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It's time to torpedo the long-held belief about Mommy Brain. You know what I'm talking about. It's the idea that motherhood transforms your brain into SpaghettiOs®. Not True.

Motherhood is a brain boost, not a brain drain. Motherhood makes you more efficient, more creative, and more compassionate.

You, in fact, did not park your brain at the delivery room door. Nor did you abandon all intelligent thought the day you held your newly-adopted child. As a mother—whether by natural birth or adoption—you are stimulating your brain in new ways. As a mom of a newborn, you are immersed in learning about your baby. You learn to recognize his fussy cry from his hungry cry or from his "Hurry up and change my wet diaper" cry.

As Katherine Ellison writes in her book, The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes You Smarter, "You're paying attention and quickly learning from experience, because someone's life depends on it."

I can just imagine what your typical day with preschoolers looks like because I've had my own "typical" days with four children. You're disciplining toddlers, reading exciting books like, Go Dogs Go or Put Me in the Zoo, and declaring, "Have a timeout!" You can't find your car keys, your checkbook—and when was the last time you had a complete thought?

Stop thinking that your brain has the IQ of a bowl of pasta. Instead, realize you are a lot like Albert Einstein. "Mr. Theory of Relativity" himself forgot where he put checks for large amounts of money. However, Einstein's forgetfulness was not because of a bad memory, but because he was deeply concentrating on things of greater importance.

You tell me which is more important: your car keys or your 2-year-old?

Being a mom makes you more efficient because it teaches you to focus on the essential. Sometimes you may feel like you are part of a Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus juggling act. You're trying to comfort a sick baby while you help another child finish his homework. Or you're up against a tight work deadline and your preschoolers spend all day fighting, with you as referee. What to do? Adjust, knowing you are probably not going to get as much sleep as you'd like. A mom becomes an expert at figuring out what is important and what isn't. Sure, you planned on doing laundry, but a child with the flu is more important than clean underwear.

Motherhood forces you to be creative—either that, or you resign yourself to being frustrated most days. No, I'm not talking about creating an oil painting or needlepoint pillow, although some moms do find time to squeeze in those artistic activities. Instead, think about all those times you handle a "What now?" situation. What do you do when your 8-month-old has been nursed, rocked, serenaded, diapered—and still won't go to sleep? What do you do when your toddler plays tick-tack-toe on your carpet with a permanent marker? (True story.) You get creative. Moms are great at spin control—turning a negative situation into a positive one.

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