- My ability to remember words.
- Regularly commenting on posts … comments happen in bunches when nursing.
- Having a big blog backlog
- Getting dressed unless I’m going into work.
- Did I mention sleep?
- Because I can’t remember. My short-term memory doesn’t encode so well.
- Faculty meetings, at least until I am out of sick leave.
- Long, deep and thoughtful blog posts. (Thankfully there’s still #2!)
- The ability to think about anything other than work, kids, and dairy products.
- Socializing. Which is probably just as well, given the above.
What do/have you let go when something new takes a lot of your time?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
October 2, 2012 at 2:03 am
Blogging/commenting. Cleaning. Laundry. Sanity. (Not social enough to register a decline in socialising)
Hang in there and enjoy the new bub!
October 2, 2012 at 6:59 am
I have three children, all grown. I remember adding #2. It was so difficult. Since I ha two in cloth diapers, I could not slack off on laundry. I gave up sleep because the two-year-old and newborn did not sleep at the same time, EVER. I gave up getting dressed. When I added #3, someone asked how hard it was having three children now. My response–It was not hard at all because there was no more of me to give up. By then, I had to get dressed to take the two older ones to school. Thankfully, they were gone all day, and I had the most peaceful baby ever. At least I could get naps. Adding #2 is very difficult.
October 2, 2012 at 9:23 am
I give up.. blog commenting…long emails..chitchat…exercise..read fewer blogs…long work meetings if possible..tv…comparison shopping…socializing though I think this is important for my sanity…
October 2, 2012 at 12:30 pm
ugh, comparison shopping. Just never feels worth the time. MIL drives everywhere for the best deal, and she doesn’t have other things to do and really enjoys it. It’s never been for me.
October 2, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Comparison shopping is rarely worth the time. I do try to look at circulars and print out target coupons if I have time. I also compare more on bigger items if I have time. but overall sticking to generics..walmart or target..being aware of super good prices with a price list is more than enough
October 2, 2012 at 9:27 am
Oh gave up deep cleaning happily via hiring cleaning help..also we as a household gave up elaborate meals on weeknights
October 2, 2012 at 9:30 am
I don’t think we ever had elaborate meals on weeknights, unless you count take-out from Outback Steakhouse!
October 2, 2012 at 9:58 am
Count me with EEmusings in not being social enough to register a decline in socialising. Cleaning (and laundry) fall sort of in the same category, though technically some declines are possible. Food prep definitely gets quickly outsourced (and was never that insourced). Exercise. Sleep. Usually in about that order.
October 2, 2012 at 10:24 am
Yesterday I had to think twice to remember PhysioWife’s office phone number, and she’s had the same one for 17 f*cken years! And no, I did not recently give birth!
October 2, 2012 at 11:02 am
The words, they will come back! (most likely, anyway. And if not, you will still have more than many people)
The sleep, it will come back! (mostly. Hopefully)
The other things are Not That Important.
I always let go of exercising, and then I kick myself for that when business turns to stressed out. I would think I have figured this one out by now.
October 2, 2012 at 11:05 am
Yeah, I think we went back to sane when DC1 was around uh, 4 years old. Without that there would be no DC2!
October 2, 2012 at 12:04 pm
I did all of the above….it’s so funny you mention breast feeding bunch commenting…I did the exact same thing. My vocabulary and grammar skills go down about 75% when I’m pregnant and/or nursing a new born.
October 2, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I’m giving up trying to fit everything into a specific schedule. I just simply function better staying up late and getting up late then trying to do my new writing pursits early in the am and going to be at a “decent” hour. The world isn’t ending when I stay up later and the piece I’m writing are better and that’s the real goal anyway.
When something new comes along, I also give up cleaning (unless I need to do something physical to let other stuff process…or to feel like I have something visable accomplished). If I get a writing idea that must be done Right Now, I give up what ever other plans I had for the day…my mind wouldn’t be into the other plans anyway, it’ll be with the section of the book I’m writing.
I gave up blow drying my hair ages ago–takes too long, get to sweaty and I don’t mind the “messy look.” That wasn’t because something new came along, it was just because it got to be too insane. A good haircut does wonders for getting away with air-drying.
October 2, 2012 at 3:17 pm
I gave up writing in my journal. I figure the blog is enough.
October 3, 2012 at 3:53 am
Man, I remember my brain turning to mush too. It does get better. Adding a second kid was way hard. Those first 18 months were brutal. My body totally went to hell and I should have made more of an effort to exercise as that had longer therm negative health effects that required expensive physical therapy to fix.
I ate out a lot more and let my flower beds get lots of weeds. Normally, I babied my plants and they’ve been totally neglected.
October 3, 2012 at 7:10 am
our herb garden hasn’t recovered since the first baby!
October 3, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I have learned how to pull clothes on with one hand and restrain a dog with the other. Previously I could only do the latter.
I mostly only survive on one meal a day, which is an adaptation that I evolved way back in college and am grateful I can still use.
Talking about things any more interesting than Doggle’s attempts to crate-bust, his urine, his diaper pads, and his sleep patterns. While I survive on less and less sleep.
Figuring out how to maintain work, dog survival and … other things that were part of a normal life. Whatever they were. Right there with you on the memory loss, btw.
This is like a crash course in having nearly-an-infant and I don’t think I’m enjoying it.
October 3, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Poor doggie.
I eat at least 5 meals a day. More when I’m nursing. I just can’t go more than 3 hours without feeling cruddy. (It’s less time to feel cruddy when I eat unhealthily!) Though two of those meals are generally a single piece of fruit.
October 5, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Blogging. De-Frumpiness. Eating. Shaving. :P
October 5, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Shaving: why God invented pants.
October 5, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Precisely!!
October 5, 2012 at 6:16 pm
I forgot the thing I had to give up after having each of my three children: school. Ex would not participate in child care or pay for it, said I still had to do all housework and childcare or get a job and pay for my tuition and childcare. “You had the children, so you have to take care of them and the house. ” Yes, I hated him for that since I quit school so he could finish. So, it took me 29 years, three children, and a divorce to finally get the BA, first degree. I kept going back to school every time after having a child, but he would move the family and I would drop out again due to the disruption and often another pregnancy. I could write a book.
October 6, 2012 at 10:52 pm
Time with my spouse. Unfortunately that seems to be the biggest downside of having two children. Hoping once mijito is six months that we’ll get out together overnight and really have uninterrupted time. Looking forward to that.
Reading blogs has become more difficult now too.
Bad eyesight? Is it possible that lack of sleep has improved my eyesight? My glasses seem to show the world just a tad too sharp now. Perhaps my processing is messed up because of lack of sleep.
October 10, 2012 at 10:03 am
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