Do you have Momnesia too?
Last night, I was commenting on a great post from my friend Stu at The Marry Blogger. Right as I started typing, the word I was looking for escaped my brain. Poof! It was gone…another mommy-brain moment. How many times a day does that happen to you?
I like to joke about having “momnesia” – but did you know that momnesia, or mommy-brain, is a real, medical thing? (“thing” is the medical term, by the way)
When a woman gets pregnant, the hormones your body produces affects the memory portion of your brain: “the brain is being marinated in a huge amount of [the pregnancy hormone] oxytocin during pregnancy,” says Brizendine. And oxytocin has been shown to have amnesia-like effects during pregnancy.
This continues for a year or more after the baby is born. But as far as I can tell, once I got pregnant with my first child, I was never the same! I have momnesia moments all the time. What about you?
Some may disagree; in fact, some think that being a mommy makes you smarter. There’s even a book by Katherine Ellison called The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter
For the record, I have mommy-brain moments all the time. BUT – I still think being a mommy rocks my socks off and we all deserve the title, “Super Mom”. Because in our own individual ways, we all have super powers. I know our children think so…
What do you think? Please share a momnesia moment in the comments below. Let’s have a little fun together!
New Christmas Memories from Days Past
The other day I read Extraordinary Mommy’s blog post “Holiday Moments, Memories and Magic” and two things struck me. First, my similar desire to spend less and give more this Christmas and second, how much her Christmas memories remind me of my own.
Tonight, I found myself sharing one of my favorite Christmas memories from my childhood with my daughters and they didn’t even know it. When I was little, I had a FAVORITE Christmas tape (this was the early 80’s) called “Disney Presents A Family Christmas“. I had a little hand-held tape recorder (this was even before boom boxes!) that I would carry around with me and listen to it over and over again. My favorite song was the 12 Days of Christmas with all the different characters singing.
I’m really not a big fan of Christmas music. But almost 10 years ago, I set out to locate this album on CD. I couldn’t remember the name of the tape, so I found two really old Disney Christmas CDs on Amazon and bought both of them. I had no clue if either were the right one. Luckily, one of them was indeed the right CD!
Fast forward to this afternoon. Me and the girls returned home from the Franklin Christmas Parade and I was in the Christmas spirit! So I popped in my Disney Christmas CD and we danced and sang along with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and even Chip and Dale. And I remembered me as a little girl, doing the same. And I prayed that one day, when my daughters are enjoying a similar moment with their kids, they remember…
Go Bold! Decorating for Kids
I’m an HGTV fanatic. My husband and I are both huge DIY-ers and love working on our house. We’ve been in our house just over 2 years now, and slowly, have gone room-to-room making changes and adding our personal touch. Right now, we’re primarily painting because we’re more focused on getting out of (and staying out of) debt. So while there’s a lot of tile work we’d like to do and new vanities and granite countertops we’d like to buy, we’ve started with paint. Paint is the best way to transform a room for the most economical price.
I want to share my favorite room with you because it’s
- Bright, colorful and “happy”
- It’s a space for kids (children’s bathroom)
- It’s educational, believe it or not (we’ve used the polka dots to teach color)
If I could offer you any advice, it would be to go bold. Have fun! Our whole house isn’t crazy; most of it is tan (although we have really cool tan vertical stripes in our formal living room/playroom which looks awesome). But it’s fun to have a burst of color every now and then, especially in a kid’s space.
I hand-painted every polka dot on the wall. It took me several hours, but I LOVE it. I hope you’re inspired!
I Love You All The Way to the Moon
Today I was reminded this past week of how lucky I am to have 2 happy, healthy, beautiful little girls. I was out of town last week looking forward to a great conference (I was part of the team running it). A business acquaintance that I’ve known for years was set to be there and I was looking forward to seeing an old friend. When he didn’t show up, I found out that when he landed in Las Vegas, he had a message from his wife telling him to return home to New Jersey immediately – they just found out their 4-year-old daughter has a brain tumor.
As humans, we get so busy that we take life for granted. Our children disobey and frustrate us and we argue over silly things with our spouse. We forget to take a moment each day to thank God for the many blessings in our lives.
I don’t know any details about this little girl’s diagnosis, but I’m asking everyone to say a prayer for this family. The thought of losing a child is unbearable to me; and yet, God gave his Son’s life to save ours. What an amazing gift…
My favorite book to read to my children is “Guess How Much I Love You”. And if there’s one thing I hope my children always know in their hearts, it’s that I love them all the way to the moon…and back.
Hand Sanitizer & Safety
Between the H1N1 epidemic and flu season, it’s more important than ever to practice good cleanliness habits. The #1 thing doctors will tell you is to WASH YOUR HANDS often. But did you know, researchers who discretely observed men and women in public restrooms found that only 77% washed their hands with soap and water? According to the American Society for Microbiology (via WebMD), the percentage of men observed washing their hands fell from 75% in 2005 to 66% in 2007. In contrast, hygiene habits basically stalled among women: 90% washed up in 2005, compared with 88% in 2007.
I’m constantly washing my hands and reminding my daughter to wash hers. My husband? Not so much. He’s one of the 66% who doesn’t wash. Ugh. Gross. But for some reason, he will use sanitizer. So when our first daughter was born, I put bottles all over the house. 3 1/2 years later, they’re still in every room because that’s the only way I can ensure that my husband will keep clean hands (especially when dealing with the kids and food prep). Problem solved. Crisis averted…or is it?
A word of caution. Because sanitizer is made to kill germs and bacteria, it’s got a high alcohol content and is poisonous when swallowed. And with all the scented sanitizers out now, kids are curious about the taste (if it smells like watermelon candy, surly it’s yummy to eat!). Stories of “drunk” children being rushed to the ER have been circulated virally about this issue through email and they have checked out as accurate according to www.snopes.com.
Hand sanitizers are extremely beneficial, especially now. And I’m a big proponent; like I said, we have a bottle in every room in our house. But be careful when letting your kids use it. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t lick their hands after using it. It’s no less dangerous than letting your toddler play under the sink where you keep all the cleaning detergeants.
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