Maternity Monday: MAMA Wide-Leg Pants

I’m a midlevel associate and 30 weeks pregnant, and can feel myself wanting to lean out of work already… any strategies for keeping my head in the game so I’m thought of well while I’m out? It doesn’t help that my group has been a bit slow and I haven’t been as eager to write articles/do CLEs/travel to conferences lately.

I need friendship advice. I have an 18 month old who is a bit of “late bloomer,” and a good friend who also had her first baby the same month. Friend lives in a different city so our relationship primarily consists of emails and texts, almost exclusively about our kids. She has been a good friend to me for a long time, and I don’t have an abundance of friends. I also don’t have many (any, really) local mom friends so having someone in the same parenting stage to discuss all the less fun parts of mom-ing with has been great. The problem is that she has a tendency to compare our kids, which I suppose is pretty natural, given how close their birthdays are. But lately I feel like her emails just consist of a list of things her kid is doing, peppered with questions about what milestones my kid is hitting and what we’re going to do about the things he’s not doing yet. They are not worded in an especially judgmental way (eg, about my kid not walking yet she says something like “Are you considering physical therapy?” not “Don’t you wan to do physical therapy?”) but they still don’t make me feel good. Admittedly, there is probably a lot of my own insecurity/worry wrapped up in this, although my gut tells me my kid is normal and just taking his time doing stuff. But reading and answering these emails has become a task I absolutely dread, and so I’ve found myself just leaving them unanswered for weeks until I can will myself to respond, which is probably not a very polite or mature way to handle this. Any suggestions? Is this something I should try to talk to her about? Or just beg off as “busy” for a little while to get some distance? Like I said, I don’t have many friends and hate to lose one, but I don’t currently feel like this friendship is a positive thing for me.

Does anyone have reasonably comfortable (adult) rainboots that have lasted for many many years? My Tretorns sprang a leak after about three years, which is very annoying since it’s not like they were cheap Target boots.

I’m a bit reluctant to get Hunters, even though I’m sure they are great quality, because I teach at a university and try to avoid wearing the same shoes as the undergrads. I’m kind of tempted by the Croc rainboot. Or maybe LL Bean?

Looking for engineering and math resources: Does anyone know of any online learning in the math, engineering, architecture arena for kids (5-8th grade) or great books on the subject? My son has a passion for engineering and math, and it is something that I would like to nurture. To be clear, my goal is not to give him an academic advantage. Rather, he is a kid with ASD who is brilliant in this arena, and I am trying to nurture some of his strengths and find areas where he can feel great and challenged while we also address his weaknesses in other areas. There was a guy who did online math lessons, but google and my memory are failing this morning. Any other programs that anyone can think of (OM may be great for him in a few years!)?

DC ladies — ideas on where to cater for a party that is reasonably priced? We are having a very casual party in a few weeks at a rec center with an adjoining playground. About 50 adults and kids, and this isn’t a kids’ party but there will be a good number of kids. I was originally thinking of just ordering pizza but now I’m wondering if we can step it up from pizza but not go crazy expensive either. Food will be all vegetarian. Other suggestions? Thanks!

Diaper backpack recommendations for a 2 year old and soon to be born baby? I’ve managed with toddler with a tiny little bag, but will be hard with newborn too. Not looking for anything over $150..Tia!