"The wonders of the world wide web remained somewhat of a mystery until I decided to open up an online business myself." Knowing how to access free email and look things up on google was the extent of Jessica's computer literacy. Shortly after the birth of her first son, she taught herself the basics and put together her very first website on a free geocities web page. "The mystery of internet language intrigued me, and I slowly taught myself the hard way ... I didn't know fancy HTML editors existed that could create tables and check coding errors with the click of a button. I think it was good though - in nursing school I had a professor that insisted we learn how to do x-rays and EKGs on old, outdated machines. He said, 'You never know when you'll need to know the basics.' So I'm glad no that I learned how to hard code rather than rely on WYSIWYG HTML editors."

By the time Jessica had researched and opened Very Baby, she had drawn on paper what she wanted her website to look like. "I had NO idea how to turn those drawings into anything digital. I hired a graphic designer to do it for me. She digitized my drawings and made a background and some buttons for me. When I asked her to make me some more buttons she told me to buy Paint Shop Pro. I did and began the long, painful process of learning to draw with a mouse rather than a pen and paper."

Jessica's love of color and design flowed easily and naturally into the digital realm. "I launched a banner advertising program on our fabric store and soon found myself creating advertising banners. I enjoyed them so much that I dedicated a corner of the fabric website to graphic work. That grew into it's own business which has morphed several times and is now www.iblameher.com. I'm still learning every day, I recently made the switch to Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator." Next on her list? Learning how to use her Wacom Graphics tablet.

"Despite the clear benefit of being able to work in one's pajamas, working at home requires a surprising amount of elbow grease. But through the chaos that is my life, I can also appreciate the beauty of doing whatever you can to stay at home with your children. I may be attached to my hard drive by IV for the better part of the day, but at least I'm here At least I tend to their cries and kiss away their tears. I still feel like there is much I miss." As is the case with many Work-At-Home-Moms, a big part of Jessica longs to be a 'regular mom' with a husband that goes to an office every day. She dreams of sitting on the floor stacking blocks with her boys with absolutely nothing to do or anyone to write back to in her inbox. Still, Jessica states, "I know if I were on that floor building blocks I would also be hatching ideas."

Jessica says that working from home has been the most challenging position that she's ever held. "There are some days I want to chuck my computer out the window, watch it smash into bits on the street and sit down to finger paint with my boys." However, in spite of the grueling, labor intensive hours ... she still finds it priceless to be with her children and to Jessica, "...not missing their childhoods is priceless."