Weekend & Family Friday: Picnic Time Vista Blanket
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Like most of the commenters here, I’ve been using picnics and eating outside as a source of entertainment lately. For my son, who can barely sit through a meal at the table, eating outside provides him with enough stimulation and things to look at that he actually eats more, and tries food that he normally would object to. Mealtimes become a source of entertainment, instead of a slog (no? just me?). I’m thinking that picnics are going to be incorporated into our routine more frequently this summer, and a dedicated picnic blanket might be necessary. I love how this one has the classic red-and-white checked pattern, folds up into its own carrying case, and is machine washable. No more grassy throw blankets in my house! This is $23.95 at Target.com. Picnic Time Vista Blanket
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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?
WWYD? I am 12 weeks pregnant and waiting for my NIPT results. As long as the results are good, we were planning to share our news with family/friends in the next two weeks. I have a 2.5 year old who knows she’s going to be a big sister for maybe a minute and then moves on.
Plot twist: My SIL (husband’s brother’s wife) called last night to tell us that she’s 4 weeks pregnant and they’ll be sharing with everyone else as well. It took about a year for them to get here (ecptoctic pregnancy, trying again since January).
I’ve been along for her journey and she shares a lot of information with me, but we’ve been not as forthcoming on our end just because we tend to be private people. I miscarried in December which is another reason why were especially cautious this time. No one in my husband’s family knows about the miscarriage.
Now we feel we need to give them their time to shine and hope everything goes well for them. I’m nervous for her because it’s so early. Since who knows the next time we’ll see my husband’s family due to the lockdown, we probably could get away with not sharing until around 20 weeks which gives her the first trimester to be the “only one” pregnant. I’m not a big social media user so I’m not concerned about info being “leaked” if we told my family and our friends. I would just feel bad that my husband can’t share a big part of his life over all of the Zoom calls for another 7-8 weeks especially when we were mentally prepared to share soon.
Bad mom gut check here.
I have a kid who was in Pre-K this year, but was very young for their class. The cutoff here is December, so we did send kid this year but ultimately – and the pandemic really sealed the deal for us – we decided that for social/emotional reasons, kid will do another year of Pre-K before going to Kindergarten.
They’re doing a graduation (responsibly). Am I crazy for just… noping out with my kid? Like, if we had been in school and everybody was practicing together, I wouldn’t have made kiddo sit on the sidelines,but I don’t feel like I need kiddo to go to a ‘graduation’ when we’ll get one next year?
Looking for external validation on the graduation issue. On the ‘repeating Pre-K’ issue, my kid’s teacher is in total agreement that it’s the right call. Also, it’s so wild when I talk to friends in other states where the cutoff is like June 30th when ours is December.
Dedicated picnic blankets are great but I have completely given up on refolding any of the ones I’ve ever purchased. They always come with some carrying bag or some fancy way to fold it and zip it around itself and I have never been successful post-picnic in corraling my family long enough to stand there while I figure out how to do picnic blanket origami.
Getting ready to pack my hospital bags, and I’m trying to figure out what to wear home and pack clothing-wise for the hospital. I was originally thinking something like yoga pants and a nursing tank/boxy tshirt for most of my post-birth stay and 15 minute drive home. I am worried how that would work if I ended up needing a csection, and was thinking something like Old Navy’s swing dress would be comfy and loose. I’ve also heard that your stomach muscles can be pretty sore after a v*ginal delivery, and a waistband doesn’t always feel great. I figure worse-case I can stay in the hospital gown while I’m there, but will need something to wear home. I’m in metro-Atlanta so it’s going to be hot when my little guy arrives.
Am I overthinking this? Clearly I’m a ftm trying to prepare for the unknown.
I just wanted to say thank you to all of the kind words yesterday – I know you are all strangers, but you made this internet stranger feel a lot better. Today’s test was screamingly negative, so I’m going to have a drink tonight and gear up to try again in a couple of weeks.
Also – my OB told me I should go in for a blood test – is there really a good reason to do it? I’m inclined to avoid the doctor’s office if I can.
I posted back in March about my cycle being scratched literally one day short of my procedure in late March due to Covid. Well, my fertility clinic called Wednesday and I officially went in for my first baseline scan this morning. The clinic is in a major hospital in a hotspot so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was so well run and organized. Five different check points to confirm identity, verify masks, confirm you haven’t had COVID symptoms, etc. Extremely thorough and lots of opportunities to use hand sanitizer, even from getting from parking garage elevator to the actual fertility clinic office.
I’m now waiting anxiously for the phone call from the doctor to tell me if I can start injections tonight or not, but just so glad that this is starting back up again. I think there were a few other women with cancelled cycles. Sending you positive thoughts and hoping you, too, are back in the game soon.
Y’all, I am an emotional basket case at the moment. I am pregnant in my third trimester and just weaned my toddler. I didn’t think it’d be a big deal because a) I’m pregnant; and b) we were only doing very short night feeds, but last night I just could not stop crying (which is so not my personality.)
To top it off, toddler has decided that he only wants his dad now. My husband is an amazing dad and we split child care and household care 50/50 so I know I’m super lucky there. I also know it’s ridiculous to let to be hurt by the favoritism of a kid who is not even 2 . . . but man, it is a knife right to the heart.
What kind of childbirth classes did you take (if you took them)? Did you find them helpful? Any recommendations for a good type of class for someone who is hoping for a vaginal delivery – but with epidural, because there is a decent chance I’ll end up needing a c-section due to a fibroid that might block the birth canal, and so if I’m allowed to try vaginal and end up needing a c-section, I want to have had the epidural so that I can be awake for the c-section and not under general anesthesia. If it wasn’t for the fibroid, I’d try w/o meds, but being awake for the birth (however it happens) is more important.
Second question – if you had a c-section, were you able to do skin-to-skin immediately and breastfeed right away as well?
I want to cry. Ever since COVID, my boss has seen everything as an emergency, whether it is or not. I am supposed to be off this weekend (I work a M-F job) and Monday. I was planning to use this time to disconnect and destress, because I am losing it. I never yell and I keep yelling. I cry, which is usually my sign to look for a new job, but there are no other jobs right now.
He sent an email today telling me I need to get something done by Monday morning. I pushed back that it seemed like we could take more time given the request (basically, we need to decide if we’re going to complete a project this summer by Monday. But we decided we are, so that’s good! I made that happen on time! The secondary question of whether we complete project B or C after A doesn’t need answer by Monday, but he wants me to work on it this weekend, so we have an answer Monday, which isn’t necessary). But I am scared to tell him I just need the time off, because I am his go-to for everything and I successfully pushed back on something else this week. I don’t want to look lazy, but I also cannot do everything (and care for my kids!).
Any recommendations for maternity boy shorts/bike shorts? Looking for something I can wear under dresses that is not shape-wear, but that just provides light support and prevents thigh chafing. Surprisingly hard to find…
Thanks!
Hawaii introduced a feminist recovery plan for Covid. Swoon. It was released April 14. I’m only hearing about it now. I wish my state would do something like this, though hard to imagine it. Highlights:
>”women in our communities have never been busier taking care of loved ones, provisioning supplies,and finding ways to offset the enormous economic and social burdens of this time. These aspects of the economy usually go uncounted and hidden yet there would be no economy without these activities”
>”Rather than rush to rebuild the status quo of inequality, we should encourage a deep structural transition to an economy that better values the work we know is essential to sustaining us.”
>”Parents and Caregivers: Provide free, publicly funded childcare for all essential workers. Utilizing the additional Child Care and Development Block grant money and available federal waivers to provide no-cost care for emergency and essential workers. Designate childcare providers across the state, ensuring equal access for all families, and work directly with the providers. Families should have minimal barriers to receiving care. For some of our essential workers (grocery store, post office, government, etc.) the closure of schools means an additional out of pocket cost for childcare.”[Recommendation]
>[Recommendation] “Build the state’s social infrastructure (childcare, education and healthcare).Studies have shown that investing public funds in childcare and elder care services is more effective in reducing public deficits and debt” [Recommendation]
>”Include Women in All Levels of Consultation, Decision-Making and Communication Outreach. Many of the gaps and issues we are observing and documenting have always existed. The pandemic is only exacerbating and highlighting the structural inequities and lack of access to resources faced by women, youth, Native Hawaiians, LGBT individuals and immigrants.” [Recommendation]
>”Support women+’s economic independence, the redistribution of unpaid care work and the circular economy,ensuring jobs programs for women+ and public provision of childcare and programs, such as paid family leave that support more equitable distribution of childcare and recognized, paid work.” [Recommendation]
The full report is here:
https://humanservices.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/4.13.20-Final-Cover-D2-Feminist-Economic-Recovery-D1.pdf
My office has announced that starting next week, we will be in the office one week, WFH the next, for the foreseeable future. We are only required to meet 25% team personnel capacity in the office right now, so it’s up to individual teams to determine who’s in and who’s WFH. This seems…misguided? But that’s a topic for another post. Personally, it’s going to be more chaotic for me to switch back and forth. Am I crazy to ask my boss if I can go into the office 99% of the time, and only WFH when I request it? Another team mate is currently doing this (also, coincidentally the parent of a toddler). Can you think of any downsides to this arrangement that I might not be considering?
Toddler size hooded towel recs? I just bought some Target Cloud Island baby ones but now I would like some bigger ones. Googling I’m not sure which are a good size.