Lil Penguin | 4th Month

Lil Penguin | 4th Month

• 2.27.2019

I'm seriously way behind lil penguin's monthly progress updates lol, really need to put deadlines for all my postings on my calender now so i can plan ahead. Just as i thought i'm done scheduling for this week then suddenly i remembered that i missed out lil penguin's 4th month post. Dang it.

Lil penguin's 4th month progress is pretty straightforward, it was horrible and i felt like I was bullied by my own baby for at least 2 weeks during that "wonder" period (wonder my foot). From someone so sweet suddenly became such a grumpy fart and hard to manage, not sure what's the right word to even describe her tantrums.   

And that's just the tip of the iceberg because my other mom friends are reminding me there are more to come so i have to brace myself mentally first. It seriously broke me at one point as i was tired from her sudden sleep regression, cluster feeding (feels like 1st month all over again) and non stop crying down the roof like the world has ended. Lil penguin's lungs are definitely WELL (overly) developed, as she has a huge voice that scares me alot.  I ended up crying 5 mins in the other room (sometimes with her) before trying to pick her up again and offering my useless oppai as a form of comfort which obviously doesn't work because it made her cry even harder. 

Lil penguin fussed because my supply suddenly dropped and couldn't keep up with her demands no matter how frequent i latched on. Luckily i didn't have any projects during January that required me to go outstation, so i was with her almost 24/7 and i was in a total wrecked to be honest. This is a natural part of their growth stage and it varies from each baby depending on their character but that doesn't make things any easier, and it's just as you thought you finally winged it and BAM!

Something else slaps you in the face and it's back to square one again; omg so many sleepless nights spend googling and reading up (while BF) on baby's 4th month progress just to get assurance it's NORMAL for them to be this grouchy and it will soon be over (truth be told it felt like forever).

Also this post sounds more about me than lil penguin's progress liao haha.

Her eyesight is getting much better because she knows when we are taking a picture lol and also follows us across the room like a hawk watching its prey.

Nearly Gave Up Breastfeeding

Her fussing on oppai non stop (latch pull off, latch pull off) for weeks was one of the reasons why i was SO READY to just give up breastfeeding altogether, when your baby & body are both so uncooperative you'll tell yourself there is no point in continuing especially at the expense of your mental welfare. It really puts you into a turmoil but what i learned from this stage is that it's okay to leave your baby with someone (husband/ mom/ mom in law) for a couple of hours to relax. You are not being selfish for doing so and certainly don't have to answer anyone (including the nagging voice inside your head) who says you are being a terrible mom for not being able to cope with this stress. 

And formula is a heaven sent item to keep your sanity in check, no harm in substituting some feeds with it so you can rest because when you are tired and stressed out your supply also drops.

Also for all that's worth you have tried your best and no one can say otherwise.

On rare occasions when her temperament is much better she'll bless us with cute smiles and sequels (this is something new) and the pitch gets higher and higher everyday!

She also tries to talk (babbling) more whenever she see adults talking like she wants to be apart of the conversation and if you do not acknowledge her she'll scream on top of her lungs for attention, like "look at me!! I'm talk to you folks! How dare you ignore me babbling here".

I can't believe that she's already trying to mimic some words, so far most prominent ones are with "A" or "B', no luck with "M" or else she'll be screaming "mama" every second liao lol.

Lil penguin's first trip to the orthopedic because her thigh rolls looks unbalanced and we were worried of Hip Dysplasia, and both of us were having lower back pains as well so kill 2 birds with 1 stone. She took hospital visits very well, super calm during examination.

Motoring Skills

Her Motoring skills are somewhat impressive because during the first early weeks of the 4th month she made several attempts to roll over without any assistance, so we decided to give a little helping hand and end up she always roll backwards lol like a tortoise on its shell. I felt so bad for laughing but it was too cute seeing her on her back with arms & legs in the air letting out a disappointed cry.

 Her attempt to roll over 

She likes sitting down as well, still wobbly and needs support

Core muscles getting stronger, tries to push her body up to sitting position during nursing sessions and i end up struggling to keep her in position so that she doesn't fall off my arms. It's like a constant struggle battle with this little wormy girl, it's hard to nurse outside without creating a commotion sometimes.  She can also do abdomen crunches better than me while lying down, sibeh flexible sia!

Toys with bells in them

She loves grabbing things as well, so we decided to open up some of her new toys given by friends and turns out she's not really fascinated by baby toys. Most of the time she prefers pulling the danna's cap off, that's more interesting for her apparently lol. Every time it comes off she'll let out a cute laugh, this can go on a few times and she doesn't get bored of it. Guess all she wanted was more human interaction from us rather than lying down on her back bored with unresponsive toys. 

Mischievous girl lol

1st Flight to Malaysia

Poor girl finally sleeping after crying for almost an hour and refuse to even drink milk

This was her first flight in her life and it was almost 7 hours in a plane with nothing much for her to do except fuss because of air pressure and boredom. Being in a flight along with other babies (3 of them i think) of similar age group didn't make things any easier because when 1 cries, it's like a chain effect; one by one will start crying for some reason lol so those who were on the same flight as we were i do apologize but then again you can't expect full peace & quiet from a baby as they don't know how to control their emotions like us adults. 

Well she slept about 50% of it so it wasn't too bad la rather than crying for 7 hours straight so those who complain about babies crying during flight please have some empathy as well because you think we parents enjoy trying to find ways to calm our fussy children? It's tiring and some of us have no choice but to travel far as we have to visit families living abroad. 

So before you give dirty stares at parents with babies boarding the plane, why not ask the cabin crew for some ear plugs first. 

A lil penguin that traveled 5000km+ the sea to visit her great grandma for Chinese new year! 

Lol, sounds like a good idea for a children's book. Maybe i should write & draw it out for her haha.

Towards the end of 4th month things started getting more better (and bearable), i'm so glad that it's over and i can see a routine kicking in already, let's hope the next wave would be more kinder to us!

Oh and she finally learned how to roll over at the end of her 4th month milestone in Malaysia (3rd Feb) Just once though lol. We were so shocked and excited at the same time being able to witness this milestone of her's, so lucky to be changing her diapers at that time when she decided to suddenly flip over on her own.

Onward with her teething episodes lol. 

Yours Truly,