If you are not a mother you may be asking yourself, "what is momnesia?" and "what is mommy brain?"  Or you may be a mom and just didn't know there is a name for the phenomenon that occurs in many women after having children. 

Since giving birth to my son I have become progressively more forgetful.  I can't find my car keys more times than I care to admit... I'll be talking and just go totally blank on where I was going with the conversation.  I think this is.... um, what was I talking about?  See, I just never know when mommy brain will strike. 

Another thing that happens to me a lot is - I'll be in my kitchen and think of something I need to do in my bedroom... well by the time I walk down the hallway to my bedroom, I've forgotten what I have come to my bedroom for.  I just stand there, racking my brain.   So after a couple minutes of trying to remember, I give up and go back to the kitchen.  And lo and behold... ah, that's why I went to the bedroom! 

I've been talking to lots of mothers lately and have discovered that many moms suffer from mommy brain.  Over at momversations, they recently did a show on momnesia.  Which is where I discovered the term 'momnesia'.  It is the same thing as mommy brain - the forgetfulness that women suffer from once children enter their lives.

My theory is that mothers just have so much on their plates.  We have to multi-task to have any chance of getting things done.  We have so many things we have to remember.  I only have one child so for the moms out there with several kids... my hats off to you!  You are my hero. 

I used to pride myself on my memory.  I could meet someone once, and 15 years later, run into them and remember their name.  I cannot remember names anymore.  I also have trouble remembering numbers lately.  Half the time when someone asks me for my phone number, I literally have to think about it.

I will share with you one of my most recent mommy brain incidents... and this is hard for me to admit, by the way. 

I use my debit card for everything.  I rarely ever have cash on me.  I use my PIN fairly often.  Well... the other day I was shopping and as I was paying for my purchase, I could not remember my PIN.  I was certain I knew the four numbers (at least three of them), but couldn't remember the order of the numbers.

Now I think there are 10,000 combinations (I'm not a math person - so correct me if I'm wrong) for a four-digit PIN.  Although, I felt confident I knew the four numbers, I did not have the time to stand there and enter in all these number combinations. 

Now you may be asking yourself "why doesn't she just use the card as credit instead of debit?"  Good question!  I was using the 'self-checkout' and at the time I was using it there wasn't an employee around.  And unfortunately, I did not know that after a certain amount of tries... your bank puts a freeze on the card for 24 hours.  This is for my safety, in case someone has stolen my card.

I ended up writing a check.  I rarely write checks anymore because we pay everything online.  And I sure was glad I hadn't taken my checkbook out of my purse.

I share this story with you so that if you are suffering from mommy brain ... you know you are not alone.  I feel your pain.

If you suffer from momnesia we would love to hear about it.  Do you have a story you can share with us?  Come on... I don't want to be the only mom out there sharing my embarrassing 'mommy brain' story.  Also if you have any tips or advice on how to remember things, please share them as well.