Pieces of Me

Becoming a mother is a lot like when the Grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas, but worse.
You know how the Grinch looks down and sees all the Whos singing and his heart grows three sizes? That's what happens when you become a mother...but imagine that the part of your heart that grew three sizes now lives outside of your body.
Being a mother means that a part of your heart, the part essential to living, is running around the world getting into mischief, getting bonked and bruised, crying, laughing and, in a nutshell, adding more than one grey hair to your head.
Being a mother means that every time your baby falls down, gets a bump or bruise or cries, your heart aches. It physically hurts my heart to see my baby in any pain, to even think about anyone ever hurting her is enough to make me ill.
On the flip side, my heart aches in my chest ( and I think my uterus joins in) whenever she meets a new milestone. Every smile and giggle, every time she claps her hands and jumps up and down in excitement, every time she says, "Mama," and gives me a big hug and kiss, my heart skips a beat. My heart quickens in my chest at my little piece of me laughing and dancing around the kitchen. I can literally feel my heart pounding in my chest, like it is trying to work harder to convey the love I have for the piece of my heart living on the outside.
It's a funny thing, motherhood. You spend 40+ weeks (41+ weeks in my case), waiting for that little baby to be born, never knowing that when your baby exits your body and enters the world, she will take a piece of your heart with her. When she is crying at 2 am, your heart (and let's face it, sanity) is crying with her...what could have happened to break her little heart?? (No, seriously, what? WHAT happened?)
When she runs up to you laughing and giving kisses, your heart knows, even if she can't tell you the words, that she loves you completely, that she trusts and needs you...and that you need her too. After all, you can't live without your heart, especially the piece on the outside.