Chester

My lovely Chester. What to say? He's small. He's sick a lot. That's about it.



Not really. OK, so his full name is Chester William Paul Fuller. William is my Dad's name and Paul is Mark's brother. Chester arrived early, on 22nd January this year. The others were two weeks late, he was ten days early. I was not ready. In my head I had nearly 4 weeks before the baby came. The sledging and constant trudging up and down to school to take Presley to the toilet may have had something to do with his early arrival, but anyway I was immensely proud of him. When we arrived home reality set in. Presley had told her class she would bring him for show and tell. So he was born on the Friday, Monday morning I'm showing him to a class of 4 and 5 year olds.

Its funny how one (seemingly) small addition to a family can make such a huge difference. Chester is very sick, and so gets through an average of 2 complete changes of clothes, 2 sets of p.j's and about 8 bibs a day. Couple that with Presley's clothes and it will come as no surprise to hear that I do 3 loads of washing a day minimum. Then there's the feeds. How can I get 3 children washed, dressed and fed and all be out the house for 8:30. when a small person is stuck onto me? Chester did the school run in his pyjamas for over a month. Looking back now, those first few weeks were insane. I had also agreed to do a play, so was rehearsing 3 times a week for that. I would feed Chester, drive like a madwoman to rehearsals, then drive back as quickly as possible to feed him again. (Glad I did it though 'cause the play was flippin fantastic!)

Chester quickly understood that we don't do night waking in our house, so however mental the days were we did all get a good nights sleep. And then suddenly, you're out the other side. One day Chester found his thumb and a security blanket. He's been virtually mute ever since! He does cry when he's really rattled about something, or when Orson sits on him but generally he is good as gold.

Everyday is wonderful with Chester. I love looking at his little un-assuming face. So wide-eyed and completely relying on me to feed him, keep him warm and to protect him. In fact, I love so many things about him that I couldn't even begin to list them all! The way he puts his hands on either side of my face and tries to kiss me, the way he bounces up and down with happiness when Mark comes home from work or how he squeals with excitement when Presley or Orson play with him... I could go on and on!

He is growing up so fast, he's only 5 months but can nearly sit un-aided, and is on 3 solid meals a day (GP's advice to try and stop the sickness. It hasn't worked!) I looked at him feeding this morning and thought If I breastfeed him til 9 months like I did with the others, that only gives me 4 more months. And that makes me sad. But then there is so much to look forward to, the first word, the first steps and so much more.

This our party of five... now its time to begin our journey together through life. It won't always be easy, and there will be times when we may resent each other or feel like the odds are stacked against us. But our deep love for each other will keep us together. May the good times always outweigh the bad.