Ten Years in the Making

Ten years ago we looked forward to 2000 with anticipation, fear & wonder few alive had experienced. Now a decade has past and what did we do with our lives?

One went on a mission & one was baptized.
Two graduated from high school & two colons removed.
Three of you bought homes, three sold homes & three became parents.
Four of you married, four kids started school & 4 broken bones.
Five graduated from college & five kids were potty trained.
Six adults plus 6 kids now live out of state & six adults live in state.
Seven children were born & seven of you turned 30.
Eight combined surgeries were done.
Nine bought a car or truck.
Ten changed or got jobs.

Wow! I'd say we did alot in the last ten years. Did I leave anything out?
Tell us what great things you did this decade. Include photos.

Mike's Surgery

Mike had his surgery on Tuesday the 15th. It was suppossed to be a quick in & out gallbladder removal with three little incisions the size of the tip of a pen. It did not turn out that way.

The 1 hour surgery turned into 2 1/2 hours and a large 15" incision down the center of his chest, another 3" under his belly button and two the size of a pen tip in other places on his tummy. All are up & down - very painful. His gallbladder was "very diseased" they kept saying & had a large gallstone - dark maroon with gnarly markings and two tips, the whole thing was the size of a marble.

After two nights in the hospital they let him come home today, Thursday. He almost passed out when he saw the incisions for the first time. He still has a bulb to help with drainage that I get to empty a few times a day.

He still has today of clear liquid diet. He had to go 36 hours without anything to eat or drink, anything - he felt like he would die over that one. Tomorrow he can have only very soft foods until Monday when they remove the drain & has a follow up visit. The list of what not to eat is 1 1/2 pages and the what you can eat is rather short.

It Had the Gall to Go Out

Mike had his gall bladder removed yesterday. It had the gall to go out on him this fall, resulting in excruciating pain. Being extremely enlarged & diseased, it's been giving him trouble for some time. Due it's severity & size, a laproscopic surgery was not an option. After almost three hours in the operating room & a nice size incision, he's on the road to recovery.

Here's what our gall bladder does for us:
The adult human gallbladder stores about 1.7 fluid ounces of bile, which is released when food containing fat enters the digestive tract, stimulating the secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK). The bile, produced in the liver, emulsifies fats in partly digested food. After being stored in the gallbladder, the bile becomes more concentrated than when it left the liver, increasing its potency and intensifying its effect on fats.

Sounds like our gall bladder works hard at breaking down the FATS we eat. I'd say this is a wake up call to all of us. Let's reduce eating greasy foods right now especially, if they're a large part of your diet. No one is invincible & eventually our intake will catch up to us.

Mike is convalescing in the Othello Hospital & hopes to be released on Thursday or Friday, depending on how well his body responds to all he's endured. Fifteen pounds have been lost in the ordeal (yeah!) & we pray he'll get well soon.

Pretty Princess Here We Come

Emma has her first princess dress as you can see her posing here in all her finery. The soft pink furry cape and sheer tulle with ribbon encircling number was given to her by Jenn's Visiting Teacher at a shower. Wow! What a great gift for this little gal's coming out party. I couldn't resist posting it, after waiting one week for her mom to do it.

Photos of Emma - this time for real!

Jacob & Emma at home

Boys at hospital - entertaining themselves

Baby Emma - only a few hours old

Kade holding Emma at hospital

Noah holding Emma

Mom & Emma - in pink no less!

Meet Dexter Fisher Schmidt

Born November 7, 1999 Dexter was a healthy red-eared slider weighing 0 pounds 7 ounces. Born on an island in southern Tahiti he found his way to the main island where he was obtained by a boy named Fisher. Fisher lived with his family raising sliders on his own to send to this great nation as infants. Fisher only raised pure bread show sliders with hearts like champions. Before sending this fascinating fresh water cooter to the big island he fed him nothing but greens and proteins.

Dexter's parents Maximus and Cleopatra were champion guppy hunters. Only bearing one child they put all their eggs in one basket. After losing their son in a strong current they had an overwhelming feeling that he would end up in a good home.

Upon arrival in the United States D. Fisher wound up in Miami along with many other hardbacks. He soon showed his superiority in the mandatory athletic testing in the annual Terrapin games of Southern Florida.

For Dexter's seventh birthday he won a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah where he found his permanent home. He was adopted by an older couple for several years opening their home to him where he picked up many talents and a few bad habits. Eventually the old couple was past the point of being able to care for dexter so he was sent to the Animal Ark in Orem, Utah.

On Dex's tenth birthday Jory and Sarah Schmidt can into the Ark and fell in love with him at first sight. They knew that he would be a perfect match and a great baby sub for a few years until they are ready for a real one. Although Dexer cost them a whopping $16.99 other supplies for his tank was where he hit their pocket books. The tank was borrowed from the Sargents but they purchased: a filter, water heater, tank background, turtle resting blocks, cover, UV light, small tank for feeder fish, tank stand, etc. More and more was purchased in order to create the optimal home for Dexter.

Now that Dexer has settled in we love to watch him enjoy his tank. It took us a few days to figure out how to feed him. After many studies of of this interesting reptile we learned that he needs to eat in the water. Now that his stress levels have dropped he is really starting to come alive and enjoy his surroundings. Dexter loves swimming into the corner of the tank. He also spends much of his time climbing onto his rocks and diving furiously into the water. Dex is growing up to be a strong adult snapper that has a good 25-30 years of life left.

Finally - more photos of Emma & hospital

I am finally getting to it - more photos downloaded. Hopefully not so slow this time. - OK spoke to soon. Will try again this weekend at Mike's work. I already saved them to CD while waiting to download.

Dealing with sleep deprevation. I occationally have my moments of lucidity, but mostly a zombie. I fall asleep when I sit for more than 5 min somewhere - on the couch watching TV, eating dinner, almost always when nursing, sometimes even when carring on a conversation. Mike is also falling alseep the moment he sits down at home. He will sleep from 5 ish to 8 or so, then wake up, bathe the boys, watch some TV, sometimes crash doing that or stay up until 1 or 2, then come to bed. Our bodies are just to old for this!

Loving every minute, when we can stay awake enough to realize how precious & tender she is.

People often ask me what the biggest difference is. Pink! & diapers. Emma often wears blue at home & only pink when we go out since there is not much pink or girl colored clothes yet. It shocks me a little to put her in pink - such a new color to me. When I change her diapers is also a shock. All those folds to clean & nothing protruding - very odd. A friend who finally had a boy after all girls said she is afraid to clean her little guy because she is afraid it will fall off! We laughed in the mother's room at church about the differences between having a boy & girl after many of the opposite gender.