What's Inara Up To

First off, I can't believe she's already 16 weeks old! Holy cow. I swear I was just pregnant last month. We go for her next doctor visit this Wednesday, so I'll have updated stats to share later this week and we'll take her 4 month pic on the octopus chair here soon. You will definitely be able to see how much she has grown. She has definitely started blooming and packing some weight on. Her legs are officially chunky monkeys now. They are so cute! I'm curious to see how much she weighs and how long she is. I swear the kid is super long for being 16 weeks old.

Lately, she has started doing some cute new things. My favorite has to be her leg thumps in her bassinet. As we are laying in bed, we can see her little legs fly up into the air and then hear a solid thud as she flings them down, hence her new name Thumper. She will do this several times and then you hear a good fart. We guess the leg flings are her way of working the farts out. Honestly, it's the cutest thing ever. Who knew a fart could make me smile so much? One of my other favorite things Inara does lately is when she takes naps during the day, she pulls whatever blanket I have on her up to her face with one hand and her bib with the other hand and covers her face. This is how she sleeps. It's as if she's trying to block the sunlight out so she can sleep. I've taken a couple pics of this and will post them soon. Inara has also started talking a ton lately. It's baby talk of course, but it's so adorable. We can have 20-30 minute conversations now. I love it! She also tries to hold onto various toys. She loves her purple butterfly doll that lights up and plays Twinkle, Twinkle. She loves the crinkle sound the wings make especially. She's doing really well though with trying to grab and hold onto it. She also likes her soccer ball rattle and a pink monkey teeter toy. It's so amazing to watch her grow and unbelievably exciting to see the little things she's learning to do every day.

I've started some of my own new things with Inara. First off, she loves when I sing and dance for her. The more animated and crazy I am, the better. This can keep her busy for a good 30 minutes, and I get somewhat of a workout so that's a good deal for the both of us. She especially likes when I sing songs from Playhouse Disney shows. I put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, and Handy Manny while I try to get things done in the morning. I also love dancing with her in my arms. This is a great way for me to get her calmed down and to sleep when she's really fussy. Of course, I don't listen to or sing the typical baby songs. I'm bad because I don't know the lyrics to songs like Hush Little Baby. But I do know all the lyrics to Bob Marley's 3 Little Birds. Marley's Legend album has always been one of my favorites. We also dance to the Into the Wild soundtrack, which is all Eddie Vedder songs. You know how I love Eddie. Last night, I burned Inara a CD of my favorite slow Pearl Jam songs. Yes, I'm odd, but Inara will love Pearl Jam and Eddie because she has listened to them since before birth. I think Shawn thinks I'm a nerd for doing this, but I figure if I have to listen to music when I'm rocking her, then I want to listen to tunes I love. She may be the odd kid in her kindergarten class who doesn't know nursery rhymes, but she'll be the one kid who can rock out to PJ's Indifference and Yellow Ledbetter. Heck, maybe this will help her develop a love for rock 'n roll so she can front a rock band some day. There's nothing wrong with that. (Although, I do know Shawn doesn't like that idea because he says all rock stars are drug addicts and alcoholics. Inara will break that stereotype though if she becomes a rock star. Guaranteed because I'll teach her right.)