Babys First Year Blog
Does Having Children Kill Brain Cells?
Even if it's true, they were worth it.
I have been pulling some seriously amateur mom moves lately.
Maybe it’s the lack of sleep (I’m still functioning on 2 hours here, 3 hours there). Maybe it’s the fact that I am so comfortable in my role as a parent that I’m over-estimating my abilities. But I’m going to blame it on my theory that the more children I have, the more absent minded I have become. No seriously, does giving birth kill brain cells?!? Because it sure feels like it.
Three times this week I have been driving and had a mini panick attack while thinking “OMG! Where is the baby?” For a split second I am convinced that I left him in the shopping cart outside the grocery store or in the changing room at Old Navy. It takes a quick check of the mirror above his carseat to help me realize that he is sleeping peacefully (and oh so quietly) in the back seat. I’ve never come close to leaving him any where… so why am I constantly trying to convince myself that I have?
While I’m not forgetting the child, I have been terrible about forgetting the child’s stuff. Last night our little family packed in the car and headed out to a local ice cream joint for a surprise birthday party for a friend. We got all the way there before realizing we had left the diaper bag at home. There we were with two kiddos with nary a wipe or diaper to be had. It was downright TERRIFYING. The worse case scenarios are enough to make me shutter. Fortunately, we got in- yelled SURPRISE! Sugared our 18 month old up on ice cream past her bedtime and then got the heck out of there in record time without incident.
Tonight we showed up at my parent’s house with the kids, the diaper bag but no reflux medicine for Arlo. The poor little bubba was really having a hard time and I was so mad at myself for forgetting such an important item. We again found ourselves hightailing it home as fast as we could to remedy the situation.
So what the heck is up with me lately? Do I need to invest in a pack of post its to leave myself little reminder notes all over the house? Should I start taking St. John’s Wort? And does anyone else agree that they feel like a space cadet since having kids? No, Just me?
I want my brain cells back.
~Melissa
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6 Comments
Kimberly commented on Jul 09 11 at 12:08 amOur daughter is just a month old and last week we were in the pharmacy when I had a moment similar to the ones you’re describing. We walked past a woman wearing scrubs and my fiance went up to her and began conversing like they were old pals. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who she was, or why he would talk so easily to her. Was she a nurse from my OB’s office? Was she on the labor and delivery ward during our daughter’s birth?
Ten minutes into his conversation with her, I finally realized who she was after gathering all the context clues I could. she was our birthing class teacher … a woman we had spent a good twenty hours with collectively the month before. OOPS.
You are not alone! I’ve never done that before, and I am totally blaming it on the baby.
Roni commented on Jul 09 11 at 12:35 amI am right there with ya! I really feeling like I’m going bonkers! Some times I have to go back into the house 3-4 times when I’m heading out just to grab everything I forgot the first time. It’s maddening.
Jennifer commented on Jul 09 11 at 8:39 amIt’s hard for me, soooo type A personality it isn’t even funny, to not be totally prepared and organized for anything. I think my husband really takes it for granted now after all these years; he doesn’t even try to pack a diaper bag anymore. So when we showed up to the fireworks with the formula but no bottle he was a little shocked and I was horrified. I mean, come on! How does that happen? I’ve been doing some extra sudoku puzzles to help, isn’t that what they tell old people will preserve brain power? Gotta be honest though, I think I would have to do a book a day to get them all back! Good luck! Eventually you’ll get a routine and you won’t feel like it happens quite so often.
Erin commented on Jul 09 11 at 1:37 pmOne thing I learned while mothering my first child was to have lots of duplicates- meaning, one diaper bag that was fully loaded that stays in the car, another, equally loaded bag that goes in and out of the house, etc. That really helped because wherever I went, I had what I needed. Good luck!
Sara commented on Jul 10 11 at 1:43 amI do these things all the time!!! I have four kids and it just gets worse! I think we just have so much to remember that it makes it easier to forget something. Before we had to remember our purse, now it’s like a zillion things! So here is a trick that may help you…. I keep an “emergency diaper bag” in my van at all times. It never comes in and has a full outfit for each of my kids in it. Also, wet wipes and a diaper. I just put an outfit I don’t really love or a hand me down in it because they may never wear it, but there has been so many times I have used it!! I change it out twice a year with the seasons and because they outgrow what is in it. Also, if I use something out of it as soon as it comes out of the dryer I immediately put it back in the diaper bag so I will have it for next time! Hope this helps you… sure does me and my family!
Kelley commented on Jul 17 11 at 11:04 pmI have a backpack in both my car trunk and hubs– just w essentials, diapers/underpants, wipes, change of clothes etc.
Sweet baby girl is now 15 m but until she was a year, I kept a list stuck to the inside of the front door as a checklist for everytime I left the house! Wallet, keys, diaper bag, phone, snacks—
I also hid a house key outside— after locking my 4 yr old son inside during nap while I went to rock on back porch w baby girl!!
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