"The joy of motherhood comes in moments"

I don't remember who said that, but it's true.  I tend to miss a lot of these moments, or not appreciate them.  Cora is so good at playing by herself that often a whole morning goes by without playing with her.  She is starting to ask for me to play with her, though, which helps.  "Mama play game Cora?"  She doesn't use the preposition "with" at all, which sometimes makes for some funny sentences.  We went out to eat with a group of friends a few weeks ago, including a couple of babies that Cora likes to play with.  I told her "We're going to go eat with Kate and Booker."  And she said, "Eat Kate Booker."  Yum!  :D

Anyways, there was a reason I thought of that quote tonight.  We normally start bedtime around 7:30 and get Cora in bed by 8.  The first thing we do is change her diaper and get her pajamas on.  Tonight, I finished the dishes at 7 and noticed Cora had a dirty diaper.  She had a good nap, so she didn't need to get to bed early, but why put her clothes back on after a diaper change?  So I decided to do an extra-long bedtime routine with several books instead of the usual one and a longer time singing.  It was so precious.  Cora loves stories and at naptime and bedtime lately has often gone to get more books after we finish.  Since I'm usually in a rush to get her to bed, I say no, which often triggers a fit.  Tonight we picked out four books to read, and we both loved it.  Then we had family scripture study, family prayer, and Cora's personal prayer, and then we sat in her fuzzy chair in her room and sang several Primary songs before I put her in bed.  It was the first time in a while that I wasn't rushed to get her to sleep, and it was so sweet.  I need to remember to take more time for her.

A miracle has occurred: Fall has finally come to Houston!!!!  I should say "fall," since I don't entirely qualify this season of brown leaves that stay on the trees and 70 degree days as true fall, but it's close enough.  I actually needed a sweatshirt outside yesterday and today because it was so windy!  It's supposed to get down below 50 tonight!  I'm so excited!  I love fall and spring, and I can't decide which I like better.  I love the newness of spring, but I also love the change of fall.  I love wearing sweaters and sweatshirts and snuggling under blankets.  You just can't do that when it's 100 degrees outside.  

I am fully in the swing of things for Halloween.  (That's part of the reason I like fall so much.)  We're having a  party next week, and I have been having a blast planning games and food for it.  I'm starting to get our costumes ready--we decided to use my sister-in-law Alysa's idea of adapting "The Three Little Pigs."  Instead of Josh being the wolf like I planned, I'm going to be the wolf, and I've already eaten one of the little pigs.  I thought her idea was ingenious!  Cora and Josh will be the other two pigs.  I'll have a piece of straw in my mouth, Cora will have a bundle of sticks, and Josh will have a brick.  I've started getting stuff together for their costumes, and it's been fun!

Picture time!

Have I ever mentioned that Cora LOVES music?  When we went to a children's opera, she was transfixed by the singing the entire time.  Here she is, directing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during General Conference the first weekend in October.  She knows several Primary songs and has started requesting her favorites at bedtime.

This picture has a story with it.  A friend at church gave me the pink dress because she inadvertently bought it at a garage sale, not realizing it was a maternity dress.  Cora loves to wear a "pretty pink dress" whenever possible, so when I came to breakfast with this on, she said, "Mama pretty pink dress.  Cora pretty pink dress?"  I was already planning on matching, so I said yes, of course.  Then she thought for a moment and said, "Daddy pink dress?" We laughed.

Here's Baby Sister at 24 weeks, taken Tuesday, October 18.  It seems like I'm a lot bigger than in the last picture.  Part of it may be the angle, and part that I've started wearing my maternity pants, which don't hold my belly in like normal pants do.

We had a friend take family pictures for us a couple weeks or so ago.  We hadn't had any since Cora was 10 months old, so we were well overdue.  We had to tickle Cora to get her to smile, which meant that sometimes she was in strange positions when the camera snapped.

I really like this picture.  I have it as our desktop picture, and when Cora sees it she says, "Cora kiss Mama."  Awwww!