Pictures of the Latest

As promised, and slightly delayed, here are more pictures of our newest addition to our family.

Here he is, just a few minutes old.

And here are a couple more shots in the hospital.

Joseph and all three kids (taken during our justin.tv broadcast). You can watch the archived broadcast here where you'll see Akiko and Moses meet Asher for the very first time.

The kids and me in the hospital.

Asher and me, enjoying some alone time.

The older kids clearly adore the little guy.
Here are some cute pictures of Akiko with her littlest brother.
At the hospital:

And at home:

Here, we have older brother, Moses, with his new little brother. It is clear that Moses was immediately crazy about Asher. Just look at his face! Too cute!
At the hospital:

And at home:

Here, we have all three kids together.
At the hospital:

I love this one! Moses kept kissing Asher on the mouth and Asher would automatically start sucking on Moses' mouth. Hilarious!

And at home:

My favorite!!

Welcome home, Asher!! We're sure excited to have you in our family!!

So, now we've got three wonderful children. Things have turned a little hectic, but it always is with a newborn. People have always told me that three was hard. It has been, but not for the reasons I thought.

Before Asher came along, I didn't have to babysit my kids. They get along really well and keep each other entertained. As long as I knew where they were and that they were safe, I didn't really need to keep an eye on them and I was able to get a lot of things done.

Now that Asher is here, I am finding that I constantly have to keep an eye on them because they are all over that baby! They always want to hold him, touch him, kiss him, push his swing, watch him sleep in his crib, etc. Lucky for me, they have been super diligent with the sanitizer.

They've been fighting more than they usually do, but it's because they both want to hold the baby at the same time. Things have calmed down a little bit, now that a few days have passed, the novelty has worn off, and some rules have been laid down, but they are still absolutely crazy about their baby brother.

Before I end this post, there are a couple stories I want to tell about Moses and Akiko:

While I was in labor, but long before the baby was due to arrive, Joseph ran home to take a nap (we'd been up since 1:30 am), get the kids ready and bring them (and Auntie Meg, who has been helping us) to the hospital. As soon as Moses walked in and saw me, he got a really concerned look on his face. He found a stool, pushed it over to the side of my bed, climbed up on it and held my hand for about 20 minutes. He was so worried about me! Every once in a while he'd stroke my hand or kiss it. What a sweet little man I have!

Asher and I spent one night in the hospital, but it was uncertain whether or not we would be able to go home the day after birth. Akiko, apparently, had it in her mind that we would be coming home that morning. She woke up super early, slid down her slide, got dressed, ate breakfast (yes, my 5 year old can make her own breakfast!) and went in to our bedroom to wake up her daddy and let him know that she was all ready to go bring Mommy and Asher home from the hospital. Poor girl had to wait a couple hours till Joseph was able to wake up and get himself ready. Isn't that so cute though, too? Btw, we were fortunate enough to be able to go home that day (thank heavens!).

So, there you have it. I am extremely blessed to have three wonderful children and the best husband in the universe for my family. I'm such a fortunate woman!