It's ALIVE! And ASLEEP!"

So, Kirsten and I, more Kirsten than I, have been wondering how best to keep the baby asleep when she was, you know, awake. We tried a lot of things - nursing, soothing, shushing, nursing, cooing, nursing, blankets, nursing - but nothing worked. All we've gotten so far is a baby who spits up a lot and a wife with sore boobs.

And, let me assure you, neither of those things has been to my benefit.

So today, in a low point, Kirsten broke down and agreed to something she'd been fighting strenuously for the past four weeks: a pacifier.

For Lorelei's benefit, we're calling it a binky - not, by the way, out of any respect towards Binky the Clown, but because that's apparently a fairly common term for the thing.

Anyway, IT WORKS. That's the most important thing - call that jabber what you will, but the baby sucks on it, and she doesn't cry. And, I assure you, nobody likes a crying baby.

On an unrelated note, why is it that a cup of coffee in reality is 8 ounces, but a cup of coffee in a coffeemaker is six ounces?