Maternity Monday: Ellen Wrap Dress
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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?
Omg I felt that way with 1 baby – I have no idea how you’re doing it with two! Get some help – my mom would come over and sit even for 90 minutes with baby so I could get out and feel like a human, or just do the laundry that always seemed to be full, or cook and clean up some food. Also I always had a beer at 5 pm. Sometimes a nursing cookie. Or 3…. It is not forever — if you can afford help, get some and muddle through however it works for you. I did a lot of walking with the stroller and a podcast at that stage too.
Ladies, help. I’m home from work (biglaw) on maternity leave with my twin boys, who just turned 3 months old and I feel like I’m drowning. They’re actually sleeping well at night (once they go to sleep, generally after a couple hours of crying), but I can’t seem to get any semblance of a consistent schedule or routine during the day. And honestly, what are you supposed to DO with infants all day? It doesn’t help that it’s been HOT and rainy here, so walks and sitting outside m are out. Going anywhere by myself with them feels daunting… and also like it wouldn’t be that much fun for them. But the endless dance between two fussy babies in my house all day is driving me insane. I knew I probably wouldn’t LOVE the newborn phase, but I didn’t think it would be quite this challenging. And on top of it, I feel guilty for wishing away their babyhood. Please give me some perspctive here!
Maybe late in the day for this but I was doing some searching today for a possible weekend trip to the Adirondacks this summer. My kids are 3 and 16 months and basically every single place I looked at, even the really nice ones, just seemed like a death trap (especially for the 16mo). Cords everywhere, pools, decks with minimal fencing — I got kind of tired just thinking about trying to keep the kids safe.
I know people travel with toddlers, so what am I not doing right? Am I just being overly anxious? Looking at the wrong types of places? Part of me thinks we should just give up on travel until the baby is old enough to have a vague sense of self-preservation.I want to relax on vacation, not constantly be yanking my kids away from stuff.
Spamtest123
Can’t believe I’m posting on this topic, but here it goes: DD is almost 14 months old. I had a tough labor (I was induced past my due date at 0 effacement/CMs), 4 hours of pushing, ended up using forceps and then had a pretty good tear (I forget stages, but one short of the full tear). I had about three weeks of intense pain post delivery. Today (and for the last 14 months), “gardening” hurts and brings no joy like… at all. Also, my desire is next to zero. I have an appointment next week with my GYN, who is new to me as my former rockstar OB/GYN is now OB only. In case it matters, a few other facts: (1) I went through pretty tough fertility treatments with lots of prodding and countless TV ultrasounds. One of my working theories is that comes in to play, at least mentally somehow… like fertility treatment PTSD. (2) Another theory is that there is some scar tissue down there from the stitches, but I could be way off. (3) I recently had a small growth on my thyroid identified. It’s too small to ultrasound but will be monitored every 6 months…wondering if that’s messing things up, too.
I guess my question is, where do I even begin with this new person next week? As far as she’s aware this is a regular annual check up. And, has anyone experienced something similar? I don’t have to live like this, right?
FWIW, DH has been more than understanding but he’s urging me to get this sorted out for many reasons.
My husband and I are planning to TTC this fall and currently have a toddler. Reading a bit about CMV to prep (aka give me anxiety). Besides handwashing, not sharing food/drinks, not kissing your toddler on the lips (this one makes me really sad), anything I’m missing in terms of preventative measures? I’m thinking ahead to potty training in the near future for my toddler and cleaning up accidents – wear gloves?
On a similar note, do your doctors talk to you about CMV when pregnant with your second, third child?
This feels wrong to admit on a message board for high-achieving women, but I’ve realized lately that I get a lot more satisfaction out of my homemaking duties than from my career these days. Both require a ton of work and effort (and need redoing constantly), but I get more immediate gratification from the home tasks than my work tasks. Perhaps this is a clear indicator of how much I loathe my job these days. Everything at work is complicated and brain-draining, whereas home stuff is more … straightforward. I don’t actually want to be a SAHM and would go crazy if I were home every single day — I just find it interesting that I’m getting more enjoyment out of the tasks I’m supposed to hate and/or feel burdened by. Can anyone relate?
I think is partly cabin fever talking (at least one person has been grievously ill with a stomach bug for the last ten days, and I have been doing a lot of caretaking since I had it the mildest), but I am feeling pretty lonely. It feels like so many of my friends have just dropped off. It’s so hard to make plans as a working parent, as everyone here knows, and it just feels extra hard when people cancel plans on me at the last minute. Tonight is my first time leaving the house solo for something fun, and my movie partner just canceled because she wants to wait until her other friend can go also. Well, this is the only night I can go for the next two weeks. So I’m going to go alone. I tried texting some other people but obviously hardly anyone can do it last minute.
It’s hard to be spontaneous (and frankly I’m not a real spontaneous person anyway, pretty much a plan-maker), and I take it so personally when people cancel. We have a standing bi-weekly women’s horror movie night that has been canceled by everyone but me the last four times it was supposed to happen. It makes me feel like people don’t even want to do it anymore, despite them always saying they do.
I’m sure I’ll get some tough love here which honestly, I’m too sensitive to read right now, but I just feel lonely and miss having friends and casual hangouts that aren’t with my husband. (And unfortunately for him he’s had two different illnesses in the last two weeks so he’s been either working or sleeping so we’re clearly hanging out less than usual!)
Sigh.
Ok, so i am meeting some moms tonight at a planning meeting (think like a PTO type thing, but not- it’s kind of like a book club vibe in that there will also be wine but it’s more about the event planning and the wine is there just to bribe people to come and volunteer for stuff). It’s at 8pm. What do I wear? I work from home most days and am currently wearing capri yoga pants and the shirt I slept in (you’re welcome). If I were coming straight from the office, I could wear office clothes, but this is at 8pm. I’d have changed into pajama pants by now. It’s summery and sunny here but weekend casual stuff seems weird too.
Jeans and some kind of top? What kind of top?
Ugh. How is what to wear the hardest part of volunteering to plan volunteering?! I know the answer is that it doesn’t matter but I don’t know these people and want to look nice and friendly since I need more friends.
I’m trying to search for a conversation I remember seeing about this but am just having no luck, so here goes – opinions on the best age to start daycare? We have a general preference for daycare over a nanny (we like that there are multiple adults at daycare and being someone’s full-time employer makes us nervous). However, it looks like I’ll be coming back from maternity leave right into a busy work season for both of us, and especially for my husband (which will last about 3-4 months before easing up), so we’re considering going with a nanny for a while to give us some more flexibility right at the start and ease my return to work. But I remember reading threads here about how separation anxiety increases at certain times developmentally, and I’d like to avoid doing a nanny-daycare switch right at that time if we can. So between 5 months, 8-10 months, and 12-14 months, is there a best option for starting group care? FWIW budget is a consideration, but we can stretch on this for some time if needed.
Any good resources on 529 plans? We’re expecting our first child and the grandparents want to contribute to one, but I don’t know where to start in terms of setting it up. Thanks!
Talk to me about the SNOO sleeper, especially if you’ve tried it and have also used other bassinets/sleepers to compare. I am generally a no-frills baby gear person (my crib is on the third kid, $200 from a big box store, for example). But sleep deprivation is the WORST, and I’ve had bad sleepers so far, so I’m being tempted by a used SNOO listed on craigslist even though it is still ungodly expensive.
For context, with by last kid, I mostly did a combo of co-sleeping and rock-and-play (now recalled, sadly). It was not terrible, but also perhaps not advised by the current authorities on baby sleep. With the one before, it was straight to the crib, where mostly he just screamed and hardly slept. It was awful. Current child is due this winter, so I have some time to figure it out, but I’m in a rural area and don’t expect expensive baby gear goes on the used marked often around here.
Some friends of mine from college recently had a baby and I’m eager to send them a card and small gift. Usually for new parents I send a greeting card, Buy Buy Baby gift card (for baby stuff) and a Starbucks gift card (because in parenthood, coffee is needed). However, I’m acutely aware that this couple outearns me and my husband by a factor of almost 10. I know it shouldn’t matter, but for some reason it feels like it does. Am I overthinking this? An alternative idea I had was to send a greeting card and a baby outfit with our alma mater branding–that feels a little better to me, although I can’t shake the idea that our relative incomes shouldn’t matter, even for gift card gifts.
I have a four year old girl who loves to wear dresses and probably needs to start wearing bike shorts? It feels like we are there? Where do you buy those? Any favorites? TIA!
Blergh. I have an unpleasant management day ahead. One of my staff is being unnecessarily difficult about giving me a report I have been asking for FOR A WEEK, because power struggle/maybe he hasn’t actually done the work he said he did, so we get a to have a fun talk today where he will 100% try to act like I don’t actually need the report because I”m just a stupid lady.