Accessory Tuesday: Vionic Madeline Booties

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A pair of Vionic Madeline Booties

Readers always sing the praises of Vionic for comfortable heels and shoes, and I love the look of these cute booties, exclusive to Zappos.

Interestingly, I think just the pictured color is exclusive to Zappos — Amazon has a few colors (wide options also!) for $39-$55; DSW has some options in beige and brown for $49; Shoemall has them in black leather for $179; and QVC has a few color options in lucky sizes for $179.

I like that they’re water resistant, feature a cushioned and contoured footbed (that is removable if you want to swap it out for orthotics), as well as the deep heel cup. They look really comfortable and cute.

The pictured option is available in regular and wide sizes 5-12 for $169.

Sales of note for 9.10.24

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

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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My two year old is complaining all the time now about how cold it is. Normally a total maniac on the playground she now announces “too cold!” and asks to go home. I have her dressed in a down parka…and it’s like 50 degrees where I am right now. Any advice?? This is going to be a long winter if I can’t get her to spend a good chunk of time outdoors.

My 3.5 year old is driving me absolutely bonkers. I know there’s a post on here every week about threes but wow I am just going to lose my mind with the constant screaming and how fragile she seems like if her 1.5 year old knocks down one tiny piece of her block tower and how she doesn’t want to eat half the things she used to eat and how sleeping is a mess. Nothing has changed at home or in her routine and I just can’t seem to find it within myself to be patient and loving like I usually am. I am just so so so burnt out by her.

Our office “adopted” several foster children to buy holidays gifts for through a local organization, and since I’m not a mom, hoping you ladies can guide me on age appropriate gifts for the child I’m buying for! He’s 5 years old and the form says he likes Legos, cars and trucks, games, and action figures. Any recommendations? Spend is $50 and would like do a Lego set as part of the gift, but there are so many options, and not sure which are right for his age! Thanks for your help!

I’m starting to Christmas shop and would like to get my 3 year old some toys that will increase her ‘exposure’ to diversity – albeit a bit falsified I guess because it’s toys rather than actual people but what actual people do we see lately. She doesn’t really play with dolls much, which seems like the obvious choice to me and what I see online – black or brown baby dolls or people figurines that are in a wheelchair or similar. I’m getting some books, but do you have any recommendations for actual toys that would work as well? Maybe I should get some little tiny dolls or people that could ‘ride’ her trucks and trains and things that she plays with often? Favorite toys around here are tactile like Playdoh or crafts, train table, trucks and cars, and Magnatiles.

So, my brother-in-law is having a tiny wedding on the opposite coast from us in February. The only people going will be BIL and bride, my in-laws, the bride’s parents, and the bride’s sister and partner. We have to decide if my husband goes or not. I feel immense pressure to let him go but I’m also annoyed. I have a toddler, I’m pregnant, and we’re trying to be very cautious but I feel like I can’t tell him to miss his only sibling’s wedding. His parents have already had covid and tested positive for antibodies so at least there’s that? I mean, there are ways to make this more safe and less safe obviously and they will be doing everything very safe but I’m annoyed. I’m not going due to the pregnancy and I’m not letting my toddler go, though the idea of having him take her and giving me three days to sit and do nothing does sounds amazing. Sigh.

My plan is not make any decisions right now but I feel like I kind of have to let him go. His parents say no pressure, totally up to you guys, blah, blah, but they would be devastated if he wasn’t there. I mean, he could go and then quarantine but that means I’m on solo parenting duty for 10-14 days. I can do it, but the thought gives me rage. I mean, I guess that could be the wedding present I give them?

Ugh okay, nanny’s mother was exposed to a positive person Saturday and nanny saw her Mother on Sunday. Neither having symptoms – I told nanny not to come today. Thinking of having her test at the end of this week and maybe come next week though? Wwyd? We have three kids 5 and under and both work full time – baby needs a lot of watching so this is pretty inconvenient (and I’m bearing the brunt). I couldn’t get from her just how exposed her mom was – she just let me know she was – I assume it was something that counts though.

Ok, seeking a gut check/advice re a probably poor decision I made.

On October 9, I bought a “Uglywhere” chair from Ugly Sofa, which is the Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair knockoff. I had seen decent reviews, but perhaps not dug deeply on shipping times. Their website says personalized orders (this has my baby’s name on it) ship in 2-4 weeks.

I messaged them on November 1 to ask about it and they said it should be ready “sometime this week.” Messaged them again yesterday and nothing. Now Pottery Barn has their stupid chairs on sale so I feel like maybe I should try and cancel and order one of those instead. I was going to do this for her birthday on Thursday (recognizing that gifts/birthdays/time are arbitrary at her age) but could do it for Christmas instead – IF I ever get it.

Any experience with the company?

How to people handle separation anxiety / fears at bedtime for kids (not toddlers)? My 5.5 year old has started saying (1) she’s afraid to go to bed; (2) she’s afraid of monsters; (3) she doesn’t want to be alone; and (4) often winds up in our bed at 2am saying that she’s “afraid” (and sobs if we bring her back to her room – I have no capacity to handle it at 2am).

Last night it devolved into full blown hysterics at bedtime, and the only thing that calmed her down was agreeing to check on her in various intervals. Basically sleep training. Which, fine, great, glad it worked. But the process of getting there was so freaking painful. I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips for making it easier! Especially with a kid who will escalate these types of situations and is resistant to any/all efforts to de-escalate.

At what age, if ever, do you think kids need to be in organized activities? It wasn’t really on our radar pre-covid because our daughter was only 2, but now I’m thinking ahead a year or so to a (hopefully) post-pandemic world and wondering what if anything we should be signing our then-4 year old up for. She likes playing basketball (with a toddler hoop) at home, and dancing, so should I just sign her up for one session of each of those and see what sticks? Or wait until she asks? We travel a lot in normal times, especially in the summer, which is an additional complication. Anything over the summer we’d probably miss a third to half the weekends in normal times (we’re planning to do swim lessons this summer since we figure travel will probably still be extremely limited, and outdoor swim lessons seem reasonably safe even with Covid). Growing up, I didn’t do anything organized until I requested to start a pretty intense sport at age 8, and just spent the weekends and evenings playing with neighborhood kids, but I feel like things are so different now and every kid is in multiple activities from preschool age.

Day care v nanny? I’m going back to work in January and my son will be nearly 5 months. We have a potential spot in a home daycare someone suggested on nextdoor (no personal connection). But the nanny we used for my first son (and loved) is unexpectedly available. Daycare is cheaper and more in budget since we now have a preschool bill too. But I’m having real guilt about giving my second son “less.” We could afford either technically. And I don’t know what I should be considering covid wise. I don’t really know how to make the decision.