This morning I sat in my lime green bathroom (the quietest room in the house) and was reading this weeks U.S. News and World Report. My sweetie had wanted me to see how well Georgia Tech ranked in the list of engineering schools...blah, blah, blah...

What I did see was a short column on the effects of a coffee study. Apparently women who drink in excess of three cups of caffeinated coffee a day (that is me!) have a greater chance of warding off dementia and Alzheimer's disease. This is good news for me. I've given birth to four sons, each of whom have drained my precious brain bank, rendering me, at age 35, a woman more closely resembling Paris Hilton and her types (not in looks...but in ditziness!)

I used to consider myself a bookish academic. Now, 11 years into this mothering thing, I regularly misplace the car keys in the freezer. We moms call this "Mommy Brain", in an older woman, it is referred to as dementia. Go figure. So, I keep sipping my Yuban with cream and sugar every morning and look forward to a clearer head in the days to come.

And now, to demonstrate part of what leads to my mental demise on a daily basis...I will list the child count in The "T" house for the past week. My oldest had a friend stay with him for most of the week, which brings our baseline count up from four boys to five boys.

*Monday we had my five, another friend's three, and yet another friend's three children... a slow day really, only 11 children and I cheated and we all went to Burger King for lunch.

*Tuesday brought us my five and about ten random neighbor kids in our backyard, some of whom I had never met before...that leaves us with fifteen, but most never entered the house.

*Wednesday brought us my five, another friend's one...another slow day...only six kids. But it was raining so all six were indoors.

*Thursday brought my five, a friend's four, a friend's two and another friend's two, thirteen total. Add to Thursday's confusion that all of the moms were busy stuffing envelopes for a mass retreat mailing and the children were supervised by the 11 year olds...it may have been very Lord of the Flies.

I also need to add, that in the whole mix there were only little girls in my home on Monday and Thursday. As a mom of boybarians, I attract the same.

Guess what I get to do today? I get to clean and catch up on laundry...and find all of the toys that got thrown down the laundry chute over the course of the week! I guess I'll sit, and build a few brain cells first and have another cup of coffee.

Learn more about this author, Pam Thompson.
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