SMILES!!!!

There's just something about those first smiles that brighten up your world. No matter what kind of day you're having, what kind of mood you're in, when a newborn smiles at you it all becomes better.

Sammy started giving us social smiles about a week and a half ago, at 3 weeks old. They were few and far between though and we really had to work for them.

By 4 weeks old, he was becoming more generous with them. Russ brought him in to me one morning, a week or so ago, and when I took him I said, "Hey Buddy!" and his face just broke into the biggest smile. Melted my heart into a puddle.

A morning or so after that Sam and I were laying in bed, just talking, and he started up with non-stop smiles. Even the ceiling fan was rewarded with a few! So I brought him to see Russ and the boys and he shared some with them as well. My goal became to get a smile on camera.

It was harder than I expected. Each time he started smiling, I grab the camera and try to catch it. This is usually what I ended up getting...

Yesterday I *almost* got one...

But it wasn't quite good enough.

This morning he was full of smiles again. No luck though. THEN...this afternoon I was able to capture the elusive smile!

How can that not just make your day??