3 Months

This month-birthday is bittersweet for me as it marks the end of my maternity leave and my return to work. At three months old my sweet boy is happy and healthy, but come August 1 I'm going to be one sad mama when I head back into the office. For the past three months, I've spent just about every waking moment with Raleigh and have honestly cherished each of those moments (even the tears) together. I will miss him tremendously throughout the days while I'm at work, but will race home at night to snuggle him and kiss his sweet cheeks.

Since his 2 month birthday, we've successfully driven 11 consecutive hours to Montana and have flown to LA, I'd say this boy of ours is well-traveled and we definitely plan to keep it that way. I also left him for the longest period of time this past weekend while we shot a wedding - 12 hours away from my boy. Thankfully, I was completely distracted by the bride and groom so I didn't have much time to miss him, but once we got home, I woke him up just so we could catch up a bit and I could kiss him goodnight.

Here are a few of the things that I love about Raleigh, at this very moment...

• I love that he doesn't mind tummy time and rolls from his stomach to his back - going both directions.
• I love that he doesn't mind the camera in his face and actually looks at me when I take his photo and sometimes even smiles. I really hope he doesn't grow out of this phase, but I have a feeling, at some point he's going to be annoyed by me constantly taking his picture so I'll enjoy it while I can.
• I love his nightly bath ritual. He smiles the second he gets in the tub and loves kicking his legs and splashing his arms.
• I love his laugh...my heart melts when I hear a little chuckle out of him.
• I love the way he smiles his slightly crooked smile (thanks to his Dadddy) when I talk to him and call him by name.
• I love that he's ready for bed at 8:30 on the dot...I don't love that he doesn't sleep through the night...we're working (very tirelessly) on this one.
• Most of all, I love the joy that he has brought to my life. Along with Steve, we love our boy more than anything in the world. We truly had no idea the affect Raleigh's little life would have on us at just 3 months old, but the love we feel is truly one of a kind. A couple of times this past month, I've cried just looking at him and thinking about how special he is and how perfectly he fits into our family. I 100% feel that he was meant for us and we were meant for him.

Here's just part of a conversation we had this morning.