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
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.
