Mommy Brain. It's a thing.

When my kids were babies, I left a pan of bottles boiling on the stove and didn’t remember it until mere moments before all the water had boiled off and the bottles began sticking to the pan. I wondered,

“What is wrong with me!?” “When did I become so absentminded and forgetful?”

There was nothing wrong.

I had way too much to think about and do.

I had “mommy brain.”

Back then it was all about keeping the go-bag filled with diapers, wipes, and other basic necessities; performing calculations regarding the likelihood of use versus do I really need to schlep all this stuff around; and remembering why I was packing the diaper bag in the first place (where were we going?).

Then there was packing lunches for daycare; unpacking – and probably wiping applesauce and crumbs out of – the lunch bags when they come home; cleaning the high chair (even under the seat pad) and the floor up to five times a day (and occasionally the wall, sliding glass door, and radiators); wiping down the stroller; cleaning out the bathtub; hanging up the towels; cleaning out the potty.

Bathing; brushing teeth; dressing babies. Sorting clothes…and so on, on top of my job and housework.

Did I just say housework? Haha. Who am I kidding? My job comes before housework. It was and still is mainly event-driven. Meaning if I have an event where people are going to come to my house, I clean it. I have worked full-time or more for the last 15 years.

I’d venture to guess all moms have mommy brain and learn to live with it.

Today mommy brain happens because I’m still the one that makes sure stuff just gets done, above and beyond waking people up on time when their alarms are blaring, making breakfasts and packing lunches, signing forms, and driving someone to hockey practice.

It means considering, noticing, and doing a lot of things that are invisible to others.

In our house, it means recalling that there are open windows when I hear the furnace kick on.

It’s realizing that we’re almost out of milk and thinking I better stop at the store on the way home from practice, and since I’m going to be at the store anyway, what else might we need? And even before we leave the house, letting the dogs out, because we might not be home for a while.

You can read more about this phenomenon in my Her View from Home post. Spoiler alert: I don’t do it without a white board.

You are not absent-minded or forgetful. There is nothing wrong with you. You have way more stuff to think about and do.

You have mommy brain.

And take comfort in the fact that you are not alone!