Dear Family and Friends,
So 2010 has come and gone, and what a year it has been for the Maidens Family!The year started off with a bang with our wedding on 16 January. We felt blessed to be joined by so many wonderful people and enjoyed our day immensely! We want to thank you all for the gifts, kind words and for making the journey to be with us at this very special occasion. We also want to apologise that no thank you has come sooner, but life sometimes gets the better of us and those that gifted the Thank You cards! Your thoughtful gestures gave us a truly phenomenal start to married life.
In late January, just weeks after the wedding, we moved into our beautiful new home at Augustine Heights. It took a long time, but finally we are (mostly) settled, with the house itself being fully complete, but our garage is still completely full!
February saw our lives seemingly begin to unravel as the precious little girl that I was pregnant with was threatened by a common condition called Incompetent Cervix. We learned this at 22+6 weeks gestation. I had an emergency procedure called a cerclage and was placed on strict hospital bed rest for an indefinite amount of time.
In April my grandma’s brother, Micheal, passed away from a heart attack. His loss was felt in the Newcastle, Australian and world bicycle racing community and by his amazing family. He was funny, honest and hard working. He was loved as a husband, father, grandfather brother and uncle. He left to join his son Paul, and my poppy, his brother-in-law, Ken, who both passed away less than a year beforehand.
April also saw me being released from hospital after 5 weeks at 28 weeks gestation. And just four short weeks later, on the 6 May at 3:45am and eight weeks too early, Lily Grace Maidens made her debut. She weighed 1970 grams (4.4 pounds) and measured 42.5 centimetres. She was ready and shocked the many midwives, nurses and doctors present at her birth by screaming her little lungs at the moment she was born. We can’t thank Dr Steven Cattanach enough for our healthy little princess.
She spent four weeks in the Mater Mothers’ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Special Care, and hasn’t remembered she was a prem since. She has not yet missed an actual age milestone, and is slightly ahead in cognitive development, and little slow with her motor development. She has two teeth, says mummy/mum, hi, yeah, nana (banana) and her father swears she says ‘dada’ when no-one else is around to hear it, she can roll over front to back, can almost sit unaided, can use a sippy cup and gets the idea behind a spoon, laptop and mobile phone.
Bob continues to enjoy his work at Mammoth Media, gaining a promotion to mid-level this year. He still loves playing football (soccer) for Clairvaux FC. He even scored his first goal this season running around the pitch like a mad man celebrating by rocking an imaginary baby in his arms.
I worked 3 days as a teacher at the start of the year all the way out at Rosewood before being put into hospital. I felt sadden to have to give up teaching many months earlier than planned as I love it very much. However, the financial burden of my treatment and impromptu departure from employment proved too much and in late June I picked up an 8 week teaching contract at Park Ridge State High. I enjoyed it immensely, although, with Lily still ploughing forward with 2 hourly feeds, it was exhausting, and I was relieved to finish. But in October I accepted 3 more weeks there and had a good time again. I plan to resume full time work at the end of January and I’m very much hoping to get a call from Park Ridge.
Our family also saw another new addition in November. The gorgeous and lively orange kitten, Dexter. He was a rescued from an immoral breeder and was hand raised at our vet. Bob took Oscar for a check up and got suckered. Lily and Oscar were excited by their new toy, and Dexter loves everything about everything. He and Oscar (our 1 year old Shih Tzu/ PoodleX) are best mates and Lily can’t wait to join in their naughty shenanigans.
Thank you for touching our lives this year and may you have a very Merry Christmas.
Bring on 2011!
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