Nursing/Postpartum Tuesday: Silver Lining Cloud Activity Gym
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Using a gift card from some very generous coworkers, I sprung for this activity gym for my youngest.
I thought the cloud theme was really cute and love the soft color palette — it’s not as garish as other activity gyms. It comes with all the activity gym favorites — a musical sheep, colorful light-up star, squeaky cloud, bird rattle, and sunshine mirror. The mat is made of fabrics with different colors and textures. It also includes a cloud tummy time pillow.
My son spent countless hours on it, so it was a gift card well spent.
Skip Hop’s Silver Lining Cloud Activity Gym is $80.99 at Target and Amazon.
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?
Help – I’m in desperate need of a couple of babymoon outfits. We’re going to Miami Beach early next month and staying at basically the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at, but I’m slightly freaking out because I have zero non-WFH maternity clothes, and truthfully I haven’t even really broken out the maternity stuff I have because I’ve just been wearing sweatshirts and non-maternity jeans that still fit. I just want to feel comfortable and not out of place when I’m there. I’m 5’4″, size 14, 20 weeks. Thanks in advance!
Wish us luck, we’re putting in our first offer on a house today!
Best winter coats for elementary school boys? Chicago, so needs to be warm and snow proof.
Booster seat rec for 3YO at grandparents’ home? We have a tripp trapp at home, so don’t use one here. Son has been in a Graco high chair at grandparents’ home, but I am thinking he may be too big for that now.
Has anyone ever been super buried with work, taken a whole weekend day to crank through it, and felt better?
I’ve been really trying to draw boundaries and not work after bedtime (one, it sucks, two, I’m not really that productive unless it’s going through emails). But part of me wonders if I just had the dedicated time with no meetings to really get it done, I’d be in better shape overall, less anxious, etc. I have a lot of stuff that is really super easy and if I just had the time to focus I could get it off my plate – it is transitioning to a new hire and I just have to button it up.
But I could also see myself falling into the trap where then that becomes expected and I have to keep doing that (despite the fact this particular work is supposed to be transitioning, it’s always something, right?). Debating if I should have my nanny come over one day this weekend – will I feel better or worse??
i’ve decided that one of the hardest things about being a parent is having no idea how much sleep you will get each night. one of my 3.5 year old twins sometimes wakes up at 5:30 and other times wakes up at 7. in our household 5:30am is very still nighttime. i have no issue with letting her cry minus the fact that if she gets too worked up she throws up and i definitely don’t feel like dealing with that. i had so many things i wanted to accomplish today and now instead i’m in survival/stay awake mode
Curious to see if anyone recognizes this pattern and can offer any tips/insights. For months now, I have been been ping-ponging between periods of impressive productivity during times of intense stress/pressure and feeling like there is cotton between my ears and I can’t get anything at all done. It’s almost like my brain goes into hibernation without a major adrenaline rush to kick it into gear. When there’s a deadline or client emergency, I’m super focused and able to fly through tasks and produce quality results. But as soon as the crisis lifts, the brain fog seems to descend and stick around until the next alarm. It’s hard to explain but really goes beyond typical “mom brain” or whatever. I literally feel like I can’t quite wake up and fully participate in the things around me until there’s an external pressure forcing me to reengage. I hate this yo-yo effect and would really like to take advantage of the time between fire drills, which are unavoidable at work due to my specialty, to get organized and work ahead on some projects, both at work and at home. Instead, I find myself just staring at my desk or sitting on the couch unable to even really figure out what to do or how to get started. Is this burn out? Regular fatigue? Poor time management? I feel like I’m losing my edge and possibly my mind!
A vent- I’m having one of those weeks… Husband just left for 3 weeks so I’m solo parenting the toddler. This weekend was ok, but now during the work week everything feels so stupid and difficult. Every time someone says “Oh anon can you handle this task” it makes me want to scream. I feel so overwhelmed by all the stuff that has to get done, one more task feels monumental.
I’m taking Friday off as a personal day while the kid is in daycare. Hopefully that will help me recharge and chill out and I already scaled the housework & childcare back to the bare minimum.
Play date Qs:
1. (Setting Covid aside for a moment), can you invite someone over to your house on a first playdate? I’ve seen some sources online saying the first playdate needs to be at a playground or other “neutral” territory, but my 3.5 year old is an “indoor cat” who really does not enjoy the playground. When we drag her there, she just wants to play pretend games, which understandably other kids don’t particularly want to engage in when they have slides and monkey bars in front of them. She’s also not particularly coordinated for her age and very timid, plus she’s almost two years younger than some kids in her class, so even if she wanted to go on the playground equipment, it would be hard for her to keep up with her classmates. We’ve had a couple playground playdates but they went really poorly and ended with her asking why she couldn’t just have her friend over to the house to play with all her toys. :/
2. Are people not doing indoor playdates because of covid? I consider myself really Covid cautious (we do nothing public indoors except daycare, we don’t even go into grocery stores and stuff like that) but if the kids are together in school all day anyway, the incremental risk of seeing each other in masks outside of school seems really low. But I gather some people feel differently?
I have several sheath dresses by LK Bennett, GOAT, and The Fold in bright colors that I haven’t worn since well before COVID. They are dated and I should get rid of them, right? Every time I go to put one on it just looks too garish and I end up wearing something black or gray instead. I’m just afraid that they’ll come back into style and I’ll regret letting them go because they are so nice and in great condition. I have a very small closet, so space is at a premium.