Raelyn's 1st Birthday

Naturally, I'm posting Raelyn's birthday pictures over a month late!

I have a hard time keeping up with this blog, if you can't tell. Honestly, I forget about it...on top of my business blog, newsletter, and miscellaneous writing jobs, I have a hard time remembering to post here.

I am going to try a little harder, but can't make any promises....

Before I forget, a little good news: Not only did we sell our house in Mason City, but we are in the process of buying a house near Detroit Lakes!

We are super excited about it. I will post more about that later. For now, here are some pics from Raelyn's first birthday!

November 23, 2019

Dan had Raelyn's birthday off work, so we spent the day together. We hung out in great-grandpa's house, then watched Frozen (Kenna's new obsession) and ate pizza. After that, we had birthday brownies and Raelyn got to open one of her birthday presents.

Daddy got the slide out of the storage unit!

A Warmies stuffed elephant

November 24, 2019

We had her birthday party on Sunday. I made chili for lunch, then we had pumpkin cake with cream cheese and chocolate brownies, plus lemonade and hot chocolate. Yum! Raelyn had a good little nap during the party, just before having cake, so she wasn't quite sure what to think about it.

our big one year old!

walking with big sister

Grandpa, Trisha, Raelyn, Clay

sleepy birthday girl

still trying to wake up

At the time of her first birthday, she had six teeth (hasn't gotten any more yet!), walked with assistance, knew a few words...she weighed about 22 pounds. She was, and still is, Mommy's little girl! She is very attached to me, which makes it a little difficult to get anything done, but I love the snuggles.

She mostly nurses still, although sometimes she will eat quite a bit of food. It just depends on the day, though! Usually, she just has a little taste, then plays with it.

She is a fun-loving, silly girl who loves to play peek-a-boo and has recently started giving kisses. For a while, her kisses consisted of pressing her forehead on your face. :) Now, she presses her mouth against your face.

She adores big sister Kenna, although she doesn't really appreciate Kenna's hugs and kisses. She really wants to do whatever Kenna is doing, but the novelty of having a baby sister has long worn off...now, that baby sister just messes up all her toys! :o)

Someday, they will play together...I hope.

Raelyn has been taking quite a few steps on her own, but is still about 50/50 with crawling/walking.

We can't wait to find out what the next year brings!

Raelyn Marie {Six Months} | Plus, other updates

Where has the time gone?!

Raelyn Marie is six months old already!

Obviously, I haven't been the greatest at posting her monthly updates on here....

At six months, Raelyn is eighteen pounds 3 ounces (she's already going into 12 month clothes!). She rolls over like a pro, and is able to sit up for brief periods of time.

Aaaand.....she just got her first tooth this week! Between teething and her six month immunizations this morning, she's not feeling the greatest.

However, she's such a trooper. Raelyn is such a happy girl, and almost always has a smile for everyone, even when she's not feeling great. But when she's grumpy, she will let you know!

It's been so long since I last posted, and pretty much everything has changed:

We have made a HUGE move, from Mason City, IA to Nevis, MN.

Dan was offered a job "back home" and we jumped all over it. We were in a really weird place in Iowa, job-wise, and we got out of there at the right time. The company we worked for was right in the middle of falling apart.

It was a good move for us. For now, I'm staying at home with the girls while working on my blog. We're staying at Dan's grandpa's cabin (right on the lake!) so we're basically on an extended holiday. The only drawback? He works 2nd shift and has an hour and a half drive (each way) to work every day. We are looking at closer housing, but we want this to be our last move, so it's going to take some time.

And we're still trying to sell our home in Iowa. It's a little disheartening that we haven't gotten any offers yet, since we were definitely expecting to have heard SOMETHING by now. But we dropped the price so it's in a slightly lower bracket, which I'm hoping will help appeal to a new market. Also, we have been struggling to get the lawncare service out there so the yard wasn't looking very pretty...apparently they went out there today and got there right after an awesome neighbor had already taken care of the mowing. :/ Anyway, hopefully that will help buyers get a better look at the amazing yard!

Fingers crossed....

I'm not sure where we'll be six months from now, when we're celebrating Raelyn's first birthday, much less a year from now. Maybe we'll still be here, just hanging out. Maybe we'll be in a new "forever" home.... For now, I'm perfectly content where we're at. We get to see our families a LOT more often now!

Kenna's going to be three soon! She's getting to be such a big girl...somehow, she's not a toddler anymore. She my feisty little girl with a big heart--and so, so smart! Her vocabulary absolutely stuns us.

We girls spent part of this week with Karissa, Tyler, and their girls (and Grandpa Hillukka!) in Crookston, and Kenna had a BLAST. She got to feed the chickens, collect eggs.... She pretty much lived outside there!

Anyway, I'm in the middle of making supper, so I'll have to post again soon. Which probably means in another six months....