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Moto jackets are everywhere this season, and I like this affordable, machine washable version from Mossimo. This beigey grey looks lovely, but it also comes in peach, black, and stripes. It’s $34.99. Mossimo Front Zip Blazer (L-3)Sales of note for 7.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale has begun! Here are all of our picks.
- Ann Taylor – Semi-Annual Sale! (Ends 7/12)
- Athleta – Extra 30% off semi-annual sale (ends 7/10)
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything + extra 20% off your purchase
- Boden – 10% off new women’s styles
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale
- Everlane – Up to 70% off
- J.Crew – End of Season Sale, up to 60% off all sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything + extra 60% off sale styles
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Loft – 50% off tops
- Madewell – End of season sale, up to 70% off with code.
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide. (Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is the biggest sitewide discount I’ve ever seen…)
- NET-A-PORTER – Up to 60% off sale styles
- Rothy’s – Lots of great finds in the “final few” section
- Sephora – 25% off a ton of shampoos and conditioners (ends 7/10)
- Talbots – Semi-annual Red Door Sale, extra 40% off markdowns
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything plus extra 15% off purchase
- Eloquii – Semi-annual clearance, up to 85% off
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off warm-weather styles; extra 50% off sale styles
- Lands’ End – 50% off your order
- Loft – $39 dresses and 40% off your purchase (ends 6/26)
- Talbots – 30% off all markdowns, summer favorites starting at $24.50 (ends 6/25)
- 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 – Summer clearance up to 70% off; 50% off tops, shorts & more
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all dresses; up to 50% off all baby items
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 50% off warm-weather styles; extra 50% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 50% off all polos; 60% off steals
- Target – 20% off women’s swim; 50% off patio furniture, garden items & accessories; up to 30% off kitchen & dining
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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?
BB says
I’m looking for some opinions on daycare centers vs a nanny share/in home daycare. I have one 9 month old son. We are currently at a center we love, it’s small, low staff turnover rate, excellent care, etc. It’s near my work so I do pick-up and drop-off 90% of the time. This works ok because I have a strictly 9-5 job and we live in a small metro so it’s not hard for my husband to take over when needed. I recently was offered a spot in a nanny-share a block from our house. It would be $380 less per month. The nanny has a degree, pays taxes, keeps a small number of kids, and plans great activities. The hours are comparable to our center. She gets ten paid vacation days a year. It seems logical to switch to the nanny share, but I am hesitant to take my son out of a place we are so happy with just to save money. For anyone who has made the switch or chosen an in home daycare, can you offer any insight? Are there pros and cons I’m not thinking of? Both the daycare and the house where the nanny watches the kids provide food, although I think I would feel obligated to contribute in the nanny share situation.
Carrie M says
YMMV, and these are all pretty specific to our situation, but a few pro’s that swayed us in switching from an in-home daycare to a center were (1) no single point of failure at the center – meaning, if a teacher is sick, the center is still open and I still send my kid. At the in-home, if the main provider was sick, she sometimes had to close for the day if she couldn’t find someone else to fill in (because of county-mandated ratios of adults to kids). (2) the center follows the fed govt for winter closures, rather than the school system. The schools here close quite a bit for winter weather (or just the possibility of it), so that would mean we’d have to find back up care or take the day off. (3) The center has a kindergarten prep class, and I felt like our child could really grow and learn there – more like a school environment. The in-home was caring and wonderful and did activities with the kids, but I feared my child would get a little bored there as she got older.
One other thing: At 11 months, my child had a really hard time transitioning up to a toddler room at the center. It took about 4 weeks for her to get used to it and not cry at every drop off. I’m not saying this should be a determinative factor, but it’s something to be prepared for if you do switch, esp if your 9 month old is in an attachment / stranger-danger phase.
Meg Murry says
Questions for the pro-con list:
-what are rules for sick kids in nanny share? would you be able to send a kid “too sick” by daycare rules to the nanny? That would be a major “pro” in my book.
-When are the 10 vacation days? Is that in addition to holidays like Christmas day when you usually don’t work anyway, or in addition to? If in addition to, you need to look at how much it will cost your for backup care those days (and if all the savings will then be eaten away) or if you are willing to work from home or take vacation days yourself those days
-what is the age range of the kids at the nanny’s place? How does she handle such a diverse age group? there are pros and cons to diverse age group
-what is her backup plan if the nanny gets sick? Does she have a helper? Is that included in the 10 vacation days or would that be more days off?
-Is your daycare a high quality preschool or simply a daycare? Is there a long waiting list for the preschool component or could you put your kid back there when they are 3-4? Or does nanny currently drive kids to another 1/2 day preschool program?
-How is quality of food compared to daycare? Are both basically serving boxed mac & cheese and frozen peas, or is one much better/healthier than the other?
-If the nanny is in someone else’s house (not hers) what happens when that family goes on vacation or has sick kids?
-Any other safety dealbreakers at the nanny-share house like pets, state of cleanliness or childproofing, a pool etc?
-How hard would it be to get back on the daycare waiting list if nanny decides to quit or the host family drops out of the share?
-Do you actually know the hosting family and how their parenting rules and priorities line up with yours (as far as things like screen time, food choices, etc)?
As far as “just to save money” – if you can then use that extra $380 (assuming it stays that way once you account for other expenses) for something else to support your family, I don’t think its a bad reason to switch. I totally understand not wanting to leave a situation you are content with for an unknown though if you aren’t currently hurting for money.
Spirograph says
“-Do you actually know the hosting family and how their parenting rules and priorities line up with yours (as far as things like screen time, food choices, etc)?”
I cannot overemphasize how important this is. In a daycare, you really only need to make sure they are running things the way you like. If you disagree, you’re not disagreeing with someone else’s parenting style, you’re evaluating a service. The topics just become much more emotionally fraught in a nanny share situation.
Burgher says
We made the opposite switch around 7 months, purely due to work circumstances.
Pros to daycare: It is a lot more structured and more like preschool than the nanny share was. I feel like this is going to better prepare my kids to go to elementary school. Bonus, they will already have several friends when they start kindergarten, as almost all the kids there are from the same school district.
Con: Daycare doesn’t really have the ability to take the kids on trips. Sometimes they take the little ones for a walk, and they take the bigger kids to the local library a few times a month, but that’s about it. Daycare is also restricted on a lot of things due to laws. So if my kid is sick per the state, even if I know it’s not communicable, he has to come home and can’t return the next day.
Spirograph says
We made the opposite switch at one year, and I love the in-home center a million times more than the nanny share.
Pros of in-home daycare:
More social interaction, and with different age groups — our daycare has infants to 4 year olds; it makes for adorable sibling-like interactions with the older kids “helping” the younger ones. Our nanny share was with just one other child close to my son’s age.
More adults – The daycare almost always has 2 teachers present, but there are 3 teachers who overlap throughout the day.
Our daycare takes the kids on trips – to museums, zoo, library, Chuck E Cheese. On average, one field trip per month. The nanny never did this (mostly because the other parents in the share were reluctant)
The daycare teachers are just BETTER than our nanny was. The nanny was like a loving grandmother, but the daycare owner and one teacher actually have early childhood education backgrounds and plan a lot more varied activities with the kids. The 3rd teacher is mostly like a loving grandmother, so there’s still that aspect.
Pros of nanny:
Convenience, but only when she was in our house. This goes away for a nanny share (except for the looser “sick kid” rules).
More individual attention (actually for me, this was a negative. But many parents feel differently, so I included it.)
ETA: the nanny share was in our neighborhood, but it was not really practical to walk over there for drop off. For me, the annoying part is just getting the kid out of the house. Once he’s in the car, it doesn’t matter whether I’m going .5 miles or 5 with him.
I have to say, I’m shocked that the nanny share is cheaper than the in-home daycare. In my case, the daycare was almost 50% cheaper.
Meg Murry says
ooh, I like – and I like that it comes in sizes up to XXL . Target is much more my speed/price range these days.
And even better – following the links to other items on that page brings me to this one, which is on clearance and I think I like it even better (at least from the front, I’ll have to try it on to see the back). I’m ordering both to see which I like better.
Pigpen's Mama says
Has anyone used the Chicco Liteway Plus? (link to follow)
We’ve mostly been using the Keyfit Caddy for the last nine months and have a CityMini GT, but I’m eyeing the Liteway Plus as an umbrella stroller that could also hold her carseat when we’re traveling and can fold up easily if we’re out without her carseat. Also, the CityMini GT is just bulky enough to be annoying for short trips and keeping in the back of my car.
I feel a little silly getting yet another stroller, although we’d probably sell/give away the Keyfit Caddy in the next three months.
Pigpen's Mama says
http://www.chiccoshop.com/Liteway-PLUS-Stroller/Liteway-PLUS-Stroller.html
FWIW says
Can I ask how you like the Chicco Keyfit/ CityMini GT Combo? I’m starting to look at these types of things and realized that my inlaws already have the Chicco Keyfit bases in their car for other grandkids.
The CityMini GT is appealing because both my husband and I are tall and I understand that the handle height is adjustable. For context, we live in the ‘burbs, trunk space is not an issue and I plan on doing more babywearing than stroller walking.
Pigpen's Mama says
Overall I’m happy with the combo. I love the Caddy — it’s got a lot of room under the stroller for stuff, so I could use it on a quick run to the store. It’s also light and easy to use, so much better for the first 9 months/20 lbs. After that, baby +carseat gets heavy.
My kiddo is a bit too small for the CityMini — I like it in theory, but it just seems so bulky ask compared to the Caddy.
I would recommend a neoprene parent console for both — the Mini doesn’t have anything and the Caddy has a really small/shallow one.
The main reason I’m eyeing the Liteway is that I’m visiting my folks soon, baby will have the carseat on the plane and be using it at my parents without a base — and it’s a pain to take it in and out of the car without the base, which I’d otherwise need to do each time I wanted to use the stroller. For any other trips we’d take, I’d like to also have a stroller we could fold up when we’re out and about, which you can’t do with the Caddy + carseat.
Carrie M says
We don’t have this exact combo, but we do have the City Mini GT. My husband is tall and loves the handle height. Biggest two cons, IMO, are the small storage basket underneath and it doesn’t fold up as neatly when you have the converter thing in there for the infant car seat. It still folds, but it’s just a little more awkward.
Pigpen: We’ve never taken the CityMini on planes. When baby was really young, I wore her in the airport. Now we use an umbrella stroller – a cheapish one from BBB that doesn’t handle well (not the Chicco one, can’t remember the brand). I wish I had gotten a nicer umbrella stroller, so i’ll be interested to hear what others recommend.
FWIW says
Thank you both! This helps immensely.
B says
Oh!! We are expecting in October and have been looking at the Chicco Liteway as a stroller option. (Not the Plus…) So I’m really hoping others will weigh in. One of the things I’m wondering about is the Liteway has a ‘full recline for infants’ but I don’t really know if that’s useful or not?
Sorry to TJ your TJ but this is really timely. Hubs just test drove a Liteway last night while out of town on business (bless him… we don’t have a BRU anywhere nearby).
anon says
My infant is almost 3 months and still can barely handle facing forward in a stroller for more than 20-30 minutes — so I’m happy to have the snap n go option for if we have to use a stroller rather than the Ergo.
B says
Thank you!! That really helps!!
PregAnon says
I’m considering the liteway plus and also the neuvo. Has anyone tried the neuvo, I can only find it online.. It seems similar with a couple more features and only a little bit heavier…
Hormone Crash says
I’m 8 months post-partum, and I think my hormones are crashing. Overall, the last two weeks, I’ve felt increasingly anxious, lethargic, and a weird sense of despair/sadness. There have been some stressful events in our family, but nothing that would cause such intense emotions. I am still nursing (mostly pumping at this point), but otherwise nothing has really changed. With my first, I had some intense sadness immediately post-partum that I did not experience this time around, and I’m wondering if I had some kind of delayed reaction?
I will make an appointment to discuss with my OB, but wanted to know if anyone else experienced a delayed reaction about 8 months after giving birth?
Nonny says
I think I had a delayed reaction of a sort, which kicked in around the time I went back to work about 7 months after giving birth. I found it very difficult to make the adjustment. I thought it would get better, but it didn’t and I found myself going to the doctor and being diagnosed with post-partum depression when my LO was 15 months old (about 2 months ago now).
Definitely make an appointment to discuss with your doctor. I waited and waited, and now I wish I had gone far earlier than I did.
FWIW, I went on antidepressants about 3 weeks ago and I am starting to feel like a fog is lifting. I can’t remember the last time I felt this positive, clear-headed and generally capable of going about my daily business (which actually makes me think my depression began during pregnancy).
Your situation may be different, but if you do end up suspecting you have PPD, don’t put yourself through the endless waiting and misery that I put myself through. Go see your doctor now.
Pigpen's Mama says
Yep. Me. I’m 9 months post-partum and having a lot of anxiety/depression. I’ve just weaned (pumping stopped a month ago, and my morning nursing session may be done — she’s biting more than nursing).
I think some of is that the novelty of it has worn off, work has gotten more intense, and my baby is just more emotional work now. Emotional isn’t the right word, but for the first 6-7 months, I found while she needed almost constant care when awake, she didn’t require intense social/emotional interaction –now, even though she can entertain herself, when I’m with her, I need to be 100% there. The flipside is that I do feel more connected to her than I did when she was a really small infant.
I had done some googling and PPD hitting 8-9 months in isn’t uncommon, btw.
mascot says
Yes. I wasn’t diagnosed until 8 months post-partum (had weaned months earlier). I don’t think my symptoms really became apparent until the 6 month mark. We decided on a multi-facted approach of medication, counseling and some behavior modification. I also had a good experience with medication and got almost immediate results. I didn’t realize how bad I had felt until then.
My husband and I both warn our pregnant friends to be aware that PPD can happen much later than you think. I suffered for longer than I should have.
Carrie M says
Just wanted to say it’s great you’re going to see your OB. I have two friends who had similar things – they were both around 8/9 months postpartum when they were diagnosed with PPD. One doctor said it is fairly common too. Take care of yourself, mama!
anne-on says
I had a really hard time around that age with my son due to sleep deprivation and working. I felt like I should have had it more together at work, but my son was getting sick (and teething) and just.not.sleeping. Vitamin B6/B12 dissolvable tablets helped a lot, but prioritizing sleep (and sleep training if you choose) was a lifesaver for me.
Hormone Crash says
Thanks for all the responses. It helps to know that I’m not the only one that is feeling like this now. I really felt great immediately after my son was born, so this has caught me off-guard. It’s an extra push to get into my OB knowing that others have face and tackled the challenge several months after what I believed was the typical PPD timeframe (which is apparently much longer than I would have expected).
NavyLawyer says
Not much to add. At ten months post-partum I was just plain worn out. Good for you for recognizing that something is amiss. If I hadn’t quit BFing and got more sleep, I think it would’ve been worse than a dozen small medical issues that went away after I focused on myself a little more. Your suspicion is worth checking out!
Woah. says
So, I’m barely pregnant (4 weeks, 3 days or something) and cannot believe HOW pregnant I feel. My boobs feel like a bouncy house after a 5 year old’s birthday. My uterus feels like it’s tripled in size in 48 hours, and last night my lower back started hurting and I got sleepy at 8:30. What the what? I really thought this would be a slow, gentle coming on thing. A twinge there, a flutter there. Instead I’m pretty sure that while I was asleep Monday night somebody came and switched out my body with something else. I took a spinning class last weekend, and now that blows my mind, as I can’t imagine bending over a bike, nevertheless sprint pedaling. Does this settle back down at some point, or is it just a wild ride from here on out?
Maddie Ross says
For me, the b**b issues were the worst pretty early on (like within a week of the positive test) and then those settled down. They got bigger and fuller, but didn’t hurt again until post-birth. I didn’t really have too many problems with bloating (that’s what it is right now, not actually your lady parts). The exhaustion? Well, that took until the second trimester to go away. Sorry to be a bit of a downer!
Nonny says
I think everyone’s experience is different, but for me, at some point around then my body just took over and it was like – Hey, Nonny, I’m your body. You have no say anymore. Give up all control now.
For me, it was like that until I gave birth, and after that the baby was in control. YMMV.
FWIW says
I’m also 10 weeks and once I stopped fighting the urge to snack and lay down as soon as I got home from work, I felt 100 times better.
I agree that everyone is different but you really do need to listen to your body and just drink a ton of water.
I say this although I haven’t listened totally to my body who was telling me to just eat white Italian bread and butter for every meal and sleep all. the. time. I ignored this in favor of salads and exercise.
10wks says
The boob fullness and soreness is real! I am normally well endowed, and it surprised me how quickly they got much bigger and more sensitive. At week 6 or 7 I had to bite the bullet and buy new bras… turns out I had gone from a 32DD/E to a 32G! I’d definitely recommend buying at least one supportive, well fitting bra early on so you don’t always feel like you are bouncing around.
Meg Murry says
My boob soreness/fullness/super tenderness came on really quickly with both kids too. Another thing that made a huge difference for me was sleeping in something with some kind of support – a tank top with shelf bra at a minimum, some days a full out bra. I know for other women they can’t stand wearing a bra and can’t wait to take it off, so YMMV, but for me being contained was the far more preferable way to go.
waiting says
I’m 8 weeks and can just say that things keep changing. At first it was my boobs and back, then incapacitating morning sickness (diclegis rescued me!), and now extreme fatigue and hunger. Nothing feels how I thought it would feel, and I have very little control, which is tough for me. I do think I’ll soon reach the point where I’ll throw up my hands and admit I’m kind of along for the ride.
That said, I am trying to eat healthy food, drink, and walk almost every day. It at least makes me feel like I have a little control over myself! Everyone seems to say the fatigue lifts early in the second trimester, and I am clinging to that!
k. says
Rest as much as you can. Yes, the tiredness just hits you. Morning sickness can just hit too. For me it was suddenly one evening at around 6 weeks and lasted until about 17 weeks. Nothing severe, but nothing too fun either. Second trimester is pretty ok though. The uterus pain is really the worst in the first trimester. I read somewhere that most of you body changes for pregnancy really take place in the first trimester even though you can’t see it. And then the third trimester is not great too, but for different reasons. Sleep becomes difficult. Muscle pains can become worst. And swelling is not fun. But, in many ways the first 12 weeks is most tiring. That gets better. But as others said, kind of giving up and understanding you are not in control of your own body right now is helpful.
anon says
For me, the boob issues, mainly soreness, continued the entire time – fun! But the having to eat every 45 minutes waned a bit before 20 weeks.
EB0220 says
If you pump twice a day, can you share: pumping times, ounces pumped, ounces baby consumes while away from you and age of baby?
Trying to convince myself to drop my 3rd pumping session, but afraid I won’t make enough. I have a good freezer stash and a ten month old who loves solids. I had low to marginal supply when she was smaller, so I think I’m just being irrational about this.
Maddie Ross says
Can I just say you are a rockstar for still pumping three times a day at 10 months?!?! By then, I had long stopped pumping at work. And I only lasted with two pumping sessions at work until about 5 months – then I was down to one a day and just relying on my freezer stash (although I was lucky not to have supply issues and had a really small eater (never more than 3-4 oz even at 12 months).
EB0220 says
I dropped the 3rd session really early with my first but this time I just kept going. My baby is a big eater and I could barely keep up until she ramped up on table food.
Spirograph says
Baby is 5 months.
I pump at 10:30 and 3:30
16-17 oz total for the day.
Baby drinks 15-20 oz at daycare (I send 4 5oz bottles that are mostly full. Sometimes she doesn’t finish the 4th bottle)
I nurse her in the morning before work (6-6:30ish) and in the evening around 6:30-7. I usually pump right before I go to bed; then I can top off any partly-full bottles and have an extra one or two.
EB0220 says
Interesting. Maybe I will try 10:30 and 3:30 – those are currently my 1st and 3rd pumping times.
Katarina says
When I dropped down to twice a day I was pumping 12-15 ounces a day, but i went down to 6-9 ounces a day, and I had to reintroduce a third session once or twice a week towards the end, to prevent my stash from running out. On days I pumped three times I always pumped at least as much as my son drank. My son went from drinking 9 ounces a day to 11.5 ounces a day, and nursed three times a day. I originally left an ounce per hour as recommended by kellymom, although in retrospect I realize this assumes the baby is continuously nursing throughout the night. He never had weight problems, so I just stuck with it, and assumed he was making up the difference with the nursing sessions.
Meg Murry says
I usually got 3-5 oz (total) per pumping session, and when I dropped from 3 to 2 I gained maybe 1/2 to 1 oz – so I went from bringing home 12-15 oz with 3 sessions to bringing home 9-11 oz – basically, dropping one session was dropping 1/2 to 1 bottle for me.
If you have an excellent freezer stash, I think now would be an excellent time to drop a session, if your BF goal is to make it to 12 months or few months after. Dork that I am, I would probably do the math and see if the freezer stash could handle 1 extra bottle per day for the next 2-3 months to make it to 12 months without formula if that’s your goal (although FYI, no shame in adding formula bottles at the end – combo feeding is so freeing!). If you want to still be able to nurse on the weekends during the day and you want to go to 18+ months, you probably shouldn’t drop a session for a few more weeks.
k. says
I always pumped at 8:20 and around 1pm from about 12 weeks on. Until about 6 months, I got about 6-7 ounces total per day (it varied, but generally I got more in the afternoon than morning). My daughter reversed-cycled big time, so that might be why that was so low–thankfully it all worked out with that low of amount and co-sleeping allowed me to be well-rested despite constant nursing at night.
After she started solids at 6 months, it varied from about 3-5 ounces per day. But she continued nursing a lot at night and oftentimes, never even drank that much during the day (averaging about 3 ounces per day that she ate–so I actually froze some even though I was pumping so little). I’m a teacher who just started summer break and so now I’m nursing on demand at home. She is about 10 1/2 months old currently and loves solids too, but also loves nursing.
I hope that helps. But, really, every baby and mother is different. If I were you, my main concern would just be keeping enough supply to nurse on the weekends, but that might not matter for you.
EB0220 says
Thanks, everyone! I do want to continue nursing on the weekends and would like to make it to a year with no formula. My freezer stash is fine but nothing amazing. Sounds like I should keep the 3rd session for now. Maybe I will back off when we start introducing cows milk around 1.
Burgher says
With my first baby, I had supply issues the entire time, and had to pump 3 times a day all the way up to a year with no freezer stash. With my 2nd, I have a large stash and produce enough every day if not more than enough (He’s 4 months and drinks three 4 oz bottles a day). I find that I can always always pump enough with 3 sessions and on the days I only pump twice due to meetings, I almost always pump enough. I have come up an ounce short on occasion, but then I just send him with three 3.33 oz bottles and make sure that daycare has some frozen backup milk if he needs it. You could always try dropping a session and pick it back up if it really tanks your production.
Burgher says
Also, FWIW, the days I produce less are usually more related to me not eating enough because I had a crazy day than anything else. I have found that I just cannot go below 1800 calories a day and still produce the quantity I need.