At the beginning of this year, Gracie Lewis stopped teaching full time.

Her son, Lawrence, was about to turn 1, and she got a part-time job leading the iGrad program at Columbus East High School.

“After he was born and I went back to teaching, being a full-time working mom, I just couldn’t do it,” Lewis, 28, said. “People kept telling me, ‘You’ll adjust,’ and I just never did.”

She and her husband, Steffen Lewis, began discussing opening an online children’s boutique.

“We had actually started taking steps to do that, and we were going to open this coming May but just do it completely online,” Gracie said.

She had told one of her friends, Morgan Bobb, about that idea. At the time, Bobb’s cousin, Ashley Bohall, owned a children’s clothing boutique, Seedlings + Company, in downtown Seymour.

“Ashley had kind of thought about wanting to do something else, so she had jokingly texted Morgan and said, ‘You wouldn’t know of anyone wanting to buy a storefront, would you?’” Gracie said. “She screenshotted it and sent it to me, and I said, ‘Yes.’”

On Sept. 13, the Lewises closed on the business at 120 N. Chestnut St. to become the new owners.

“It just kind of sped up our timeline,” Gracie said. “She got me in contact with Ashley, and less than a week, we had closed.”

The business officially opened Nov. 10 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Jackson County Chamber.

“It honestly still sometimes doesn’t feel real,” Gracie said. “I didn’t adjust well to being a working mom, so this has almost been two years in the making with my husband supporting me, too, because he knew I wasn’t adjusting well, either. And honestly, we just prayed a lot about it. It felt like a God thing.”

From now to May 2024, Seedlings + Company will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

“The ultimate goal is I don’t go back next school year, and then I just can transition and do this full time,” Gracie said. “We also have a website (seedlingscompany.com), so I can fulfill orders all week anywhere. There’s also free local pickup as your option for shipping, so people that are local, even though I’m not going to open a lot through the day, they can opt for local pickup.”

The infant and toddler boutique features clothing for boys and girls from birth to 6 years old.

“I did a bunch of polls on social media just to see what people like, and then I try to tie that into my style, which is pretty neutral,” Gracie said of choosing her inventory.

With Christmas coming up, the store is highlighting holiday sweaters, toys and ornaments. Gracie said the toys and books in that area of the store will rotate throughout the year based on the season.

In the middle of the store, her collaboration with Hannah Faurot with Han Made Goods is on display with embroidered sweatshirts, including ones with Brownstown Braves and Seymour Owls on the front.

“I want to have as many different small businesses in here as possible,” Gracie said. “(Faurot) is just online. The plan is with her every month, she’ll have different colors and designs. She’s very creative, so I told her, ‘You just do anything.’”

The store also sells accessories, including socks, tights, hats, bows, headbands and beanies. There are kids shoes, too.

“You can come in here and get a full outfit for your little,” Gracie said.

Gift cards also are available and would make a great Christmas gift.

While parents shop in the store, they can bring their child to play in Wren’s Corner.

“The idea for that came from personal experience shopping with a toddler,” Gracie said. “I knew the space in here wasn’t very big anyway, but it was really important for me to have a spot where moms don’t have to have a babysitter to go shopping. Toddlers can be toddlers. We’re really laid-back. I want kids to be comfortable here and moms not have to worry about getting after them.”

In 2024, Gracie said she wants to do more community events at the store and work with other local businesses and Seymour Main Street on events. She wants Seedlings + Company to be more than a clothing store.

“I’m just really excited for that and other small businesses and partnering with people because I know there’s got to be more people out there like me that want to still have a purpose outside of being a mom but can’t adjust to being a working mom,” she said. “Helping people out in that same boat and working together so that we can do what we want to do, which is be a mom but also have another purpose and have a community.”