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Baby Rabies

pregnancy & parenting

  • Start Here
    • About Baby Rabies
    • Baby Registry Top Picks
    • Favorite Pregnancy Apps
  • The Book
  • Pregnancy
    • Birth Stories
    • Perinatal Mood Disorders
  • Parenthood
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
    • School Age Kids
    • Parenting LOLZ
  • Photography
    • Photography

      6 Stunning Photos You Would Never Guess Were…

      February 11, 2019

      Photography

      Simple Tips For Editing Snow Photos On Your…

      December 13, 2018

      Photography

      I Wrote A Photography eBook And This Is…

      December 6, 2018

      Photography

      Creative Lighting Ideas To Help You Take Great…

      November 27, 2018

      Photography

      Learn How To Take And Edit Photos On…

      November 19, 2018

  • Reviews
    • Reviews

      The Answer To Last Minute Holiday Gifting For…

      December 19, 2018

      Reviews

      I Was Never A Barbie Girl Until Now

      October 1, 2018

      Reviews

      Finally! Jeans For My Jean-Averse Kids!

      August 22, 2018

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      If Your Kid Loves Dump Trucks & Garbage…

      August 13, 2018

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baby rabies

Can I Come Home?
LifestyleParenthood

Can I Come Home?

by Jill March 7, 2019
written by Jill

Can I Come Home

A couple years ago, when we decided to sell our house and head out for a year+ trip around the country in an RV with our 4 kids, I planned to transform this space into a hub for pregnant mommas to come, and hoped to take our personal story to another platform- Happy Loud Life. It was a business decision- I’d have two streams of income and two more narrow niches to work with brands on. It was also a personal decision. After my first baby turned one, and with no plans of having more babies, I just felt stuck here in this space that’s always been, mostly, about my life pregnant or with babies.Baby Rabies is a weird name to become linked to when you think about it. I get looks and laughter when I tell people I write a blog called Baby Rabies. I have to explain it all the time. Brands have refused to work with me because it’s “off color.” And yet, it’s memorable. It stuck. It’s funny. People who know me get it. People who don’t? The confusion can get tiresome. 

More and more, this space didn’t feel like home, but the problem was the other space didn’t either. And the last year, as we moved around the country in an RV, I felt just as transient online.

I didn’t have the time to turn this space into something like Scary Mommy with contributors- not in a way that felt authentic and in a way I would have full control over. And I didn’t know what part of my story to tell on Happy Loud Life. Were we just an RV blog? Were we travel bloggers? Where could I write about the swimsuit I found and loved? Where could I write about my mental health struggles that were brought on by the stress of freelance and growing a businesses and not pregnancy this time?

So I’m doing something wild and I’m listening to my gut- it’s been screaming at me about this for years and I just refused to pay it any attention until now. 

I’m saying goodbye to Baby Rabies. I’ll own the trademark and will set up redirects and nothing will happen to the old content. It’s going to be a whole lot of work, but I’ve hired a team to help me and we’ve hit the ground running. 

When everyone is advising to niche down online, I’m going to expand this place. I’m not going to stop talking about parenting, from toddlers to parenting tweens and (eventually) teens. I’m just also not going to stop myself from talking about other things here, too- like photography, travel, and home renovations we’ll likely be starting up when we get back into a house, and anything else I find personally important. Me and my wandering through the phases of my life- that’s my new niche. That’s what you’ll find here.

Like I said, there’s a lot of work to be done, and I’m still figuring out what to do with all my digital spaces. I’ll update you along the way, for sure. I hope you’ll stick around, and I appreciate you riding it out with me while I was lost in transition over the last 18ish months. I am confident this will be a wholly positive move for me, for my content, and for my connection with all of you- especially those of you who are right there with me in this weird spot as we say goodbye to being the moms we needed to be to raise babies. 

I’m genuinely thankful for the conversations that sparked after I shared a rude comment left on my last post about Disney World. I realized that there are a lot of people who are here for the long-term, who are experiencing their own version of an identity crisis, who are excited to hear about anything I’m excited to share. That was the push I needed to feel like it’s going to be okay to let go of Baby Rabies and move on.

I’m @JillKrau.se on IG now. If you already following me as @BabyRabies, then no worries! I just changed that account name. If you’re not, I’d love if you’d follow me now. I’m not done sharing on @Happy.Loud.Life, but as our RV adventure comes to a close, I think it will make sense to move most of that story back to one IG account. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Jill Krause (@jillkrau.se) on Mar 3, 2019 at 4:20pm PST

The dot com hasn’t changed here yet. Baby Rabies will be phasing out over the next month-ish and my new home will be JillKrause.com. But I am going to start treating this place like the home I want it to be right away. So I have a ton of Disney content that I’m going to get up soon, but fear not! This is not becoming a “Disney blog.” It’s just becoming Jill Krause’s blog. Again. 

March 7, 2019 30 comments
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Why “Baby Rabies”?
Blogging

Why “Baby Rabies”?

by Jill September 28, 2016
written by Jill

First, whoa. The last week has been crazy fun. My “What (Not) To Say To A Pregnant Woman” video has officially gone viral (amassing over 1.4 million views so far on Facebook), and has been shared by The Today Show, US Weekly, Refinery 29 and so many more places. I’ve got a lot of new readers and followers, which is so rad.

What typically happens after a bunch of new people learn about my blog is I start to get questions about why it’s called “Baby Rabies” and that’s definitely been the case this time, too. Most are genuinely curious, but I also always get some people emailing or direct messaging things like, “Really? Baby RABIES?? What made you think that was ever a good idea?” 

It’s confusing if you don’t understand, I guess. I’ve even lost clients over it. One major brand kicked me out of a campaign because the higher ups thought it was “off color.” Okay.

IMG_7155

So here’s how I chose it and what it means:

In the summer of 2007, I was in between jobs, and basically living a quarter-life crisis. I decided to just go ahead and take advantage of the down time while I tried to figure out my life and get pregnant. Logical choice, 26 year old me.

This was SUCH a 180 for me, that nobody who knew me “in real life” would ever believe it (other than my husband, obviously), and I didn’t really want to talk to them about it, but I did want to document my thoughts, and I’d been active in online message boards for a couple years while planning my wedding. I thought I’d anonymously blog about it all, just to share with the people I talked to online and to keep for myself.

There was a lot of talk on the wedding message boards about “baby rabies” or what could happen to you if you became obsessed with getting pregnant- it was like incurable baby fever. We would see the girls graduate from the wedding boards and move on to the trying to conceive boards, and they would start talking about all kinds of crazy shit, like checking their own cervical mucus and taking their temperature every day, both classic symptoms of the rabies.

Once I realized I was becoming one of these women, I thought that would be a fine name for an anonymous blog about (at the time) trying to get pregnant, and I bought the dot com.

Read my first post ever here.

9 years later, and I’m not shaking it. I’ve considered re-branding, but the babies keep coming. I’m not saying it will stick forever, but it fits for now. I may continue to turn people off, and lose brand relationships over it. Meh. There’s no ill meaning behind it, and people who know me know that.

From the beginning, I’ve tried to laugh at myself when it comes to motherhood, and I think it reflects that.

September 28, 2016 8 comments
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Preconception Deception & Obsession – Pod-ioBook, Episode 4
PodioBook

Preconception Deception & Obsession – Pod-ioBook, Episode 4

by Jill December 3, 2015
written by Jill

In the last episode and this one, I talk a bit about the community of support I found online while trying to conceive. I think it’s even more common now than it was over 8 years ago to turn to the internet with questions and to seek advice.

That’s a big reason I am SO excited that Privet sponsored this episode, y’all, and I REALLY hope you’ll download the app (FREE in the AppStore and Google Play) and come find me over there. I’m BABYRABIES, of course.

Privet Logo

Because here’s the thing- we can talk over there all about the crazy things we did to get pregnant, our bizarre cravings (Hi, I ate rocks and sand) and how we felt the first time we saw that positive pregnancy test (or the negative ones) and we can do so ANONYMOUSLY if you’d like.

No worries about your aunt or your grandma seeing what you comment publicly on my Facebook page. Let’s take our discussions to Privet. And while you’re there, have fun getting to know the growing community and invite your friends! I really, really think you’ll like it and they will, too.

episode4podiobook

Okay, on to episode 4!

Click here to listen if you’re visiting from the Baby Rabies app. 

https://media.blubrry.com/babyrabies/p/content.blubrry.com/babyrabies/Episode_4.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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December 3, 2015 2 comments
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Baby Fever Doesn’t Make You THIS Crazy- pod-ioBook, episode 3
PodioBook

Baby Fever Doesn’t Make You THIS Crazy- pod-ioBook, episode 3

by Jill November 24, 2015
written by Jill

This is it! The beginning of the infection. The onset of Baby Rabies. If you think I sound crazy, you’re right. I totally was.

And this one is dedicated to all the ladies I met on thebump.com Babies On The Brain message board. Can you believe I’m friends with many of them still? xoxox to you gals.

episdoe3podiobook
A couple technical notes- I am hearing from some of you that you are having issues playing the podcast from within the app. First, please be sure to update the app since many bugs were fixed with the last update.

If that still doesn’t work for you, 1. please tell me (and I’m REALLY sorry!) and 2. you can still access the episodes and listen to them via iTunes. 

Click here to listen to episode 3 if you’re visiting from my BabyRabies app.

https://media.blubrry.com/babyrabies/p/content.blubrry.com/babyrabies/Episode_3_podiobook.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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November 24, 2015 1 comment
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The Dollar Store Sells Pregnancy Tests. I’m Serious. – Pod-ioBook, episode 2
PodioBook

The Dollar Store Sells Pregnancy Tests. I’m Serious. – Pod-ioBook, episode 2

by Jill November 17, 2015
written by Jill

What did the epic oops and our rendezvous with the bullfrog lead to? Did I learn better than to Google?

Episode 2 of the Baby Rabies Pod-ioBook is live! (Did you miss the first episode? Definitely listen to that first!)

Episode2podiobook

Click here to listen if you’re visiting from the Baby Rabies App.

https://media.blubrry.com/babyrabies/p/content.blubrry.com/babyrabies/Episode_2.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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November 17, 2015 1 comment
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The Post That Nobody Will Pin, But It Makes Me Happy
BloggingParenthood

The Post That Nobody Will Pin, But It Makes Me Happy

by Jill July 16, 2015
written by Jill

I keep making blogging harder than it should be.

I miss the days I used to just… write. Long, HUGE paragraphs. I mean, I cringe reading them now. The are so NOT meant for today’s shortened attention span.  But back then they were exactly the kind of catharsis I craved.

I said a lot of things back then that I wouldn’t now. Not necessarily things I don’t still think, but I’m way more calculated about the words that appear on this screen now, the ones that represent my voice. And that is mostly a very good thing. Age and maturity have taught me to think carefully about how my words impact others on both sides of the computer.

But I do long for the days when I could dump my human, flawed brain onto the screen. And maybe 50 people would read it. And maybe 2 would be offended.

I don’t regret where I am now, or where this evolution has taken me, though.

I’m just… stretching my wings and they’re getting a little stuck along the way in this tiny box that I’m in. The walls are built with expectations about babies and explaining what I mean when I say rabies. And what IS it I do for a living? I do not have a real answer for this. I blog, but am I a blogger? I’ve been telling people I’m a digital content creator.

The other day, Leyna handed me a piece of wood she decorated with electrical tape. “It’s for you, mommy! It’s a content!” 

And for all I know, that’s really the best way to describe what I do. I take blocks of ideas, and I add my own flair to them, and I present them to you.

I don’t know. This is me rambling AND I’M LOVING IT.

Oh, and this isn’t me quitting this. This isn’t my resignation letter. I’m just putting words to keyboard because I want to remember what this felt like (except this time with many more paragraphs because in 8 years our brains have evolved to only read lists).

I would/should add pictures to this, too, but something is wrong with my uploader blog thing right now, and I’m trying to fix it. It’s stopped me from blogging in the past, and that’s just dumb. I can WRITE without sharing pictures.

Except now this won’t have a “feature image” so it won’t be visually appealing on Facebook, and it won’t be pinnable. I mean, what is even the point?

I’m toying with dropping the Baby Rabies title of this blog. For one, it’s just getting exhausting explaining it to people and brands (and then brands ACTUALLY refusing to work with me because my blog name is “off color”). But also, I just want to write. I want to write about whatever. I don’t want to have to tie everything back into parenting and babies.

I’m still in that chapter of my life, but I just have so much less to say about it lately, and I don’t know why. I think I’m just averse now to adding to the online noise about judgement, acceptance, open letters to other parents. I don’t know.

I could totally change my mind tomorrow. You probably know this about me if you’ve read long enough. I am fickle and flaky and flawed. I have a million amazing ideas that I’m working on any given time, but the chances that any of them come to fruition are really slim.

So what I think I’m saying is, I know this place has been quiet and devoid of personality for a while. I would say I’m sorry, but I don’t think I should apologize for doing my best to navigate these waters. This place is for me, but it is also for you. I LOVE you. I do. This community means the WORLD to me. Yes, even you who has never commented and still checks in with me from time to time. I love you.

Wow. It’s crazy how fast I can write a blog post when I’m not sizing images and prepping them for Pinterest. I didn’t even take the time to hyperlink anything. I’m such a rebel! I think I’m done now. I shall go get some more coffee.

I hope you do something today that you haven’t done in a long time that makes you happy, too.

 

July 16, 2015 55 comments
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