A New Motyka Addition

Madelyn Paige Motyka has finally graced us with her presence!

Madelyn was born on December 31, 2008 at 2:59 AM. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 0 ozs. and is 18.5 inches long. Baby Maddie and mom are both doing well despite mom enduring an epidural-free labor! Baby Maddie just wanted to come see us far too quickly. We are so excited to have this new addition to our family after the holidays! Alex is a great big brother and has already fallen in love with his baby sister.

Lots of new pictures will be posted soon. Keep checking back!

Merry Christmas from the Motyka family!

The night before Christmas in our house...Alex & Mommy made pumpkin pie and cookies for Santa. We watched The Polar Express while having cookies and hot chocolate. Then, we read "The Night Before Christmas" for our bedtime storytime. A wonderful night before Christmas.


Christmas morning was full of presents, family, and lots of fun! As you can see, we (mostly Alex & even Maddie) were blessed with lots of gifts under the tree this year. Shawn's gift wouldn't fit under the tree this year...a 50" flat screen plasma t.v. How did he ever talk Alicia into this we'll never know. (Future note: don't let Shawn make a huge purchase while Alicia is 9 months pregnant). Alex loved opening all his gifts and kept saying, "Can I open another one? This one has my name on it...A-L-E-X." He had so many that it took us over 2 hours to open all the gifts from family, friends, and of course, Santa. The stockings still haven't been touched. That will be another project for after Christmas dinner. As you can see, Alex was so excited to get ALOT more Cars toys for Christmas among many other toys! He even got a Cars' sleeping bag, pillows, and many Cars' MegaBlocks to build a whole Cars' city. Our house has been taken over by Alex's obsession: Cars!
We hope this post finds everyone enjoying the holiday season and enjoying time with family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our Surprise with Santa

Much to our surprise this year, Alex actually sat on Santa's lap and talked to him at length about EVERYTHING he wants for Christmas. For the past 2 years, we've had nothing but huge tears and a screaming kid. He even told us this morning that he wanted to see Santa, but from afar. We went to Shawn's work for Breakfast with Santa which is much cheaper & faster than going to the mall for a visit with Santa. Breakfast was okay. Crafts were brought home to do during our long 2-week vacation. Balloon animals were a hit, especially since Alex wanted a shark hat & ran around chasing his friend, Trinity with it. Of course, all Shawn & I could think about it was "fins to the left, fins to the right." Thank you Jimmy Buffett. And last of all, Santa & Mrs. Claus were a huge hit & exciting time for us as parents. We are so proud of his change in behavior and how much he is becoming a "big boy" every day.