Mia is almost always happy and smiling (unless I'm trying to take her picture of course). Even her babysitters have told me that she eats, sleeps and smiles all day. This makes me wonder if some babies are just born happy or if they're happy because their environment makes them that way.

Is it possible to raise two babies in the same household with the same parents and the same level of love and attention and have one be happier than the other? According to a study it is. While we start out preprogrammed to be optimistic or pessimistic our environment still has an impact on our general attitude toward life.

You've heard of people being right brain dominant or left brain dominant right? Well, left brain people have a brighter outlook on life than those right brained people. However, our frontal lobes continue to develop late into our teens so even though our temperament is determined by nature it isn't permanent. Our experiences still mold our attitude and behavior. So the more good experiences we have the more we stimulate that left frontal lobe and the happier we become.

So in a nutshell yes some babies are just born happier than others, but those babies that aren't as happy aren't doomed to gloom for the rest of their lives. We have the power to mold our children into happy adults.