Nice to meet you, I’m Jess! I’m a mom who does a lot of cider-slinging and a little freelance writing on the side of my main gig as a mama of three. I live with my family in a lush, rainy corner of the Pacific Northwest.

You know that quote that says “be who you needed when you were younger”? Well this space is my attempt at being who I needed in my first year of motherhood. When we took our medically complex baby home from the hospital we quickly realized that she had severe colic. I felt so resentful toward the internet and all of the perfectly staged sleeping babies I had seen throughout my pregnancy. Why was no one was being honest about how hard the postpartum phase could be? We couldn’t get our baby to stop screaming, let alone fall asleep for a photo and I felt completely alone in my experience, assuming every other mom knew things that I didn’t because no one I knew was having so much trouble. When I finally posted about how bad the colic had gotten I received an abundance of comments from women who had experienced a difficult if not traumatizing first year with their baby, too. Where were all these truth-telling women when I needed them, I wondered. I couldn’t find many moms on the internet who were portraying an authentic view of motherhood so I decided to become one.

Of course, being authentic doesn’t mean that I’m constantly complaining about all the things my kids do that irritate me; there’s a lot to celebrate and I’m choosing gratitude every day, too. But through my blog posts about colic, Noonan Syndrome, and all of the more common ailments and milestones of motherhood from teething to sleep regressions to pelvic floor dysfunction I’m able to connect with other moms and say “I hear you, I understand you,” and sometimes that’s all we need to know in order to feel less isolated in our experience.

As my babies grow I’m always learning more about motherhood – and other stuff, too! In addition to raising good kiddos I’m particularly interested in my veg garden and growing cut flowers, DIYs and home renovations (on a tight budget!), Montessori activities for the kids, mindful parenting, anti-racism work, and tactics to ease my ever-present anxiety.

Stick around a while and let’s figure out together how slowing down can help us enjoy life – and motherhood! – a whole lot more.