Something looks different......

Yay!! I'm so excited to show everyone my new look for my blog! It was time for something fresh and new :)

It was so easy to work with Erin- here's a link to her blog design:

http://www.lovefunandfootball.com/p/design.html

We've been busy just doing regular stuff this week. Gus had his first accident-free day with potty training yesterday- yay!! I still plan to do a whole post on what we have done soon with all the detail. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

Football Food!

It's almost football season! Yay! So I thought I would share some of my favorite snack foods that are great for eating while watching some football. Go Cowboys! Go Texas Tech! 

First, here is the link to my Ranch Jalapeno Dip. This tastes like the dip from Chuy's if you know what I'm talking about. It's great on chips or on taquitos, pretty much anything!

Next, this is my easy Bean Dip! You can easily keep these ingredients on hand for a quick snack.

This next one I believe came from a Southern Living magazine, I just have a page copied for the recipe. Guacamole- Goat Cheese Toasts- the goat cheese just makes these taste amazing!

If you are like me, I love to eat at Chili's! This is a recipe for Chili's Salsa- and it taste so much like it. It's easy to make and not many ingredients!

My mom used to always buy a jalapeno dip at Whole Foods and decided to come up with a recipe similar to it that she could make at home. This Jalapeno Cheddar Dip is always a hit, and it also looks pretty during the holidays because of it's red and green colors. Buy red and green chips to go with it, and you'll really be festive!

There are many other recipes I love that you can check out under my Recipes tab. You can also check out my Pinterest board- Recipes I Made and Liked too!

I hope this gives you some fresh ideas. What are your favorite snacks to have during football games?? 

Getting Ready for Baby #3

As soon as we found out that our baby #3 was a BOY, the planning could begin! It certainly has been different planning since we already have a boy and a girl, but I still want to do special things for this baby just like I did for his brother and sister. Each time we found out the gender of our babies, we have gone and bought him/her their first outfit. This is what we chose for our new little guy:

We also shopped a little more and got two things we have also bought for our other two. 

A wubbanub: a must-have in my opinion!

And their first stuffed animal:

I'm so excited to meet this sweet baby! It was so much fun seeing him during the sonogram. He was moving his hands and feet, and I just can't wait to hold him in my arms. 

Love you sweet baby boy! So glad I get to be your mommy :)

And then I keep going....

There are so many moments that I feel overwhelmed! This mommy thing is hard work!

From the moment you start feeling queasy or tired with that sweet baby in your belly, you begin your busy, busy BUSY job!

These last few weeks have been trying around our home. Each time you think a certain stage of babies or toddlers has to be the most difficult, you then move into another difficulty!

Our moving to the toddler bed with Gus has been an interesting experience :) It is getting easier, but we are not there yet! He can come up with all kinds of questions and things he needs or wants to get around getting in bed. The first week had moments where I was quite ready to give up when I was exhausted and needed a break that can only come during nap time.

Potty Training..... now that is a whole other story. I really do think it has been one of the hardest things I have done with Gus. I plan to do a post on exactly what we have done, tried, and what worked and didn't. We have had good days when I was really excited by our progress. Then there are days like yesterday when I feel like all I'm doing loads and loads of wet clothes and going through paper towels. It is hard. I won't sugar coat it.

There have been moments when Gus and I have both been frustrated. Sometimes I just need moment to collect myself, breath, and keep going. And we have so many wonderful moments, smiles, laughs. And that is what you hang onto. Not the 8 messes you cleaned off the floor. The hour you spent trying to get a little person to stay in bed. And so often one little smile from a little one can change your whole attitude.

Each day you learn something new. You push forward. You know one day you will walk to the car and the kids will get in on their own. They will walk into the store by themselves instead of fighting you to ride in the cart. And one day the crying that seems to not end will be over, and the quiet will be deafening.

Life is good, still good :)

It's a ........

The big day finally came!! 

 

It isn't easy to get two little kids to sit still!

Another little boy is joining our family! We couldn't be more thrilled!

Maddie ~ 9 Months

 

My Maddie, 

You are 9 months old! As always, time is flying by. You are so much fun. I love watch your personality starting to come out. You are such a little firecracker! 

You are wearing 6 and 9 month clothes. You are still wearing size 3 diapers. 

You love to play, especially with Gus! You and Gus are having to learn how to play together. 

 

You are also content to play by yourself some too.

 

You enjoy exploring all the toys in Gus's room and playing in the playhouse. 

 

You also started enjoying being the the little car outside! You just cannot wait until you can run and play with Gus. 

 

We have been working on getting you to nap longer in the afternoon, and you are getting better! My goal is to get you and Gus napping at the same time. 

You don't mind being around a few people or people you know, but groups are not your favorite. You still don't always like people you don't know holding you, and you give me your sad eyes and put out your lips. I come running :)

 

I love the sparkle in your eye.

 

I love holding you, and I love when you hold me tight. I love to hear you say "MaMaMa."

 

 I love you so much beautiful girl :)

Your Ideas- Good Books- Help!

Gus loves books, and we try to read to him as much as we can! But, he is outgrowing and getting tired of a lot of the ones we have. I need some ideas for good books for a 2 1/2 year old. He can sit through long books. Please comment with any recommendations you have! I'd love to just go spend a few hours at the bookstore and read tons to see what i like, but that's a little tough with two little ones. Thanks for your help!!!

These Days......

Today is just a random collection of all that's been going on around here.

Toddler Bed: Whew! I said a few posts ago how I thought our adventures were just beginning, and boy was I right! Gus would not stop crawling out of his crib, so we switched him to his toddler bed. It has not been an easy transition. If he stays up late and is really busy, then he will go to sleep without much of a fight. Otherwise, it is a battle. For example, I spend usually about an hour getting him to stay in his bed for a nap. We start with just putting him back in bed, multiple times. Then after he does not listen for a while, we have to start with discipline. Let me tell you, it isn't fun for anyone. I am so worn out in the afternoons, I really need a break while the kids nap. I have been putting them down at the same time each afternoon. But the time I get Gus to stay in his bed, Maddie wakes up. Argggg! Anyone who says this is easy is crazy! Just a moment ago I thought I heard Gus up, and I found him in the bathroom sitting on the counter playing with a pen drawing on nightlight. (I'm lucky that there isn't much gray hair in my family or else they would be appearing everywhere!)

Potty Training: So today, we started our potty training adventure. Now you ask why would we put these two big changes so close together?!?! Well, Gus had decided to take his diaper off all the time so we thought it might be getting close to time. I wanted to put it off until I was sure he was very ready. Then two days ago, he took his diaper off- unknown to me- before his nap, and he took his whole nap with out an accident and didn't have an accident until I put a new diaper on him. I thought that must be my sign, so our adventure has begun. At this moment, I'm exhausted! I will do a whole post on potty training another day. We are not there yet!

On some lighter notes!

I tried these rolls from Pinterest last night:


These rolls were easy and delicious and looked just like the picture. Now after reading how crazy things have been around our house, you have to know they can't be too difficult if I had time to make them. And my tips for making yeast breads! Make sure your water isn't too hot for the yeast. And I let mine rise in the bathroom with a heater on so it'll be nice and warm since I don't have a sunny window or anything.

I'm excited that it is so close to football season and am looking forward to watching the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday.

I am NOT cooking dinner tonight after all this potty training. My brain is already fried!

As always I'm looking forward to the weekend. But we will be spending it continuing to potty train. Do I really have a child old enough to do that?? It is still shocking sometimes. I love you Gus!!! You are such a big boy :)

Getting to Know You- Texas Bloggers

I am excited to have become a part of the Texas Women Bloggers recently! Today they are doing a link-up, so I wanted to participate!


1. What part of Texas do you call home? I live in what is referred to as the Panhandle Plains region on the Texas Women Bloggers site. I will always think of myself as a Panhandle girl! My husband and I live in a very small town. It is 30 miles to a Wal-Mart and 70 miles to a Target to help you get the picture.
2. How long have you been blogging? I started blogging in 2010 so about 3 years.
3. Why did you start blogging? I started blogging to document being pregnant with our first son.
4. When we visit your blog, what can we expect to discover? I blog about my kids, my husband, taking care of our home, cooking, Pinterest, and whatever else might be going on in our lives!
5. How did you come up with your Blog Title and what is its meaning? Tales of a Real Housewife- I do all the normal things a housewife does. I cook, I clean, I do laundry. I make beds. I try to make our house a "home" for our family. I confess I do enjoy sometimes watching the Real Housewife shows on Bravo. For most of them, our lives are not very similar. I consider myself a "real" housewife, and that is where the title.
6. What do you love about being part of Texas Women Bloggers? I haven't been a member very long, But I am looking forward to getting to "know" some of you other bloggers! I am a Texan through and through. I love Texas, I love so many of the things we all think of that come along with being a Texan. I love to watch the Dallas Cowboys play on Sunday. I love Dr. Pepper. I love Tex-Mex. I'm very proud to be a Texas girl.
7. Who inspires you to blog? I have to say my family. Most of my blogging is about my family or taking care of my family. God has blessed us so richly, and there is nothing I'd rather do than be a Real Housewife. It's a dream come true.
8. If you could pick a favorite blog post from this past year, what would it be? I think our big news this year is that we are expecting Baby #3!!! So my announcement HERE is my favorite.

Thanks you for reading and visiting my blog today!! Leave me a comment so I can get to know you too!

17 Weeks (ish)

Finally! My first baby post!

How Far Along: 17 Weeks tomorrow

Size of Baby: Turnip (5 in, 5 oz)

Maternity Clothes: Yes and no. I can still wear some dresses with leggings. I can wear a few pairs of pants and shorts, but I can't button them! I am most comfortable in my maternity jeans and loose shorts and sweat pants. I can still wear some normal shirts if they are long enough.

Movement: I have felt the baby a little, but not a whole lot. But I also don't have a lot of time to just sit and feel for the baby. Josh has already felt the baby too!

Sleep: I sleep fairly well until Gus or Maddie wakes me up!

Symptoms: I am feeling less tired. I have had a little bit of swelling in my feet. I have headaches sometimes. I don't feel nauseous much any more.

Food cravings/aversions: When I start eating, I feel hungry. But a lot of the other time, I can't really think of anything that sounds good. At this moment, I think pizza sounds good- hah! I've been wanting hamburgers fairly often. And sometimes I need chocolate- but that's normal when I'm not pregnant. My biggest change this pregnancy is that----drumroll.......... I don't like Sonic Dr. Pepper!!! I know- isn't that crazy! It doesn't taste good to me! I still like DP sometimes just from the grocery store, and sometimes from a fast food place, but not from Sonic! Lately I have been drinking tea with lemon from Sonic occasionally, but my trips to sonic are few lately. 

What I'm Looking Forward To: It has been very strange to be pregnant this time and already have a girl and a boy. No matter what gender we have, we won't have to buy all new stuff. We are very excited to find out what we are having next week! Then we can plan a little better and get a few new things and decide on a name.



Here is a comparison of each of my pregnancies!!! I think this is fun :) In the picture of Gus, I was 16 weeks. In the picture with Maddie, I was about 17 weeks and 5 days. In the picture with Baby #3, I am 16 weeks and 5 days. These were the closest I could get to the same time! 

5 This Friday

1) Night one in the toddler bed- success! Gus did pretty well. He only got up a few times, which was fewer than the like TWENTY times he had been crawling out of his crib for the last two days.

2) I think the nesting bug is setting in. I felt the need to deep clean our bedroom yesterday, and then I was tired :)

3)When the kitchen is cleaned, I usually don't want to cook. Anyone else feel that way?!

4) I'm ready for Fall already. I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and really had to resist all the Fall decor. Hurry September- I want to decorate!

5) I'm looking forward to this weekend! Josh is off Saturday and Monday, and my parents are coming to visit!! Yay!

Happy Friday!!

Our Vacation

Last week we were able to go to New Mexico for a little trip! A friend was so kind to allow us to stay at his home. It had a beautiful fenced backyard that was perfect for Gus and our dogs. 

I just wanted to share a few highlights from our trip. 

 It was nice to be able to have some Starbucks- I can get flavored decaf drinks!!

 We took a little drive one day and there were some beautiful wild flowers so we had to take some pictures!!

 Maddie playing with her Daddy :)

 You can't go to New Mexico without having some Mexican food! I had something with green chilis almost every day!

 A little burger place we found. We only ate out once a day because as you with little kids know- eating out can be difficult! We survived thanks to mum mums, puffs, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the phone :)

Gus got a haircut while we were gone, and he sat by himself in the chair for the first time. His Daddy and I were both proud of him. 

We had a really nice time on our trip. It is always great to get away to somewhere different. But going on a trip with two small kids isn't always easy. Naptime didn't go very well. The kids were always into stuff because we were in a new place. It isn't always super "restful" for mommy and daddy! We are still so glad we went, but it was a lot of work :)

The Case of the Spilled Shampoo

We aren't sure what was going through the mind of our 2 year old little boy this morning. We were drinking some coffee and noticed that we hadn't heard from Gus in about 5 minutes. Yes, I know that doesn't seem like long. But our little boy pretty much lets us know where he is most of the time! And we hadn't heard anything from him. I thought, " I wonder what Gus is into now....."

I yelled for Gus. He said he was doing something with his feet. What?! I had no idea what that meant..... until I looked down the hall. 

Shampoo....... all over the carpet. And all over Gus's legs. We guess he maybe thought his legs were dirty?!?! I quickly wiped off his legs so no more shampoo would get on the carpet. I then looked in the bathroom, and there was a shampoo trail.... yay........  :(

I cleaned up the bathroom, thinking in my mind of how I was going to clean the carpet. How do you clean shampoo out of carpet?? It's not like you can soak it up. And if you get it wet, it just gets bubbly. So, I got it slightly damp and tried to dab it up as best I could- all in the hallway and into Gus's room. Not the way I planned on spending part of my Monday morning!!

But the fun wasn't over!

I was feeding Maddie a bottle over an hour later, when Gus yells something about soap to me. Oh no..... there's probably more shampoo somewhere! I finish feeding Maddie, and walk into the dining room. Yep, more shampoo! Yay me....... I also walk into the entry, and he had carefully put some on the entry table. As I start wiping up yet more shampoo, I find it on the dining table and other pieces of furniture. I walk over to wipe the last spot of shampoo off the buffet when my foot slips. Oh yay! A big puddle of shampoo on the floor here too! 

 There are always adventures when you have young children. And I know mine are just beginning! 

Happy Monday to everyone!

5 on Vacation Friday

We are enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation as a family.

1) Maddie is just growing and getting cuter every day! 

2) Gus is too! 

3) Gus is enjoying some outdoor time

4) Josh and I enjoyed some homemade blueberry pie

5) And I've been enjoying catching up on a little Bravo tv since we don't get Bravo at home..... Yay vacation!