Accessory Tuesday: Voyageur Ruma Nylon Bag

Any good places for first bras if you have a small band size (mine is 30″, so i imagine my kids’ are smaller). They’ve been wearing sports bras and that’s been fine for the pandemic, but they are to the point where they need something that they can wear with real clothes vs sweats. I struggle with sizing, so I don’t think that we can just stroll into a mall store (certainly not VS) but mail order with kids also seems not great. Maybe there are good brands and I see if any local boutiques carry them? Pepper is stalking my FB feed but I am not how they are.

I’ve got a great job as an appellate lawyer that offers some flexibility as a working mom. I even cut back on my hours a few months ago because I thought that’s what I needed. However, I still think about quitting and finding something else to do (contract work? I have no idea what else is out there tbh; this is all I know). I don’t have much to give to my kids or husband at the end of the day, which is something I’d like to do. My work takes up a lot of my mental (and emotional) energy and I’m not really pleased with the type of mom or wife (or friend!) I’ve become (no margin, snappy, tired—just enough to meet our daily needs). I am seeing a therapist for my anxiety etc etc, so I am doing my best on taking care of my mental health.

I don’t think I could be a full time SAHM, so am wondering if I need to pivot into legal work that is maybe a bit less exciting but takes up less of my mental energy. I don’t mind “giving up” my current work if there is another area of work I can go into (having something to do is more important to me at this stage of my life than the exact type of work). Has anyone done this successfully?

I am a mom of two young kids. In my roll of supervising 8 attorneys, I talk about parenting issues a lot. I think that this is the best way to normalize working parent issues. So for example, when school is closed I will send a message to my team saying that I might not be immediately available because my kids are home, but I am around. I also make it clear that it’s ok for my reports to do this.
A direct report (who is a mom of a teenager) went to my big boss and basically said since I was overwhelmed with being a mom, she was ready and willing to step in and take up the slack. Lucky for me, big boss is also a mom, and we have discussed my approach of parenting out loud. Big boss told my report there was no slack to pick up and to raise any concerns with me. Big boss told me to handle the issue with my report.
The question is, how far do I push this? Right now I am just very mad – and hurt. I want to wait until I calm down to formulate a plan. At a minimum I need to let her know that going to big boss is not the best route (and in this case really back fired).
For context, I helped recruit her in to this job. I admired her work and thought she would be a great asset to our team. However, she has not performed, and is a bit bitter that I was promoted over her (I am a good ten years younger). She came from a very cut throat work environment where folks openly tried to sabotage each other. It’s just super frustrating that not only is she not doing her job well – but now she is creating problems for me? I think this has turned into a rant and I am not articulating this well. I really need to take a step back, but should I be this upset?

Was so excited to take my family skiing out west until I realized how much it was going to cost for lift tickets and ski lessons for two kids!!! Are there any tricks/places to make it more reasonable?

I need help getting out of a breakfast rut. I like to bake, the rest of my family prefers sweet things for breakfast, and we don’t have much time in the morning, so usually breakfast consists of something I’ve made on the weekend (pumpkin bread, blueberry muffins, fruit/granola bake) that’s easy to grab a serving of. Lately I’ve been coming to the conclusion that my body isn’t super happy with just sugar + carbs in the morning and then I’m hungry way before lunchtime.

Any suggestions for more savory/protein-filled things that are equally easy to prep in advance? Breakfast burritos are basically perfect, but I’ve never found a good method for making a bunch in advance.

Just a rant… We are moving in three weeks, and I have two big projects at work that ended up being due the day before we move, and also daycare has decided it’s time to transition my toddler to the preschool room at school. I cannot handle all of this at the same time!

So between work from home and parenting 2 small kids, I feel like I’ve lost my sense of style. I just don’t know what to wear to look stylish and modern and comfortable anymore. I used to dress nicely to go to the office, but now I don’t even know. How do you maintain your style post-kids? I think this is part of me not wanting my identity to subsumed by being a parent, yet my style is very clearly mom.

How do you know when a child is on the normal spectrum of spirited or intense vs. when they have special needs and need additional support? My 4 year old still has near-daily meltdowns (with us, not at school), which I feel like is not common. My ped doesn’t have a good answer for this, and said as long as it’s not causing issues at school not to worry, but I feel like that’s kind of a low bar. On the other hand, I do feel like we’ve seen significant progress in the last six months or so – even if meltdowns are not really any less frequent, she is better able to pull herself out of them and articulate what she wants, and it gives me hope that this is something she’ll just grow out of, but maybe that’s naive.