Wondering Why There Are Post-it Notes On My Children's Foreheads?

I have been taken over by a foreign concept for me. It seems that as of recently, I have become quite forgetful. I have always baffled my mom because of my ability to remember things clearly and precisely. I can tell you the precise layout of the apartment we lived in when I was 5 years old. We lived there less than a year. I can tell you the year and date we moved to Illinois from Michigan when I was fifteen. I can tell you the number of the license plate that sat on my mom’s car up until she moved to Florida 2 ½ years ago.

But all of the sudden, I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday. I have heard of baby brain, when the birth of a child seems to suck the memory from within your frazzled grasp, but I never expected it to happen to me. Especially because I was completely not affected in this matter with my first little bundle of joy. I am beginning to wonder if the memory loss is directly related to the fact that I am rarely able to get more than 2 consecutive hours of sleep. Sometimes I get less than an hour.

Regardless of the reason for my forgetfulness, here are some things I have forgotten like a total space cadet in the past week alone.

* I forgot the recipe for cleaning out a slow moving drain pipe is (and I’m forgetting it again as I type, too) BAKING SODA and vinegar, not flour and vinegar. Unfortunately, I remembered only after stuffing ½ cup of flour down the drain in my bathroom sink. I’ve had some real “duh” moments lately, and I wish I could say that takes the cake. But I’m not so sure.

* I forgot to pack my son’s lunch last week and failed to realize it until I was sending him out the door to the bus stop. And not in an “Oh, before he leaves this morning, Chas, you’ve got to get his lunch packed” kind of way. I didn’t think of it earlier and then forget. What I did was worse than that. I just plain never thought of the word lunch in my morning. Thank goodness for the few dollars we still had in his hot lunch fund from last year. Poor Smooch had to deal with mom’s failures and suck it up and have pizza at school. I feel guilty for causing him such suffering.

* I forgot I had put a Diet Doctor Pepper in the freezer to accelerate its cool down factor. Once again, I didn’t put it in there and then forget about it. I DO NOT REMEMBER EVEN PUTTING IT IN THE FREEZER. Am I developing multiple personality disorder? I’ve been trying to clean the aftermath from my freezer for several days now.

* I forgot to pick up some items my husband specifically asked me for at the grocery store. Then when I went back to get them, (there were 4 items on my mental list) I forgot 2 of those forgotten items.

* I am forgetting words as well, which is horrendous for me. For example, I am making out the grocery list, and I can’t pull up the words cottage cheese. I’m picturing it in my mind, the little red snack size cups, it’s white, has curds, it’s gross, but hubby likes it, what the heck is that stuff?

There are more forgotten moments, but these are the highlights. Baby Brain? Visits from memory sucking aliens? Too many consecutive REM sleep interruptions? Whatever it is, I sure hope it fixes itself soon.