Everyone Thursday: Ella Packable Tote
Everyone · Gear · Recent Recs
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These packable totes are great for traveling — especially if you’re the kind of person who enjoys switching bags when you travel and you don’t want to take something bulky. You can just throw this in your suitcase, keep it in the back of your car, etc. It comes in the tie-dye print pictured as well as solids like black, navy, and a very happy bright red. It’s $225 at Zappos but also in various colors/prints at Amazon starting at $186. Tory Burch Ella Packable Tote
A couple of more affordable packable totes at Zappos are from Tumi and Lilly Pulitzer.
(L-all)
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?
This is a total mothering question, but where does one buy blazers (separates) for men? My husband wears a full suit a few times a year and a blazer a few times a week. He’s always bought full suits and just wears out the blazer, which is obviously not ideal. Where can he find modern looking blazer separates? Price point is Banana Republic range.
Ooooorrr you could get the nylon tote from LL Bean for $25. My daughter has one as her daycare bag and it is great.
Just saw this kids coat and thought it was a cool concept – made specifically to be safe in carseats in the winter. It’s pricey but I saw them in a boutique yesterday and they are adorable and VERY high quality: https://onekid.com/collections/road-coat
Recommendations for maternity tights/hose? I have been getting away with just wearing black leggings, but have a few work events coming up where that won’t cut it, and I don’t think it will reliably be warm enough to be bare-legged. Will be in third tri. Pre-pregnancy did not even like the thought of control top. Any suggestions?
We’re trying to plan a trip to DisneyWorld with my husband’s parents and two kids who will be 2 and 4.5. We’ll be flying to FL and are looking to stay in the park (though it’s not certain). What are your tips for making this trip pleasant and at least marginally less stressful and expensive than I’m envisioning?
I really like this tote in the solid colors. I looked at the amazon pictures and it looks a lot more structured in some photos than others. Could make a good diaper bag with the right organizers inside, especially since it seems easy to wipe down. I would probably only spend this much on a relatively unstructured tote if I planned to use it for a diaper bag, though. For occasional travel I would go a cheaper route
Thanks for all of the comments yesterday on days out for daycare issues. The support is so needed right now. You also helped me form a plan and execute it!
1) Got a note from Pediatrician on poop. Baby is (as someone else said) a prolific pooper. Ped is not concerned. Day care is satisfied with the note and confirmed that it was the number of poops in the day, not the quality that was the issue. I find this troubling, but with the note we shouldn’t have more missed days for poop.
2) Got on a wait list for a different daycare. The one we are at was highly recommended, but I think we can do better. These kids have had so much change lately I don’t want to move them too much. But if we can get in the super awesome place near my work, I think it will be better for everyone.
3) Have an appointment for a babysitter/nanny referral service that does backup care. We are also looking into whether we can swing a nanny for full time care.
4) Checked in with my boss. Confirmed that boss doesn’t have any concerns with my performance or my attendance. Maybe I shouldn’t have been this direct? But it does make me feel better.
5) For days we do need to stay home, we will implement the 1/2 day strategy that was suggested. So straight forward and brilliant!
Again, thank you. I went from holding back tears and thinking I needed to quit my job to feeling like “I can do this!”
Hi ladies,
Cross-posting from the main site — wondering if anyone has had experience with getting your membranes stripped to induce labor. I’m 39 weeks (due this Sunday) and my OB suggested doing it to move things along (no early labor signs so far), but I’m not sure what the pros and cons are of doing this (all I really know is that it seems less drastic than other more common ways to induce, like pitocin). Thanks!
Yesterday I mentioned that Kiddo has been home sick due to an ear infection and was complaining that DH accidentally told the teachers that we’d given Kiddo Tylenol to reduce his fever. Well, when I arrived home last night, we realized that Kiddo also has hand foot and mouth. So he’s not going to daycare anytime soon. Also, he’s miserable, poor thing.
So, Kiddo is getting tubes in his ears in a couple of weeks. Do both parents really need to take Kiddo to the hospital and wait during the surgery? I’m thinking I could work in the morning while DH takes him in for the actual surgery, then go home and let DH go in for half a day. Is that crazy? Am I underestimating how hard it might be for the parent handling it alone? Am I a terrible parent for not wanting to spend my morning in the hospital waiting room?
So, I’m one year postpartum. Haven’t really made an effort in regards to “getting into shape” as there has been enough going on, but I’m back to the high end of my pre-pregnancy weight spectrum. However, a lot less exercise and walking since the baby was born because (1) new job and cross-country move; (2) baby’s 7:00 bedtime interferes with after dinner dog-walking; (3) daycare drop-off and pick-up interfere with walking to and from work; and (4) basically the baby ruined everything and she’s lucky she’s cute. Once we move into a new place closer to new job I’m hoping to re-integrate some sort of exercise into my life.
BUT I do have a question. Last weekend I strained my back picking up the baby. And a couple times in the last few weeks I’ve reached quickly to the side to reach something and it was really painful (temporarily) in my abdominal area (like, spasms or cramping or something). My first thought is that I probably just have really weak core muscles at the moment and need to work on that so I don’t further injure myself. I’ll mention to my doctor at my next appointment. But has anyone else had this happen? Any tips or tricks?
I was just diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism/borderline overt hypothyroidism by my OB-GYN with a referral to an endocrinologist. We want to TTC but the OB said to get this checked out first because of risks of miscarriage and preterm birth (which is scary!).
I have two options. Option one is an in-network provider with a $25 copay. I don’t know much about this physician, other than she was identified by my health insurance as someone who treats thyroid disorders and the office is near my home.
Option two is a local “thyroid expert” I found online who is out-of-network and requires out-of-pocket payment which you can submit to your insurance for reimbursement. It probably would cost around $1000 OOP for my preconception and prenatal care with her, possibly more. I left a message at her office with some questions, and she called me back personally and spent 15 minutes to tell me about her practice and hear a little more about my concerns/issues. Her initial appointment is 2 hrs long (!) and follow ups are 30 minutes. She is incredibly caring and knowledgeable about thyroid issues from what I gleaned from our initial phone call.
We can afford option 2 but I wanted to hear from some other mothers with thyroid issues. Is it worth it to work with a provider who costs much more but is patient-oriented and up-to-date in the field of hypothyroidism? If we weren’t TTC I would choose option 1, but there seem to be a lot of risks with uncontrolled hypothyroidism while TTC and while pregnant, particularly in the first 20 weeks.
Please tell me this is a phase or how to get through it.
16 month old son has turned into… a crazy person. His general pointing and demanding have given way to an extreme passion for having anything that is not his. He was sick for about a week but was still relatively pleasant but the last few days he has been healthy and miserable. He runs around screaming, bashes his head into his high chair for no apparent reason, makes ridiculous demands and is miserable when he is not permitted to do things, like access the fireplace. He is happy when he’s sufficiently engaged in an activity like peekaboo, but most of the time, it feels like constantly trying to guess if he wants something that he can actually have/do, or saying no.
He is not in daycare. He is with my husband in the morning, my mom in the afternoon and me in the evening. This makes me wonder if he is around adults too much and just thinks he should have the same autonomy as an adult. We’re all consistent with him and don’t give in to his demands, but we try to accommodate if it’s something he wants that is reasonable.
How do we stop this extreme passion when he doesn’t get his way now? Or is this just a passing phase, or few days? He’s generally been quite easy and content, so I’m not used to how to handle things like him refusing to sit for a meal.
Thank you!
Cross-posting from main site… Can anyone tell me if it is ok to apply for internal job postings at my current company while on maternity leave? It is a violation of FMLA or disability regulations?
Son is in Kinder this year, combo k/1 class. He’s the youngest in the class with a birthday 10 days before the cutoff. He’s small for his age and will stay small. He’s a totally normal 5 year old, happy loving playful and super social. Kinder requires him to focus and write…when he doesn’t get his work done he has to stay in for recess to complete it, which means he rarely gets morning recess. He seems sad sometimes and sometimes he just says things matter of factly like that he no longer gets to participate in birthday circle and that he has to sit at the back for reading circle (because he’s wiggly). Several other things have come to light. I’ve been talking w teacher for months about how to deal but nothing works. Teacher is old and cranky and disorganized. She was fine for my older kid but it’s not working for this one and my heart is breaking to realize that Ive put him through this for all these months. Teacher has started saying ADD which horrifies me bc I don’t think he has ADD (I’m not being defensive, objectively have talked to others who interact with him…he’s an average energetic 5 year old boy). Never had discipline problems just wants to play. And frankly I’m ok with that. I don’t agree that at his age he needs to be doing so much hard paper work. So, I’m done with that class.
Option a: move him to a regular kinder only class at same school.
Option b: put him in Montessori preschool with 20+ 4-5 year olds and have him repeat kinder next year in a regular kinder class.
In my gut I feel like the right thing is to have kept him back in the first place but i can’t go back in time. I hate changing things midway but I really worry that he is internalizing that he’s not smart, can’t focus, etc. I don’t want him to hate school because of this year.
Not sure whether I’m looking for advice or just support or success stories.