Mommy Mush-Brain

Before becoming pregnant with Leah, I had heard about Mommy mush-brain, but I was skeptical. "That won't happen to me," I thought. But then, I slowly began losing my mind (or at least misplacing it). While teaching, I'd blank mid-sentence or thought. Previously I'd easily come up with literary or grammatical examples for students, but that skill soon eluded me. "What is happening to me?" Mommy mush-brain was setting in.

"Surely this will pass once Leah arrives," I naively assumed. Silly me. Those first few weeks were filled with mush-brain moments... at least, I think so. After all, I don't really REMEMBER that time due to the sleep deprivation. Maybe that's proof in and of itself.

Fast forward to present day. Instead of diminishing, the mush-brain has intensified, and has now infiltrated my adult-world (as in conversations, people). For instance, the difference between the verbs "bring" and "take" cause me daily anguish. (When do I use which one? I used to know this!!!) And of course I find myself tongue-tied too often to count. If I'm not mixing up words ("Shake a hand's friend;" "slap a cap back"), I'm completely at a loss for them (and that's not saying much considering my rather minuscule vocabulary to begin with).

I used to be (somewhat) informed. Now I'm clueless about what's going on in the world. (Confession: it was days before I actually heard about the oil spill in the Gulf.) I used to have meaningful conversations about non-kid related topics (not that kid-related topics aren't meaningful), and now I struggle to think of something to discuss.

Oh, to be cured of this Mommy mush-brain affliction... but still have the perk of being a Mommy!