CorporetteMoms

Updated: Nov 1, 2018 93 Comments · by

Washable Wednesday: ‘New Flirt’ Ponte Knit Skirt

Machine-Washable Work Clothes· Recent Recs

This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A woman wearing a \'New Flirt\' Ponte Knit SkirtNic + Zoe has a whole line of classic pieces, most of which are machine washable, but I have not seen this ponte knit skirt before. It’s highly rated, it’s got a hidden elastic waist, and it comes in sizes XS–XL. I would check it out if you’re looking for a nice, knee-length, pull-on, non-vented skirt, and I would trust the ponte to be a thick, substantial fabric that’s worth the $118 price (at Nordstrom). ‘New Flirt’ Ponte Knit Skirt One machine washable option in plus sizes is from Vince Camuto. Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear. This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 9.10.24

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

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

See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:

Click here to see our top posts!

And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!

Comments

  1. Redux says

    I need some family picture outfit inspiration. I am way too tired to be excited about this, so I am feeling some basics/neutrals with maybe a fun print on the baby? We are two adults, a toddler girl and a baby boy. Any failsafe combinations you would suggest? The weather should be cool but not cold and the pics will be outside. Specific recs from stores like Gap or H&M are welcome!

    • ElisaR says

      i did this a few weeks ago and it caused me major stress (firstworld problems!). one thing i did that helped me was to look at a photographer’s website where i could see what a bunch of other families did in terms of dress. I also spread out a few combinations of the families clothes on the floor and took pics on my iphone to decide what looked best as a combination…… in retrospect i spent way too much time on this project but it came out good so I was happy!

        • ElisaR says

          I’m pregnant so the whole maternity dress thing was a factor that I did not mention. But we did a solid navy dress for myself, a lighter blue polo shirt for my husband, and a seersucker one piece with green whales smocked on it for my son….. it was a summery look. My son (18 mo) was the most “stand out” in terms of outfits and my husband and I wore pretty subdued-almost boring stuff. I say dress the babies as babies while you can!

    • AIMS says

      I feel like fisherman sweaters are everywhere and are an easy way to coordinate everyone. A little dorky maybe, but in a cute way. Gap has dress versions for girls in red and cream and sweater versions for baby.

      • Anonymous says

        This – denim with cozy cream sweaters is a classic for fall photos. Don’t do identical sweaters and identical bottoms and it will look fine.

    • Onlyworkingmomintulsa says

      Just wanted to sympathize that mine are scheduled the Sunday after next and I am stressing out on my husband and my outfits. The kids are locked in….no idea what the adults are going to wear!

    • Amelia Bedelia says

      We did these last year and I liked our final coordinated result. I wore a grey dress with a deep eggplant cardigan over it and black boots. Hubs wore a deep red shirt (not marroon, but not “bright” red) with a black/red/grey/cream argyle vneck sweater over it and grey pants. (he’s still mad that I dressed him in a “white boy” sweater when he’s black, but it looked great.) kid one wore red dress and kid two wore purple dress and both kids had faux fur cream sweater vests over them. both wore silver tights and silver sparkly shoes and silver bow in hair. I thought at first it was too many colors, but it ended up looking really good.

      • Jax says

        You made me laugh with the sweater! For our first family picture I dressed my husband in a white/black/dark gray/light gray V-neck argyle sweater which he absolutely HATED. Whatever! It was Christmas!

        It’s also really hard to dress Dad in a picture full of little girls wearing the puffiest velvet and glitter dresses EVER. It’s either sweater dress or full suit, buddy. Sorry.

    • Anon says

      I live in a warmer climate, but last year I just wore a solid black t-shirt with blue jeans (if it were colder here, I’d totally add a scarf), DH wore a light blue polo style shirt, and little one wore a plaid shirt that was a combo of both blue and black. I’ve heard some advice to figure out what you are going to wear first, then figure out the rest of the family. And yes, I did buy kiddo’s shirt specifically for photos, but we got more than the photo shoots worth out of it.

    • Jax says

      I coordinate the clothing colors almost like a living room design. I went with a gray/purple theme for our last picture. Adults are in darks, kids are in pops of color. I think of my youngest like the fun throw pillow tossed on the living room couch.

      Me: black peplum top, dark jeans (can you tell this was a few years ago?)
      H: dark jeans, dark purple T-shirt, dark gray opened button up shirt
      10 year old girl: black leggings, white top with purple and navy flowers
      5 year old girl: hot pink leggings, white top, hot pink flowered head band

      My husband and I don’t stand out as giants, and the eye goes to the cute kids. It works for us!

        • Jax says

          I honestly don’t know. I recently donated the top, because I only wore it with jeans, and I felt like no one wears fitted tops paired with jeans anymore? It’s all flowy, dangly, layered pieces over top of skinny jeans?

          I don’t know. I’m 37 and feel very incompetent with modern causal dressing. I have no idea what’s going on!

    • Cate says

      Since I’ve found these helpful (and asked for specifics from others!) I’ll share ours from last year:

      H: khakis and blue striped button down
      Me: jeans and a cream sweater
      Toddler Girl: navy peplum top over light pink leggings
      Baby: knit light blue outfit

      Looked pretty good! I’d do the same thing all over again but I like to make a photo book of these every year and I think it would look too repetitive!

      • Anonymous says

        So take this with a grain of salt but this is what I was recently told by a photographer who does these kind of shoots all the time:
        – lighter colors are better than dark;
        – brighter colors are better than dull;
        – solids are better than patterns;
        – small patterns are better than large;
        – no one should wear the same colors because this won’t look good, with white being the one exception. She said this applied to different shades of same color as well so if one person is wearing navy, another should not wear powder blue.

        • Redux says

          Interesting! I always thought smaller patterns were worse because they get distorted (but maybe that is TV and not still photo logic). And I’m surprised that two shades of the same color are a no-no! I’ve always thought that looked good, but I am obviously not very skilled at this or I wouldn’t asking on a message board three days before my photos, ha!

    • Anonymous says

      For a toddler girl I oh so highly recommend either a romper or a tunic with leggings if she is going to be sitting down for pictures. I tried a dress at first and little miss was flashing her diaper cover left and right when she was sitting.

      Same advice for Santa pics this Christmas!!!

  2. Allie says

    Can anyone recommend a facebook buy sell trade group for quality kids items? I’d love to buy a used patagonia coat for my 13 month old, for example, and no one is selling it on ebay. Likewise, it would be nice to get great kids shoes gently used. My local moms fb group is great for kids gear, toys, etc. but no so much on shoes/clothes. Likewise, I love swap-dot-com for everyday kids clothes but they don’t really have coats, and mostly have carters/baby gap etc.

      • Allie says

        Yup. The coat I wanted to buy isn’t being sold there so wanted to explore fb buy sell groups.

    • Ms B says

      Baby Bargains used to have one, but you need to go through their board to get the “hookup”. Strollerqueen also may have something.

    • CPA Lady says

      Have you checked Poshmark?

      My favorite nice kids clothes fb group is Smocking Hot Mamas. They have a lot of nice shoes, and smocked & boutique clothes. Play condition isn’t allowed.

      • Butter says

        +1 to Poshmark. This is where I buy all of kiddo’s Hanna Andersson jammies.

    • Lala says

      There is a Patagonia BST on facebook that tends to have a lot of kid stuff. The Tea Collection BST tends to have some as well (bc they are sold on the Tea Collection website).

      Kidizen is another consignment app that I use for higher end kid clothing.

  3. Anonymous says

    Looking for American Girl style dolls (18 inch) for my twin boys. Hoping to get one with blonde hair and one with brown hair. American Girl just has one version with brown hair, and Walmart seems to only have one with brown hair. Toys R Us only has girls. Any suggestions?

      • Anonymous says

        Thanks! I’m in Canada so I often forget about Target since they moved. They have a blonde one but only in stores. Will try to get my cousin to buy it and ship it. Today’s feminist rage stroke bought on by the fact that it is apparently impossible to buy an 18 inch blonde boy doll in all of Canada. Sigh.

        • GCA says

          Heh, I know representation is important, but my son has a Dora the Explorer doll he loves (puts to bed, she sits with us to read books and eat breakfast, etc). Doesn’t *have* to be a boy!

          • Ms B says

            We have Corelle knock off twins that belonged to The Hub’s grandma in her waning years. The Kid loves them (sometimes they even make the cut to be bedtime loveys) and the boy doll comes to the doctor and the dentist with us to show how the exam/shots/etc. are going to work.

          • GCA says

            Funny: Minnie Mouse came on a stroller run with us. Not *in* the stroller with kid. In the basket. Why? “Shh, mama! She’s sleeping!”

          • Anonymous says

            Thanks. We do have a variety of dolls in the house but they are constantly after their older sister’s American Girl right now which is causing some conflict. I had matching baby doll style dolls for them but it’s a constant argument as to whose is which so if I get two Doras I have the same problem. I figured matching doll hair to the kid’s hair was the easiest way for them and us to keep straight which doll belongs to which kid.

    • Anon says

      I had a similar annoyance – I’m trying to get my kids boy versions of the Bitty Baby from American Girl. They’ve specifically requested baby dolls like their cousin’s, complete with stroller and bed accessories. Apparently AG has stopped making the boy versions? I finally decided to buy the Bitty Baby and then buy 15″ doll “boy clothes” from Etsy to say that it’s a boy.

      I heard mixed things about whether real preemie clothes will fit the dolls, so I figure once we have the dolls I can test out that theory.

      I don’t know how I’m going to get them a stroller and bed though. I get that pink isn’t a bad color, but there’s no reason to have a hot pink doll stroller or a doll bunk bed that has roses on it. I wouldn’t even want to get those for a girl.

      Super frustrating that it’s so hard to find a boy baby doll, and impossible to find even neutral doll accessories. I just want to encourage nuturing in my boys! Someone take my money!!

    • Anonymous says

      Thanks! I’m in Canada so I often forget about Target since they moved. They have a blonde one but only in stores. Will try to get my cousin to buy it and ship it. Today’s feminist rage stroke bought on by the fact that it is apparently impossible to buy an 18 inch blonde boy doll in all of Canada. Sigh.

      • Anonymous says

        Sorry – meant to add that the Wonder Crew ones are cute but I’m going to get the Our Generation one as I was really looking specifically for an American Girl style doll. Thanks!

  5. lsw says

    Leaky diaper help? My son has been consistently leaking through his regular size diapers at night. (This seemed to coincide with Kirkland changing their diapers slightly – i.e. they now have a wetness indicator in size 4, not sure what else was changed – but I’m not sure it’s related.) We considered putting a cloth diaper insert inside (he was in cloth dipes before daycare), but for laundry purposes, I’m not sure how it would work washing a single poopy insert daily. Doubling up diapers – works okay, don’t love the wastefulness. Sizing up to size 5 – worked for two nights, but this morning there was pee everywhere. Any brilliant suggestions I’m missing?

    He is drinking milk before bed and is 15 months old.

    • AIMS says

      We had this happen a few times with diaper soaking through and the problem solved itself by switching to overnights (pampers) and going up a size. Size 4 and 5 generally overlap, weight wise, but 5 are roomier and so we haven’t had leaks. A friend uses overnight long maxi pad inserts in her daughter’s diapers for this sort of thing and swears by it. Not sure if there is some reason it wouldn’t work for girls but something you may want to try.

    • Anonymous says

      There are things called diaper extenders. They’re like a disposable cloth-diaper sort of insert.

    • Momata says

      Definitely use nighttime diapers. I think Costco sells a Huggies “plus” – this is their overnight brand.

    • Lala says

      I would try a night time diaper in the size 5 and see if that solves the problem. We switched to nighttime diapers sometime around that age, and haven’t had an issue. We use the Honest subscription, and so use their nighttime diapers, but I think most brands have them.

      Also, make sure he is pointed in the right direction when you put it on at night.

    • Jdubs says

      Diaper Boosters. You can buy them on Amazon, it looks like a giant maxi pad that you put inside the diaper but increases the absorbancy.

    • anne-on says

      Overnight diapers – the Huggies brand were the most absorbent ones I could find.

  6. Anon says

    To the person yesterday whose preschooler is afraid of elevators. I’ve had issues with elevators my whole life and for me, the issue is more claustrophobia/crowding than the actual elevator. You said he had the issue when his whole class had to ride it. Can you try taking him on one when it is just you and him and otherwise empty? If that is the issue, maybe the teacher can somehow arrange for him to ride it separate from the group. I still take elevators, even crowded ones, but I dislike it and get anxious. If I was 2, I’d probably just scream and cry.

  7. Blueberry says

    Are you using night diapers? Those are much more absorbent. Not sure if Kirkland makes those, but we always used Huggies for some reason. My kids would soak through the regular ones.

  8. Jewish Moms Help says

    We just found out we are having a boy, which means preparing for hosting the entire extended family for a celebration one week after giving birth. Eeek! Any tips from those that have been there done that – immediate issues I see are having all the family here so soon, timing for an event when baby is still on no schedule, figuring out logistics of planning a catered event when we won’t have a date until the week before, and oh, figuring out what to wear.

    Thinking of having this at the synagogue, but is that a terrible idea? Overwhelmed at both the idea of having it at home and of travelling that early.

    • Anon in NYC says

      Caveat that I’m not Jewish, but my friends hosted a bris at their home for both of their boys and it went very smoothly. What helped was using caterers/providers who were familiar with Jewish traditions, and tapping into the large Jewish community in their area. Plus that my friend’s MIL (who is Jewish) took over a lot of the logistics of it.

      This is not completely analogous, but it’s similar to booking a newborn photographer. Most want to take photos within the first 10 days of the baby’s birth (before the baby really “wakes up”), so you book them, and then after the baby’s born you contact them and tell them it’s go time.

      • Anon in NYC says

        Oh – and I think in terms of invites, they may have used a Paperless Post / word of mouth / email situation.

        For the baby, the lack of a schedule is totally fine. Their mohel was also a pediatrician, and she gave them some tips for making it easier (feed him just before the ceremony, because he’ll be sleepy).

    • jlg says

      Had 2 boys and 2 different yet similar bris approaches. DH is not Jewish. For DS1, my parents invited 40 people (only 2 related) to our house, then refused to arrive early to help set up the house so DH’s lutheran family and my sister did it. It was a nice ceremony but expensive to feed that many people and stressful having to deal with that kind of crowd in our small house as first-time parents, esp after an unscheduled C and with a winter baby with all the concerns about cold/flu. For DS2 we considered using an outside space, like the synagogue or a local hillel, but ultimately went with a very trimmed-down guest list instead. We put my sister in charge of the guest list and sending out invites via paperless post, told my parents we were not hosting a large party, and then had a script for my sister to tell my parents they could discuss with DH if they had questions about the guest list. We just invited immediate/local family (the extended family we invited last time didn’t show anyway), and one or two close friends of ours. We ended up with only about 12-15 people including us and the mohel, and it was so much less stressful.
      Re food, both times we ordered from our local whole foods. They only need 24-48 hours notice and have plenty of options that are fancy enough for a brunch/lunch meal (bagels, lox, salads, sandwiches, cookies/brownies, coffee) without needing to deal with an actual caterer. Their estimates of what people will eat are way off, and the first time we ended up with a massive amount of leftovers. The second time we ordered about 2/3 of what they recommended and still had leftovers. The second time we also sat down right before my due date and went through the food options so my sister and DH knew what to order. WF included condiments for both food and hot drinks, utensils, cups, napkins, and small plates so we didn’t have to buy those separately. Cold drinks did have to be purchased separately.
      If it matters to you, kosher style from a place like WF isn’t hard given all the vegan/vegetarian options available. (Actual kosher food is more complicated and I don’t have much advice for that, though the kosher caterers in your area should be well prepared to deal with the last-minute nature of a bris.)
      Re: baby’s schedule — it won’t matter. The mohel will come when he/she has time in the schedule, and it will likely be in the morning. An experienced mohel will know how to handle a sleepy or cranky baby, and will tell all the relevant family members their role in the ceremony so you don’t have to worry about it. The mohel we used both times gave us awesome tips about comforting and diapering a newborn. If you are nursing, plan to nurse baby right after the ceremony whether or not that is correct according to his regular pattern or schedule — it will help calm and comfort him better than any drugs. This was one of the reasons we chose to be at home despite the aggravation — it let me just take baby upstairs to nurse in a quiet and familiar (to me!) space. Also keep in mind that whether you have a vag or C birth you won’t be healed yet, may still be bleeding, may not have pooped for a week, and may leak milk, so being close to your own bathroom and having extra changes of clothes readily available was comforting to me.
      The upshot of my first bris experience was that I needed to make sure the second one focused on the needs of me, baby, and my nuclear family (including my sensitive 4.5 yo) and not the assorted fans. Everyone who wanted to meet baby got to do so within the first few weeks (coworkers, other family & friends). My parents probably complained to their friends about it, but I’m was past caring b/c they made so little effort to actually help the first time (they also, despite being local, chose to leave for vacation the day after DS1’s bris and didn’t come back for 3 months, so the unhelpfulness wasn’t limited to the bris).
      I hope any of this is helpful — I would encourage you to think about what you and your partner/other kids need from the experience and focus on that, keep it as simple as possible, and take care of yourself and baby first. Good luck!

      • OP says

        Thanks so much! Unfortunately, even immediate family may overtax our tiny place, but really good points about the positives of self hosting. WF is a great idea for platters. And this will spark important discussion about how involved we want either set of parents to be. And reminder that I likely want to book a photographer!

    • Wow says

      Not Jewish but we had a Hindu baby naming ceremony that happens 13 days after the birth, so we dealt with a similar issue of hosting at home with lots of people around. We ultimately had 20 family members and friends, which was probably a bit on the larger side but still doable. It was beautiful. My mom cooked for everyone and it was fantastic but she’s crazy that way (in the best sense of course) but would definitely recommend catering — NOT doing any cooking yourself or asking any family members to cook. Also, don’t feel bad about ducking into another room to nurse – there will be a lot of people around, you’ve just been through childbirth and you need some privacy.

      Definitely try to figure out as much of the logistics (like catering) now while you have more time.

      Congrats! Boys are great. :)

      • OP says

        Thank you! And my apologies that I didn’t think about other religious traditions having newborn ceremonies.

  9. Elevator to Anon says

    Thanks, Anon. The teacher has been taking him separately on the stairs which is fine but not a long term solution since they need the whole class to be able to ride the elevator.

    We took him to the mall yesterday and tried the button pushing, etc. We told him it was like the inside of a crane (truck obsessed). He didn’t want to press buttons and screamed the whole time through two roundtrips, but he recovered quickly each time we got off. The first ride from floor 1 to floor 2 dumped us near toys so we obviously let him pick out a new truck. He still screamed on the subsequent 3 trips.

    This morning at breakfast, he declared that he wants to go ride a crane and then added “I want new truck!” I’m thinking this repeated exposure will help, even if it’s expensive?

    • Anon in NYC says

      Does he freak out less if you’re holding him? I realize that’s not a solution for his teachers, but just wondering if there’s a difference. Maybe he doesn’t like the sensation of moving. Has he been on an escalator yet?

    • AIMS says

      Just wanted to say that repeated exposure always helps. My daughter went through a very long bath phobia phase recently and the biggest mistake we made was “not torturing her” by giving her less baths. A bunch of things eventually helped, but the biggest factor was just doing baths regularly. There’s lots of research about this to back, too.

      Not sure if he’s at an age where you can ask him what he finds scary about elevators but trying to figure out the source of his anxiety may help too. I also find that explaining what will happen before it does helps, as does acting really excited about it. YouTube also has a bunch of elevator videos for kids, so maybe see if there’s something he’d like there.

  10. anon says

    My 3 year old is changing preschool/daycares next week. She will be the only new kid at the new school. Any tips on how to prep her? We’re planning to bring cupcakes to her last day at the old school to give her a nice send off. Should we also celebrate at the end of the first day? Husband and I are super anxious about this change, while we know the new school is a great choice, we are both change averse and do not want to project our anxiety on to kiddo. She seems excited about the change, but I am not sure she understands that she will not be going back to her beloved old school.

    • mascot says

      There’s got to a be a Daniel Tiger episode about this. I think it’s good to acknowledge to her that there may be some things she misses about her old school and give her the time/space/hugs to work through some of those feelings. But she’s 3, so take advantage of the fact that 3 year olds are distractable, they live in the moment and that there is so much new and wonderful that they discover every day, she won’t necessarily be inclined to ruminate and feel homesick for her old school. You know your kid, but you can probably get away with “look at all the cool dress-up clothes new school has, you love dress up clothes” without adding in the comparison of “this is just like old school.” Also, don’t feel too bad if she isn’t good with names and faces. Even when he’d been in a class with a kid for a while, my son only knew the child as his friend and had a hard time recalling his friend’s name at that age. They get better as they get older.

    • Anon in NYC says

      We changed my daughter’s school when she was 2. I realize there’s a huge difference between a 2 and 3 year old, but I agree that she will probably be distracted by all of the newness of the new place. New toys are a powerful thing.

      We started talking up the new school before she switched, but other than that, didn’t really do anything special. We did allow for longer drop off periods for the first week or so, and asked her to show us new toys, etc. If I recall correctly, the days 1 and 2 were easy and days 3-5 were harder. Several months in, it’s still a mixed bag, but it was at her former place too.

    • NewMomAnon says

      When we transitioned kiddo to a new school a little after age 3, I arranged to bring her for some visits beforehand. I brought her while the kids were playing outside, which was a great equalizer – every kid knows about playgrounds by age 3. We would stay for 45 minutes to an hour, I would chill on the sidewalk while she gained the confidence to go interact. I think we did 2 visits (plus the initial tour) with her before the first official drop off.

      Also – Llama Llama Misses Mama became a very important book in our house for a few weeks. We said, “Mommys and daddys always come back” over and over and over.

  11. Elevator to AIMS says

    Thank you! That’s hugely helpful. You hit on my concerns exactly. I don’t want to torture and create more of a fear of elevators. We will keep riding them regularly!

  12. anon says

    Anyone out there put their infant in daycare in Woodside/Sunnyside/Long Island City? We’re moving to Sunnyside in a couple of weeks and I’m not having the baby until late February, so I won’t need daycare until July (probably?) but am already feeling overwhelmed about how to research this, how expensive it is, whether we should just go for a nanny, and whether the hours really work with two people who are generally out of the house from 8-6 at a minimum. Anyone who has been through this wringer and has experience to share, let me know!

    • AIMS says

      No specific experience but there’s a Bright Horizons center in LIC, I think. Friends who have kids in other BH daycares in NYC have been happy. Hours would be doable, I think, but cost is high. I think infants are around $3-3.5K/month, full time.

      • Anon says

        I priced the BH in LIC a few years ago and the price was super high. If you are willing to look at in home daycares I know you can find them for closer to $1k/month. I used to use on on the Astoria/Sunnyside border, but they no longer take infants.

    • Anon says

      I’m in Astoria, so I don’t have exact daycare suggestions for you. I had my kids in daycare but switched to a nanny situation when my oldest entered public school. I think daycare could work for you if you can pickup by 6, I don’t know many day cares that stay open past 6, I do know people who hire a sitter for 1-2 hours in the evening to do daycare pickup and start dinner for the baby while parents get home from work. Search on facebook for the group Momally Astoria – it’s a huge group of local moms who would probably have better suggestions for you, definitely moms in there from LIC and Sunnyside. There is also a Sunnyside Moms group but that seems to be less active.

      • anon says

        thanks – I joined it, but it seems to not have too much activity. I know there’s a lot of time to figure all of this out, but it also doesn’t feel like a lot of time, you know?

        • Anonymous says

          Hello to a fellow Astoria Momally! For the OP, the Sunnyside Moms Facebook group is a better bet than the Yahoo group, I think.

    • Ava says

      We do daycare 8:15 to 6 and it works well. Most NYC parents in daycare that I know use daycare for those hours.

  13. EB0220 says

    Can we have a post on kid-friendly furniture? We are currently limping along with a huge sectional that is comfy but 30 years old and a kitchen table that is pretty but totally worn down by kids spills, scratches, etc. Any recommendations for reasonably priced, durable, modern furniture? I know IKEA meets modern and inexpensive but durability has been so-so for us in the past. Any experience with Article?

    • SC says

      We have a sofa from Pottery Barn with one of their “everyday suede” fabrics. It is very kid-friendly (and pet-friendly). We can wipe up almost anything with just a wet cloth and let it air dry.

      I’ll admit that Pottery Barn doesn’t have a modern aesthetic, and it’s not exactly inexpensive. If you buy a sofa elsewhere, I highly recommend the faux suede/microfiber fabric. We purchased a fairly neutral sofa from Pottery Barn and put more modern furniture and a rug around it (our poor rug!). And although it was somewhat pricey, it’s held up really well for several years.

    • Anon in NYC says

      My next couch / dining table are going to be from Room & Board. They say that some of their fabrics are kid/pet friendly.

    • JP says

      Macy’s Radley sofa collection. Wears like iron and there’s always a sale. Plus it has slim, squared-off arms, not the giant rolled ones that look like football pads

    • Butter says

      We just went through this last year. Needed a new couch, and bought one from Room and Board in one of their performance fabrics (also dark color). Swapped out the very not-friendly coffee table for one of their extra large ottomans at a friend’s recommendation, and it is the greatest thing ever as the kid propels himself into it all the time. Can be used as a chaise, coffee table, play table, etc. So far it has been indestructible to spills, smooshes, etc.

      For dining table we went with a round Ikea table, and it has been completely fine so far, but we didn’t want an “investment” piece for the dining area so it’s done the job. I am a fan of round because of no corners for kiddos and can squeeze more people in if needed.

    • Carine says

      We have West Elm sofas in performance velvet and their Henry sectional in leather. Both finishes feel nice, are durable and holding up really, really well in our house with two young kids, a dog and a cat. The performance velvet can be wiped with a damp cloth and the leather is one of the more distressed finishes so you can’t even tell what’s original and what’s wear. The velvet sofas are three years old and the sectional is two and everything looks pretty much like new.

      They often have good sales on seating around the beginning of the year. I will say I have heard some horror stories about their shipping and delivery services but I’ve never had a problem.

  14. Anon -- for law re diapers says

    Re overnight diapers– for a while using an overnight type a size up helped. When that stopped working we got the advise to stick a jumbo poise pad in the diaper– when we’ll placed (high to the front) it works pretty well still at 2.5. we have a tummy sleeping boy so nothing works perfectly. Must be a jumbo type pad, not a lighter one.

    • lsw says

      Got it – so you still size up with the overnights? We have a tummy sleeping boy, too.

  15. H13 says

    Just wanted to thank everyone for the support and advice about the nursing strike. Fingers crossed we have made it through. He’s nursed normally the past two days although I am topping him off with a bottle before bed. He refuses to nurse on the left side but there isn’t much production over there these days anyway. Hoping we can keep things up for the next four months at least!

  16. For Elevator says

    This seems EXTREMELY unlikely, but throwing this out there. My grandmother could never ride elevators, not because she was scared, but because she had an inner ear problem. Elevators were enough to destabilize her balance for quite a while (she never flew either). My mom has had vertigo and I’ve had Alice in Wonderland migraines (though neither of us has problems with elevators).

    If he’s had ear infections or has other balance issues (or other family members have had) consider asking your doctor.

    • mascot says

      Good point. I had really bad ears as a kid and they still pop on elevators, going up hills, etc. Teaching a kid to yawn (or just triggering a yawn in front of him) may provide some relief.

ABOUT

WORK WITH US

SERIOUS STUFF