Everyone Thursday: Brianna Buckle Toe Pumps

I need a gut check on something that’s been bothering me. (This is not at all kid or parent related, but the main site kinda scares me nowadays).

My husband’s only sibling lives half-way ’round the world, in their native country. About four months ago, Hubby made plans to visit while he was between work trips in the (general) area (they have a pretty close relationship). Brother was in on these plans and made concrete-sounding assurances to come stay with Hubby at their aunt’s house which is about 2 hours from where he lives. (Logistically, this was better for Hubby and Aunt, as he wanted to see them all and Brother works from home in a super tiny apartment not able to accommodate guests). Brother was going to bring his new dog (this is a big deal in his family) and work with Hubby on a project they’re doing together.

About a week before Hubby departed for general area and part 1 of work trip, Brother told him he was not going to come visit at Aunt’s house, and the implied message was that Hubby was not welcome to come to him either. Brother’s reasoning was he is trying to stop drinking and that the visit would stress him out to the point where he needed a drink. Important point here: my husband doesn’t drink at all. Period. So a visit without alcohol is totally feasible. Brother can be heavy binge drinker, and this was the first Hubby had heard of Brother trying to alter his drinking habits.

It breaks my heart that my husband was within two hours of his brother – who he hasn’t seen since we went there for a visit last summer – and didn’t get to see him. I worry that Brother has some serious, underlying anxiety issues. This whole thing is over now (in the sense that Hubby is home) but it still makes me feel sad, a little mad, and worried about my brother-in-law. The next chance to see him is when he (supposedly?) comes to the U.S. for hubby’s graduation in 2017.

Is my gut right that there could be something amiss here?

Does anyone know why schools make parents buy certain supplies? For my kids’ preschool, I have to send boxes of tissues, boxes of baby wipes, and a couple of things of Clorox wipes . I don’t get it. Couldn’t the school buy these with the other supplies and then just increase the activity fee by the cost? Why have every parent make a separate run, and then have the teachers have to coordinate the influx of stuff from each family? Is there something I’m missing? I mean it’s not a huge deal, but it just seems really inefficient to me.

I posted a week or so ago about my 15 mo old son having a hard time transitioning from his nanny share to a daycare. Confluence of new people and separation anxiety, new germs, and new schedule (only one nap) making it pretty tough on him — crying at every drop-off, etc. It seems to be getting a tiny tiny bit better this week, but not by much. The biggest dilemma I’m facing right now — the nap schedule. There’s nothing I can do about his weekdays — he gets one nap (up to about 2 hours) and that’s it. But I really think his little body is not officially ready for one nap only, and he seems so exhausted at night, so the past two weekends we’ve let him have two naps — and he nodded off almost immediately both days/both naps and averaged over 90 minutes for each nap. Ideally I’d like to keep letting him have that extra nap on the weekend so that he catches up a bit, but I think it’s making it harder for his body to adjust to compensate during the week by getting more sleep at night. Right now he goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up as early as 6:00 am sometimes. I think maybe if I just forced a consistent one-nap-only schedule, he’d possibly adjust to sleep in more? Maybe be ready to fall asleep a little earlier at night? I really don’t want to move his bedtime much earlier – I wouldn’t get any time with the little guy if I did, but I just know he could use more total sleep than only one 90-120 minute nap a day. What should I do?? My inlaws are in town tomorrow and will be keeping him home with them, so I want to give them clear instructions for his nap(s) and I want to feel confident in what I’m directing them to do, otherwise they’ll deviate (this is worthy of a completely separate post, but we’ll save that for later!). Advice? Anyone dealt with this issue before?

I replied SUPER late yesterday to your planner question, but came back here to tell you because I am weirdly, abnormally obsessed with my Day Designer. I didn’t write this in my comment yesterday, but I have a colleague who swears by her highly customizable Plum Paper Co. planner as well.

Where can I find decent quality maternity clothes for work? I’ve had ok luck with Old Navy for dresses, but the t-shirt like fabric is borderline inappropriate in my law office and pills after a wash or two. I tried purchasing from nicer brands at Nordstrom, Pea in the Pod, etc. and they’re all cheap t shirt material just like Old Navy! I wouldn’t mind spending a little for something that’s better quality, but I can’t seem to find anything. Appreciate your input, ladies!

So my typical winter casual wardrobe would be a tunic with leggings and boots. Since I’m breastfeeding this year, wearing tunics seems like a huge pain to hike up all the time. What time of top would you replace a tunic with to wear with leggings/boots for the winter that is BF friendly?