Maternity Monday: ‘Everyday’ Maternity BellaBand®
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I know I mentioned it in our guide to staying professional while pregnant, but I think we have yet to feature the BellaBand here on the blog. And it’s a must! Once the belly starts to pop (or regular pants buttons just become uncomfortable), that’s the time to break this baby out. It extends the life of your pre-maternity pants by letting you unbutton them; it simultaneously extends the hem of every top you’re wearing so it looks like you’ve got a layered tank beneath — perfect as things sometimes start to fit differently early on. (I know I went up a bra size before my first trimester was over!) It’s $28 at Nordstrom. Ingrid & Isabel® ‘Everyday’ Maternity BellaBand®
Building a maternity wardrobe for work? Check out our page with more suggestions along both classic and trendy/seasonal lines.
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Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
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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’ve never used the real name brand one, but I tried the one offered from Target and I hated it. The material was cheap feeling and cheap looking, and it felt like it was going to roll up or down every time I moved (or even when I was just sitting still). Maybe my problem is that I am super hourglassy, so my hips are much larger than my waist (I also can’t wear the smoothing tank tops – they roll right up) but the cheap one did not work for me. I think part of the problem was that the sizing was just “S/M” and “L/XL” so it just wasn’t a good fit for me.
The Target version was also a cheap price, so I suppose that is an example of “you get what you pay for”. Pay more for something you expect to hold your pants up, like the name brand one featured above – unless you want a wardrobe failure at work!
This is my new best friend as of last week, especially for a road trip this weekend. I did get the Nordstrom I&I version, and it’s been fantastic so far. I’m also an extreme hourglass, and right now it’s working when I double it over so it’s two identical layers – it’s less clear how it will work well when it’s pulled all the way up/used as one layer, since it seems like it will be big on top, but then again so will I… Also with the two layers it really does smooth down the button/tabs so you can’t see the outline of the jeans underneath, whereas with one layer you can. Anyway, for now I’m a fan for extending the life of my jeans.
Anyone have strong thoughts/feelings/experiences on the Uppababy Mesa carseat?
So husband and I had evaluated a bunch of carseats before we even got to the store and had basically narrowed it down to either the Chicco KeyFit or the Britex B-Safe. Of the two, we prefer the B-Safe.
When we were there, a major factor in the decision was how easy it was to correctly install the carseat without the base as it is likely that lots of people (grandparents, sitters, emergency daycare picker-uppers) will at some point be picking up the kiddo from daycare without a base. Enter the Uppababy Mesa carseat which we like specifically because of the euro-style beltpath and overall ease of installation. My thought is that all carseats are pretty safe, provided that they are installed correctly, so correct installation is a top priority.
I know multiple people who have the B-Safe and all of them are happy with it, but also use it 98% of the time with a base; however, no one I know has the uppababy Cruz. Any input??
I loved the Nordstrom version and hated the Target version, and I’m not particularly hour glass-y. The one difference I noticed is that the Nordstrom version had some rubbery stuff on the bottom that helps it stay attached to pants – I never felt like it was about to slip off, the way I did with the target version.
Any suggestions for how to learn how to keep a baby alive? First time mom, and no friends or family have babies, so DH and I are going in blind. I realized I have read lots about pregnancy and L&D but have no idea what I will actually do with my baby when I bring it home. And yes I realize how pathetic this sounds… I’m early in third trimester, so while we have some time to learn, I’m looking for a book (ideally) that is comprehensive and easy to read, maybe cover to cover. I need a 101/crash course!
Hi all – does anyone have recommendations for maternity workout capris? I’m fine on tops, but the belly is starting to get annoying doing sun salutations in yoga as my current pants are hitting at just the wrong spot and I find myself constantly adjusting. I think I’d like something that goes over the belly and is wicking so I can use them for spinning too. The two options I’ve found are the Ingrid & Isabel capris from Nordstrom and a pair from Destination Maternity, but would love to hear recommendations if people have them.
Hi ladies! Curious if anyone has the GB Qbit stroller and whether you like it? We went to babies r us yesterday planning to compare lightweight strollers and ended up buying the Qbit as a bit of an impulse purchase – it’s on sale, incidentally, and we really liked it in-store. But it’s a newer model/brand so there are very few reviews online about how it holds up and works in the real world. (From the few reviews online, it compares to the mountain buggy nano, which folks have raved about here.) Anyone have one that can share?
Please tell me if I’m being unreasonable–my husband thinks I am.
We just bought a house about a month ago. It was an estate sale and in rough shape so we hired painters to repaint the entire inside, and then floor guys to refinish the hardwood. We were told to do the paint first because it’s easier to touch up a few accidental gouges in the wall from the floor guys than it is to fix gouges in the floor from the painters. The painters did a great job and every surface in the house was painted. The floor guys have been working for about two weeks and are almost done.
The problem is that the floor guys didn’t cover any of the trim before they stained the floors, so all of the baseboard in the house is now covered with splotches of dark brown stain. It is a giant mess. When I stopped by last week after they stained for the first time, I asked the guy about the baseboard and he told me it would clean right off (in broken english–but that’s what I understood). Today we went back and it’s clear that they’ve tried to paint over splotches of brown with trim paint in some sections (presumably found in our basement left over from the painters). We can tell they painted because there is paint on one of the floors where they splattered, and brush strokes on the quarter round where they did a sloppy job.
I’m livid. Literally, there are splotches of stain all over every section of baseboard in the house. The stair risers and spindles are also smeared in stain from where they tried to wipe it away. It seems like it would have been so much easier if they’d just prepped properly and covered the trim before staining. If they now paint over the stain, I’m really concerned that in a few months it is going to bleed through the paint and show on all of the baseboards. I really think all of the baseboards need to be primed and repainted. It’s a non-trivial expense, and I don’t want these guys doing the painting because their work is sloppy and they’ve already gotten paint on the brand new floor. My husband tells me that I’m “unreasonable to expect the paint to still be perfect.” I think the stain on the trim is unacceptable.
What would you ask for from the flooring contractor? In a perfect world, I’d get a quote from my painter to reprime and repaint all of the baseboards and stairs and deduct that from our flooring bill. Is that crazy?
Any recommendations on diaper bags? I have a Ju ju be BFF for reference and only one nine month old boy, but I just find it isn’t large enough. But the next size up there is huge! I’m probably just packing too much, but what other brands/styles do you all have?
My 10m old son has gone from being a very laid back, hardly cries, happy to be with anyone/doing anything baby, to a almost always crying, unhappy with pretty much every scenario little toddler person. Is this just part of the dreaded teething process? He’s got 2 teeth already, so there’s a full mouth left to grow, but… dang. This sucks. Hubby and I are snappy at each other. It sucks to stay in, sucks to go out. Baby has been this way since about the 9m mark. Thoughts, advice, or commiseration would be greatly appreciated. (Instructions as to how to fix the baby would also be happily received.)
My daughter loves watching cat videos and dog videos on Youtube, and this weekend I found out that there is a kids version of Youtube that doesn’t have comments and screens the videos for child-safe content! It also automatically flips the screen sideways so it doesn’t move around if the kiddo swings my phone around in excitement, and has a bunch of kid channels on the main screen.
I’m more excited about this than the my pediatrician probably wants me to be….
How many people actually used their stroller bassinet? I love the look (although frankly would love to buy a proper pram) but have a suspicion that between babywearing and the carseat, it wouldn’t get much use–especially since baby is due in December when it will be cold and rainy even if we don’t get much snow.
Trying to decide between buying a UPPAbaby Vista and a UPPAbaby Cruz and the (included with the Vista) bassinet is one of the differences. If we bought a Cruz AND a bassinet, there is only a minimal price difference between the two.
For reference, we live in a condo (no stairs) and mostly walk, but do own a car and because most of our friends live in the suburbs, drive about 3-4x per month.
Following up on my Friday post about our nanny, who informed us at the end of her second week with us that she’s been charged with reckless endangerment (thanks again to all who responded on Friday):
Her prior employers are not actually showing up as witnesses for her. I asked her before she left on Friday if it would be OK if we contacted them to get their perspective, and she said yes. Then she texted me later to clarify that she meant to say that the parents were supportive of her in general and she thought they would come to court with her if she asked them to. Well, I doubt they would, considering that the father was shocked when we asked him about her reckless endangerment charge; she had told them she had just gotten a speeding ticket. Granted, speeding was the basis for the charge, but I suspect that the parents wouldn’t have recommended her to us so enthusiastically when we checked her references if they had known the full story.
My husband and I went around and around about this over the weekend. He does not want to give her another chance, and I do. What we are planning to do is to give her four weeks’ notice today. (I drafted the contract so that either party could terminate the relationship for any reason at all with four weeks’ notice to the other party, so I’m not concerned about liability for terminating her.) We will start the process of looking for another nanny. After her court date — which is conveniently about four weeks off — if she is found guilty, that will be the end of it. We can’t employ a nanny who’s been convicted of reckless endangerment when the people she was recklessly endangering were her prior charges. If she is found not guilty, we will consider rehiring her if we have, over the course of the four weeks, come to feel comfortable enough with her to get over the fact that she was less than honest with us about this whole situation.
Does this sound too convoluted? Is giving her four weeks’ notice but a possibility of being rehired just weird? I do want to give her another chance — I think she is very good with the baby — plus I don’t really see any other way to encourage her to do a good job over the next four weeks. Ugh.
Are you really comfortable having the nanny watch your child after you’ve given her notice in this circumstance? That would make me really nervous. There’s a reason that employers walk out employees immediately after they pink slip them.
First day of daycare for the little one — over all, I am happy with his daycare, the age at which he’s starting (omg he loves to watch other kids), but still feeling like the looooongest day ever! He’ll be okay, right?