15 weeks

The belly is definitely there, no doubt about it. I feel great - the tiredness is basically gone and I feel pretty much myself now. Last time around I was exercising everyday and practicing yoga 3x a week. Between school and family I am happy when I get a 15 minute relaxation yoga practice in in the evenings.

I'm sleeping well, but am definitely making a few trips to the potty and when I wake up in the morning my bladder is gigantic and has shoved my uterus up to a side.

Like last time, I still feel little bouts of light cramps (not period cramps, but more stretching) during the day. It freaks me out, but I'm just trying to remind myself that this must be the way my body responds to pregnancy and the growth that is going on. I've been saying a little mantra to myself this whole IVF and pregnancy when I get nervous: I am strong, my baby is strong and my body is strong. My body knows what to do.

Piper is so incredibly excited about this baby. She talks about the baby constantly and tells everyone she sees "I'm gonna be a big sister!!" It's so innocent and sweet to see how confused she is about the pregnancy - when I laugh she'll look at me and ask if the baby is laughing too and when I go to the potty she'll ask if the baby has to go potty too. When I pick her up from pre-school she'll ask me if the baby came out to play while she was at school.

no respect

Last night I scooped up a warm, sleeping little Piper and took her into the bathroom to dream pee* before I went to bed. I carried her back to bed and before I laid her back down I held her in my arms and swayed back and forth and cuddled her sleeping little body for a few minutes. She was so warm and cuddly and sweet and I smoshed my face into her blond curls and took a long deep breath and tried to remember this special moment.

While I laid her back down in her bed full of pink blankets and books and babydolls I whispered in her ear "I love you" and she squeaked out a very quiet, but clear "I love you too Daddy."

Nice! Nope, it's just Mom, who carried you for 10 months, squeezed you out of her undercarriage and then fed you from her own body for over a year.

*Does everyone else do the dream pee with their kids or is that just a Purnell Sister thing? We did this a few times when she first started sleeping without a pull-up and she would either squeeze out a few drops or would tell us in a total daze "no pee pee" so we stopped doing it. I only take her on nights now when she drinks way too much water before bed.

just wrong

I know this is so wrong, but I just can't help it. How HORRIBLE is this picture of Piper?

She put on this hilarious cowgirl Halloween costume and we thought it was so funny and when we went to snap a shot she made that face. I literally can not look at this photo without laughing out loud.

heart: explode

I mean seriously, does it get any cuter than this??

Eureka

If you were ever curious how to properly reheat leftover restaurant french fries so that they are somewhat back to their crispy, crunchy form, allow me to teach you. Put a pan in the oven and turn the oven to broil. Preheat oven and said pan for about 5 or so minutes. Take the pan out, put the cold fries on the pan, put the pan in the lower part of the oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out and they literally are just as crunchy as when you had them in the restaurant a day ago.

one more thing...

I forgot to add that carol and greg threw a birthday party for piper on her birthday this year when patrick was in tallahassee and i was home alone. i didn't realize what all she had planned, i just figured we were coming over for meatloaf. but when i went over to her house she had princess birthday hats for us, streamers, pizza, ice cream (pink), and a big homemade princess castle cake with marshmallows and ice cream cones covered in icing (pink) that had little flags on top to look like the towers of a castle.

well now it's really time to move

carol and greg told me tonight that they are going to put their house up on the market in order to start the ball rolling to move to Portland, OR to be with her daughter. i knew this time was coming, but i just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. carol and greg are like second parents to me, definitely like first grandparents to piper and they have always dropped anything and everything to help us since we've move to jacksonville. when i first met carol at the cathedral almost 8 years ago she immediately took to me and we bonded over crafting and living in our neighborhood. i started hanging out in the evenings with her making funky stuff with fabric scraps and she would come over and help me rearrange our apartment. then we moved into our first house and she and greg helped us paint and drywall and install new doors and replumb the bathroom. during a hurricane a limb went through our roof and water was pouring out of the fan in the bathroom. freaked, we called them in a panic and they both rushed over to help us stop the leak and the next morning greg came over and helped patrick patch the hole on the roof. each christmas they watch samford for over a month when we go to visit family. they've picked us up/dropped us off at the airport a dozen times. they were the first non-family visitors to come over after piper was born. they are our local emergency contact on every health/school/preschool form we have in town. when i've been sidelined by a miscarriage carol has stopped by bringing doughnuts and will clean our kitchen while i sulk on the couch in the other room. greg regularly picks piper up from preschool in the afternoons. when patrick is out of town i usually spend the night at their house in the guest room. i haven't had to purchase a pair of shoes for piper in over a year because carol always buys them for her. carol woke up early the morning of our egg transfer to sit on her couch in her sunroom and say extra special prayers that the IVF would work for us. what am i going to do without them?