Laughing babies ...

People say taking care of a baby is really hard, until you see that first smile on their face and you forget everything. I don't know exactly when Isabella first smiled, but I know it was soon after she was born, and that it was for no discernible reason. I also remember thinking, well since I have no idea why she's smiling that doesn't really count. It sure is cute, but it doesn't count!

Well, this last week she finally started smiling while looking at me and her papa, and while it was, once again, really cute and nice and heartwarming, I didn't exactly melt and burst into tears (ok, it didn't really help that she smiled at her father first! ;-)). However I did think to myself, hey, we can't be doing too bad! During the day, when I'm running a little low on patience, those smiles are like first aid kits that put 10 points right back into my health!

Last night tops it, though. It was almost 3 a.m., she and I had already been up for two hours. I had fed her, changed her diaper, fed her again, carried her around to help her fall asleep, but she was still unsatisfied and restless. At one point I gave up and just took her to bed with me even though she was still whining a little, and hoped she wouldn't wake up her father who had to get up to go to work in 3 hours. After 5 minutes of lying on my tummy, she started to calm down. And then I heard it.

She laughed. It lasted all of 2 seconds, and I again have no idea what was going on in her mind. But it was beautiful --- playful, almost mischievous. I smiled and wished she had waken her father up. And then we went to sleep.

(Speaking of laughing babies, check this out: