Day 11: Captain's Log.

Captain's log, 31/01/2010  23:50, Madd-O Quadrant.

The wonder of Jude's new life has quickly become a sleep-deprived reality :)  I'm so glad that I wrote those first few posts when the amazement of it all was still sharp as he has become a little bundle of joy at 3.00am in the morning. Ruth wakes me up with a beaten look and Jude already in my arms, ready to be settled.  I then employ one or more of my three "baby settling" techniques to ensure we all get a good night's sleep:

a) "The Godfather": this is a tried and true traditional Italian technique that was shown to me by Nonno Giorgio.  It involves the settlee upright on the settler's shoulder.  The settler then twists and bends, creating a calming motion.  The technique has a high difficultly though and incorrect application of the technique can lead to further unsettling.  The technique has been demonstrated to settle a baby within 5 seconds (the current record).
b) "Baby hustler": this technique involes the settler walking a circuit jostling the baby up and down with quick repitions.  The settlee is again in the shoulder position.  This has had much success but does take at least 30 minutes and may require more than one attempt at the final "put down", which results in the technique needed to be re-applied.
c) "Beaten Settler": this techique is by far the easiest on the settler.  The procedure is to simply give the baby to the other spouse.  This has mixed success.

Jude has already become quite the crowd favourite :)  He slept through the entire meet and greet at church but we knew better.  On the way home in the car he woke up and made sure we knew he was hungry.  During the day its not so bad, but at night when you're trying to sleep too, it is a little like torture.

Cry baby!

Sometimes all you can do is try to remind yourself about better times..

better times.

Captain Quirk out.