Lydia's boyfriend =)

I am a little behind in blogging. Last week (I think it was last week! It's so hard to keep track of time when you are nursing every couple hours...) our dear friends Dan and Preethi Harbuck visited for a couple of days. It was so fun, and one of the most exciting parts of their visit involved observing the budding romance between Lydia and their super cute, fun, and smiley (did you hear that, Lydia?? Smiley!!) son, Nat. We saved the amorous pair some trouble and took their engagement pictures a couple years ahead of time. I have about a hundred different pictures of these two together, but here are just a few:

Lydia did her longest tummy time session ever when she was on the blanket with Nat! He helped make tummy time fun. =)

Snoozing with her future in-laws. =) Thanks, Dan and Preethi, for a wonderful visit! We love you!!

Smile, puh-leeeeaase!!!

I am DYING for Lydia to smile. According to the infant development books, she should have been doing this about a week ago, and when she didn't I started to worry that Lydia wasn't happy enough to smile. Her constant frowns make me really nervous. I mean, they are very cute and all, but I get the feeling that Lydia isn't quite enthralled with earth life yet. And I want her to be!

Therefore, I do regular smiling exercises with Lydia. We have replaced play time (whatever that was) for smile time. I hold her up and grin hard while explaining that this is what people do when they're happy. "I'm happy, Lydia! Are you happy? Can you show mommy you're happy by SMILING?? Pleeeeaaase???"

I've also tried various other techniques that other moms on the internet have said worked for them. Lydia has had to endure being poked in various places while I try to remember the rhymes in "patty-cake." She's had to listen to me sing. One mom swore that saying, "Yahoo, sushi!" works like a charm, and so this morning I held Lydia in place while repeating that phrase at various volumes--to no effect. In fact, all I got was a confused, rather irritated frown. I then panicked that she inherited some rare genetic disorder that prohibits her from smiling. Well, if that's the case, she didn't get it from me.

Poor Abe. I've repeatedly insinuated that his genes are responsible for Lydia's inability to smile. (Please ignore his grin at the top of this page. I am SURE that I am genetically innocent here, and so that leaves only one possible culprit!) He has started to pray that Lydia will smile, and I get the feeling he has a vested interest in these prayers.

Please excuse me for cutting this blog short. I just remembered that one mom said mirror time did the trick for her baby, so Lydia and I are off to stare in the mirror together. Wish us luck!