We are the champions, my friends... and we'll keep on fighting 'til the end. We are the champions, we are the champions. No time for losers, cause we are the champions of the world.

So, our little chickadee is now 11 weeks old! I can't hardly believe it! Where did the summer go? It's September?! Unreal.

Anyway, as Evelyn has gotten older, we have seen her grow in so many ways! Not only physically (she's now over 11lbs!!) and mentally (she is "conversational" cooing in response to us talking to her)... but she's getting so strong! She holds her head up really, really well. And she is trying her best to crawl. I still think crawling is a few months off, but it will be here before we know it! I can't believe my little baby is growing up!

Since Evie is almost 12 weeks, that means that all good things must come to an end. My maternity leave is almost up, and I will be returning to work. I will really be sad to leave my sweet baby, but luckily it will be just 3 days a week (thankful for a nurse's schedule!), and it will be night shifts- so she will be asleep anyway. I may try to wake and feed her during the day too, I'm not sure yet. We will have to see how that goes. Otherwise, I would have to wake up and pump and that just doesn't seem as fun as spending that time with her. So, we'll see.

Anyway, but with this return to work looming on the horizon we wanted to ensure that Evie could still take a bottle without any issue. While she was in the NICU she was breastfed, but they also gave her pumped donor breastmilk via a bottle. So, Evie got used to breastfeeding and bottle feeding very early on. Once we got home, breastfeeding was such a challenge at times, that sometimes Jas would give a bottle of pumped milk in order for me to get a little break. She had no problems going back and forth... until all of a sudden, one day she did.

Dinner time! Evie has started to sit at the table with us.

Well, it wasn't just like one day out of the blue... it was more like, around week 6 or 7, breastfeeding became incredibly easy. It was painfree. Always available. No need to clean parts. No need to warm a bottle. Simple. So we kind of stopped giving the bottle for about 2 weeks. Then one day, Jas and I were going to run some errands, and decided to take a bottle of milk for Evie to eat if she got hungry while we were out and about. Well, Jas went to give her the bottle and there was a massive meltdown. Full blown hysterics. Screaming. Squealing. Kicking. Crocodile tears. The whole bit. Jas was devastated. I was in shock. Oh no. What did I do?!

Thus began the hunt for the perfect bottle. We tried several different bottles initially- Dr. Brown's (wide and regular)- no way, Jose! Wasn't happening. The Playtex drop ins- she would take the bottle nipple in her mouth and not do anything with it. And the Avent. After doing the ol' bait and switch technique, I was able to get her to quasi take the Avent... but it was hardly a success. And Jas was never able to get her to take it. We tried slow flow nipples, fast flow. Room temperature milk, warm milk, warmer milk. We tried having me go outside and around the block for a while. We sang songs. We tried to feed her from the bouncy seat. We tried to feed her standing up. This little cupcake wasn't biting.

In my desperation, I called the Lactation Consultant from the hospital (she's fabulous) and she gave me some recommendations for 2 bottles- the Comotomo and the Mimijumi. I had never heard of these before, but I found them on Amazon. She did pretty well with the Mimijumi for a few days, she would take it from Jason with a minimal fight and then she decided she was over that too.

Sophie the Giraffe provided the oral fix that Evie needed the other night

In my last ditch effort of desperation (I'm returning to work in less than 2 weeks!), I ordered 2 more bottles from Amazon- the Breastflow and the Lansinoh mOmma. Thank goodness for the mOmma! Evie gobbled that sucker down, and was looking for more. We thought it was a fluke, so we decided to give it to her again a few hours. Alas, she took it again! We have given it to her 6 additional times since, and only mild fussing one other time (but she still took the bottle)- but otherwise this thing has been a dream come true! We finally believe in this one, and ordered an additional 5 bottles! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

All of the bottles we tried, minus the Avent- and the lifesaver is on the far right.

Jas and I are both comfortable now that he will be able to feed her in my absence. Phew! What a relief.

Ev taking her mOmma like a champ!

Evie is happy, and so are we!

I suppose that's all for now...