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Call me crazy, but I think this would look amazing with cardigan or blazer over it for the office, or for the weekend with a fun pair of maternity ankle pants in a complementary color or pattern (a dark purple or dark green, perhaps, or a fun pattern). The top is part of Rachel Zoe’s new line at Destination Maternity, and is $88 (it also comes in a black and white print). Rachel Zoe Two-tone A-line Maternity Tank Top
Building a maternity wardrobe for work? Check out our page with more suggestions along both classic and trendy/seasonal lines.
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Sales of note for 12.5.23…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Holiday sale up to 50% off; 5x the points on beauty for a limited time
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your purchase & extra 15% off sweaters
- Banana Republic – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 40% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything & extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – Extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – 40% off your purchase with code
- Lands’ End – Up to 70% off everything; free shipping (readers love the cashmere)
- Loft – 50% off your purchase with code (ends 12/5)
- Summersalt – Up to 60% off select styles & free scarf with orders $125+ (this reader-favorite sweater blazer is down to $75)
- Talbots – 40% off your regular-price purchase; extra 50% off all markdowns
- Zappos – 34,000+ women’s sale items! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- Crate&kids – Free shipping sitewide; up to 50% off toy + gift event; free monogramming for a limited time only (order by 12/15)
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 40% off your purchase with code
- Pottery Barn Kids – Up to 50% off toys, furniture & gifts
- Graco – Holiday savings up to 35% off; sign up for texts for 20% off full-price item
- Walmart – Up to 25% off top baby gifts; big savings on Delta, Graco, VTech, Fisher-Price & more
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anon says
Can anyone comment on Loft’s maternity sizing (tops and pants)? They’re having 50% off today, and I’d like to try some of their basics. I know stores usually say order your pre-pregnancy size, but that has not always worked well for me.
sfg says
Pre-preg size at Loft was a good guide for me.
Green Skittles says
I’m wearing Loft maternity pants in my pre-pregnancy size right now. Was actually going to write in to recommend them – the textured gray ankle pants.
Eileen says
I went a size up for shirts and some of it was still getting a little small by the end.
anon ivf beta says
I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I just finished an IVF cycle and my beta is tomorrow. I took a home pregnancy test this morning, which was negative. I just feel so sad, but still have a little bit of hope until I get the official word (which is kind of the worst!). Is it actually really over by now? I’m assuming this cycle didn’t work, so any tips for getting over it and moving to the next round? I almost feel too exhausted to cry.
RR says
Lots of hugs. I actually swore off home pregnancy tests during our IVF experience. I hit a point on the infertility path where I swore I’d never take another one unless I was 2 weeks late, and so I never did. As a result, I’m not sure if this means you are done. I always looked on those times of uncertainty as my time to pretend it worked. I figured it was going to suck finding out it didn’t work regardless of whether I was happy in the interim, so I tried to be happy. So, I say ignore the pregnancy test. It’s not as sensitive as the blood test.
I don’t have any good advice for getting through the tough times. Be kind to yourself. Take the day off work. Go see a movie. Binge watch old Friends episodes. Eat a lot of ice cream. Try to do things that make you happy until it’s time to try again.
Lots of hugs.
Newly pregnant says
Hugs. I don’t have any advice, but please take care of yourself and do what you need to do to get through this.
lucy stone says
Kat, I love how on the main site you include a plus-size alternative. Could you at least include some more clothes that run XS-XL here? Only one of your Maternity Monday picks in the last two months came in an XL (the Etsy seller who does custom sizes) and several didn’t even go past size 14.
EB0220 says
Does anyone use a bag for pumping supplies other than the black nylon Medela one? I am carrying two of the black medela coolers + parts. I’m getting sick of the black bag!
KJ says
It’s not much more exciting than the medela bag, but I used my Lo and Sons OG bag for all my pump + work stuff when I was pumping.
CHJ says
Same idea – I had a big Kate Spade bag that I carried everything in. My pump stayed in a banker’s box at work.
BKDC says
+1
Carrie M says
I have heard great things re Sarah Wells’ bags, which are available on Amazon. I don’t have one, but appreciate that they’re designed by a mom for moms. Link to follow.
Carrie M says
link: http://amzn.to/1KC8hy0
EB0220 says
I like those. Thanks!
MomAnon4This says
I swear a long time ago my feet were dainty 7.5M.
Now that I’m in last month of carrying 2nd child, I just ordered Crocs in a 10W.
I give up.
Newly pregnant says
I think that just my right foot has gone up half a size. My right foot was already a half size bigger than my left, so now they’re just completely uneven. Pregnancy is just so.much.fun.
HSAL says
I’m really hoping that my feet stay the same size. I’m thirteen weeks this week. When did most people’s size change (if they did at all)?
just Karen says
My feet grew third trimester, and went down in width some post-partum (my feet just being less swollen), but I’m still about a half size bigger. Sooooo many beloved shoes no longer wearable… but I will say that I can wear a lot more of my shoes 6 months out than I could 2 months out, so don’t get rid of anything right away!
RR says
This. I stayed permanently a half size bigger, but the crazy pregnancy feet (a full size bigger and a size wider) were not permanent.
Maddie Ross says
Mne went up about a half size at 35 weeks or so and generally looked like sausages. They really swelled immediately after birth and I could only wear shower shoes home from the hospital. They went back down to their normal size within 3 weeks or so when I got rid of all the water weight via intense night sweats. They are the same size as pre-preg now still 2 years later.
Newly pregnant says
I didn’t experience any change until the third trimester and it could be entirely due to swelling (which is also a fun thing that started about two weeks ago). So I’m still holding out hope that everything could go back to normal!
Meg Murry says
The only time my feet were noticably bigger in a “my shoes don’t fit” kind of way was coming home from the hospital – my husband had to take the laces out of my shoes to get them on, because I’d had so many bags of IV fluid I was super swollen.
That said, my feet did get a touch wider, I think. But my main source of shoes not fitting was basically all the shoes that I had said “well, they are on clearance, and the 7.5 isn’t available, but I can make them work in a 7 because they are so cute and such a good deal”. Post-baby – NOPE. Life is too short for shoes that pinch when you haven’t had enough sleep and are carrying around a clinging baby monkey – I donated an awful lot of shoes in the first 2 years.
Katarina says
My feet grew in the last two weeks. I went from an 8.5/9 to a 10. The foot growth was not noticeable until after I was really swollen, so I had no idea they permanently grew until later. I think they actually might have shrunk a little, to be a 9.5/10, but I am avoiding buying shoes beyond the bare necessities until I am done having children. Although if they grow more, I am going to have a really hard time finding shoes, especially because my feet are on the narrow side while not pregnant.
anon says
My feet never changed at all with any of my pregnancies. I think this varies widely.
Ciao, pues says
As I understand it, your feet changing sizes is actually a result of the joints in your feet becoming looser (as do lots of joints in your pregnant body) and your arches falling. It would stand to reason then that if you have really high arches and lots of loosening of your joints, your feet would seem to get bigger. Conversely, if you have low arches, there’s not much room to fall and so this wouldn’t be as likely.
That said, I have high arches and no increase in shoe-size, so as in most pregnancy-related things, YMMV.
Petite maternity clothes? says
Anyone have luck finding petite maternity clothes? Bonus points for free shipping/ returns.
NewMomAnon says
When I was pregnant, I got petite maternity clothes at Macy’s – they had a decent petite selection. I don’t know about their shipping and return policies though. In retrospect, I wish I would have had all my work pants shortened – I couldn’t bring myself to spend the extra money, but I think it would have helped my general body image during pregnancy if my pant hems hadn’t always dragged on the ground.
BKDC says
J Crew has some maternity pants in petite sizing, but their maternity line just has some extra elastic in the waistband. I wouldn’t consider it truly maternity, but it worked well during early pregnancy and am still wearing them now 7 months after my son was born. I often found that skirts/dresses to be a better option for me.
Anon S says
Although not specifically petite, I’ve had great luck with dresses/skirts from ASOS and Nordstrom. I’m 5’2″, and the “tees by tina” line at Nordstrom has been awesome. I have 3 maternity dresses and 1 maternity skirt by them. There have been a few dresses at ASOS that have worked for me too. I haven’t had to get anything altered!
CPA Lady says
I’m 5’3, and found the pixie pants and maternity pencil skirts at Old Navy to be a great length.
Anonymous says
Get thee to kohls.com
Petite polyester dress pants that I lived in. Not exactly glamorous, but decent enough and cheap to get you through!
Chi Squared says
Loft, but they only take returns by mail (incurs a shipping fee). Gap and Old Navy have petite-friendly maternity wear. Also, Destination Maternity has petite sizes.
Anon says
What are your favorite maternity shops for casual and business casual? It’s been awhile since my last pregnancy, and I need replace a bunch of my maternity clothes.
Newly pregnant says
I thought some of the smart folks here might be able to chime in on this. My best friend has an almost-4 year old daughter who is very strong willed (on the one hand, great!, but on the other hand, so exhausting). My friend has read plenty of parenting books on how to manage this and doesn’t want to break her spirit. But they’re dealing with two things that they’re just not sure how to handle:
1) constant negotiation with her. Whether it’s which parent is going to put her down for quiet time/bed, or how many pieces of chocolate she gets to eat, or whether she’s going to wear a jacket outside. It seems like if she doesn’t get a say that she launches immediately into shouting/tantrums. My friend is exhausted, and they may have done it to themselves, but are there any resources someone could point me to for them to potentially dig themselves out of this hole?
2) consistent bed wetting and not sleeping through the night, every night. The pediatrician said that she may just be a bed wetter and won’t stop until she’s like 6 or 7. In the past two months she has slept through the night twice. When she wakes up she is inconsolable – screaming until her parents come into her room and sit with her and pat her back until she goes back to bed. She’s going through a mommy phase too, so it usually has to be my friend rather than her husband, since her daughter will not calm down unless it’s mommy. Obviously my friend wants her daughter to feel safe, but she wants to sleep! Any resources for the bed wetting / breaking bad sleep habits?
mascot says
1) There is a reason that the four year old stage is called the “f-you fours” which is pretty exhausting after the threenager year. We give our child reasonable choices, but not everything is up for debate. We are the adults and you are the child. We struggle with this with our four year old with varying success. One thing that we end up doing is just walking away when the arguing starts. A one person argument ends pretty quickly. We are also trying to implement some of techniques in the Mistaken Goal chart (google will find it on positive discipline websites). But yeah, this is a really hard age.
2) We took our child to the bathroom right before we went to bed (around 10 pm). The “dream-pee” seemed to help him get out the last bit of liquids from dinner and he had a better shot of being dry in the morning. But really, it’s just a matter of time/maturity and there will be set-backs. For the sleep disturbances, our pedi suggested melatonin for a few nights to get his sleep reset when we were having a bad spell of night wakings. It could also be a bad habit or even nightmares so they may need to look at some of the sleep training resources that cover older kids.
RR says
The rule with children is like the rule with terrorists–just don’t negotiate with them. It gets you no where, except to more negotiating. No resources to recommend, but I’d stop cold turkey and ride out the tantrums. I remember around that age reading something that recommended your respond to whining/negotiating/arguing by saying “asked and answered.” That’s a little too lawyery for me at home, so I say, “You’ve gotten an answer.” And I refuse to discuss. The negotiations don’t get better as they get older (they have more impulse control, but also more compelling arguments, so you have to wade through the sticky realm of “when is my word the last word and when do I concede?”), so developing good strategies now will be key for them.
There is nothing particularly odd about a 4 year old wetting the bed at night. I’d leave her in overnight pull ups and worry about that when her body is mature enough to hold it overnight. The wakeups are just non-negotiable to me. My kids know that, if they wake me up in the middle of the night, there had better be blood, vomit, or a monster in custody in their room.
anonymama says
As far as the constant negotiations… the negotiations are normal, the constant tantrums are not. I try to allow negotiations if it is reasonable, or at least consider the alternative suggestion, if it is asked nicely. If it is not asked nicely, or there is any threat of a tantrum, absolutely it will not be considered (i.e., mom leaves the room, no story, pick up kid and put them in bed). She has to make it clear that if there is a tantrum, she will NOT get what she wants, period. So if kid asks for mom to read story, when it is dad’s night to do it, either 1) it’s okay for mom to do it (or parents to do it together), or maybe agree on a shorter story because mom has stuff to do or 2) nope, it’s daddy’s turn, mom leaves room, if there’s a tantrum then there is no story and kid is put right in bed, lights out. You just really have to be consistent so that they know that once you say no, their tantrum will not work.
2. Wetting bed: you can try limiting liquids after dinner, take kid to pee before you go to bed. Some kids just sleep really deeply and you have to let them grow out of it. My kid does it more when he is really really tired, or not on his regular schedule… if she is going to bed later than her bedtime because of the negotiation, or not getting enough sleep because of the night wake-ups, that could be contributing too.
waking up in the night… if it’s night terrors it might be worth talking to a sleep specialist about it. If it’s conscious screaming, that’s not cool but probably would be easier to fix. I’d go for going in to check on kid, tuck them back in, and leave for one minute with the promise that mom will come back in in one minute (or 5 minutes or whatever) if she stays quietly in bed (if screaming, mom won’t come in until she is quiet). And continue until kid is able to easily fall back asleep on her own. Try Ferber, or The Happy Sleeper (the reverse wave method)
Anonymous says
I’ve had better luck with the tantrums when I make clear to my child that I heard what he said, but he’s not getting what he wants. Example: during dinner, he says “I want a snack” which is code for “I want food that isn’t my dinner.” Response: “you may have a snack after you eat your dinner.” Child, in about-to-tantrum tone of voice: “I want a snack.” Response: “I hear that you want a snack, and I said you can have a snack if you finish your dinner. You have two choices: eat your dinner and then have a snack, or stop eating your dinner and not having a snack.” Most of the time this results in grudgingly eating his food (or doing whatever else he was told to do), but I agree that it’s a hard age.
anonymama says
I am now running into the problem of trying to keep a straight face while listening to 4-year-old saying, “You have twooo choices, you can either give me a popsicle and I will be good, or you can come play legos with me, it’s your choice.”
Newly pregnant says
Thanks, everyone! Interesting that the negotiations are normal. I’ll take a look at that Mistaken Goal chart. I think my friend’s issue is that she is generally a pretty flexible person, so she’s willing to, for lack of a better description, give in to her kid pretty frequently. But the tantrums have her re-thinking how she’s managing all of this. And I will definitely suggest re-sleep training her kid. I don’t know if it would have occurred to her that a 4 year old would need to be re-trained. (My understanding is that it’s not night terrors – it’s just willfulness).
CapHillAnon says
This is all too familiar to me! I know you said your friend had read a lot of parenting books, but we found one (only one) that was helpful to us when we had this dynamic–Living with the Active Alert Child. She might give it a skim and see if it’s useful. It did provide tips and a framework for looking at what was going on that have been invaluable. Best of luck to her–it can be a rocky road.
Lorelai Gilmore says
I highly recommend the Gesell Institute books – I think my favorite is Your Four Year Old: Wild and Wonderful, but Your Three Year Old: Friend or Enemy has the best title ever. The books are a little outdated – you have to selectively omit some chapters, and advice – but the core of the books and the guidance about childhood development is extremely helpful. 3.5-4 is often a very hard age. A few other thoughts:
1) My ped says that it is totally normal for kids to wet the bed at night up to age 5, 6, or even 7. She also says that it’s mostly hard-wired and you can’t really night-train your children at this age. So I’d advise your friend to leave her daughter in pull-ups. It may be that this fixes the night-waking problem.
2) I think it’s helpful to remember that when kids are negotiating, they are testing boundaries and what they really want – more than anything, more than they realize – is for their parent to have firm boundaries so they feel safe. I like some of what Janet Lansbury says in this blog post. It may help your friend to remember that her daughter doesn’t really want to win all of these negotiations. She wants to fight hard, but ultimately, she will not feel safe with parents who always capitulate to her desires. For me, in the midst of a power struggle with my child, it helps me to remember that no matter how much my daughter negotiates, her real need is for me to be a calm, confident authority.
http://www.janetlansbury.com/2009/12/free-as-a-dog/