Friday, November 7, 2008

If I Only Had A Brain

Did you know that a woman's brain shrinks up to 8% during pregnancy? According to that first article that I linked, the brain increases in size again after delivery, but I originally heard that the brain rewires itself and eventually becomes more powerful. Well, I'm thinking that rewiring a brain is not a do-it-yourself job. I should have hired a qualified electrician, because my wiring doesn't seem to be up to code.

A few months back, I lost my bus pass. I tore apart my purse, then my car, to no avail. Finally, I broke down and paid the $2.75 fare so I could at least get to work, and figured I'd have to buy a new Metropass. The whole bus ride, I was silently grumbling at Sammy, the likely culprit. He likes to get into my purse to find my stash of bribes rewards suckers. Shortly after I got to work, I got a call from a stranger who found my bus pass lying on the ground at the Park & Ride and kindly retrieved it and tracked me down. I felt so guilty about blaming Sammy (even if it was just in my mind) that I apologized profusely to him later that afternoon, while he stared blankly at the crazy lady.

Then last weekend, I ran a bunch of errands with the kids. Monday morning, when I went to write out a check for daycare, I couldn't find the checkbook anywhere. Again, I tore apart my purse, the car, and the house. I traced back my steps, and the last time I remembered using the checkbook was on Saturday, at Target. By the time I figured this out, it was Tuesday afternoon and it had been four days since I'd last seen the checkbook, and my last hope was to check the lost and found at Target. If it wasn't there, I'd have to talk to the bank to cancel out the rest of the checks in that (practically new) book, with significant cost to me, since I believe it costs $25 per check for that service.

I walked into the office to look up Target's phone number, and saw that the message light on my answering machine was blinking. I couldn't believe my luck when I heard, "Hello, this is the Guest Service desk at Target, and I believe we have your checkbook..."

Now I've been lucky twice, and I don't know how much longer my luck can hold out. Next time, my bus pass/checkbook/keys/purse might fall into the hands of someone much less honest. I used to pride myself on being very organized and on top of things, and I hate this new absentmindedness. I can't even blame it on sleep deprivation, since both kids sleep through the night these days (except for this past week - let the record show that I hate teething and everything that goes along with it).

Please, can anyone tell me that this will get better eventually? Or am I doomed to live out the rest of my life as scatterbrained and forgetful?

5 comments:

Bri said...

I believe you have at least a few more years of it... I'm still there but I still have little ones running around the house. I'll hope and pray with you that we get our brains back in order some day.

C. Beth said...

That really is encouraging--the honest people out there!

Great stat about the brain shrinking--that's crazy.

My theory is that most of the ditziness that mothers of small children experience, is due to just being so distracted and often sleep deprived. At least that seems to be the case with me--I refuse to believe it's permanent! :)

Anonymous said...

I am dealing with every single day, ever since becoming pregnant! I'm with Beth, I refuse to believe it's permanent! Someone please tell me there's a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Tabitha said...

I had to leave a comment and story about my mommy brain and the weekend. Well yesterday I woke up at 6:40am and was oh boy 6:40 already. So I layed there until 6:50am and thought well I better get up or I am going to be very late. So I took a shower, and combed my hair got my make up ready to apply and thought. What day is it? So I came out of the bathroom and asked Kris, "What day is it?" He replies, "Sunday, did you think it was Monday?" "Oh my goodness, YES! Why didn't you tell me it was Sunday when I got up so early?" He replied, " I thought you were just doing getting up before the girls got up." Seriously, I really thought I had to go work. LOL I guess working Saturday really through me off!
OH BOY.. sometimes if my head wasn't attached!

Becky said...

Tabitha - that's funny! At least it wasn't the other way around. It would have been even worse to think that you could sleep in, and then be late to work. Do you have to work every Saturday?