24 Weeks

Time for my 24 weeks update!

Weight this week: 124 lb. — up 2 pounds from 4 weeks ago!

Measurements around largest part of my tummy: 33″ – I’ve gained 1½ inches around my middle since last time!

Measurements around smallest part of my waist: 29.5″ — Waaaah! Another half inch up! Oh well.

I had a bit of a spotty week with my exercises, but I’m back on track! Hopefully I’ll be all ready for delivery like the exercise lady claims I’ll be.


In case you’re interested, here’s what I’ve been doing for supplements:

* SuperFood Plus tablets for my multivitamin. I don’t believe in synthetic vitamins, so I really wanted something that was made from REAL ingredients.

* Natural Factors Calcium Magnesium Citrate — recommended by the super-smart lady at the healthfood store. The SuperFood doesn’t give me enough calcium, and I want to make sure I’m not deficient.

* Folic Acid tablets from our local healthfood store. I don’t take this every day because there is some in the SuperFood and I get it through my diet, but again, I want to make sure I’m not deficient.

I’m planning on adding cod liver oil in the next few months to make sure I’m getting enough vitamin D in the winter.

I try to drink at least 7-8 cups of water each day. I find it’s really handy to fill up a jug at the beginning of the day and make sure I finish it by the end. As I gain weight, I plan on increasing the amount of water I drink.




And there’s my 20 weeks update.

Have a lovely day!

Erica Lea

7 Responses to 24 Weeks

1. Caroline @ crackers & carrots 
   October 24th, 2012 at 4:07 pm Moderate
   Aww, look at you!!! I’ve been so out of the loop having just had my first child 4 months ago. You look stunning!
2. Diane 
   October 24th, 2012 at 4:13 pm Moderate
   Erica, you can take folic acid everyday. It is water soluble and you can’t take too much of it. I hope you have a backup plan in case you need a hospital birth. I have three children and all three pregnancies were completely different.
   Best wishes and smooth sailing! God bless.
3. Elizabeth 
   October 25th, 2012 at 8:56 am Moderate
   You look just beautiful. I hope you continue to feel good!!
4. Sara 
   October 29th, 2012 at 10:47 am Moderate
   Congratulations on your coming little one! I just had my first baby on the 18th and he is such a blessing already. Enjoy your pregnant time, because it doesn’t last forever (some people see that as a really good thing!). I had a fairly good pregnancy; I didn’t have any swelling or complications, the worst things were heartburn and leg cramps. Tip: taking extra calcium supplements helps with muscle cramps, as well as exercise and stretching.
   Your tummy pictures are so cute! Keep up with them as best you can, I know I would forget or get distracted and miss weeks.
   I hope you have a lovely pregnancy!
5. Annie 
   November 1st, 2012 at 2:15 pm Moderate
   You look beautiful, Erica! Thanks for sharing these updates with us… I’m looking forward to the birth announcement of your sweet little baby. :)
   Many blessings!
6. Bec 
   November 5th, 2012 at 7:13 am Moderate
   Hi Erica, congratulations on your wonderful news!
   I’m a reader of your blog, mom and scientist and just wanted to pass on some info about cod liver oil for pregnant ladies… It’s quite high in vitamin A and recommendations are to avoid supplementing too much with vitamin A during pregnancy. A, D, E and K are fat soluble vitamins, so if you take to much, the body can’t just flush them out. Vitamin A may build up and cause little bubba some trouble. If your health food shop lady disagrees, perhaps ask a second opinion of a health professional?
   Bless you!
7. Tyisha Huski 
   February 4th, 2013 at 1:28 am Moderate
   Muscle cramps are temporary contractions of the muscles and they usually appear during physical effort. The sensation is similar to the one you have when you feel a strong, involuntary tightening of the muscle group that you can’t control any more. There are many causes which bring about cramps, but they happen most often because of insufficient warming up before training. Good and correct warming up has two stages: the general one (cardio), for increasing the body temperature (running, cycling, etc.) and the specific one, during which the main joints and groups of muscles which will be involved in training are warmed up. It is enough not to give, from different reasons (rush, superficiality, ignorance), the necessary time or importance to one of these stages, and cramps can become a current phenomenon.”
   Most up to date write-up produced by our blog
   

DIY Fall/Autumn Leaf Garland

Time for an autumn tutorial!

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own fall leaf garland: a length of yarn, a couple of pins or nails, miniature wooden clothespins and pressed or wax-dipped leaves.

• Measure how far up the wall you’d like to place your garland (I went slightly above eye level), and place a pin or nail in that spot. I used a pin because that leaves the least damage on our sheetrock walls. If you don’t mind poking holes in your walls, you could always use nails or whatever else you’d like.
• Measure up the same distance where you’d like your garland to end and place the other pin in the wall.
• Tie one end of the yarn onto one of the pins. Stretch it across to the other pin and tie in place. Make sure to pull the string a bit more taught than you’d like the finished garland to hang since the leaves will weigh it down.
• Clip your leaves to the yarn with the mini clothespins at even intervals.
• And you’re finished!

I plan to reuse this clothesline for winter/Christmas – maybe hang pine cones and tiny pine branches interspersed with miniature Christmas tree globes.

What are you doing to decorate your house for fall?

8 Responses to DIY Fall/Autumn Leaf Garland

1. Megan 
   October 17th, 2012 at 2:33 pm Moderate
   That’s a neat idea!
2. Kathryn Grace 
   October 17th, 2012 at 9:35 pm Moderate
   Very fun and easy! Great that you can quickly change out decor by clipping new items to the line.
   By the way… I love the block font you used – could I ask the name of it and if you found it free or bought it?
3. Erica Lea 
   October 17th, 2012 at 9:51 pm Moderate
   Kathryn: Yes, I can’t wait to try something else for Christmas. :) Yeah, I really like that font. It’s called “Sketch Block” and I got it for free here: {link}

Braided Bangs Tutorial

Here’s an easy way to spice up your ponytail.

Watch the video for directions…

First Snow!

Minnesota weather is so fickle. Just last Sunday I was miserably hot and wearing capris and sandals.

Today, we got our first snow.

It’s amazing to see the fall colors being covered by a dusting of white.

Reuben obligingly snapped some photos of me with my red brelly.

I slipped in the wet snow.

Inside, I lit a candle and brewed some tea. As I typed this, I spotted a deer outside my window.

It’s a perfect day, in my estimation.

7 Responses to First Snow!

1. Debbie 
   October 4th, 2012 at 11:28 pm Moderate
   You have some beautiful pictures.
2. Emily O. 
   October 5th, 2012 at 9:10 am Moderate
   What! I’m so jealous. :)
3. Annie 
   October 5th, 2012 at 12:38 pm Moderate
   Beautiful pictures, Erica! I love how the first one has both colorful leaves and snow. =) Hope you’re staying warm ‘n cozy!
4. Kathryn Grace 
   October 5th, 2012 at 12:50 pm Moderate
   Wow! We are shivering because this morning it was 42 degrees. :-) The only things falling around here are leaves! I love snow but I’m hoping for at least a month until it hits! Lovely photos though! :-)
5. Michelle 
   October 6th, 2012 at 5:05 pm Moderate
   Oh how lovely! I love snow :) I can’t wait until it snows in Ohio!
6. Anna 
   October 9th, 2012 at 2:25 am Moderate
   Lovely pictures! ( Peter’s been admiring them too :) I wish we will have some snow this year in Denmark too, unfortunately it a sight not too often seen.
7. Kiran @ KiranTarun.com 
   October 9th, 2012 at 7:53 pm Moderate
   Beautiful photos, and you look so radiant! I’m so jealous of all the snow. Send some to FL, please? :D

Birchbox September 2012

This month I got:

Kate Spade New York Twirl | Color Club “Tweet Me” | Jouer Moisture Tint | L.A. Fresh Nail Polish Remover | Vasanti BrightenUp! | Mighty Leaf  Tea |

My total box value this month was around $17. So $10 less than last time. Which is a bit of a disappointment.

See what I thought of this month’s Birchbox:

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2 Responses to Birchbox September 2012

1. Amanda 
   October 1st, 2012 at 1:11 pm Moderate
   I felt the same way about this month! Repeat of August and not very exciting. My box was identical to yours and I completely agree with everything you said — love the tea, the nail polish is ugly, and the perfume wasn’t at all unique. Bummer!
2. Bee 
   October 18th, 2012 at 10:27 am Moderate
   Ahh, the perfume is not nice? I was really intrigued by the design and wanted to smell it, but cant find it anywhere.. Glad you do these videos!