Make My Life Easier Thursday: Philips Hue Lights
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2018 Update: We still stand by this review of Philips Hue Lights for nursery rooms (and general discussion of how to use smart lights for your nursery) — but you may want to check out some of our more recent stories about bedtime, including our recent post on how to get your kids to sleep.
I’ve written before about my love of our nursery light bulb, which emits a soft yellow/orange glow designed to get your little one in the mood for bedtime — but we’re recently getting into smart lights like Philips Hue at Casa Griffin, and I’m in love — especially for a small space like a child’s bedroom, where you may not have the luxury of having space for a dedicated nursery light. If you get one of these, you can have it as a regular white light during playtime — then turn it to an orangier twilight glow at bedtime that fades away to a nightlight. If your little one has problems waking up, you can turn it on slowly (like over the course of 30 minutes) to an energizing light — and you can amuse your little one with blue lights and more. There are apparently apps where you can also sync it to work with the music, but I haven’t gotten into those. (Oh, and if you forget to turn it off and don’t want to creep back into baby’s room? You can turn the light off with your phone or iPad.) The dimmable colored light (pictured) is only $50, but note that the smart bridge (necessary to connect the lights to your WiFi) starts at around $65 depending on which kit you get (we started with the lightstrip kit for undercabinet lighting). Philips Hue Dimmable Color Lights
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Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Y’all. I survived! Kid was totally fine all day yesterday after the early morning puke incident.
We went to the grocery store, where I bought a bunch of produce. I made a salad with homemade lemon dressing. I took a shower. I even shaved my legs.
Right now I’m sitting in my silent office eating more salad. And watermelon. And salami. And pasta salad. (and an ice cold coca cola). Life is good.
Hooray!
Ugh. I have a milestone birthday coming up, and to celebrate, my husband and I are taking a big vacation without our kids. Objectively, I should be thrilled – it is the trip of a lifetime for us, and a place I’ve always wanted to go. In real life, I’m consumed with anxiety about the trip. I’m not a great flier, and I’m already having nightmares about the long plane flight over the ocean (which I’ve never done before – domestic travel only).
I’m feeling really selfish about it — if something happens to the flight, my kids will be orphaned because their dad and I wanted a splurge vacation?! I don’t feel this way about work travel, but there’s something about both of us being on a plane together for fun without our kids. I also know some of this is money anxiety – our savings took a big hit last year by adding two daycare bills, and we are on track to replenish and substantially add to it with a year end partnership payout, but the money isn’t in our pockets until Dec. I just feel badly about all of it — the money should go to savings until we get our year end payout, we should take the kids with us because then at least we’d all go down together, we’re really far away if something happens to the kids, etc. etc. anxiety spiral. We will probably never do this type of travel again, as it’s the last year my parents will be able to keep both kids for a week, but I feel like my perspective is totally skewed right now. FWIW, I usually stress on planes when we are without the kids, but this feels like a new level of fear.
I am having a hard time with my 50/50 split of responsibilities with my husband. Since my industry tends to skew towards early hours I leave the house before anyone is awake and my husband handles mornings (getting everyone ready and out of the house), but then evenings are all on me. I get home between 5-6 and do dinner and bedtime alone. If he gets home before kids are asleep it is only to interrupt bedtime so we start all over again. I have basically made peace with the face that evenings are solely my responsibility, but I am having a hard time with the fact that I never get to do anything after work. No happy hours, no work events, etc. I will sometimes cover the morning shift if my husband has something come up or is traveling, but literally it never works in the other direction. We used to have a standing sitter 2x/week who would do pickup, dinner, and bedtime – but that was with only one kid when we lived closer to daycare. Now evenings involve multiple pickups and complicated logistics. The few times I have managed to arrange something it becomes totally not worth it. I get called every 5 minutes regarding logistics or I come home to kids who haven’t been fed and aren’t asleep. Anyway, I miss my old life of being able to have a life.
I really strongly disliked kick counts when I was pregnant with my first child. The idea that I could take time three times a day to count movement seemed absurd and I always had a hard time determining whether in fact I did feel movement. There were of course time periods where he was active and noticing movement was easy, but only when I was laying down or reclined in someway, not in the office.
I’m now 8 months pregnant with my second and decided I wasn’t going to stress about movement this time. I mostly did OK with this so far, but not today! I missed the window last night where I normally take time to notice movement because I was wrapped up in a project, but I was particularly anxious about feeling movement because it was a night filled with wrestling with my toddler. I also normally make time in the morning to feel movement while I’m sitting having quiet time before the day starts, but I slept in and now I’m at the office!
Does anyone else struggle with this? I feel like this has been a pattern with both kids. I’ll learn to anticipate their movements and schedule, then it’ll change for a few days and I’ll worry. Right before I’m ready to give in and call the doctor, I’m back to feeling pretty good movement. I really think I cause myself undue stress with this because I let my brain go down spirals where then I question why I’ve actually lost a pound over the last week, or if I’m not thirsty enough and then I turn into a nut.
Thank you!
My 5 month old often has cold hands/feet when I pick him up for his night feeding. Any tips? We keep it 74 degress F in our bedroom at night (he sleeps in our room in his own crib with no blankets because SIDS). He has eczema and wearing fleece seems to make it worse – so I dress him in cotton footie pjs. More layers? Try wool? Stop worrying? His hands and feet aren’t cold during the day. I’m not majorly worried, just curious if you’ve encountered this and have a solution. TIA!
ISO pregnancy shell tops. I found one I like here: http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/loyal-hana-amanda-print-maternity-nursing-tank/4391097, which seems a tad expensive (but fine, it “should” also work for nursing), and I LOVE this one, which is currently out of all sizes but XS: http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/pietro-brunelli-fialka-graphic-maternity-top/4338145
Anyone recommend other places to get shell-like tops? I might be too picky here, but I have a strong aversion to most floral/pink things and prefer neutral/black/blue/green colors.
I was always anxious while pregnant and there’s a legitimate reason for that anxiety! A lot CAN go wrong and you hear a lot of horror stories. I did find that my DDs movement patterns would change throughout my pregnancy. My doctor never had me do daily kick counts but said I could do them if I suddenly didn’t think she was moving as much. My advice is to drink some orange juice and spend an hour focusing. And if you EVER just get a bad horrible feeling the baby isn’t moving enough, call your doctor and go in within the hour. Intuition is one thing that really can be trusted in this case.
Looking for a small size toddler backpack (wearing 18 mos clothes). Looking for something relatively plain (simple patterns/colorblock would be fine). Most little backpacks I’m finding are character bags (I’m totally okay with character clothes/toys, but a backpack is an every day thing). Suggestions?
Did you see this? I swear I would quit!
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2017/07/dear_prudence_one_of_my_colleagues_is_stealing_my_breast_milk.html
I just had some work done on my house. The installer seems to have done a good job, but the salesperson actively misrepresented the nature of the product and how it would/could be installed and it looks terrible. To fix it, I am either going to have to have the job redone by another contractor at twice the price or spend three times the cost of the original installation on additional work to cover it up (which we would like to do eventually but did not want to spend the $$$ on at this time).
When the job was complete, I did not pay the balance due or sign off; instead, I called the company’s office and asked to have a different salesperson out to look at it and see what could be done before I sign off and pay. The company’s argument is that they installed the product that I contracted to purchase and that no one could have made it look the way I want it to. My argument is that I signed the contract based on the salesman’s false assurances about how it would look (slightly different from the original but not the way actually looks). I am guessing that the new salesman is going to say they can’t do anything to make it look better without performing additional work at my cost, which will just make things worse and which I don’t want to do. I am usually a good negotiator but I’m having a hard time here. I am not even sure exactly what to ask for. Suggestions?
Don’t get another salesperson out – get the company owner/president/area manager.