Celebrating three years of momming
Our first group began in 2020 with a few moms getting together to buoy each other through the depths of a pandemic.
Three years later, we’ve served almost 100 moms from 10 states and 4 countries.
We’ve navigated the ups and downs of changing relationships, shifting career priorities, moving to new places, life-altering losses, and everyday victories.
We’re together through baby’s first fever, first steps, first time at daycare or with a babysitter, first night in a big kid bed, first epic meltdown in a Target parking lot.
We’ve wondered, “who even am I right now?”, and we’ve laughed and cried about the clumsiness of having no solid answer to that question.
Throughout this wild ride, one theme remains universal: Life feels a little lighter to walk through when you do it alongside your people.
Holly and I (Ellen) started our virtual support and strategy groups for moms in September of 2020. Our idea was simple: We're not wired to mother alone, and we're certainly not wired to mother through a pandemic alone. We didn't know exactly what these groups would look like, but the evidence behind social support was there and we just knew we had to do something to bring moms together during that unimaginable time. Enter our first iteration of Momming Groups: Momming in a Pandemic.
We went on quite a journey to figure out how to describe these group experiences to get moms to take the leap with us on this new idea. MTW was only about 6 months old at the time, and everything about us was brand new. So much of the magic happens when you're actually in a group, and we knew that if we could just get people in the “door” for the first time, the experience would speak for itself.
Thanks to a very small yet mighty core crew of five early adopters who came to our group every week and spread the word to their friends and colleagues, our groups grew. First one group per week, then two, then three, then four.
Our themes have evolved through the years from figuring out how to get through a day while deep in a pandemic and confined at home with babies and toddlers, to figuring out how to venture out in the world again, to all the ups and downs motherhood serves us on any given day.
Our model has changed over the years, too. Momming in a Pandemic was completely drop-in back in 2020, which meant a fair amount of lost sleep for us while we fretted over whether people would sign up and show up, what the dynamic would be like, and wanting so desperately for each mom that joined us to have the best experience possible. A brand new offering for a brand new business was a field day for all the self-doubt and awkwardness of an FFT (effing first time), and we felt it.
202o, prior to the launch of Momming in a Pandemic
We’ll call this one, Self Portrait of an Aspiring Momming Group Leader with No Groups Yet. Even though we didn’t know what our groups would look like or if our idea would even work, we knew we had to get in the arena and try.
Yes, I took this photo using the timer on my phone. No, there is no one on that screen. No, none of those plants survived. Yes, the mug is empty.
My office is now a stunning (IMHO) Hague Blue that really highlights every flyaway on my head (I spend 30 seconds before each group with my R+Co Dart Stick). That very loud painting is now hanging in the dark recesses of my basement. My desk has never been clean since.
Since the spring of 2021, we've settled into a design that works well for us and for our clients, and our rosters have been full ever since. Our model involves closed cohorts of 7 moms in similar seasons of life who sign on for a 12-week term with their Momming Group. Through our weekly virtual sessions, each group's private WhatsApp chat, and the initiative our local members take to get together in person outside of the group, we've had the extreme honor of watching real friendships form and carry on for years at this point.
When we get to hear about entire groups going out to dinner together or one member sending a care package to another member abroad, when we get emailed photos of MTW babies doing tummy time together in the park, and when our members tell us the very real and transformative impact that their group has had on their early motherhood experience, we feel such immense gratitude.
Our groups are so impactful because of our members. They show up ready to support each other through the hard things, ready to celebrate each other's wins, and ready to simply lighten the load for themselves and for each other by carrying it together. Moms in our groups are wicked smart, fiercely loyal, witty, and brave. They are the ultimate hype-women, and in any given session there's likely to be belly-busting laughter, courageous vulnerability, and tears of sadness/anger/joy (or all of the above, or we’re not even sure what kind of tears they are - we just know they need to be shed).
To the nearly 100 Momming members who have joined us over the past three years: THANK YOU! Thank you for creating this space alongside us, and for offering your feedback and perspectives to help us make these groups fit into your busy lives as seamlessly as possible. We talk a lot about the importance of celebrating our invisible efforts, and we want to celebrate yours here. Our groups are what they are today because of your efforts to prioritize this hour each week amongst the countless demands on your time and energy, and because of your readiness to pay attention and show up for each other in the purest, most validating way. We're so grateful to every single one of you.
To those who haven't joined us yet: We'd love to welcome you into this MTW community! Reach out to us to chat about it. We know how scary it can be to take that leap, and yet what’s on the other side is so, so worth it.
