Motherhood is interfering with my reading

My husband use to think that I was sending videos of him to Matt & Trey because each week Cartman would say something that he said a few weeks earlier. Now I think someone's spying on me (not very hard since I blog so damn much!). Amanda Eyre Ward's article at Babble.com is so me.

Lots of mothers I spoke to found that they had no attention span after childbirth. Marritt Ingram, author of Inconsolable, says, "I read young adult fiction for a while. I think the first book I finished was Hatchet." Hatchet, it must be noted, is the story of a boy who, following a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, must learn to survive with only a hatchet and his own wits. Sounds like a metaphor for motherhood to me, though my own experience might more aptly be called Chardonnay.

I know I was reading after my daughter was born, but I can't really recall what I read. I'm pretty sure one was by Ariel Gore - motherhood books are good for new moms. But I know I did read because she was one of those babies who HATED to be put down. Seriously. There was a time when I slept upright so she can sleep on my chest. So when I was home for my leave I'd arrange it so that she napped on my comfy chest while I had a book in hand. That said, I doubt much really sunk in.

I knew my life was going to change, but seriously my reading habits were not on that list. Thankfully four years later I can say I'm pretty much recovered. I still have trouble focusing, but I'm better at being able to put a book down and going back to it a few days later. Ward also notes that:

A friend had another scientific take: "I read somewhere a long time ago that babies get their brains from their mothers. I've decided that's why some of us are complete dingbats while pregnant. The baby is sucking all our smarts out!"

Ain't that the goddess darn truth! Again, I knew my bones were being sucked of what little calcium they held, but my brains too? And when you get to know my daughter, you know she sucked most of my brains out. Miss Smartypants she is.

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