Gone Fishin'

My dad, affectionately known as Captain Gary, started fishing on Lake St. Clair with his Uncle Frank when he was a little boy. He learned how to catch fish and, more importantly, he learned where to find the fish. He has caught more fish than most people dream of. In fact, he won the invitation only Perch Derby so many years in a row that they had to stop inviting him. My sisters and I started fishing with my dad as soon as we were able to hold a fishing pole. By the time we were in middle school, we would've given the guys on Deadliest Catch a run for their money.

The Yatooma's were determined to catch the perch while they were hot and we scheduled an outing. We were all up and at em' sometime before 5am, and out on the lake sometime close to 7(ish).

It was foggy, really foggy. It made it pretty treacherous to travel all the way over to Canada, but the Captain guided us safely to our destination.

Once the fog cleared, the fish started eating.

We started small...

but, the fish got bigger.

Yep, that's two on one line (what we fisher people refer to as a "double header")

Chris really got some monsters. And so did Greg.

Due to the fog, Dad wore this neon shirt to hopefully be seen by other boats that might be lurking in the misty waters. I think it worked.

How many did we catch?

124 KEEPERS

(We threw back about 50 and lost about the same...rookies)

And then we cleaned the fish.

For all you conservationist out there, you may want to cover your eyes for this part.

Everybody helped. Dad, Jeff, Jeffro and I filleted - electric knives= the only way to clean fish. Viky counted. Chris cleared the guts.

Greg took pictures (because he's not allowed to touch knives.)

After the fish and the boat were all cleaned, we went on a little cruise.

Isla didn't love her "boat coat," but she's getting used to it.

Thanks for a great fishing trip dad! We had a great time and didn't break anything (that you know of ;)

The First of Many

As many of you know, Isla was sick for much of the week. On Sunday morning she woke up shaking with a fever. By the afternoon, the fever broke, but she was totally exhausted. We put her to bed before her bedtime and she was happy to go down. We went to check on her at 11pm to find her burning up. When I took her temperature, it was 104.7 and she started vomiting. I have never even heard of a temperature over 103 (which shows you how naive I am). After a phone call to my friend Heidi and my mom, we were headed to the ER.

Dave ran every red light and we got there in what seemed like no time. Once we stepped into the hospital, she continued vomiting, violently. They took us back right away. Her heart rate was in excess of 200 beats per minute. Crazy. They gave her something for nausea, then some Motrin & Tylenol. The doc also ordered a catheter, which was rough. By about 1:30am, her fever started coming down and she was holding down so liquid. By the time we left, she was assaulting all the nurses with her "hi!".

She woke up the next morning with a fever again. The hospital had told me I wasn't giving her enough Motrin. They gave me a dispenser and told me to give her 5ml of Motrin. So that's what I did. When I was talking to my friend Amy the next morning, she told me that 5ml would be the dose for CHILDREN's Motrin. I was giving her INFANT's Motrin which is concentrated. Again, I called Heidi, who called her sister Laurel, who told me to call the Doctor. The doc's office initially told me it was fine, then the doctor called back and said to bring her in with everything I had given her. Turns out, I gave her 3 times the dose she should have received. It wasn't enough to hurt her, but plenty enough to make her really sleepy. I stuck with Tylenol the rest of the day. She slept for a while, but her fever spiked again that night and she started vomiting again. She refused all liquids so we had to hold her down and give her syringes full of water and Pedialyte to prevent dehydration. The fever came and went over the next few days. Wednesday night when I put her in the bathtub, I noticed she had a rash. I thought maybe it was Roseola and that we would be done with this thing. She woke up at 2am crying her little heart out. I called my Aunt Linda again and she insisted that I take her back to the doc. Turns out, it wasn't Roseola, just a rash from the prolonged fever....and she had an ear infection in both ears. While I was at the doctor's office, I also noticed articles about the recall on Tylenol and Motrin. When I got home, I found out all of the Tylenol I had been giving her had been recalled (4 separate bottles). Fortunately, there were no reported medical problems due to the recall, but still, it made me quite anxious.

By Friday morning, our little coconut was happy as a clam. No fever, eating, drinking and LOVING her bubblegum Amoxicillan (I so wish that I could have that when I have ear infections). Thanks to everyone who was praying. I've never felt so helpless, but I've had friends who have been through much more difficult and scary illnesses with their children. I don't know how they did it. My dad kept telling me that although this was the first time she'd been really sick, it certainly wouldn't be the last. I felt it appropriate to blog about it so I can look back when we have another kid with a high fever and realize that we will probably both survive.

This is when I should've known something was wrong.

First, she was cuddling with Dave. It was sweet, but she's not a cuddler.

And she could barely keep her eyes open.

Sitting still while watching Baby Can Read.

We usually have to trap her in her jumper.

The rash on her cute buns.

If you give a mouse a nap on the couch...

She'll ask for an M&M when she wakes up feeling better.

Thank you to all our parents, Heidi (& Laurel), Amy, Aunt Linda, Dr. Park-Davis (because I called the emergency line every single night at least once) and everyone else who we bothered incessantly over the course of the past five days. We are so blessed to have you in our lives! Thanks for loving Isla (and loving me despite the fact that I was totally neurotic this week.)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

A few of our favorite ladies. Both single. Both from Chicago. I'm pretty over-protective of both of them, so if you're interested, please contact me directly so I can put you through a rigorous interview.

Suzie (she prefers male suiters to address her as Suzanne):

Single. Natural blonde. 5'8" (give er take). Huge Cubs fan. Must love dogs. Enjoys long walks on the beach (as evidenced by the picture below which was taken at our wedding where she did in fact have to take a long walk to get to the beach).

We went shopping on Friday night at Partridge Creek. The ONLY store I was interested in was Forever 21. Grandma Jan was nice enough to push Isla around so I could do some serious shopping without a stroller. I walked away with a pair of jeans, a cocktail dress and tank top for under $50. You just can't do that anywhere else. I love you forever Forever 21.

Suzie & Jan moved on to Perisian while I stayed at F21. Suzie got an amazing interview outfit and then we headed to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (or California Pizza Chicken as Grandma Jan calls it). It was great food. Come visit again soon Aunt Suzie!

I included the bridesmaid picture because

I didn't think the one below did her justice

Isla playing with Reese.

Reese is from Texas. She is Suzanne's daughter and also her niece.

Like I said, she's from Texas.

She's also got amazing upper body strength.

Megan (a/k/a Tiny):

Single. Natural AMAZING black hair. 5'6". Could run 23 miles before you could say "23 miles." Must love Starbucks coffe. Enjoys Pardon the Interruption.

We met up with Megan in Lake Orion so we could share a delightful dinner at Sagebrush together. While we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, we did a little shopping at one of our favorite stores (other than Forever 21), Elements. Its a funky little boutique with shabby chic style. You get inspired just walking in there. Megan got us this little adirondak chair for Isla as a housewarming present. We LOVE it. Afterwards, we met up with Greg, Viky and Reid for dinner at Sagebrush. It was amazing. Seriously, its the best Mexican food ever (short of Cancun of course). If you haven't been, the fried cheesecake is worth the trip.

Downtown Oxford

Isla, the chair and Auntie Megan

The store owners gave Isla the flowers as a prop.

The smile of satisfaction after having eaten

at least 10 baskets of chips & salsa

Reid & Megan

Are you catchin' the size of that burrito?

The margarita's are amazing.

Isla wanted to pick up the tab

No big deal, just rockin' our sunglasses.

Thanks for having dinner with us Suzanne & Megan. We love you and can't wait to see you soon.

Takin' care of business

Last week we celebrated Peter's birthday on Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is one of our favorite days. No, not just for the obvious margaritas and chips & salsa (although that's certainly a bonus). We celebrated our engagement party on May 5, 2006. Consequently, that was the same day I found out I passed the Bar Exam. Not to mention that my brother-in-law Jason got married that day and it was Isla's original due date. I was initially sad I was going to have her early, but then I found out that diamonds are the birthstone of April....ahhh the silver lining.

Feliz Cumpleanos Petros

Isla is walking....all the time. She doesn't even like to crawl anymore. Granted she still has her fair share of falls every now and again, but for the most part, she is motoring around quite speedily. She loves to look at books and enjoys lounging in her Tinker Bell chair. Other than that, she just tries to take care of her baby and conduct a little business on her Blackberry.

Just kickin out a few e-mails while spending time with her baby.

She loves working from home.

By Land or By Sea

We have a little park across the street from our house with a petting zoo. Its darling and its free (which makes it even more exciting). I took Isla there the other day so she could get a little taste of the country life.

Her and the sheep both turned for the camera

Farmer Debbie approached us to tell us all about the farm and the animals. She gave us our own private tour of the chicken coupe and explained the difference between roosters and hens. It was quite enlightening. I mean, who knew that Hens ovulate every 23 hours and that you only need the Rooster if you want baby chicks? Well, I didn't.

Farmer Debbie held Isla for a picture.

They really bonded.

These were some of the hens. We picked our own organic eggs right there!

Whole Foods has nothin' on Farmer Debbie.

After our tour of the farm we went over to the playground. Isla didn't really want to go on the swings, but settled to stand at the fence and watch all the other kids. Cutie.

She wore her Zebra shorts so that the animals would know she's pet-friendly

She picked flowers

And then tried to make it into jewelry....

I love a girl who knows how to accessorize.

The eggs we got were actually blue.

I left the hay on there for authenticity purposes.

...and then I made chickens in a basket the next morning

(thanks to my brother-in-law Art for the recipe).

They were de-lish!

The next day we headed out to Poppy & Bebe's house to enjoy a day on the water. Poppy even made Isla's favorite smoothie. She sucked down that whole cup in less than 2 minutes.

Grandma Jan came along for the 1st boat ride of the season.

Testing out her sea legs

Isla and Vivian are 2 months apart.

They ended up wearing matching outfits without even calling ahead to coordinate.

Are the hats killer or what?

Bebe and her sweeties

Hopefully this weekend was just the beginning of a great, hot summer!