Like most ideas that eventually come to fruition, Coffee + Crumbs was developed in the shower, one of the only places I am able to think creatively.

Last November, I was feeling a bit … bombarded. Bombarded with blogs and online magazines and Pinterest and a hundred other online resources that creeped into my daily routine, and thus, my idea of what life should look like, be like, feel like, etc. It seemed as though every time I turned on my computer, a shiny new website appeared, targeting itself to women—specifically, women my age. 

And as much as I admired and loved those websites, I started to feel like something was missing.

Motherhood.

Motherhood was missing.

It suddenly felt like a void in the Internet. Where could moms go to read about motherhood in all of its difficult and wonderful glory? Where could moms go to read about topics deeper than nursery decor and postpartum hair loss? Where could—with the exception of personal blogs—moms find real life stories about motherhood?

The more I looked, the more I came up short. And the more I came up short, the more I felt called to do something about it.

I started feeling a desire to create an online place to talk about motherhood in a collaborative, community-oriented way: the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful.

I wanted to make a place where moms could talk about meaningful things. I wanted a place for stories of infertility, breastfeeding, miscarriages, and adoption. I wanted a place to talk about the challenge of not losing yourself once you become a mom, and how having a child changes your marriage—things that women are sometimes scared to talk about. I wanted a place where moms could talk about depression and anxiety and fear and anger and disappointment, and all of the real emotions that every single one of us experiences at some point while parenting. I wanted a place where we could pour out our souls and write about the intense love and good kind of heartache that took over our lives the day our children entered it. I wanted people to find humor and encouragement in the everyday tales of what this motherhood thing really looks like inside our homes and inside our hearts.

And at the core of this space, I wanted moms to feel less alone. I wanted a safe place for confessions and truth telling, for community and friendship.

Alas, Coffee + Crumbs was born. Eight months (and one positive pregnancy test) later, here we are. The name stems from the idea that our best tales of motherhood are those shared over cups of coffee at a kitchen table covered in crumbs. It represents peace and chaos, beauty and mess—essentially, what motherhood entails every single day.

This is a collaborative blog which will feature essays from a team of both regular and guest writers. We won't be writing about kale chips or red lipstick, or telling you how to fit into your pre-pregnancy jeans. We won't tell you how to potty train, or how to sleep train, or how to do anything at all. This is simply a space, a venue, an outlet for storytelling and sharing, where we can write about some of the deepest truths we have experienced since becoming mothers. None of us are experts or parenting gurus, the least of all being me. I have a two-year-old son and another one on the way and I am still figuring out how to be a mother, one day at a time, one mistake at a time.

Thank you for reading, for gracing us with your online presence, and for allowing us to write for you. We hope every word you read on this site resonates with you in some way and reminds you that you are not alone.

In true friendship,

Ashlee Gadd, founder + writer.