Have you ever thought of marriage as a plant, maybe a very fragile one like an azalea.  I don’t usually think of marriage, or my marriage for that matter, in that way but this New Year that image has smacked me in the face!  For the most part, I’ve enjoyed my marriage of 8 years and it has seemed easy enough, almost like a car coasting down a hill. Of course we’ve hit bumps, had fights, but it seemed like we recovered easily.  Then something happens where the very soil that supports the marriage is shaken…everything seems upside down.  Things that you took for granted, like honesty and trust, seem to evaporate into thin air. How did we get to this point?

The Niedermaier  Caravan rolled into Sweet Rose Farm at 5pm on Thursday, December 17^th.  We managed to make it the last hour through the mountains without any vomiting – YEAH!!!  Thanks to some great navigating skills by DH and a new route through Covington, VA (a beautiful little town!) and past Falling Springs.

This time of the year is always crazy.  As a mom, I'm 'stuck' in the day-in and day-out needs of my family and still trying to make the Christmas season special for my kids and for those I care about.  This year I'm miserably failing at the second portion of that recipe.  So I needed a little inspiration and my good friend, Jeannette, came to the rescue.

Out of nowhere, she "assigned" my friend Charity and I to sit down, drop what we were doing (which involved babies and laundry, I believe), and listen to a song on her ipod.  The song was "One Heartbeat at a Time" by Steven Curtis Chapman.  Such a gentle and loving gesture made my day.  I found the following photo montage set to the same song in the hopes that it will remind you, mommas, how important and special you are, especially through the chaos of the holiday season.  Let your children ground you and love every moment of it, because you are truly CHANGING THE WORLD! 

(I'm reprinting this from an old blog of mine, from April of 2008, mostly for inspiration!)

The following is a recipe for a day in a family with 4 kiddos and a puppy:

Finally, I can relax into being a mom of six.  (Did I really just say relax in that sentence? )  But compared to most of this past year, the last few weeks have to be described as "relaxing".  The boys are exclusively breastfeeding on demand. No more pumping.  No more frantic weight checks every day. I still occasionally take a glimpse but am less stressed at their smaller size.  Tommy is weighing in just over 12 lbs and Danny is 11.5 lbs.  But more importantly, they are healthy 5 month old boys (their adjusted age)... rolling over, sitting up, laughing, and playing.

Possibly even more important in the "relaxing" designation is that we have made it through our crazy fall sports season, with 3 kids in soccer and Juliana's select softball.  A sports season with multiple kids meant 4 nights of practices and weekends chock full with games and tournaments. I played the "Bad Soccer Mom" card and skipped most practices and games because it was just too hard to work around sleeping babies.  DH played Super Dad, taking the four older kids to 3+ games every Saturday, traipsing all over southeast Houston.  Although I  enjoyed the "quiet" time with just the babies, I can't wait until they are toddling around so we can all cheer on our athletes! Soon enough... David is prepping the babies by teaching them to play catch with a beach ball. This morning, Danny "caught" one. David was beaming from ear to ear!!!