Elsy’s Stay at Home Mom Blog

It’s been about a year and a half since I’ve been home with the kids and I feel like a pro. It did take me a while to feel at ease with staying home and not working but now that It’s been that long, I love it. I love getting up in the morning and making breakfast for my kiddos. They all seem to like different things and I know exactly what to cook for each of them.

Bath time is another one of my favorite things to do. I take them all inside my room after getting their clothes together and their diapers, powder and lotion for after the bath. They help me by taking off their clothes and placing them in the dirty hamper. Mikey is the first one in the tub and Genesis jumps in after I take off her hair spongie. The little one needs help getting in. They love hanging out together in the tub and playing with their toys.

I start with Danny since he is the youngest and after washing him down and rinsing him I cover him with nice warm towels and start getting him ready. He really likes the lotion on his cute little legs and arms. After I put on his clothes he is ready to go. Genesis takes longer due to her hair. After she gets out of the tub drying her hair and combing it takes a few more minutes then the boys.

All this time Mikey is having a ball! He pretends he is swimming and makes funny noises. I think he is the easiest of them all. But like I said earlier, I feel like a pro. I have the bath time down. Maybe that is the reason why I enjoy it so much but not as much as my kids I can tell you that!

I keep saying this but I really love Texas. Last week I helped out in Mikey’s class and realized something cool. Last week was family week at his school and my son brought in a family picture to share with the class. Mrs. Bev asked the kids about the Daddys. She asked “What does Daddy do?”. The whole class answered, “He works”. When she asked “What does Mommy do?”. They all answered, “She stays home”. That is when I realized this is the place I want to raise my children for sure.

All my life while working very hard in California I told myself that when my husband and I were ready to have kids I would raise them. I hated the idea of paying some stranger to raise my children. I believe that raising children it’s a huge responsibility and did not want to have someone else do it instead of me, their mother. With that in mind, I also knew that California was not a place that would allow my husband and I raise three children on one income among other reasons like a fast paced stressful life, the “get the biggest and better of everything no matter what the cost” mentality that one finds there. The good morals and values that I desired for my children were not the norm in the area we could afford to live in California.

When it was time for Mikey to show his picture after several kids had got up and said Daddy works and Mommy stays home, I heard Mikey say the same thing. I told myself that this is what I want the norm to be for him and his two siblings.

I want them to come home from school and find fresh baked cookies on the kitchen counter right next to a nice cold glass of milk for a snack followed by: Mommy helping them with their homework before Daddy gets home to play with them in the afternoon. I want to be able to have dinner together every night and for Daddy to have monthly dates with his only daughter and all boys night out with his boys. You may think I am dreaming this stuff up but in Round Rock Texas, we do have Daddy and Daughter dates and the whole city participates. You see, this is the norm here and I love it! There is no where else I would rather be. I love Texas!

My little boy was great with his potty training. I can say that he got an A+. He was wonderful. He never had major accidents at home or in public. I am very proud of him.

This is what I did:

First I put a side 2 days when I knew I could dedicate myself to hang out with him for the most part of the day. Then, I bought a potty chair to keep in his room as well as a timer to sit Mikey down every 15 minutes. Except on the first day I put a diaper on for his nap. Every 15 minutes the timer would go off and Mikey would sit on the potty. Sometimes he would go and sometimes he would not. At first he did not want to sit but would give in. Towards the end of the day he knew the drill.

The second day it was easier. The first thing he did when he woke up was sit in the potty. The timer was then set for every 30 minutes. During these 2 days he was wearing a t-shirt only. On the 3rd day he got brand new Spider Man briefs and he loved them. So, we made a deal if he wanted to wear them he needed to keep them clean. Over the past 2 months he had about 3-4 accidents toward the beginning but he is now a pro.

Mikey started school at the beginning of this month and he is doing great with going potty at school.

I tried doing this before when he was 2 but he was not ready. He is now 3 and completely potty trained. The first 2 days was the hardest but after that I made sure I kept reminding him about going potty. If a couple of hours had gone by and he said he did not have to go, I would walk him to the bathroom and he would realize that he needed to go.

Overall this was pretty easy, I am getting ready to start with my second child.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that most of the time during the first day Mikey and I were mostly in his room. The second day he was out and about doing the normal things that kids do. After that first weekend when we would go out in public, Mikey would wear a diaper but he never used it. After 2 weeks of that, the diaper came off completely.

Good luck to all the Moms that are starting this process for the first time!

This summer I wanted to get the kids out and having fun so I enrolled Mikey in swimming lessons. The City provides classes for toddlers at one of the community pools here in Round Rock.

The first day Mikey was unsure of himself. The strangers around him and the other kids he did not know but on the second day…., he was asking me “Swimming with the kids?” Needless to say, that made me feel better. To know that he enjoyed being in the pool and playing with other kids his age and not being afraid of the water like he usually is when I take him swimming.

This is his last week and I speak for him and I when I say “We loved it!”.

My parents have their birthday in the same month. Dan and I have it the same day! Today, to celebrate our birthdays we decided to take a drive to Dallas. We did stay in Dallas about 5 years ago but we did not really get a chance to explore. Our two oldest children came with us and one of the things that I enjoyed doing was the museums they have there.

Dan and I then came back to the Round Rock area and took the kids to see a movie. After the movie was over the little ones were tired and went home with the Grandparents. That gave Dan and I the rest of the day off which was really nice. We went back to the movie theater and saw a movie we both wanted to see for a while and then had dinner at a nice sit down place.

It was very nice!

As a parent it is very difficult to have your little ones with the flu. My kids are so small that I feel so helpless when they are sick. Dan II has been very ill for the last 3-4 days. He was very congested and could not sleep very well because he could not through his nose. Sometimes the flu comes on so strong that sometimes ear infections follow and that is exactly what happened to my little baby.

He had a sore throat, low grade fever, nasal and chest congestion, ear pain, hungry and tired but could not do either because of his congestion and sore throat.  As a parent this is what drains us, not being able to comfort them and not being able to take their aches and pains away.

Taking him into the bathroom while the hot water was running seemed to help with his congestion a lot. The new “Tylenol Plus Cold” helps a lot.

His Doctor prescribed antibiotics and ear drops and that is helping also.

I am happy he is playing and smiling now. God knows I’ve missed that smile!

Well as some of you know I work for a tax service place and right now during the off season I only work 8 hours a week. To bring extra play money I have signed up with Google adsence. My husband makes good money with Adsense and I want extra money as well.

If I can make an extra $100-$150 a month, I will be content. This would be totally passive money making which is great. The other thing I am looking into doing is to sell likes off my site. I am just waiting for some changes that needs to happen to my website for that. Hopefully my husband can help me out with those changes.

All in all I am looking to make between $200 to $250 from those two things alone. In the future I would have to see where I go from there.

The PayPer Post I used to do does not thrill me any more because a lot of the stuff there is just spam. Not interested in that any longer. My husband is making more then $400 a month of this passive income. Not really doing anything just writing here and there about what interest him.

I figure, if he can make money like that so can I.

I need a better way to do this, like not doing it at all if you know what I mean. I never realy enjoyed doing laundry. My husbands helps me sometimes and he does it so quick. I just don’t like doing it.

I have tried many ways to make it easy on me like putting the hangers in the laundry room to hang the clothes are I take them out of the dryer but I always drop something behind the machines. I tried folding in the kids rooms so I can put things away at the same time and the kids think it’s play time and make a mess of my piles and stuff.

There is just no easy way to do this.

The party was a success. Everything was perfect. The kids had lots of fun. The parents seemed very happy and relaxed. The food was great.

Family came from Houston and stayed over the weekend. We cooked for them today and they were very happy. As much as I like to plan parties, I think I am done until December. I have about 5 months of relaxation.

Everything gets crazy again about mid October and right before Halloween. Thanksgiving will be next. Mikey’s Birthday Party will follow. My Dads’ birthday party is before Christmas and Mom’s birthday party is before new years.

Yep, better enjoy it while it last!

My husband was eating at Rudys the other day and got a phone number to this place that rents moonwalks here in Round Rock. The name of the Company is Jump 4 Less and their phone number is 512 818-5111. The deal that I got was a 13×13 moonwalk plus two tables and 12 chairs for $110. The size of the moonwalk is perfect for my toddlers and their little friends. Last time, the moonwalk was big which was nice but not needed. What I did need was more eating and sitting places which did not have.

For Genesis’ birthday I have plenty sitting area outside where parents can eat and watch their little ones as they themselves relax and chat.

I really do like to entertained and want everything to be just right!