10 Years, 1 Agency, 4 Kids, and I Finally Work Full Time

When I was pregnant with my first in 2014, I was sure I’d return to my full-time job as an Art Director. I was ambitious, driven, and already running a side hustle designing wedding stationery.

Then my son was born.

The thought of someone else smelling him, rocking him, singing to him, reading to him—it broke me. I wept. Not just because I was hormonal, but because I knew I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t hand him over to someone else while I clocked in at an agency pretending nothing had changed.

So I didn’t.
Lauren and I both left our agency jobs and started Tied & Two.

Since then, I’ve had three more children—Quinn (2016), Briar (2019), and Imogen (2021). For nearly 11 years, I’ve been juggling growing a business and raising four kids. That means designing logos during naptime, answering emails from the carline, and taking calls while someone melts down over the color of their sippy cup.

Let me be clear: I love my kids (duh). But toddlerhood is not my favorite season of motherhood. They’re sweet, yes, and they say the cutest things. But they’re also sticky, loud, and incredibly unreasonable. Those years were heavy with guilt—guilt for not doing enough for my kids, and guilt for not doing enough for my business.

At the same time, childcare is expensive. (Honestly, it should be.) These are our most precious humans. The people who care for them deserve to be paid well. But that cost is exactly what keeps so many women out of the workforce when they need it most.

I’m lucky. I was able to build something in the cracks of the chaos. Tied & Two grew alongside my babies. But it came with sacrifice, tears, and plenty of moments when I questioned everything.

And now, in 2025, for the first time in over a decade, all four of my kids are in school full time.
I can finally work full time.

It’s wild to say that out loud. It took ten years to have the space and structure to do what so many people take for granted: actual, uninterrupted hours to think, build, write, create, and serve.

I don’t regret staying home. I don’t regret building this business slowly while holding babies on my hip. But I do think it’s worth naming a few things:

• We needed the income back then just as much as we do now.

• Toddlers are really hard. And beautiful. And completely draining.

• Childcare shouldn’t be a luxury.

• Parents shouldn’t have to choose between financial stability and being present.

So if you’re reading this while wiping someone’s nose, dragging your tired self to a daycare pickup, or wondering how you’re going to get through the week—I see you.

Be kind to yourself. Be soft with others. Especially the ones carrying little ones and big feelings.

And if you’re sitting in the middle of the mess wondering if it ever gets better, let me say this: It does.

One day you’ll blink and realize: You made it.