About the founder:
To start with the basics, my name is Jessica Russo and I am a mother of one little girl, soon to be two in a couple of months, and am married to my college sweetheart, Nico. I am an NC native and tentatively plan to stay here, though I am not sure if NC truly feels like a place I want to stay forever. Nico is from the Dominican Republic, so maybe that is an option for us one day? He moved to NC in 2018 and oh boy am I grateful that he did.
I have been a stay at home mom for almost 2 years now, and have found myself being simultaneously grateful, frustrated, and in awe of my beautifully stressful life. I’ve seen teeny fingers tickle my uterus (via ultrasound), I’ve seen those same fingers find soothing comfort wrapped around my thumb, and I’ve tensed at the feeling of those no longer teeny fingers as they wander and use my nipple as scratch board whilst breastfeeding. Willow, my first daughter, made me a mom in 2022, and for that I am forever grateful. Along my family’s journey through parenthood, we have had 2 miscarriages, and 2 healthy pregnancies - including my youngest, Amalia, due in a couple of short months. For me, becoming a mom felt less like a major life change, and more like finally filling in a hole that had always been inside me - well, I say always, but theres actually more to the story.
When I was 17 my brother and his wife had their first baby, and she was everything to me. I felt like so much more than an aunt to her, and treated her as my own. The extent to which I felt that can likely be credited to my brother having joined the Marines and going off to boot camp when she was just 6 months old. While he was gone, his family (his wife and daughter), lived with my parents, where I also lived, and I tried my best to fill any gap there may have been with my brother being gone from her life for a few months. My niece is who really confirmed my lifelong suspicion that I wanted kids of my own. We were inseparable, and she was my little bestie. I spent late nights with her as a little baby who just needed to be held, I was the first person she laughed at, and the first person she reached for; Our bond is one I will never let go of and will certainly never take advantage of. After almost a year of living out my dream as her aunt, my brother moved to Florida, where his wife and daughter joined him - ouch. I couldn’t begin to explain the bond we have. When she left there was void in me, a void that made me feel like a parent without a child. I was glad her family was back together again, but then, where does that leave me? There are many more details to the story, but the point remains the same. I had a longing desire to have somewhere specific to focus my maternal energy towards.
Enter Willow.
This little girl. Everything about her is perfect, dreamy, messy, whimsical, independent, reliant….the list goes on. The moment I got pregnant with her, everything felt - well - the same. I immediately looked into how to best care for and support her little growing body, along with mine, and began looking into what kind of family I want to bring her into. There were many times when I found myself angry that I was bringing her into such a cruel society. One where her gender makes her a target and she will have to fight for her small but priceless voice to be heard; One where she will have to tirelessly compete against the medical system to have understanding and control over her own body, even then to be met with a doctor who thinks time is more valuable than knowledge. The world isn’t fair, but it showed me the kind of things I want Willow, Amalia, and any possible future siblings to have instilled in their little bodies from a young age.
There is so much more to the story of who I am, and just how deep the desire to mother runs, but for now, as I eagerly prepare for Amalia’s arrival and for the transition of Willow entering into sisterhood, this is where my thoughts rest - with the peace of knowing my babies will grow up in an intentionally realistic and loving home, where things are talked about openly and cared for greatly, and where there is no such thing as overthinking. I love my life, I love my babies, and I love mothering - it’s where I find comfort.
-Jess