bottle feeding

16 week old Leon

Leon is growing more and more alert and aware- it's so amazing to watch. He is such a strong boy- holds his head up for long periods of time and loves to use his legs to stand whenever I hold him up. He has wild thick hair that we decided we'll let grow long. I think it would be so cute as long as Leon seems comfortable to rock it.

The latest and greatest challenge has been bottle feeding. Boy was I truly mistaken thinking that every baby took to the bottle without a problem. Definitely not the case with our 'lil boy. He dislikes the bottle so much. I have been trying so hard to get him to accept the bottle for several weeks now and it has been extremely frustrating. I enjoy breast feeding him and we certainly don't have any issues in doing so- except I would enjoy a tiny bit of freedom 'sometimes'. It would be nice to have some "me" time away from the house without the worry that at any minute I have to scurry back home because my baby is hungry. After so many weeks of trying every single day I've reached a point of accepting that maybe Leon will completely skip the bottle and graduate right to a sippy cup or drinking from a straw. After speaking to my amazing momma friend- Janine- I was re-assured that there are many babies who never take the bottle and that there's absolutely nothing wrong if Leon skips this stage altogether. It does mean that I have 2-3 months to go of exclusive breast feeding but perhaps this experience is teaching me something I have yet to learn. That is to let go and accept things for what they are. I've always been sort of a perfectionist- wanting things to go as planned. Well being a mom changes that dramatically. Suddenly my days don't go as exactly planned- suddenly it's this 'lil baby who calls the shots (at least for now).

Meanwhile I have a drawer full of an assortment of nipples and bottles that will most likely never be used. Any ideas how I could get rid of 'em after I'm absolutely sure Leon won't use it? I would hate to throw 'em away.