Parenting is more of an art than a science. I've got my theories about all kinds of things, but I am unable to reproduce my results by reproducing the circumstances. Take, for example, my theory about sleep. I've figured that if I let my daughter sleep as much as she wants to during the daytime, but try to keep her awake in the evening – while at the same time giving her lots of bottles – by the time Jean and I go to bed, Colette will be tired and full and let us sleep for a long time. I'd say we've had about a 66% success rate with this theory, hardly enough to prove anything.

It was a weird night last night. Jean kept Colette warm and dry and offered her bottles galore, but she never settled down for the night. She just seemed to want to be held. Finally, around four thirty (I think – I have to admit that I lose all sense of time in the overnight), I brought her into the bed and placed her between us. With my arm around her, she quickly settled and fell asleep. I drifted nervously in and out of sleep for the next hour or so, feeling both tired and anxious that neither of us roll over the baby.

Sometime between five and five thirty I moved her back into the Moses basket. She started fussing again after only fifteen minutes, and Jean was kind enough to take her out into the other room so I could sleep before going to work.

It was nice to be back at work. Somehow the hectic pace of Information Services at the University feels more stable than the ever changeable world of my daughter. It was pretty easy for me to focus on BannerWeb and documentation today, even though I did experience flashes of the nighttime world Jean and I and Colette now inhabit.

Of course, I did drive off to the campus today in the wrong car. We've got two cars and only one of them has an infant car seat. We plan to buy a car seat for the other car before too long, but for now Jean is going to have my car. Except that when I saw it was 8:25 this morning, I jumped up from my too leisurely breakfast with Jean, grabbed my coat, bag and keys, jumped in the car and zipped off to work. It wasn't until I got out of the car and locked it that I saw the car seat and realized that I'd just stranded Jean at home for the day.

We spoke on the phone and I agreed to pick up some paperwork from her doctor that she desperately needed today. I think she had some other plans to get out of the house for a bit, but she let me keep the car for the day.

My goal for tomorrow is to arrive on campus in the correct car. If I also manage a good night's sleep, I will consider it strictly a bonus.