Mommy brain karma

Before I got married I was always very shocked by the absent minded mothers I met. I was surprised that they couldn't remember very simple things. I mean how could you forget your child's name or the glasses sitting on top of your head?  I could (and still can) rattle off high school friends birth dates and phone numbers. My memory was nearly flawless and I was proud of that and knew that when I became a mother that I would never have problems like this.

Yeah, ever heard of something called karma?

It all started during my pregnancy. I started forgetting my student's names. Names that I had memorized and not forgotten the first week of school. I chalked it up to the fact that I was tired all the time. Little did I know that was just the start.

I have lost bottles, only to find them in the sink where they belong ten minutes later. I have misplaced credit cards, to find them sitting my wallet. Yeah mommy brain has sunk in. It has only seemed to grow worse in the past few weeks. Let me give you a few examples all from this month.

I attended my neighborhood cooking group the other night. I had an enjoyable time and when it was time to go I picked up my few dishes and said goodnight. I walked across the street to my car and loaded the dishes in the back. As I sat in the drivers seat I put the key in the ignition and turned. The car didn't start and the wheel seemed to lock. I adjusted the wheel and tried again, still no purring engine. I went on with this game for five minutes. It was then I started to notice little things. Like the fact that my breast cancer pink ribbon didn't hand from the mirror.  James' name card had disappeared from the dash board and the car seemed much cleaner than I remembered it being.  I turned around and there was clincher the back seat was empty, missing two carseats. Yes, I had gotten into the wrong car. In my defense the car was also s silver CR-V parked near feet from mine.

Later that same week I was calling a new babysitter and leaving our phone number to call back and I forgot the number. Me. I can remember every phone number I have ever had. I remember every work number I have had. I remember friends from elementary school numbers. But there my mind went blank. My message sounded something like this: "Hi, this is Natalie Bradley from the ward. We need a babysitter on Thursday. You can reach me at 801....um. um. I think I just forgot my number. Um call me on my cell at" you get the picture. I had to ask my nine year old four times that day what our home number was because I plain old didn't know.

One last moment of mommy brain karma happened two weeks ago, about a week after the first two incidents. We had been at a birthday celebration at my parents and had finally rounded up the kids and were on our way home, this was of course after twenty minutes of trying to cajole the kids out the door. We were strapped in and had left. Half way down the street I hear from the back seat, "Hey where is Eve?" Sure enough our six year old was no where to be found. She was still playing with her cousin, blissfully unaware that she was the latest victim of mommy brain.

Thanks karma. Thanks.