered but we all regret that work trip. If you can put off work travel until things calm down a bit, I would. I’d try to wait until her coping skills seem less overwhelmed.
In today’s little pleasures: kiddo asked me to put her hair in pigtails this morning. She never lets me do her hair, and today she came running with two hair ties and a handful of barrettes and asked me to “make it pretty.” Which I did, of course. Made the whole day better.
Do you have any book recommendations for professional development for attorneys? I am doing transactional work and we are slow now. My job is generally laid back and I feel that I am missing a lot from a career perspective. However, DS is only 10 months and family is my priority now. I would like to keep a good stamina and not fall behind. Any other recommendations to improve my skills are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Reposting from last night…
On a different topic, what advice do you wise women have to help my 5-year old who’s clearly going through too much change and some separation anxiety? Context: We recently moved to another city (in another state), she’s alternating between different summer camps before she starts KG in September, I had another baby 5 months ago, my husband has a new job, we’re still unpacking and doing work on our new house, and I went back to work 6 weeks ago and am starting to do some work-related travel. (About a week away every 4-6 weeks)
My daughter is usually very talkative and opinionated and active and independent and I love that. But lately, everything is a STRUGGLE. Brushing her teeth, getting ready for camp, eating dinner…EVERYTHING. She loves her baby bro but sometimes feels bad that I spend too much time with him (I’m still bfeeding him – plan on for another 3 weeks until he’s 6 months). I know she’s going through a lot of change, and the stubbornness and temper tantrums and screaming are her way of expressing her feelings. She was mad at my MIL yesterday morning (who’s helping us out for a few days) and scratched her arm with her nails. How do I help her feel calm and safe and secure amidst all this change? Will that help with her mood swings? I’m lost.
I’ve just finished bfeeding (yay!), but my skin is a total mess–sun damage, some acne, beginning wrinkles and dull. Now that I can finally do something about it, where do I start? Try a Clarisonic? Retinol? Some sort of toner/lotion/cleanser? I’m 36 with a very fair and freckled Irish complexion. My current routine is a face wash, CeraVe lotion with SPF and foundation with SPF. Nothing fancy. I can probably handle another step or two in my routine, but nothing too intense since I’m still chasing two little ones.