Washable Workwear Wednesday: Floral Print Wrap Blouse
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This is a beautiful top. I love the color combination, the floral print, and the cut. I like that you can either wrap the tie around your waist for a more defined look, or tie it in a bow on the side for a more draped waistline. The wrap style is convenient for nursing, and even though it comes in XS–L (currently only XS–M are available online), it looks like it is generously cut if you’re between sizes. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend wearing the full matching outfit to work as it’s styled online (LOL), but I would wear this top with tailored, full-length, black pants and pointed toe heels. This top is machine washable on the gentle cycle, but do note that it is not dryer friendly. It is $39.90 at Zara. Floral Print Wrap Blouse
A plus-size option is at Lord & Taylor.
Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.
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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?
I grew up in Overland Park, and Kansas City is a great place to raise a family – lots of fun things to do with the kiddos, and relatively inexpensive. We spend a lot of time near downtown Overland Park when we visit, but not sure how the commute would be to Leavenworth. (The pool at Matt Ross community center is great, and membership isn’t very expensive.) Also, what about Lawrence? College town, cute little downtown area, lots to do. The only downside is you’re even farther from the airport.
Random question: what parenting stages have you found unexpectedly easy or hard, especially compared to your expectations? I was so prepared for the newborn days to be so hard, but he was a great sleeper and I was on leave with lots of time to nap, and it was all way more manageable than I expected. But teething and/or the 8/9 month sleep regression has hit us hard, taking care of a mobile baby is way more physically exhausting than I was anticipating, I’m breastfeeding as much as ever but we’re also doing solid foods 3-4 times a day so it feels like we’re literally always feeding him, and overall this age just feels a lot harder than the first 6 months.
Does anyone have tips about managing anxiety about returning to work after maternity leave?
I’m halfway through 12 weeks of leave after having my first child. I’m already dreading going back to work, to the point that it’s almost ruining the time I have left. I don’t love my job at all, which is part (but not all) of the problem.
Mostly, I’m just nervous about leaving my baby at daycare and about managing everything that goes along with that. Pre-baby it seemed completely doable, but right now I’m so tired that it’s all I can do to get through the day at home. I just don’t see how I’m going to handle baby care, work, pumping, and putting myself together on a daily basis. I know people do it all the time — but it just seems like too much.
I guess I’m looking for advice, or even commisseration. This is all harder than I expected.
I was prescribed meds by a specialist. Specialist knows I’m breastfeeding and said the meds are safe for breastfeeding, though he’s obviously not an expert in babies. Because I’m a giant nerd, I looked up some journal articles about it, and they did a big study of kids whose moms were taking my exact dosage and 100% of the kids were fine in the short term and also many years later. The journal article did suggest some monitoring of the child might be indicated, just to be on the safe side. I emailed my pediatrician to ask about the monitoring and she said the medicine is not proven to be safe and she thinks the risk outweigh the rewards as far as breastfeeding goes and I should just stop breastfeeding. That wasn’t at all what the study said – it said the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the theoretical, unproven risks of the medicine – but I feel bad ignoring my ped. But I guess if I stop breastfeeding, I’ll be ignoring my specialist. WWYD? Is there a way to make them talk to each other? How does one even stop breastfeeding cold turkey? My baby is 6 months but is still nursing 8-10 times a day.
Score-keeping question. Mom guilt question.
So, I have solo parented between 75-90% of the time for all but 9 months of my 4 year old’s life. Starting in November, my husband is being switched to a different project at work and instead of traveling 75% of the time, will be working from home 100% of the time. He has already started transitioning his projects and was home for most of this month and only has a couple of trips next month and then he’s done with traveling.
I know a period of adjustment is normal, but I’m having a hard time framing in my mind how to parent with a co-parent now. In the past, any time he’s been at home I’ve basically done very little and let him do everything so he could have time with kiddo and so I could get a break. I still find myself doing this, and when I catch myself doing it (example, going into another room and reading while he’s sitting in the kitchen with her and watching her color or whatever), I get hit with a mixture of score-keeping and mom guilt. Like I tell myself “oh, it’s fine, you’ve been doing this by yourself for years, let him do it.” and then I think “but your kid is going to think you don’t like spending time with her and get a complex about it”. I think I’m pretty burned out by the solo parenting, tbh, but that doesn’t really matter. I need to get over it so my kid doesn’t think I don’t like her.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
This won’t thread because I’m on phone, but here are responses to everything:
– my 3yo boy would flip out if he got a mermaid sequin keychain, in a good way, so don’t worry about it or get a variety pack
– skip hop diaper clutch all the way!
– infant early wakeups: hang in there, we went through this phase as well. I don’t remember when it resolved (sleep deprivation does a number on memory!) but think it sorted out by that winter (if nothing else, the end of daylight savings time means 5am wakeups are now ‘6am’ wakeups)
I posed this on the other page, but thought I’d try here:
Tacking on a 5-ish day vacation to a Miami business trip at the end of February/beginning of March. We’re thinking of renting a car and heading to Florida’s west coast. I know nothing about it other than I know it’s a hot destination for us New Englanders in the winter. Me, DH and 10 month old. Recommendations for a beachfront resort? Must have a pool area and be beachfront. Bonus if it’s walkable to anything nearby – a boardwalk or just something safe and scenic if we need to stretch our legs.
Budget is Marriott not Four Seasons – so maybe mid to upper, but not high-high end/luxury. If something is really off the charts, though, I could be possibly be swayed. It’ll be less than a month from our 5-year anniversary and we are so past due for a vacation… TIA!
I love this full outfit and am tempted to buy for our annual gala. Too bad the shirt is sold out in a large! Wah.
I just cannot with work today. A colleague unexpectedly quit yesterday and we were already stretched pretty thin. I’m new, so on top of feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing, now I’m feeling overwhelmed. There are about seven requests that I need to take care of today but I just want to go home and snuggle my kid. End of rant.
First step: toddler sleep training. Not healthy for a toddler to be sleeping that late (unless they’re waking up very late, but that’s not a good situation long term — school starts earlier and earlier these days). Read the Weissbluth book and/or contact a sleep trainer ASAP (I like Dr. Erin at Baby Sleep Science — all consults over the phone). It’s going to be nearly impossible to get to work that early when your child is only sleeping at 11 am.
I love the skip hop diaper clutch.
I’m also an advocate of ‘the car bag’. Full props to my husband on this one who saw a friend with one and recreated it for us. The car bag is a canvas tote (ours is LL Bean) that contains at any given time: a sweatshirt, a couple diapers/pull-ups, wipes, a pair of clean underpants, a first aid kit, a clean outfit for all children in separate ziploc bags (this is often weird hand me downs that I don’t love but are totally serviceable), a first aid kit, often an extra t-shirt for me (especially with little ones!), a thin blanket for picnics/naps/togas, a couple of plastic bags, and a roll of paper towels.
This bag is life. It lets us jump in the car and just go. It means that when you’re at the park and somebody scrapes their knee, you’re the parent who says, ‘Hold on! I’ve got a bandaid and something to clean that scrape off with!’ and just dashes to the car.
We use a combo of reusable wet bags and ziplocs to corral things and make it easier to dump stuff in and out.
We also couldn’t remember the diaper bag for the second kid. I got a diaper clutch to use in the after potty training but still sometimes needing pull up stage for DD1, never used it for that purpose. But loved it for a back up.
According to Amazon it’s called the “Skip Hop Baby Pronto Portable Changing Station with Cushioned Changing Mat and Wipes Case”
We took the hard wipes case out and just stick an almost empty pack of wipes in there, 2 diapers and a clean outfit, and it lives in the car. It was the backup when we had a little babe and needed a full diaper bag, but now with an almost 2yo it is the only diaper bag I use for trips to the park or other short activities.
Does anyone have a diaper clutch they like? Or any other method to keep an emergency diaper stash in the car?
After forgetting the diaper bag at home for the nth time, and having to McGuyver a diaper for my kid out of a flannel blanket from the car, and then clogging the restaurant’s toilet with all the toilet paper I used to clean up his poo-splosion, while he peed on the floor ’cause there were no changing tables, I’ve decided that I just need to keep emergency diaper supplies in the car. I was just going to order one of those travel changing pads with pockets on Amazon, but there are so many options I can’t tell which are good quality and which will be useless and frustrating. Ideally something to fit two diapers, a small pack of wipes and maybe a clean outfit. Also not too big and bulky so I can toss it in the bottom of the stroller or in my tote bag if I need to.
This is our second kid and he’s 20 months old- I don’t know why we have such a mental block about remembering the diaper bag.
I need ideas for b’day party favors. My daughter is turning 5 and wants these in the goody bag. Her party is co-ed, so I either need an interest-neutral alternative, or something else that kids can choose from that isn’t so stereotypically girl-y.
https://www.amazon.com/Pawliss-Keychains-Birthday-Supplies-Decorations/dp/B07H5CZ6YJ?hvadid=77721780585846&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvqmt=p&keywords=mermaid+sequin+keychain&qid=1537974065&sr=8-9&tag=mh0b-20&ref=sr_1_9
Unexpectedly pregnant with #2.
I start a new (part-time) job on Monday, which I am super excited about with a super family friendly small company, but ugh, I am DREADING telling them. We were NOT trying and this was kind of a miracle. What do I tell my new employer? I really want to make this job work even after baby #2 is born and I want to show them that I can do a good job, but god I am dreading proving myself for the first six weeks with unrelenting all day sickness that I had with #1.
Also, our 16 month old daughter still wakes up 1-2x a tnight most nights but will also randomly sleep all night for some time, there seems to be no pattern. We’ve tried sleep training and all the things and nothing works. I get up every night because she wants mom and my husband works a lot more than I do, but I can’t do this crazy dance with morning sickness or with a newborn. Will her sleep problems resolve after 2? She is also SUPER clingy and attached to mom and I am just dreading how I will manage all this.
I know plenty of people have kids 2 years apart, but we always though 3 years or longer and I am SO afraid and overwhelmed, even though I am so grateful and know we are very blessed.