Our Iowa Home

For the most part, we are settled into our new rental home in Iowa. It's been a week and a half since we moved out here.

I was offered a job at Red Diamond; we found a (tiny)  house here to rent; and our house in Huron has been listed. It's been on the market for about a month now, and we've had quite a few showings, but no offers yet.

Moving out was a huge pain. We packed the U-Haul full, as well as both our cars, and still left a garage full of stuff behind (we'll have to go back for it soon, unfortunately). We had planned to leave on a Friday afternoon, and didn't actually hit the road until Saturday morning--it took much longer than expected to get loaded up.

Since this house is so much smaller than our old one, we have a ton of things in storage down in the basement. We really had to pare down, and it's still pretty cramped in here! I do like living in a smaller space, though...at least, for now.

I start work next week, and Kenna starts at her new daycare center. I am taking a total of two weeks off to stay at home with her and get settled in, which has been super nice and good for both of us. She's been eating really well compared to when she was in daycare. Sadly, this time will end too soon....

She has been learning so much lately. She jabbers all the time, and some of her favorite words are "meow", "fish" (goldfish crackers), "Ott" (hot-anytime she sees my coffee), "Bee" (Brr, when we say something is cold), "ow" and "owie" ALL the time but especially when anyone gets hurt, "hi" or "a-whoa" (hello)...she loves talking on the phone. She even said "Isha" (Trisha) the other night when we were video chatting, and this morning she said "baby" when she saw a picture of a baby on my phone.

She's such a silly girl, and is always goofing around and giggling. Also, she thinks it's hysterical when I get hurt. She still loves mommy's milk and won't drink anything other than water from a cup, but otherwise she's a huge Daddy's girl.

I had been working on starting up my writing business again, but with the move, it has kind of been put on hold. We only got internet set up just a few days ago, and I've been working on getting things unpacked and organized...and now I'll be starting work soon. Hopefully once we get settled into a routine, I'll be able to start working on it again.

Well, laundry calls, so I'd better get on that, then get started on supper....

A New Beginning

Well, this is it. The beginning of our new journey.

We said our good-byes to Dan this morning, and he headed off to Mason City to start his first week of work at his new job. He will be helping to manage (particularly the regulatory aspects of) a plant that was just purchased by the railroad. At the plant, they grind organic material to make animal feed. It'll certainly be a change of pace from processing turkey meat.

I've had a couple people comment that they didn't think he'd ever leave DP. Ummm....

We've actually been wanting to leave Huron for a while, but didn't think it would ever happen, so we've been putting all kinds of money and time into home improvement projects--which probably won't really make any difference in helping to sell the place, unfortunately.

Anyway, our house still isn't ready to put on the market. We have some improvements that we have to do before selling. I haven't put in my notice at work or even found a new job. We don't even have a place to live down there yet!

Ugh. Are we making a huge mistake? Starting over in a new place is both scary and exciting. There are so many possibilities, but it's risky when everything is still up in the air.

On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that I still have my job, and that we still have a house here and don't have one there yet, at least until we know if the new job is going to work out. He's looking at rentals today and tomorrow, so we'll see....

We have thrown out the possibility of renting out our house in Huron, although that comes with its own set of difficulties, especially while trying to sell. The only thing we do know is that we can't afford two houses if I quit my job to move there.

I have been working on starting up my writing business again, although it's going to be a little while still before I have any income from that. So I'll likely have to take just any job for now so I can get moved down there. Even though I get tired of the nonstop fire-putting-out at my job here, the job itself is very good. It's just the work that I don't always like (if that makes any sense).

And I am definitely not excited to have to take care of Kenna, the critters, and the house myself for any extended period of time.

On top of it all, we have a wedding coming up next weekend...in Michigan. So I'm going to have to pack everything myself AND drive a good chunk of the way myself, which could be interesting with a toddler and no one to occupy her.

How do people do this?!

I guess we'll just have to keep moving forward....

So Many Firsts

Kenna has had a lot of 'firsts' lately. First birthday, first steps, first time at the beach, first camping trip, first solar eclipse....

first family coffee outing

first trip to the beach

first camping trip, solar eclipse, AND first pigtails!

first steps (she can also take a few on her own)

first trip to the state fair and first time seeing horses in real life

first time coloring with crayons

Aaaaand... coming up, she will have her first big move. Yep, we're moving! Dan was offered a job in Mason City, IA and accepted it. He will be starting in two weeks, although Kenna and I will stay in Huron with the critters while we get the house ready to sell.

Eek! :o)

More details to follow...(someday :-)...

Happy 1st Birthday, Kenna!

I can't believe her birthday party was over a month ago already. We had so much fun, even though we weren't feeling the greatest (and passed our stomach bug along to our guests). So many fun things were packed into one day! I wish I'd had more time to go around taking pictures of everyone who came, but unfortunately did not. Many of these pictures were shared by others who were here....

Dan and Maria

Tyler

Grandpa Hillukka

Kenna and great-grandpa

Grandma H, Jeremy & Kenna

Trisha and Kenna

Karissa and Kenna

Anja, Maria, Kenna, Isabelle, Vali

Dan with Maria and her kids

It was Kenna's first time going to the water park. At first, she wasn't really sure about the water, but it didn't take long and she was having a blast! I was a little afraid that she would puke in the pool though, so we didn't stay in for long.

Testing out the water

Soren, Kenna, Tonya

Isabelle and Jeremy

Sydney

She discovered that walking in the water is so much fun

Debbie, Dawn

Jake

Sydney, Isabelle, Jeremy

Eloise and Karissa

Feeling the little bumps along the edge

Tyler and Eloise

Dawn and Eloise

Dawn and Kenna

the birthday girl

Kenna and Dan

Much of the weekend was filled with meltdowns. She didn't want her picture taken, she got her balloon taken away, she woke up from her nap still grumpy, we tried giving her the smash cake, too many people were watching her and taking pictures. And so on.... None of it pleased her.

she was okay with this for a little while....

taking out her frustrations on the cake....

She loved all her new toys, though!

her first doll

so excited about the elephant seat!

she absolutely loves playing with her new dollhouse

Eloise and Kenna sharing the new chair

great-grandpa appointed himself protector of the presents

Anja, Isabelle & Kenna

so much fun to sit in the basket

Her birthday party was the day before her actual birthday. After all the guests left, we spent her actual birthday outside playing with some of her new toys. She still loves the car and insists on going outside every time she sees it out the window.

 Happy 1st birthday, Princess!

* * *

At one year old, Kenna weighed 17 pounds, and now at 13 months she is 17 pounds 11 ounces and about 29 1/4" long. She's been eating much better, although we have some good days and some not so great. She is still nursing quite a bit though. She still wakes up multiple times per night and needs to be nursed back to sleep. She loves drinking water out of her sippy cups, but won't drink anything else from them.

She can walk along furniture and loves pushing the walker we got for her birthday. She is starting to stand up on her own, and has even taken a few steps on her own. She is definitely testing her abilities; she will randomly just stand up on her own, then take a step or two before falling, but she seems very eager to be able to walk. 

Kenna loves her kitty cats, going on walks in her stroller, reading books, and playing outside. She loves swimming and taking baths. Her favorite foods are broccoli and applesauce, and she's pretty fond of tortillas/quesadillas and basically anything that's bread. She has six teeth now! 

She hates diaper changes and puts up a fight, but makes up for her feistiness by randomly coming up and giving hugs. She knows how to 'high five' and is learning how to give (open-mouthed) kisses. She tests her limits by hitting (us and the critters), and thinks it's pretty hilarious when we say "ouch!". How in the world do you teach a toddler it's not okay to hit when you both end up in a laughing fit?! :/ 

She's had a lot of firsts lately, but I'll save all that for another post....