New Mom Advice #8 - Feeling Like Your Brain is Turning to Mush

Days filled with changing diapers, feeding a baby, cleaning the house, and laundry can sometimes feel mentally draining - especially when you're used to having a career outside of the home.

Maintain a hobby - Continue doing some of the things that you enjoyed before you had children. I loved to spend time doing family research on the computer when my oldest son was a small baby. I would wait for him to take his nap and jump on-line. Scrapbooking, reading, and other indoor hobbies are also wonderful ways to stimulate you mentally while your baby is sleeping.

Puzzle books and card games - Work some crossword puzzles, logic puzzles, word searches... even spider solitaire on the computer can help you to feel challenged mentally.

Television - Be careful about this one because watching endless amounts of TV can make your brain feel even mushier. But watching educational or home improvement programming can be a great way to kill time while you're feeding the baby - and help you to learn something new at the same time. Home improvement shows, especially, helped me to dream about projects I wanted to try around the house. And that helped me to have a more positive attitude as well since I was suddenly spending so much time around home.