building babycito
Babycito is an inclusive, online community dedicated to connecting parents with family support service providers serving Northern Virginia.
It's 2:48am and shrill baby cries jerk me from my sleep. Ruben is up again after a measly 90 minutes of sleep and I'm losing my mind. Shouldn't he be sleeping longer than this after 2 months?!
This was the scene at our house following the birth of our second child. My husband, Bobby, was back to work and though I was still on maternity leave, caring for a 2-month-old and 2-year-old was completely draining. The lack of sleep was beginning to take a toll on our sanity and impacting our ability to function on the most basic level, let alone be the parents we wanted to be. And so began our search for help which consisted of bleary eyed internet searches generating lots of questions but no clear answers... What exactly do we need? What help is possible? Who provides it? Can we trust them?
In the end, we found a fantastic service (Let Mommy Sleep) that helped us catch up on much needed sleep, feel human again, and most importantly, be better parents. However, our time wasted searching the web was time we could have been sleeping or engaging with our children; and the uncertainty around what we needed and who to trust was unsettling.
This experience coupled with an old idea I had for a service registry inspired me to create babycito...a community platform that made identifying services and finding trusted service providers easier for parents and caregivers. A trusted and reliable one-stop shop!
As you can imagine, starting a business while raising a 1.5-year-old and 3.5-year-old has been (and continues to be!) no small feat. When I started developing babycito I was still working part-time as a public school teacher and caring for Ruben on my off days. Most of my hours building babycito were at night, after both kids were asleep. Though I never thought I would choose nights of little sleep (especially after having a poor sleeper!), all those nights will feel worth it if even one family benefits from babycito.
I wish you the best on your parenting journey! The struggle is REAL, but I promise you it's worth it. I'm confident that with the support of our incredible babycito provider partners, your family will feel more connected and your home will be filled with more joy and peace.