Mommy Brain
I say-- Blame it on Mommy Brain! Whatever the problem...that's what happened. I can't be held responsible because I'm a mom and my brain doesn't function normally.
I have decided that this ailment occurs shortly after you conceive. You may not know why you put the clothes and the laundry soap in the washer and then didn't turn it on for a few hours (or days) or why you have your bank deposit sitting on your dashboard...start driving to the bank...then drive completely past the bank, forgetting why you are in your car in the first place! After a few weeks of similar occurrences, you discover your pregnant and it all starts to make sense! When you're pregnant, you blame your forgetfulness on the baby using all of your extra blood so there isn't enough pumping to your brain! You tell yourself that after the baby is born, you'll be able to remember to buy chicken from the store--especially when it's already on your grocery list!
Then, you have your baby. You realize you're more forgetful than ever before! You have to write down which breast your baby last nursed from, how long the baby ate, and when the baby pooped. Why can't you just remember those things without having to write them down? Seems easy enough! Your husband will think you're crazy that you can't remember the simplest things--like where those freaking keys are! You blame this forgetfulness on sleep deprivation. You think, when the baby is sleeping through the night I will be back to my normal self who can remember to turn the car off before getting out of it!
Then--8 weeks later (if you're lucky) you're baby starts sleeping more. You get to sleep for 5 hours in a row. This goes on for several weeks. Yet, somehow, you still forget to put gas in the car, call the vet, or go to the post office. Yep--you now realize--you are a MOM! That means.... MOMMY BRAIN! Ahh!! You just CAN'T remember things like you used to.
My daughters are four and 15 months. I still am suffering from this affliction. This morning my daughter told me she was out of night-time pull-ups. I said, okay...we'll get some this afternoon when we go to Target. On the way TO Target we talked about the 5 or 6 things we needed to get. Night-time pull-ups was one of the things we mentioned. We walked through Target, getting the things we needed, a few things we didn't need...paid and took our stuff home. We had dinner, went to soccer practice, and then came home. I told my daughter it was time to get ready for bed. She went upstairs, went the bathroom, changed into her nightgown and then....."MOM! I'm out of pull-ups! You FORGOT!" Well, why didn't she remember? She's not a mom! What's her excuse?? I don't know the answer to that...probably because from the moment we stepped into the store, she was talking about all the toys she wanted me to buy her!
So, now she's in her bed and I'm about to go wake her up to go the bathroom so we hopefully won't have to change the sheets in the morning.
All of you people out there that haven't experienced this phenomenon and are just wondering..."Why doesn't she make a list of stuff she needs to do?" Well, guess what, I DO make a list. I make MILLIONS of lists. I email things to myself, have a grocery shopping app on my phone, have a paper list on the fridge, have things posted on the calendar, etc. etc. It doesn't help if you forget to take your list to the store, or don't read the list, or can't remember what you read 10 minutes later becasuse of your MOMMY BRAIN! And...I think it gets worse the more kids you have. My sister have 5 kids and I'm surprised she remembers to get herself dressed in the morning. I'm keeping with the two kids for now and will decide later if I'd like to be more forgetful and have another child.
Now, I have to go wake up my daughter to potty before I forget and end up changing wet sheets in the middle of the night!