Video Tests

Since I'm new to blogging, I thought I'd try to test out posting videos. They're two of my favorite videos ever.
 
The first one is when Akiko was about 10 or 11 months old. We'd just moved to Maui. That's irrelevant and I just wanted to boast a little, but that's also how I know how old she was (it's my way of time-stamping in my mind). So, Akiko had learned recently how to give kisses. Because she is the oldest grandchild on Joseph's side, she got all sorts of attention from her aunties and uncles. Anytime she gave someone a kiss, everyone in the room would go, "Awwwww!" Akiko caught on quickly and this is the humorous result.

The second video happened when Akiko was about 18 months old. We were visiting Utah and had dinner at my mom's house with the rest of the family. The little boy is my nephew Ian, who at the time of this video, is almost 3 years old. I was tempted for a while to submit this one to AFV, but when I went to their website it was just too much hassle to try to do.

I really hope these work. We've got lots of great video clips. I also really enjoy all the videos we have of Akiko and Moses falling asleep while they're eating their dinner. Classic!

We Fight Crime. That's What We Do. Duh!

This morning, I watched Akiko, carrying her pink pillow, walk past my room. She paused for a moment to look at me and the following conversation took place:

Me: Hey Akiko. Whatcha up to?

Akiko (matter-of-fact-like): I'm going to go fight the bad guys.

Me: With a pillow?

Akiko: Mom, bad guys don't like pink.

That last line should be read like: Duh, mom. Don't you know anything?

Silly me! I should have known better. Of course bad guys don't like pink!

I've got another great story about Akiko protecting her baby brother. It happened last night. The pictures are on Joseph's phone, so as soon as I get a hold of that, I'll get that story posted.

I'm glad I've got a superhero in my family here to protect us.

Who's Your Daddy?

Moses learned recently that his middle name is Joseph.

Moses already knows that his daddy's name is Joseph.

The other day, Joseph asked Moses what his full name was.

Moses replied:

"Moses Daddy Wecker"

Perhaps we ought to explain that a little better.

16 Days Old

I got lucky. Not only was my baby boy awake, but there was great lighting and most importantly, I realized this was a great opportunity to take some pictures of my littlest man. So I did, even if I'm still working it with the camera phone. Like I said: luck was on my side today.

Here's the little man in all his nearly 8 lb. glory (he weighed in at 7 lb. 13 oz. at his 2 week checkup a few days ago).

I really wish you could see the color of his eyes better. They aren't black like Akiko and Moses'. They're a deep blue. They're so pretty. When I dress him in blue, the color really pops. I love it. I never thought I'd have a blue eyed baby.

And for your entertainment, here's one of all my babies before Asher woke up.

I love these kids more than I can say. I cannot elaborate in words. They're the best kids in the world. I am so blessed to be their mommy.

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!

It's A Boy!!

Asher Charles Wecker

Born on Friday, July 9, 2010
7 lbs. 4 oz.
21 in.
Practically perfect in every way.
More pics to follow soon.
Stay tuned...

39 Week Belly Shot

I've been hounded for belly shots by Joseph's sisters. I'm sure part of it is because I'm just about to have the baby and nobody has seen me since either Maui in May or Utah in December (when nobody knew I was pregnant nor was I remotely close to showing). Again, I apologize for the quality. Not only is it from my camera phone, but the photographer is only five years old.

I'm sure the pictures were also requested because the girls wanted to compare my belly to Emma's (Joseph's sister, for those who don't know). Emma is due five weeks after me, so that would put her at approximately 34 weeks now. So here we have a side by side comparison. I am aware that I will get no sympathy from the Emma Dorman camp. I mean, that girl's belly is huge!














In my defense, I have gained about 50 pounds. Anyone who has spent time with me when I'm not pregnant knows that I'm a skinny girl. The plus side is that everyone keeps telling me how great I look. The downside is that since I don't look as far along as I actually am, I don't get much sympathy from strangers (ex: they don't open doors or hold elevators for you).

So, there you have it. I carry small. When I was pregnant with Akiko, I bought one pair of maternity pants and hardly wore them because they ended up being too big (we bought them early in the pregnancy). I ended up spending most of that pregnancy in Joseph's old pants. There were some ladies in our ward who didn't even know I was pregnant. My doctor, much to our chagrin, ordered me to get an ultrasound when I was about 35 weeks because I was measuring small. The technician asked me why the doctor ordered it. I told him, he looked at my chart, noticed I was of Asian decent and told me that Asian women tend to carry small, especially with their first.

With Moses, I got bigger. A lot bigger compared to Akiko. I carried him lower and further out. The maternity pants I got with Akiko's pregnancy were too small. We had to go a couple sizes up.

With this one, I carried small again. So the pants I bought whilst pregnant with Moses, are too big. I just can't win. I'm really digging the full belly panel on my pants I got this time around though. They at least keep my pants on. Well, the pants in themselves are super comfortable. Unfortunately, they're the only pants I got this time so I wear them everyday. I really hate shopping for maternity clothes, especially pants. I'm going to stop the pants rant now.

Do you see now why I named my blog "Ramblings?" Some of my posts have actually had stories with them so I was able to keep things straightforward and on some sort of track. Today, I felt like blogging about something, but had no real agenda. So now everyone has witnessed my random track of mind. On the other hand, anyone who really knows me well has witnessed that first hand.