12 weeks today. the leave is officially over.

tomorrow morning, i have to wake up at 5, put on decent clothes for the first time in 12 weeks, feed my little foosa, kiss him goodbye, and head back to the real world. i'm sure i'll cry the entire way there - and probably most of the day. i think i'll just go ahead and pass on the mascara.

i'm already looking forward to scooping up my little blue-eyed monster tomorrow afternoon. i already miss him. but that's ok, i knew this day was coming. it was a wonderful maternity leave - looking back on the whole 12 weeks, it really was perfect and i couldn't be blessed with a better baby. i knew i would be devastated leaving him, no sense harping on it - we'll get through it and it will be our new "normal" soon enough.

he's definitely a baby now...no longer a tiny little infant. he talks all the time and we have the longest conversations. no sound is sweeter than a little "agoooo" paired with raspberries and the biggest gummy grin :) he's also mesmerized by ceiling fans, absolutely loves them - his head even starts bobbling around while he watches in awe. i snapped this on my phone the day we got back from the beach when he "discovered" the fan in his room like "mom and dad! this is so great! you brought the fan home from the beach!!!"
little guy is also starting to grab everything - even the wipe of his little penis while i'm changing him ;) will's aunt made him a "taggies" blanket (just ribbon flaps sewn around the edges of a really soft blanket) that he's starting to love! it kept him occupied the whole time i was in the shower this morning. he loves grabbing onto the tags and shoving them in his little mouth.

before i was pregnant, a few of my friends had babies and i watched them "grow up" on facebook lightning fast. i would always be so sad for my friends knowing how hard it must be for their babies to pop out and be celebrating their first birthdays seemingly a week later - now i know it's not the sad i was expecting...you truly get excited for what's to come. i find myself looking at older babies and toddlers and looking forward to what liam will be like at that age. it definitely goes by much too quickly but all you can do is enjoy the heck out of the moment, document it, and stash all the tiny baby smells and sounds in your memory to pull out down the road :)