Make My Life Easier Thursday: SlumberPod
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When my kids were babies/toddlers, my genius hack for putting them to sleep in a hotel room was to set up a pack and play in the bathroom and shut the door. The downside was the bathroom was basically off-limits for any adult past the kids’ early bedtime. I wish I’d had this blackout tent.
The SlumberPod is a breathable blackout tent that you can set up over a pack and play or toddler air mattress so that your little one can get some shuteye while you don’t have to. Thoughtful design features include a pocket for a baby monitor. It’s also carry-on friendly and machine washable.
The SlumberPod is on sale for $159.99 (marked down from $199.99).
Sales of note for 5/8:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – Mother’s Day Event: 40% off your purchase. Readers love this popover blouse, and their suiting is also in the sale.
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Dress & sport shirts, 2 for $149
- Express – $39+ summer styles + 25% off everything else
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything + extra 70% off clearance + 40%-50% off the Weekend Shop
- Lo & Sons – Mother’s Day Sale: Up to 40% off — reader favorites include this laptop tote, this backpack, and this crossbody
- M.M.LaFleur – Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Nordstrom – Up to 25% off
- Talbots – 50% off wear-now styles and all markdowns + 30% off tops, pants, jeans, and shorts
Good morning! I’m strongly considering putting my daughter in our district’s dual language program starting in kindergarten next year. My kids have a large age gap so it wasn’t available for my son who is older. The language my daughter would be learning is not when we speak at home, although I have taken a fair amount (Spanish). Anyone have experiences, positive or negative, with programs like this? Part of the equation for me is that my daughter is older (fall birthday) and seems well prepared for kindergarten.
What’s your best advice for dealing with a “queen bee” mom when there is a good chance your lives will continue to be intertwined for many years (yay K12 private school) but her power moves and complete inability to understand the needs of working moms are starting to drive you crazy? This mom is on all the committees, raises all the money, organizes all the extracurriculars. We are currently friends/ friendly, and I would like to keep it that way. I do actually like her on a personal level! But I think she is oblivious in many ways. And she can create a dynamic where she defines the cool people–which I think non-cool people have started to notice more than she realizes. I keep getting pulled in for *reasons* and it’s getting harder and harder for me to play diplomat. I am not someone who shies from confrontation–in fact my whole profession is basically one confrontation after another. It is taking all my will power to smile and nod. Please help.
Do slumberpods get hot inside? That’s my biggest concern. I know you can do the fan but all of it seems kind of risky for a baby?
Tell me about school and sports pictures. When I was a kid, mom did our hair nice and we sat in front of a blue background. They came out nicely generic, although I know the prints were a little overpriced.
My kid got sports photos for the first time and I’m fairly horrified. The lighting is atrocious and the photographer told him to “smile big” which looks like he has his teeth bared. It’s 45 bucks for the digital file.
My local friends are telling me it is what it is, and I should just lean into the absurdity. Is it like this everywhere? Do parents still buy posed pictures if they come out like this?
What is brightening your life lately?
Mine are:
The yoga studio across the street – challenging classes without that boot camp vibe.
My kid’s climbing class – I get a guaranteed 90 min coffee date with my husband every week.
The squirrels in the back garden. I’ve relocated my desk to my son’s room and just watch the squirrels run along the wall.
Counterpoint – we got this for our youngest with the idea that it would be ‘great for travel’. We ended up using it every night until he moved out of the crib at 3.5. This was one of our GOAT baby items.
In our case, kiddo was sharing a bedroom with sibling who developed a habit of getting out of bed and immediately flicking on the big light. The tent solved what otherwise would have been a crisis. I literally love it and it’s the best thing ever.
We have never been on a family vacation and would like that to change in the next year or so. I know a lot of people use credit card points, and I’d like to start using them for travel too (have always done cash back).
I need something simple- I am just not going to be able to keep track which card to use for which category, and all of the more complicated aspects of travel card hacking. It’s fine for us to open up a new card or two- our credit is excellent and we have no plans to buy a new house or car any time soon.
We are not fancy people and our first family trip will almost certainly be domestic/ a short plane ride from the mid Atlantic.
What are your favorite simple travel cards? We never eat out and ideally would use the card for regular every day purposes.
We have one of these! It’s nice if the room you are staying in has additional space. Otherwise it’s quite a squeeze to fit it in the room. We haven’t used it in a while and I was thinking of selling it on fb marketplace.
We tried this when we had little kids and it just didn’t work for us. We ultimately made the call of that a vacation felt far more like a vacation if we just rented a place with a separate room for the baby.
A baby tent may stop light but it doesn’t stop sound and our kids didn’t like sleeping in it.