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Ooh, what a great top. I love the shock of pink, but I like that it also comes in black. I could see wearing it for casual days, dressier days, and even nights out. Lovely. It’s $60 at Nordstrom. Everly Grey ‘Kristina’ Cowl Neck Maternity/Nursing Top
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
- 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?
Katala says
I’m currently at the end of my maternity leave, and am seriously considering changing jobs. I’ve been offered a position at a new firm in a new city. We would be closer to family (2 hr flight vs. 5-6 hr flight), COL is somewhat lower, new city may be a better fit for a young family than current city (NYC). I’d take a pay cut, but it would be about the same as going to 80% at my current firm (both pay and hours). DH would work part-time from home and care for the baby (who will be about 6 months when I would start).
I’m feeling a lot of anxiety about the decision. Hoping you ladies raise issues I haven’t thought of or reassure me that I’ve thought this through!
POSITA says
Would you be getting child care so that your husband can work part time? Working while watching a toddler is impossible, so I wouldn’t plan on him multitasking. Where I am PT care is about the same price as FT care. There isn’t much of a discount. It can make it hard to make PT work fit in a budget and feel worth it.
Katala says
Right now the plan would be 1 full day of childcare and DH putting in the rest of his hours when he can fit them – before/after my work, nap time, weekends. We would likely go to ft childcare (and ft work for him) when baby is 1-1.5
The one day would likely be a nanny so it would cost less than a ft nanny but I agree that daycare isn’t much cheaper for pt.
Anonymous says
Depending on how part time he is planning on being, this may be hard on him (and you). Getting stuff done during nap time is never a guarantee. If he needs to work both Saturday and Sunday to make up for not getting enough stuff done during the week, it means you’ll get zero break yourself. Beyond the issue of him working from home without enough childcare, I think this is a great idea.
LSC says
This sounds like it could be wonderful for your family. I say listen to your gut and go for it!
RDC says
Sounds amazing to me too!
Katala says
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Childcare will definitely be a work in progress. Daycare a in new city have long waiting lists so we’ll have to do our best until we can figure out a longer term solution. Working is important to DH so we just need to get creative, I think!
I’m realizing part of my anxiety is guilt over not returning to old firm after Maternity leave (group lost several people this year, I fully expected to return and always said so) + starting a new job while also getting back from leave.
Natasha says
I put in my notice to my previous company, who I had been with 11 years, the day that I returned from leave with my 2nd. It wasn’t planned; total coincidence of timing. I have not since regretted it one moment, though I did feel extremely guilty at the time. The resounding response was “you need to do what is best for you and your family.”
SC says
I just need to whine. I’m having such a hard time working and having an infant. The baby had a cold last week, which was miserable, and now DH and I both have the same cold. I tried to work from home this weekend to catch up on some stuff, but DH wasn’t feeling well enough to handle the baby by himself, and I had to stay up late last night. Today I’m trying to work from home while DH handles childcare (he works T-S and takes care of baby on Mondays), but I just want to go to bed. Our backup childcare options aren’t available for various reasons (working, recovering from surgery, taking care of other family members). Ugh. This is the first time I feel like I can’t do this, but I don’t have a choice because I’m the breadwinner. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or motivation or anything?
Anon says
You can do this and you are doing this. It’s just a temporary rough patch. It will get easier again once the colds pass.
JJ says
I don’t know a single working mom that hasn’t felt like you at one (or many) points in time. It gets better! And know that we all sympathize.
FVNC says
On days (or weeks…) like this, I give myself permission not to be my best at work. I do what needs to be done, respond to emails, etc. but I recognize that there are limits to my productivity and quality of work. It really will get better. Good luck, and sending healthy thoughts your way.
anne-on says
You can do it. One of the hardest things about being a parent is that you inevitably use your sick time to take care of your child, and then muddle through working when you get the bug. Give yourself permission to let everything else go. Order in, skip the gym, let laundry pile up, ignore dust bunnies, make the easiest lunches possible, etc. When you’re all feeling better again (and have your backup care again) you can sort it all out.
TK says
Ugh, commiseration.
Related (and not sure this is your situation, but … ) why do DH’s get a pass on taking care of babies when they’re sick? Whenever my DH gets ‘man cold’ he’s the sickest person ever and all childcare falls to me. I try to be supportive, but I can get resentful, too – I’ve never been ‘too sick’ to take care of the baby – I remember specifically trying to rearrange the bucket on my bed so I could vomit and nurse at the same time when I was getting over food poisoning.
DH’s of the world, don’t be such wimps. Sick moms take care of their babies ALL the TIME.
End rant.
I have found the solution to this problem... says
…marry a pediatric nurse. Best decision I ever made!
D. Meagle says
You can do this. It stinks, but it is temporary. When things are going well, you don’t really notice, but when they are going bad, all you can do is feel mired in the hopelessness of just how BAD it is. Try and think about the good days (everyone had a great night sleep! the morning was smooth, no blow out diapers or spit up or breakfast all over necessitating outfit changes! work was a breeze!) and know that they will return soon.
(Sneak in a nap today if you can.)
D. Meagle says
Oops, that was supposed to be a response to SC.
(from another cranky, sleep deprived working mom)
UppaBaby Cruz says
Does anyone have the Uppa Cruz stroller and want to share their thoughts? We’re considering it over the Vista b/c we want something that’s a bit easier to navigate in narrow shop isles, but wondering if it’s still going to be too wide. Also, concerned about the bulky fold in the small trunk of our car and folding in general.
Open to other ideas as well. Basically just need something that will work from birth and be well made to handle lots of walking in an urban environment while also being able to fold easy and not take up too much space.
JMDS says
I have the Cruz, and really like it. We got the Mesa car seat, so it worked from birth. I’m not sure that it really folds easily. I think it depends on how you have the seat facing whether or not you have to take it apart to fold.
One thing I would think about is when/if you plan to have a second child. The Cruz does not convert to hold 2 kids. We got the Cruz thinking our kids would be spaced apart far enough that this wouldn’t be an issue, but now we are going to have an 18 month old and a newborn and have to buy a double stroller. I wish we had bought the Vista the first time around.
Butter says
Following along as well, as this is currently my stroller pick (heard great things from friends, like that baby can be inward-facing in beginning, etc). I’ve seen lots of comments that people have scored great deals on these on Gilt, but am wondering if that’s now outdated as the most recent sale I found was in 2013 or 2014. Also wondering if anyone has successfully purchased anything from the factory outlet…
Anonymous says
If you’re thinking of having another kid while the first is still in the stroller, don’t get the Cruz. Get the Vista, or, better yet, get the City Select – more options for how you arrange the two kids than the Vista, at least if you’re comparing 2015 models. Cheaper too, in case that’s a factor.
Clementine says
Eh, I’d carefully consider your living/storage situation and actually go look at it before committing to the City Select. The City Select is GINORMOUS and heavy- we have a suburban home with a garage and lots of storage and we decided it was too big and heavy.
I think the base weight is around 25 pounds and with a second seat it’s around 45 pounds. I’m a tall former rower who still exercises a lot and probably stronger than 80% of women and I don’t think I could carry it up and down more than a couple of stairs on a regular basis.
Interestingly, my mother (who had 2 kids in NYC) said that even in the 80’s, she used a baby backpack 90% of the time because of issues with stairs/narrow aisles/babies eating things off the street.
JMDS says
I’ve also read some negative reviews of the City Select as a double stroller, which is why I was leaning towards the Vista.
Clementine, do you have a double stroller? If so, which one, and do you recommend it? Still finding it hard to justify the Vista price tag but I’m no sure what else to consider. We already have a Mesa car seat, and it won’t fit into the Britax B-ready, and I don’t love the Phil and Ted’s double.
Clementine says
Okay, so giant grain of salt here, ’cause the baby is still a-cookin’. I went in thinking, ‘Oh, this city select is a great idea’ and came out registering for a City Mini GT.
We did think about the single vs. double stroller and realized that even if we ended up buying a (probably secondhand) double stroller down the road, we’d still have more years with just one kid in a stroller than two kids in a stroller.
Also, remember that if you hate something and it absolutely doesn’t work for you to the point where you’re miserable, you can change your plan. High end strollers can be returned or re-sold. This isn’t like the baby who is 100% non-returnable, so I’m told.
anon says
Love my Cruz. I scored a 2014 one on Craigslist. We live in the city and walk a lot, so the basket is great. It’s a two handed fold when the seat is facing out; it’s much more awkward of a fold (as in, it doesn’t really do it) with the seat facing in. It fits in the rear of my Prius just fine though. I liked it better than the City Mini because of the inward facing option and the basket, but the City Mini has a better fold and is somewhat lighter. PPs make good points about the lack of double stroller option with the Cruz, but if you are undecided re: a second (timing or whether to have a second at all), I think the resale value on a Cruz is pretty darn good, at least in my city.
UppaBaby Cruz says
Thanks everyone! I’m glad that the reviews are mostly positive. I do like the additional options with vista but I really don’t want the extra width it takes up. If we have another kid in the next 2-3 years, I guess that’s a bridge to cross at that time.
Anon says
In my Brooklyn neighborhood everyone has a version of the City Mini. Either the GT or just the City Mini. We’re doing the City Mini and a car seat for infancy. They fold easily and are small and light. I only see Uppa Baby in elevator building neighborhoods.
D says
I have the 2015 model of the Cruz and love it. I know that the 2015 model has better tires than prior models, but I am not sure what other changes were made. I like that the baby can face either direction, that it can stand upright when folded down, and that it is a fairly compact stroller. It took me awhile to figure out how to fold down the stroller, but now it is a quick process. I decided on a Cybex carseat-which connects to the stroller with the Maxi-Cosi adapter, however, even when the baby was a newborn we often used the stroller seat with the infant insert.
Sarabeth says
We are thinking of hiring a part time nanny? housekeeper? Not sure what the correct term for what we’re looking for is.
Our ideal would be to find someone who can pick up our kid from daycare and bring her home (this is walkable from our house), then hand over the kid to us and heat up dinner and do some light housekeeping – clean the kitchen, mostly. Basically, our current end-of-day routine is stressful and often leaves us no time to actually play with our kid (and 2-3 days a week, I leave the house before kid wakes up, so on those days I end up with zero time to just be with my kid). We want someone to come in and do the not-kid stuff.
I have no idea if that’s realistic. Will it be just as much work to explain what needs to be done for dinner each night, even if I don’t have to do it myself? Will I be able to find someone to work these hours? (probably 2.5 hours a day, four days a week, 5-7:30). Any success stories or cautionary tales with this kind of thing?
anne-on says
We basically hired local college kids to do this for us, 3x week when my son was smaller. It was great. I basically picked him up, came home, and then handed him off to bed fed, cleaned up, and read to while I prepped dinner. The sitter then cleaned up the kitchen, and set up his room for night, ran a load of laundry/folded/etc.
I didn’t have any problem finding college kids with loads of childcare experience who were happy to do this type of childcare/nanny hybrid work, especially if I could guarantee them 3-4 days a week of work and pay in cash. Bonus – with all the snow we got in the northeast last year, I also paid the sitter handsomely to come by and play with the baby so I could get some actual work done during snow days. If you have a local college I’d definitely call their jobs center and ask to place an ad. I had easily 2 dozen kids reply to me, and it helped that I paid in cash, and going rate ($12-$15/hr by me, depending on experience).
anon says
I was about to say we always had college kids do this with us when we were kids (a bit older, so it was more just general supervision, driving to activities, etc., from 3-6 pm).
Anonymous says
I’ve seen several caregivers who advertise housekeeping / cooking on their care dot come profiles – and I wouldn’t be surprised if others who don’t list would apply to such a position. Anecdotally, a coworker’s nanny cooked dinner for them (and later ‘retired’ from nannying to start a meal delivery service). I don’t think this arrangement is unusual, although you may have to pay more or search longer.
While I haven’t personally used care dot com, I’ve known several people who have and their experiences have been solidly positive.
Anonymous says
I had no luck finding someone to do this, so I’ll throw out an alternative that works for us. We have a full day housekeeper who comes on Mondays. She cleans, does our laundry (wash, fold, iron, put away) and then cooks three dinners for us that we can reheat (if it is something like a soup) or assemble ourselves (like a salad) in under 15 minutes during the week. She makes our life run so much more smoothly — I used to feel that the limited family time we have was consumed by chores.
Sarabeth says
If you see this – i’m curious to know who picks the food. Do you give her recipes to follow? Or did you find someone who is already a good enough cook that you just give her free reign? And if the latter, how do you handle the shopping list?
Anonymous says
We do the grocery shopping on the weekend. We pick the menu (it would be too hard for her to keep up to speed with my kid’s ever-changing tastes), but sometimes we email her in the middle of the week and ask her to pick a dish and tell us what to buy so she can make it. (She is from Indonesia and we have been exposed to some amazing new dishes this way.) She is a very competent cook, and as much as I love to cook, it’s great not to do so. If there was room in the budget for me to hire her twice per week, I would probably have her run errands and grocery shop a second day and assume that there would be a learning curve for her to figure out what we like.
Anonymous says
I should also say that we double the meals, so we eat the same thing 2x each week, and usually go out with friends once. My husband and I always handled food prep this way (massive prepping on the weekends) from the time we were in grad school, so our recipe collection is basically all meals that are easy to prep in advance.
Anonymous says
Thanks so much, this is really helpful.
Sarabeth says
That was the OP, by the way.
Wow says
Sounds wonderful – can I ask how much she charges for this??
Anonymous says
I pay $20 an hour in cash.
EB0220 says
This sounds like heaven. How did you find this person? Is it 8 hours a day?
Anonymous says
She is here for 8 hours once a week. I found her by posting an ad on CL. Hiring her was life changing.