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Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of twist details on tops and dresses. This trend works especially well for nursing (and expecting) moms, as shown by this dress from Boob Design.
This form-fitting dress both shows off your growing bump and provides easy nursing access under the twist front. Made from a stretchy and cool lyocell jersey fabric, this dress epitomizes all-day comfort. To wear it now, add a cozy, textured cardigan and tall boots.
This dress from Boob Design $139 and comes in navy and dark mauve. It’s available in sizes S–XL.
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ 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 – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
Anon says
Hello from the frozen Midwest. We’re on a two hour school delay today, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me because the temperature is the same at 8 am and 10 am – actually colder at 10 with the windchill. But oh well, my kid is happy.
Anonymous says
Hello from the snowy DC suburbs! School is closed but work wants me to telework, so it’s gonna be a fun one.
Anon says
Same here in Houston. Such 2020 vibes. Last night we left our water with different stuff in it to see which froze if anyone needs an activity
Anon says
*out
Spirograph says
Same here. My husband is a fed, so he has the day off and is also at home, but … that doesn’t seem to help as much as it should. I might drive to the office for some peace once the snowplows come through my neighborhood.
anon says
Yep, I miss the days when OPM would actually shut and not just do “maximum telework”.
Momofthree says
I took some work calls from the park this morning while my kids were playing. It was kind of sad that there were so few people out- this is one of the consequences of COVID- telework + no school means that parents have to keep their kids inside while they work- worst of both worlds.
Anonymous says
We have today off. Fourth winter weather cancellation since a week ago today. And yesterday was a scheduled day off. Fortunately, DH and I also had yesterday off. We’re all a little over it.
Anon says
Ugh. This is our first delay of cancellation all year so the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. 4 in a week is a lot!!
anon says
Same here. Very, very over it.
AnonM says
Midwest here, also a cold day. I assume tomorrow will be the same. They had scheduled day off Monday and half days last Friday and this Friday.
Anon says
Yep, Northeast here. Kids have their first snow day, after a long weekend. Husband is traveling for work Sat-Sat, and I’m recovering from Covid. I’m also pregnant, so maybe I can at least get these kids to do the shoveling for me!
(Hunger games salute, Moms)
Amelia pond says
greetings from the south where school is closed even though the high today will be 39 and there is no ice on the roads.
Anonymous says
On balance, we are up to 4” of snow today here in Ma with no school cancellations. I wish they had a snow day.
Cb says
I teach university but I’ve gotten roped in to do a series of politics talks at my son’s school, and weirdly I find 11 and 12-year-olds way more daunting than the 17 to 20-year-olds I normally teach. Like are they going to think my dog photos are goofy and my jokes are bad? Probably…
Anon says
I get it! Preteens terrify me, lol.
Anon says
It’s more daunting! And the university students are there to some extent of their own volition, which can’t be said for every 11-12 year old.
Anon says
Tips on surviving disney world traveling with kids and extremely difficult grandparents? My mother and I have a challenging relationship, and I am deeply regretting inviting her on this trip but felt I had to because she talked a lot about wanting to do disney with her grandkids. Essentially she’s already freaking out about making sure we have an hour-by-hour itinerary, reservations for every meal, what we’re going to do if one of my kids wants to do something and the other one doesn’t, etc. We’re not leaving for two months. Should I spring for a VIP guide?
Anon says
we are also going to disney in March and my dad is coming for part and my inlaws for part. i am not stressed about the part with my dad, he is helpful and understand kids meltdown, but my inlaws dont know how to handle when my kids arent perfect 24/7. i have done a lot of research and we do have some dining reservations (but not for every meal). could it potentially work to divide and conquer? like idk how old your kids are or who else is coming on the trip, but your mom go off with one and you go off with one?
Anon says
I have a similarly rigid mom. With the caveat that I haven’t been to Disney and have only heard about the VIP guides secondhand, I’m not sure the VIP tour is the right solution. For my mom at least she would get upset if the guide wasn’t doing the “right” thing, and I think I would end up feeling like I wasted a lot of money.
When we travel with her, I do a lot of “this is what Kid and I will be doing, feel free to join or do your own thing if this doesn’t work for you.” Repeat ad nauseum.
For the future, all-inclusive resorts are the easiest way to travel with my mom. The only decision to be made is dinner, and I normally don’t really care which resort restaurant we eat at.
Anonymous says
Are you staying at a Monorail resort or at least onsite? I think it is helpful to stay in the Disney bubble so you have the ability to split up or go back and rest for a few hours before going back out at night.
Do the grandparents have any mobility concerns? We walked between 15,000-24,000 steps a day when we were there two weeks ago. That was visiting one park per day, with a pretty detailed itinerary, purchasing Genie + and individual lightning lanes. We would have walked more if we park hopped. Neither my mom or MIL could have walked that far and would have needed a scooter.
You can put together an itinerary, but rides go down. You’ll need a little flexibility in your plan. One of my kids needed a break 3 of the 4 days, so we took a break while my husband continued on with the other kid. It actually was helpful to have the lunch reservation as a meet up time and place. My kids also wanted to chill out and eat in the hotel room for dinner two of the nights – they wouldn’t have behaved well or been happy at another sit down meal.
Since you are close to 60 days out, you will need to book your reservations. But most places will let you cancel up to 2 hours before the reservation, so you can make her happy with reservations now and keep the cancellations in your back pocket for later.
Anon says
You need at least some reservations or will be stuck with fast casual all the time and it’s not that great. I went with my h then 5 year old and my best friend (husband had to work and is not into it) and we did one sit down meal per day. We either ate the fast casual or door dashed pizza or similar and ate in the room which was less stress with an overtired kiddo
Anonymous says
You would pay $6,300 per day ($900/hr with 7-hr minimum) to avoid conflict with your mom? Wow. And I do agree with the commenter above that it probably wouldn’t solve your problem anyway.
Have each kid make a list of their top priorities (rides, shows, attractions). Pick maybe 3-4 of those priorities max per park to try for. You, not Grandma unless you want drama, need to figure out the mechanics of reservations or lighting lane or genie plus or virtual queue or rope drop and run or whatever to make those happen. Then you just sort of bop around filling in with whatever is available and looks fun, using genie plus where possible. For example, we did a single day at Hollywood Studios with the goal of riding all the Star Wars rides and building a lightsaber. I made the lighsaber reservation and the cantina reservation 60 days in advance and planned the rest of the day around those. I bought the lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance while we were waiting in line for the gates to open. When we entered the park we hightailed it to Black Spire Outpost and hopped on Smugglers’ Run and Star Tours (our other priority rides) before the lines got long. In the gaps between the three reservations, we wandered around to find the Star Wars characters and see all the shops and displays on Batuu and saw several shows in other parts of the park. We didn’t worry about trying to get on the other popular rides because the agreed-upon goal was maximum Star Wars. We skipped Toy Story Land entirely because we can’t stand that movie. We didn’t buy genie plus because it wouldn’t really have helped us with our priority rides.
As to Grandma’s worry about the kids’ wanting to do different things, that’s silly. Everyone gets to pick some things they want and then goes along with the things others want to do. If a certain ride scares or nauseates someone and they don’t want to ride, they step out of the queue at rider swap, unless that person is a grown-up who volunteers to sit in the shade and hold everyone’s bags instead of waiting in the queue. At least that’s how every group I have ever visited an amusement park, large or small, with has handled it.
Make one sit-down dining reservation per day and use order ahead at quick service for the other meals.
I would advise against park hopping unless you are the type of family that goes to the park in the morning, goes back to the hotel for nap/rest in the afternoon, and goes back to the park in the evening. In that case you could do one park in the morning and one in the evening. Switching straight from one park to another is time-consuming and tiring and generally not worthwhile. My family doesn’t do the midday nap thing because it’s too much time and effort to schlep back to the hotel and inertia prevents us from returning to the park, so we just go first thing in the morning and stay until we’re worn out OR arrive in mid-afternoon and stay until closing time, depending on energy levels and what shows we are interested in.
Child care woes says
Our previously amazing daycare has become so short-staffed due to people unexpectedly quitting and other issues that they were turning families away at the door this morning once they reached capacity based on the number of staff who showed up. Things look unlikely to get better in the short term. Everything in the area has a waitlist (especially for infants).
I’m searching for backup care options but it’s so hard to find someone who isn’t already working during the day. I’m afraid we are going to be back to trying to work and take care of kiddos and it’s giving me 2020 flashbacks.
Any ideas I’m not thinking of? Has anyone else ever dealt with anything like this?
Anon says
Ugh, what a nightmare! What are other parents doing? Is there a possibility of sharing a nanny with another daycare family? For snow days, can you call in a teen neighbor? I think one of the things that made 2020 so horrible was that many of us were trying to avoid people outside our household, so at least one silver lining here is you can at least try to call in outside help. But this really sucks, I’m sorry!
govtattymom says
Maybe look for a nanny? We are at a daycare now but had a nanny a few years ago. I used care.com, Next Door, and nanny social media groups to search for a nanny. It is definitely more expensive that most daycares, but some caregivers are willing to work with you to be as affordable as possible. I used Poppins Payroll for the payroll, tax. etc. side of things. Good luck! What a frustrating situation!
CCLA says
The constant unknown would be the worst. We were once at an in-home daycare where the owner moved houses and the relicensing took 5+ weeks, when we were told everything was teed up for it to take just a week or two. We ended up calling a nanny agency to get someone a week at a time and kept extending until they finally reopened. Pricey but they were very well set up for temporary care on short notice.
I’d first get on all the waitlists. Even consider things for stop gaps that you might not have before – for instance, would an in-home daycare work for a couple of months until you get off waitlists (depending on how long those waitlists are…). I think the hardest thing will be evaluating whether you’ll try to stick it out or just abandon ship to put those tuition dollars toward another solution. It might naturally get better if people find other options and leave the daycare, but that doesn’t bode well for it long-term.
Anonymous says
I commented on a similar post last week but Yes similar thing happened to us. Who is the leadership at your daycare? We are a co-op so the board of directors (made up of parents) worked through this with the interim director (director also quit!). We had rolling closures so they figured out how many rooms they could staff with the people they had and then closed rooms on a rolling basis. So for us we had one kid off every Monday and one kid off every Wednesday and the staff moved around daily to cover the rooms and there was a big schedule of who was in which room when. I think every class had one day they were closed per week which felt fair/at least something we could plan around. We knew in advance and basically committed to this for the month and it lasted like 6 weeks I think. The center also closed at 5pm daily to preserve the staff we did have. The board hired an agency to help us staff back up quickly. It was summer so it was easier for us to handle at the time I think. We hired two college students to nanny for us on those days and booked them ahead of time. The center overall lost a lot of kids obv during this time but we stuck it out and 7 months later things are really good. I will say that this started sort of as an occasional thing and at the time I was on maternity leave so it was fine and it snowballed as staff got burnt out and it got worse, so I’d be trying to get the center to come up with a plan to move forward since this obviously isn’t sustainable. In terms of figuring out backup care, I joined a zillion facebook groups for college babysitting in my city and posted on all of those. I also wrote on my neighborhood list serve and found basically a long list of people I could call when the closures arose before we had a set schedule. These ended up being Nannie’s in between jobs, nanny on street willing to do nanny share, nanny of elementary age children who could come in the morning, etc. It was very stressful and I don’t wish this upon anyone!
Redux says
Outfit inspiration needed! What is your go-to outfit that you wear when you want to feel put together at work? How about on the weekend?
I’ll go first: for work, its a cream silk blouse tucked into straight leg black trousers and a camel blazer. I either wear flats if I have a meeting or cuff the pants and wear black chelsea boots if I dont.
Weekend I have a harder time but right now it’s straight leg jeans cuffed with sneakers and a chunky sweater.
AwayEmily says
At work: a black shirt dress, black tights, black boots.
At home: ha I never feel put together
Anon says
I know internet strangers can’t settle a marriage disagreement, but I’m curious if you guys think I’m being unfair to my husband.
My husband enjoys travel much less than I do. I take our two elementary age kids on an annual one week vacation without him, giving him solo time at home without any family responsibilities. I think it’s fair that I get an equivalent amount of time for a trip without the family, normally solo or with girlfriends. This means that (excluding work travel, which he does a lot more of) we have the same amount of solo parenting time and the same amount of kid-free time. His feeling is that he doesn’t ask me to take the kids on a trip, so I shouldn’t be rewarded with a solo trip for doing something he didn’t ask for. And I do see where he’s coming from. But at the same time, he would grumble about doing more family vacations, so I feel like I am sort of doing him a favor taking the kids on a trip without him.
Anonymous says
I agree with you. Sure, he’s not asking you to take the kids on a trip, but you are giving him a week to himself to do whatever he wants (and giving the kids travel experience, which is extremely valuable). It’s only fair that you get a week to yourself to do whatever you want. It’s just that what each of you wants with your week alone looks very different.
Anon says
I don’t think endeavoring to have an exactly equal amount of vacation and solo parenting time turns quickly into petty scorekeeping isn’t a great idea. The goal is to make things work overall for both of you. I’d talk to your husband not about why you “deserve” this but why it’s important to you to be able to see your friends or solo travel, and similarly hopefully you are making time for him to do things that are important to him.
anonM says
+1. If you need a girls weekend, regardless of everything else, try to focus on why that’s what you need to be your best self. Your kids are both in elementary school, so the lift is also a lot different than with a toddler and baby, for example. The scorekeeping/deserving/rewarding tone just goes nowhere. On this board and with real-life friends/family, I’m realizing how everyone “counts” these things differently and what they view as reasonable varies so widely.
Anonymous says
+1000
anon says
+1 that the goal should be for both get to do some things for yourselves, within reason, because you love each other and want the other one to be happy. I think an approach of trying to make things exactly equal is unhelpful.
OP says
Thanks, I appreciate this perspective. I know it sounds beancount-y but he’s very analytical and generally prefers to approach this kind of issue in terms of what’s fair and equal. It would get a worse reception if I just framed it as “the solo travel is important to me.”
And as AnonM touched on, I think one source of irritation for me is that our kids are not babies or toddlers anymore, and I held off on doing any solo travel for years when they were tiny but I don’t think it’s that big an ask now that they’re both in elementary school. I know that’s somewhat subjective though.
Anonymous says
You’re both right. You don’t have to take the kids on vacation. You don’t have to let him have a full week solo. But also, you are on a trip not a vacation when you bring the kids.
Perhaps the right answer is that you vacation solo for a long weekend, bring the kids along to trips for places you’d like to go solo, and also bring DH along on something of the family trips.
As my kids have gotten older I’ve started to peel them off for trips so the get 1:1 mom time and I get a mini vacation. My 10 year old and I go skiing. I took my 7 year old to NYC. I took my 5 year old on a trip to see my dad in FL. I took all 3 of them to see my sister for a week while DH stayed home. DH and I took the family to Puerto Rico. DH took our 7 y/o to visit his family in the Midwest.
An.On. says
Is “something he didn’t ask for” the same as “something he doesn’t want/enjoy”?? What does his ideal solo time look like, if it’s neither going somewhere nor staying at home?
I don’t think you’re being unfair, but I feel like there’s something he’s not saying. It sounds to me like there’s some other issue he has with your traveling, whether it’s that he thinks it’s too expensive, that it’s silly for you to enjoy it as much as you do, or that he’s not getting exactly what he wants and he thinks you are – maybe none of it is fair to you, but definitely worth trying to figure out what’s behind his resistance and see if you can’t figure out a solution that makes everyone happy.
Anon says
+1 I can see how a week without kids seems like a luxury, but if they’re normally in school and he works out of the house, it’s mostly the weekend that will feel different, and maybe a weekend without kids isn’t as restorative for him as it would be for you.
To flip the script, it’s a little like saying “husband got me a beautiful necklace, but I don’t wear jewelry” — a thoughtful gift, but not what you truly want.
That doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to something special and restorative! But maybe the trade off for you getting a week away is *something else* he truly values.
I’d approach it from the perspective of how you can both get your need for rest met instead.
OP says
I don’t think there’s anything deeper going on. He’s very direct and would tell me if there was. He does enjoy the solo time at home, but doesn’t appreciate it to the extent I do and would be happy to give it up in exchange for not having to be solo with the kids.
To the gift analogy, there is nothing he wants, which is part of the issue.
Anon says
what if instead of week long trips you did long weekends?
Anon says
Eh. It kinda sounds like you’re “giving him” something he doesn’t really want (solo time at home) and then making him pay for it by giving you solo vacation time. I’d focus on being explicit on want you want (vacation time with and without kids) and asking him what he wants and working to get both needs met.
Anon says
So you can only travel if you bring the kids?hell no. Maybe I’m a bi**** but I 100% keep score of childcare/soloparenting and if I feel it’s imbalanced, I will make sure to take time to equal it out.
Anonymous says
Haven’t read all the replies but we have a similar set up for Reasons.
Another way to look at it is that you each get a week without parenting obligations. You are choosing to vacation with the kids on the week that he is ‘off’ from parenting. Since he does not vacation with the kids, you get your week ‘off’ by leaving the house for a holiday. If he took the kids on vacation, then you could invite the girlfriends to your house. Solo time vs vacation time are two different things and hopefully you can find the right balance so you both get enough of each.
If he has more work travel than you, you can also raise that you do more solo parenting and therefore you need the solo parenting break. You are taking less solo parenting break because he is work while he is getting his parenting break but since he gets more time overall, you are getting more quality time (holiday when on parenting break).
There are lots of different ways to measure fairness, the important thing is that both people are satisfied (if not always happy) with the combination of family, couple and solo time.
OOO says
Do these vacations coincide with spring break? What would the kids do if you didn’t go on vacation for spring break? Would he take the week off to watch them/spend time with them?
Why are you excluding his work travel? You didn’t select his field that required so much travel, so why are you being penalized?
I know this type of guy, he pretends to use logic to arrive at unreasonable conclusions that benefit him. Families take vacations together. You solo parent a lot and you should be able to take a trip by yourself or with girlfriends. Those are reasonable expectations. Don’t fall into his logic trap, you will never win.
Anonymous says
Ugh he sounds so boring why exactly bother being married to a man with no interest in seeing the world?
Anonymous says
I look at it a little differently. You are getting to travel with your kids instead of being stuck at home all the time with your travel-averse husband. You could choose to leave the kids home with him and travel alone, or you can choose (as you have done) to bring the kids along and share the experience with them. I would be grateful that your husband agrees to your spending time and money on something he doesn’t enjoy or value, and that he doesn’t insist on coming along and throwing a wet blanket on your fun. From personal experience I can attest that it’s easier to travel alone with children than with children plus a spouse who is not a good traveler.
My husband and I have a similar arrangement with outdoor activities. I bring the kids, he stays home because he is an indoor cat. It never even occurred to me to demand an equal amount of solo time in return. I get to do the things I want to do without having to worry about my husband getting cold or hot or tired or bored and wanting to go home early, so it’s a net positive for me. Also, my extroverted husband actually perceives the alone time as more of a sacrifice than a benefit–just another perspective to consider.
Third tri anon says
hi there! Im hitting 31 weeks pregnant with my first, a boy, tomorrow. Seeking any advice from this board as I enter the home stretch of pregnancy! Everything is getting tougher to do these days, but wondering what I should really prioritize getting done before baby comes. Some things I’m already doing:
– baby shower in 2 weeks and setting up nursery/getting baby items
– maternity photos this weekend
– working on a will and life insurance for me and my spouse
– we have infant cpr and overview of delivery at my hospital classes lined up already
– getting lactation consultant ready (have a general consultation with one a month before due date)
– trying to do the financial things for 2024 that I can now (401k, IRA contributions, collecting tax docs)
Anything else? It’s my first and I deal with the unknown/anxiety by making plans and lists, if you can’t tell!
Anon says
Go to the movies! You can take an infant to a restaurant pretty easily (outdoor patios are a good option if you’re wary of germs), but unless you have local family it will be a while before you can see a movie in the theater with your partner. I would also get a prenatal massage if it’s in the budget. Congrats!
Third tri anon says
Movies are such a good point and massage sounds incredible right now thank you!
OOO says
What is your plan for childcare? If you are sending DS to daycare, start touring daycares now and get on waitlists.
Get a chest freezer and stock it with frozen meals that require minimal prep (i.e. goes straight from freezer to oven or microwave). If a friend or family member reaches out to you to offer help, ask them to set up a meal train for you.
Look into a postpartum doula and/or night nurse. I found out about night nurses way too late!
Meet up with friends or call them to chat. You may not have a chance to talk to them again for a while. Ask them to check up on you in the months after you give birth.
Does your hospital offer group sessions with new moms? Or any other play date groups or Gymboree groups, etc? It’s great to be able to connect with other new moms during those days.
OOO says
Ugh nesting fail
Anon says
On the other hand, all the infant/toddler playgroup stuff in my area is geared toward SAHMs, and much of it is church-based. There was basically nothing I could attend that wasn’t during the work day, and I didn’t get to know any other local moms until my kid started daycare at age 1 (and it really took until elementary school before I had mom friends I felt like I’d stay friends with even if our kids drifted apart). So don’t feel bad if it doesn’t happen overnight.
Third tri anon says
thanks for the responses! Baby nurse is all set for first 8 weeks. Plan to hire a nanny before I go back to work (I am taking 6 mo leave and am in NYC; from what I’ve read the nanny hiring cycle is rather quick so I should start looking 2-3 mo before start date max and even that may be too early). Will look into some groups and make a plan for food!
Anon says
Yes nanny hiring is quick compared to daycare wait lists. 4-6 weeks out is common.
OOO says
Also, find a pediatrician if you haven’t already, because the hospital will ask for that info shortly after you deliver. You will need the actual doctor’s info, not just the clinic. The hospital will ask for their contact info (phone number, etc)