It has come to my attention that some people are, um, actually reading this blog. No time like the present to update the three (?) of you on the past 15 months in the Chesser family!

To say life has been crazy would be an understatement -- and I have a very low crazy tolerance, so I have been working overtime to stay on this edge of sanity. Our third child, John Paul, was born at home at 11:45 pm on November 21, 2007, with our amazing midwife Ruth Cobb and our doula and friend Melissa Morrill in attendance. John Paul has brought the gift of unity to our family from the moment of his conception. I'll never forget the first time our oldest child, Peter, saw him. His eyes got big, his face lit up in a smile, and he said, "I love my baby brother!" Audrey, who was then 20 months old, took a little longer to warm up. As I recall, she fell dead asleep at the dinner table that night ... that's her way, though, to check out of a weird scene altogether until she gets her bearings. The three of them are a team now, for better or worse, with John Paul regularly sidling up to one or the other of the big kids and trying to imitate whatever they're doing. (This morning it was to Audrey, sitting on the heating vent on the kitchen floor.) As an only child, I'm fascinated to watch these sibling relationships develop, and to see that they really are relationships unlike any other we might have. I'm thankful for my only-child childhood in many ways, but so very happy that my children have each other.

Now for some pictures, and a really genuine promise to spend more time posting here instead of futzing around on Facebook. ;)

It's been a loooooong time since we updated this blog! I have no excuse except being very, very busy getting the remains of various adventures off my little ones' hands and faces. We've had a wonderful summer, full of mud and tractors and peas and tomatoes and everything else that makes this season great. A few pics to say farewell to "Mud Monster" days!

It's a zoo around here. Really.

Peter is deep into almost-3-year-old territory these days, full of imagination and "magical" language. "I'm a triceratops! Look at my big horns!" he roars. "I'm a tiger! I chomp my food with my big sharp teeth!" "I'm an elephant! Waaaoooooooo!" Peter is all sorts of animals all day long, and it's amazing to see how fully he inhabits these roles. (We are working on understanding that, while they are welcome in our house, stegosauruses and mountain lions do NOT eat at the table.)

Fully participant in this menagerie is little Audrey, who at almost one demonstrates a surprising gift for pretend play. She follows Peter around the house, crawling as fast as she can, holding up both hands and saying "Roar!" when he's a dinosaur or throwing one arm in the air like a trunk and trumpeting when he's an elephant. She takes it VERY seriously. Also taken seriously are new activities like putting Cheerios in pots, splashing in the tub, saying "DIS!" and "DAT!" and giving hugs and kisses to her stuffed animals. She is a beaming, funny, happy little person (despite the fussiness that comes from FINALLY getting some teeth!).

After a long, icy winter, we are so thankful for the arrival of spring. Being outdoors with the kids is one of the things Steve and I love best. Peter has spent the past few days building a little house of bricks ("so no one will be able to blow it down") for the snails that have congregated in the damp flowerbed on the side of the house. Every morning we visit it, take off the roof, and drop some leaves and flowers down for them to eat. Peter takes such good care of his little friends; he's always been this way, and we pray it's a part of him that will never leave.

Peter Triceratops


"DIS, mama, is a pizza crust."

Steve insists (and how could I possibly object on this one?) that Audrey's first word was "dada." Okay: so her "second" word was ... TICKLE!! Which gives you a pretty good sense of what we're mostly doing around here. She's also started crawling over to my pile of wraps when she wants a ride and picking out the one she wants. When she does that, it usually means she's almost ready for a nap and just wants a little mama time before it happens. Pretty sweet.

Peter, taking paper out of the printer:

"It's a letter for you, Mom!"

"What does it say, Pete?"

"It says, 'Dear Mommy, I love you.'"

"What a beautiful letter! Thank you!"

"And this is a letter for Daddy. It says, 'Dear Daddy, How big are you?'"

"Ah ... interesting."

"And this is a letter for Audrey." [Crumples up the paper and tosses it into the air.] It says, 'Dear Audrey, Wheeee-heeeeee!"

It's always disconcerting to hear your words (complete with inflection and hand gestures) coming out of your toddler's mouth. There's quite a lot of this sort of thing going on here at the moment:

"Mom, think about what you're doing!"

"I TOLD ya!"

"Why would anyone do that??"

And the most cringeworthy: "Don't even think about it!"

But then there are those comments that make you simply glow rather than cringe. This morning Peter and Audrey were playing on our bed together. I warned him to watch out for Audrey, saying "Babies don't like to get squashed!" After a pause, Peter said, smiling, "No ... but squashes do!"

Gratuitous pic. "Audrey's after my apple!!"

Finally, a blog!

We have had so much fun seeing our friends' chronicles online that we decided it was finally time for us to have one of our own. Plus it's just too hard to keep up with the grandparents' demand for photos. :)

Presenting the Chesser Family. First, the newest member, Audrey Catherine, born April 7, 2006:

















Peter Joseph, age 2 1/2:



And the usual suspects, Steve and Alicia. a.k.a. the baby wranglers (Peter really prefers to be upside down as much as possible, and thank goodness Audrey doesn't mind being on my back, as it's the only way I can manage to get the dishwasher unloaded in the company of a nosy 9-month-old who just wants to climb into the machine):




More to come!