Mommy Brain

You've all heard of it. Many of you have had it. I submit that although there may be physiological links to Mommy Brain in the form of endocrinology, there is at least one other culprit.

The lack of time.

When I have time between poopy diapers, bottles, solid food, chauffeuring, and potty-training, I might be able to think things through; be logical; rationalize.

Many times this week I have suddenly had Eureka moments, and immediately realized that those moments should have been much more obvious than they had been.

Today I had a headache. Last week I had a headache for several days, along with some insomnia. Finally, I figured out that I was dehydrated, which gave me the headache, which caused me to have trouble sleeping. Today, I drank water to get rid of the headache, because that's probably why I had a headache, right? Well, it might have been, in part, a logical reason.

After feeding two kids lunch, giving two kids a bottle (did I tell you that I'm watching another 9.5-month-old full time?), packing four kids into the van, taking one kid to school, returning home, and feeding the babies some food and changing their diapers, I realized that I had not yet eaten. My body felt tired, I had the headache, and my stomach hurt. And yet, it never dawned on me that I might just be hungry. (Well, I'm probably dehydrated too, and lack of sleep never helps either.)

My name is Brianne. And I have Mommy Brain.

Next Time I'll Wash the Car by Hand

Go to the bank. It's closed. Make a deposit anyway.

Go to the gas station. Get gas, buy a car wash because we really need one.

Car wash is very clean and wet. Joseph and Savanna are terrified and in tears. End car wash.

Hm. Power-steering goes out. That's strange. On to the Science Center. Car starts beeping unrelentingly. Battery light comes on. Takes all my energy to steer the car and pull into the Science Center parking lot. They're closed. Call my dad (a mechanic among other things). Open the hood. Yep, the serpentine belt is extremely loose.

Go straight to the car repair shop because it will probably overheat very soon. Call Bryan to get directions to car repair shop. Car starts to overheat. Pull over into the car repair shop. Yep, serpentine belt is loose. This model of car needs a water shield thingy that didn't originally come with the van. Apparently, it is common for the high-pressure water car washes to "float the belt." $35 and 2-hour wait.

Which means I got a $42 car wash that took 3 hours, and it's not even that clean.

Bry and Bri in a decade

1. Bri graduated high school.
2. Bry returned from his LDS mission to Portugal.
3. Bry and Bri met.
4. Bry and Bri got married.
5. Caleb was born.
6. Bryan graduated college and ran the BYU school record in the mile.
7. Brianne graduated college and performed a senior recital.
8. Savanna was born.
9. Bryan graduated with a masters.
10. Bryan completed administrator in training program; Joseph was born; Bryan started his first real job.

Happy New Decade!

Uh Oh

Joseph 9 Month Stats:

5th percentile for weight
12th percentile for height
17th percentile for head
95th percentile for languange development
99th percentile for happy babiness

Okay, I made the last two up, but here is video proof that I'm right (excuse the stripper at the end):

Uh Oh from Brianne Lindsay on Vimeo.

Baths, wet hair, and swimming

I don't usually put all the kids in the bath together for several reasons, but mainly because they fight. I had decided Joseph needed a bath, then Caleb wanted to get in, then of course Savanna couldn't miss out on all the fun.

After the bath, I braided Savanna's hair. It doesn't look great, but it is a vast improvement from many previous attempts.

Joseph crawls...? from Brianne Lindsay on Vimeo.

And Joseph is mobile. I think he looks like he's swimming.

Tidbits

I've had several ideas swimming around in my head of things I want to blog about. But I'm not sure I would have much to say about any of them. So here are a few of my thoughts for your reading pleasure.

1. It seems that many people are trying to be politically correct about what wishes and greetings they offer each other at this time of year. And so I have made a specific effort to say "Merry Christmas." Jesus Christ is the greatest gift we have been given. Let's celebrate Him, and not just some generic holiday. People just need to get over themselves if they are offended by Christmas.

2. I don't know when I learned how to close doors properly, but there is a proper way. A loud ka-chunk is just not okay if there is A) a meeting going on or B) the possibility of a child sleeping. It is just as easy to get in the habit of turning the doorknob before you pull the door quietly closed, then turn the doorknob back to latch. Unfortunately, all my doorknobs squeak, so I will be buying new ones soon.

3. My parents moved. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'm glad. I'm glad that they are closer to us now. I'm glad to leave behind a lot of my conflicted feelings associated with adolescence and certain people and difficult memories. I'm indifferent because I keep in good contact with my friends who are still there, and many of my friends have moved from there anyway. I'm indifferent because my parents moved into a new house after I went to college, so I'm not attached to the house. I'm very sad to leave behind other certain people and wonderful memories. I haven't lived there for almost ten years, but I feel so sad that I probably won't go back now that my parents are gone. And we won't likely go back to the place Bryan went to grad school either. And I'm very sad to leave behind those friends, although many of them have left too. It's a weird kind of nostalgia.

4. My youngest child's name should be pronounced [ʣo'zəf] not [ʣo'səf].

I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

D-E-P-E-N-dability

Some of you, maybe none of you, may have seen a rant post on my blog about a month ago that quickly disappeared because I was afraid of sounding really negative.

Whether you saw it or not, I feel the need to explain/vent. So forgive me for being negative, and forgive me for my soapbox. (While the general ideas are true, the names have been changed and the details obscured.)

Today, the woman with whom we carpool to school didn't show up for the Xth time. Which meant that I had to get Hpesoj up from a nap, feed him, get everybody's socks and shoes and coats on, load everyone into the van, arrive at the school Y minutes after school started, unload everyone from the van, and sign Belac in late. (It's hard to make this sound as exasperated in print as I was in real life. And I'm leaving out a lot of details of my frustration with this woman.) Later in the day Betty Jo explained that she was forgetful, her life is crazy right now, and she didn't have a way to reach me. "So, sorry." And that was it. As unemotional and insincere as it looks in print.

SO...I called off the carpool completely. Now I have control over my time, and I can plan my day without relying on other people.

While I am not perfect, I try to be dependable. I missed driving to school once because Belac was sick. And I called several hours before school started to let them know.

If a person is going to be late (or not show up), he/she ought to call in advance. And if that is not possible, a profuse apology would be appropriate.