Cuddles, smiles and chub!

Miss Maddie preferred her tummy today to her back. Something new everyday around here!

Yesterday was a good day...Brayden started preschool and Madison giggled. Much to be thankful for.

Happy 3 Month Bday Madison Kate!

New look. New year. New addition to the Eacker Clan. New adventures in family life. Sounds all exciting and wonderful...but I will not lie. Adjusting to two kids is hard. Harder than we thought it would be and at the moment it seems to be getting harder not easier. Time for myself, time to talk with Eric (when I don't feel like falling asleep), time to excercise, or time to just sit and reflect on how blessed we are, or what we would like to see happen in 2009, or even time to figure out some of our philosophies on parenting and things of that nature do not exist right now. Our life consists of laundry, dishes, going to parks, preparing food, laundry, cleaning the house, picking up toys, laundry, cleaning the house, dishes, playing with toys, laundry, going to parks, did I say laundry?

In spite of the season we are in, we have been thankful for family that has come to visit us from Seattle. After my parents left, Eric's brother, Mark and his wife Tiffany came and we had an awesome time playing in SB. Cousin Chase loved the sunshine and Maddie loved her aunt and uncle.

Then to ease the post holiday blahs, we headed over the hill to the river and to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature for a morning where Brayden is most at peace. He must have thrown 100 rocks into the river. Madison fell asleep in the bjorn and Eric took lots of pictures. Brady sang songs to himself and was perfectly content.

So inspite of the laundry, laundry, laundry, it's good to get away from the mess of life and just be together, thankful that we have eachother.

Little Miss Maddie came alive this week...talking, cooing and smiling. She's getting into quite a rhythm that is predictable and I LOVE IT! Most nights asleep by 11 and up at 9 with one feeding at 6. Heavenly. Of course who knows how long this will last but I'm grateful for it right now.

We got to spend the week in Paso Robles with my folks and it was so much fun to be away from my messy house, not have to cook, clean or be alone with the kids. My Christmas gift this year was just being away with my family and resting.

Brayden has fallen in love with airplanes of any kind but mostly F-14 Super Hornets or F-16 Tomcats so we took him to an airplane museum. Super fun! He got to sit in a flight simulator and sit inside a military helicopter. He's flying his own little F-16 in his hand in this picture, I am flying him like an airplane and we are standing between the two engines of the F-14 at the museum.

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Bob sent Brady some much needed tools so he could help his dad fix the leaking pipe at the house we were renting in Paso.

Goggles - check! Superman shirt - check! Pink cuddly socks....check?

Proof of the smiles!

She's already working on her Scrabble game. She has to get practicing so she can beat Papa some day.

Lots of cuddles with Grandma.

More cuddles.

She smiled!!!

Redeeming moments in motherhood...when Brady crawls up next to his sister and says "It's okay Baby Maddie" when she's crying, a baby laying peacefully staring at you grinning, a little boy that likes to give momma kisses on the nose.

These moments are needed after a hard hard week! Thank you Jesus!

On another note, we were driving down the freeway yesterday and Brayden saw a huge blow up Santa Claus. He says, "Mommy, is that Noah?" After a long silence because I was giggling and thinking of how to answer that question...he says, "Yeah, I think that's Noah."

This is Maddie's friend Stella Lawler...they will be friends! :)
Sydney let me braid her hair and the next day it was all curly.

Cutie.

Silly nut.

He loves boots!

Our peanut is 10 pounds! Time flies... Madison is growing so fast. Most of the time she seems to be adjusting to life but she definitely has her moments that are challenging for us.

Grandma and Papa came to meet her this last week. So fun! Sad to see them go but thankfully they are coming back in 3 weeks for Christmas

Our little Maddie Kate is already 5 weeks old today. Goes so fast. She is starting to spend more time awake, checking things out and being smothered with love by her brother.

On another note, we've been missing daddy. Eric is on day 3 of the Tea Fire. He is joined by hundreds of brave brave men that choose to go out and risk their lives. He was interviewed by CNN yesterday and shook Governor Arnold's hand today. Matt would have been so proud!

Brayden is still totally in love with his little sister.

Here's our little train conductor!