Elodie is (almost) 4.5 years old! + 37 week pregnancy update

Wow, it has been YEARS since I last posted, but I wanted to spend some time writing about the amazing girl that Elodie is growing up to be, and also do a quick near-end pregnancy update for baby #2!

Elodie is almost 4.5!

Physical stuff

• Stats -- At her 4 year old checkup, Elodie weighed 36.5 lb (62nd percentile) and was 40" tall (56th percentile). Now, she's about 38 lb and 42" tall.
• Still hasn't had a haircut yet! Her hair is really long now and still curly on the ends only, so I can't bear to cut off the curls, but we've been talking about cutting it soon.
• Food -- eats pretty well. For meals, she mostly prefers rice/noodles/pasta + meat. She also loves all fruit (like her mama)! And also loves 김 (roasted salted seaweed) like her mom as well :). She randomly loves ikura (salmon roe) and starting to enjoy sashimi as well. Still doesn't eat a ton of veggies, except for green beans and pancetta (still!). Of course she loves sweets (ice cream / frozen yogurt), gummies, etc. 
• Sleep -- She still takes one good nap most days, but can go without if needed on weekends. She typically sleeps from around 9 or 9:30pm to about 7:30 or 8am (earlier if no nap).
• Health -- This past year, she didn't ever get really sick! I guess she has gotten all the sicknesses she could the past few years, so she has been relatively healthy for a long time now (knock on wood)!
• She's super active and can now properly run, scooter, and ride a pedal bike with no training wheels! She got a bike for Christmas (~3.5 yo) and learned how to ride it within ~15 minutes! 
• This is super old news, but she became potty trained in Jan 2017, when she was 2.5+ years old. It went a lot easier than I expected, thankfully! I read the Oh Crap potty training book, and followed it pretty closely, and it worked well for us. 

Developments

• Reading -- She can read! She started reading really simple books less than two months after her 4th birthday, and by now can totally read all types of books on her own! It really opens up a whole new world for her. She has always loved looking at books (would look at books for 30+ minutes even before she could read), and now she loves REALLY reading books on her own. She doesn't know what a lot of words mean, so we encourage her to keep asking us for definitions.
• Art -- She also still loves to draw, especially dinosaurs and fish/underwater scenes.
• She moved into her "big girl room" and we spent the last few weeks really fixing it up. Eric painted it (she picked the color), and we got her a desk, art station, and big bookcase. She loves being able to pick out her own clothes and dress herself (based on the new organization of her clothes/closet), and feels a lot of pride/ownership of her room. 
• She has an amazing memory, and often remembers things from a long time ago, or minute details 

Likes

• Animals/objects -- Dinosaurs, unicorns, horses, fish/sea animals
• Activities -- Drawing, reading, puzzles, legos, riding bike or scooter, helping me cook in the kitchen, watching videos of herself on my phone
• Does NOT like watching TV shows or movies. I won't complain there! I don't know why though... she's scared or something. She has cried when I suggested she watch a Daniel Tiger episode, insisting she doesn't want to. Whenever someone mentions a TV show or TV or movie in general, she immediately tells me, "But I don't want to watch that!"

Overall, she's a sweet, smart, and confident girl... maybe a little TOO confident haha. She often tells me that she's smarter or stronger than me haha. She likes to do things by herself, including carrying heavy objects, proclaiming that she is soooo strong! She is also really sweet with babies and little kids, and likes to take care of them. She likes to feed her cousin Amara, and teaches/reinforces baby sign language with her.

I'll try to add some photos later...

Baby #2 is almost due!

I can't believe our baby can come any day now! I'm due in 2.5 weeks, on October 15. And I can't believe I blogged weekly the first time around with Elodie haha. I certainly felt much busier throughout this pregnancy, since we already have a kiddo to keep us occupied. 

Overall, this pregnancy felt similar to my first, even though it's a boy this time around. It was a pretty smooth and easy experience throughout the pregnancy -- no nausea or morning sickness, no gestational diabetes or other issues, generally felt good throughout. I think he is more active than Elodie was (in my belly) -- he's constantly kicking and moving around. I've gained about 23 pounds, and baby was measuring to be right around 50th percentile based on a detailed ultrasound we did a few weeks ago. 

My biggest concern is how Elodie will adapt to this big change, but she has been really sweet and excited the whole time. When we asked her recently if there's anything she's scared or worried about with the baby coming, she thought for a while and replied that she would be scared/nervous if the baby was sick or got hurt. We thought she would say something about not having as much time with us, etc. hahaha, so her response was really sweet. I guess this just means she has no idea what's about to hit her, but we are trying to prepare her by telling her that I may not be as available to her once the baby comes, etc. She seems to understand, and hopefully won't be too jealous once the baby arrives. At 4.5 years old, she seems "mature" enough to understand what this all means and I think she'll be a really great and nurturing big sister!

Hopefully we'll have a smooth and easy delivery, and we can't wait to meet our baby boy!