Kristin Cavallari dishes on her 'messiest moment' as a mom of 3

By Cristina Corvino

We first met Kristin Cavallari on MTV's "Laguna Beach" (12 years ago!) and "The Hills" -- but the now-mom-of-three has come a long way from her reality television days.

These days, she's enjoying life with her husband, professional football player Jay Cutler, and their three children: Camden, 4; Jaxon, 2; and Saylor, who's turning one in November.

On top of that, the New York Times best-selling author has her own shoe line (I get the most compliments on the pair I was wearing when we chatted, and I told her as much), she co-founded the Emerald Duv jewelry collection -- and she'll soon be releasing a cookbook about what she eats on a daily basis.

PHOTOS: Kristin Cavallari through the years

Now, anybody who's as busy as Cavallari is bound to make a mess every once in a while, so it's no wonder that the famous mom has recently partnered with Bounty.

We had the pleasure of chatting with her all about it in NYC on Thursday. Check it out below!

This campaign is all about messy moments. What's been your messiest moment as a mom?

Well, Saylor is eating in her high chair, but she feeds herself. She just discovered that she could feed the dogs, so she loves throwing food on the floor, and I'll be like, "Saylor, no ...," and she'll just kind of laugh and keep throwing food. So at least the dogs get the clean-up on the floor, but I power through Bounty, because I'm constantly wiping her down head to toe essentially, because it's just everywhere. But, it's fun! She loves it -- that's part of being a kid.

Now that you have a third child who also happens to be your first daughter, how has your parenting style changed?

Well, I'm definitely more lax. There is some truth to the "third kid syndrome" where it kind of goes out the window. Even at my oldest son Camden's first birthday, the cake and cupcake that day was the first time he had ever had that. [Whereas] Saylor's been eating sweets for three months, and I'm like, "That went out the window."

I can see where the double standard kind of comes into [play]. Growing up, I had an older brother and I was like, "that is so not fair," but you can't be as harsh with a girl, it's so true, you just can't. They're just more sensitive and sweet, so it's kind of tough to lay down the law. Although, she's still a baby, but yes, I can see where she might be having Jay wrapped around her little finger.

See photos from the Bounty event and keep reading for more from our interview!

You have a cookbook coming out! Tell us more about it.

Yes, it's a reflection of how I eat on a daily basis. It's healthy, but I want to show people that eating healthy doesn't equal boring or bland. I eat everything, I just use the right ingredients. There's a huge dessert section -- I have a huge sweet tooth -- but I use maple syrup and honey and coconut sugar. There's nothing white in it -- no white sugar, white salt, white flour. So I would argue that everything in it is, in fact, healthy for you. Tons of meat, seafood, veggies, a couple complex carbs. It's 90 percent gluten and dairy-free, but there's a little bit in there.

Is it hard to stay that regimented when you're dealing with your kids running everywhere?

It's not at home, because it's just about what I buy at the grocery store, so if it's not at my house, I won't eat it. And my kids have eaten like that since day one. Although now that Camden's at school, he's being tempted a lot more.

You know, when we go out to eat or on vacation, we indulge, we eat whatever we want. I mean, we're human -- and that, in fact, makes me want to go back and eat healthy and keeps me on track. So I can live a healthy lifestyle, rather than like in my early 20s, I would be so strict on myself and then I would completely binge eat. It's just so bad for you, and I was just all over the place. So I finally figured out how to have balance.

So, I'm wearing your shoes and I get the most compliments on them ...

I didn't even notice, that's amazing! Oh, I'm so glad!

What's your fall favorite from your line? Are you wearing them right now?

Yeah, thigh-highs. They're so versatile. You can wear them from day to night, dress them up or down. I would argue they look good on every single person. There [are] so many ways to wear them, so yes. And they're a huge trend obviously.

Check out Kristin rocking the thigh-highs out and about in NYC:

What's the most popular shoe from the line?

[The] most popular shoe is my Laurel bootie. The open-toed bootie. I love that bootie. So I always have it in new colors, and I did it in leather for a bit there. But the suede camel is probably my favorite.

How cool is it seeing people wearing your shoes?

It's the coolest thing. That, and also when I get compliments on my shoes and people have no clue -- when no one has any idea who I am.

This interview has been edited and condensed.