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!