Jacob is Two!

Our precious Jacob turned two on January 8th. Jacob continues to be an absolute joy to be around. I continue to think that every age we experience with Jacob is the best age ever!

We had another good report from the doctor. Jacob is now 35 3/4 inches tall (80th percentile) and weighs 28 lbs with his cast (60th percentile).

Jacob is an active toddler and loves being chased, especially with his lawn mower. He also loves playing "Ring Around the Rosie", having piggy back rides, and riding his horse. He loves his push toys, brooms, and his Cozy Coupe at Nana and Gramp's house.


Jacob really enjoys his kitchen set and grill. When asked what he wants to play, he almost always says "cook". He especially loves frying eggs, grilling hot dogs, "cutting up" food, and serving me cups of water. He always makes a faucet sound when he is filling up my water cup and says "Yummy" when he is "drinking" his water.


Jacob loves tools, especially the screwdriver. He's always coming up with reasons why we need to get the screwdriver out and take something apart and put it back together. He gets very excited when we ask him to "help" with projects around the house. Here he is "helping" change the vacuum's belt.

Jacob is talking up a storm and wants his opinion known. He says "no way" instead of just no which we find really cute. (He picked up "no way" from the book "Does a Yak Get a Haircut?") We also love the way he says "Yumeeeee" when he's enjoying his meals. Jacob's favorite food is cheese but he's also a huge fan of Kashi bars, fruit, pasta, goldfish, pizza, and yogurt. He doesn't get sweet treats often but gobbles them up fast when he gets them. He loves ice and requests this all the time. He especially enjoys disposable cups from restaurants full of crushed ice and water.

Jacob continues to love books, especially books with sound. Currently his favorite books are "Away We Go" Elmo sound book, "Together at Heart" Elmo book voice recorded by Nana and Gramps, "Choo Choo Peekaboo" and "A Mud Pie for Mother". Jacob was introduced to cartoons when he fractured his leg and loves "The Little Einsteins". He is very interactive with the show and it is super cute watching him go "Pat, pat, pat, pat, blast off!"

Jacob loves phones. He is always very excited when the phone rings and recently has started talking on the phone a little. He likes the "real" phone the best but also enjoys his play phones that have sound. I love this multi-tasking moment!

Jacob is such a great big brother. He loves Anna and always wants her around. Here he is telling her about the animals in his farm puzzle and then giving them to her so she can play.Jacob does not like it when Anna gets upset. He shouts "paci, paci, paci!", searches for her paci, and then puts it in her mouth. Sometimes this is very appreciated; sometimes it is not.We love our Jacob and are so excited about all the fun we have ahead of us!

Jacob's Birthday Party

Our sweet Jacob turned TWO on January 8th! We celebrated his birthday with family and two friends (for two years) and had a firetruck theme. We all had a great time! Here are some of the highlights.

The Birthday Boy all dressed to party!

(Jacob was having a little too much fun playing with the wheels on his outfit and ripped one off minutes after being dressed.) Dinner included some of Jacob's favorite foods: Jet's pizza, fruit, and goldfish Evie, Jacob, and Tyler having dinner

After dinner the kids decorated "2" cookies. We were amazed at well they concentrated on decorating the cookies. Of course, there was a lot of candy, especially M&Ms, eaten while they worked. :) After the cookies were decorated it was time to sing Happy Birthday and bring out the cake. My mom and I made the firetruck cake and Jacob decorated the "2" cookie on top.

Jacob wasn't sure what to think of everyone singing and the cake being lit up!After cake and ice cream we attempted to get a picture of the three kids wearing their fire chief hats. Trying to get three two-year-olds to all sit in a chair and have on their hats at the same time proved to be an impossible task. Although we didn't get the shot we were hoping for, we all got a huge laugh and some other funny pictures.

Lastly we moved into the living room for the kids to play. Jacob's cast didn't stop him from enjoying his rocking horse!

Anna did attend the party but cuddled and slept most of the time with Nana.

Happy Birthday, Jacob!! We love you so much!!

Jacob's Big Boo-Boo

Around 6:30pm on January 4th Jacob climbed up on the couch as I was feeding Anna. He wanted to jump on the couch but obviously that is not allowed because that's how one breaks his leg. :) I took one of the pillows from the couch, threw it on the floor and told him he could jump on it instead. He's done this several times and was having a good ole time until he suddenly fell on the floor and started crying. I assumed he was just fine and being dramatic because he was tired. However after 10 minutes of crying I was concerned and called in the reinforcements (my parents) since Jimmy was out of town.


Jacob calmed down a few minutes before they arrived and started acting more "normal". Therefore, I decided to give him his bath and put him to bed. He fussed when I touched his lower leg and wouldn't walk on it, but since he wasn't crying I was hopeful that it was a minor injury that some extra attention and a good night sleep could solve. He went to sleep easily but woke up at 10pm. I calmed him down but decided to pack some bags and head over to my parents' house as I was now concerned that I might have to go to Vanderbilt ER. I really didn't want to go to Vanderbilt with two kids in the middle of the night; it was tough enough taking just Anna a few weeks before. Thankfully, Jacob slept through the night and I got an early appointment with the pediatrician.


Fortunately, my mom took the day off to help me go to the pediatrician (in addition to Jacob's appointment, Anna had her 2 month appointment), imaging center, and orthopedic doctor. We decided it would be easier to eat lunch in the car since I needed to feed Anna, it was raining, and Jacob's leg was fractured. Mom and I laughed a lot as we fed children, changed diapers and crawled from the front seat to the back seat squeezing between the kids' car seats. Ah, fun memories!


It was definitely tough to see my sweet child in pain holding my hand tight and looking at me with his big blue eyes. However, Jacob did fantastic at all of his appointments and received many compliments. While we were waiting at the orthopedic office, Jacob noticed a skeleton on the counter. Jacob looked at it and said "eyes, bye-bye". It was so funny and cute. The doctor concluded Jacob needed a traditional hard cast for two weeks. He fractured the lower part of his leg but because he is so young the doctor casted it from above the knee to his toes! Jacob chose a blue cast for himself and for his bear. It took Jacob no time to figure out how to get around scooting on his bottom. He loves to be chased with his lawn mower and didn't let his cast stop this game. It was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S to "chase" a child with a lawn mower as he scooted on his bottom. He just giggled and giggled as I said "Oh wow, you are so fast! How am I going to catch you?" You have to love the spirit of a child - PRECIOUS! During the second week he figured out how to walk on the cast and was even walking up the stairs!After two weeks in a hard cast we went back yesterday and had it removed. His fracture has healed nicely but now he has to wear a walking boot for another two weeks. We are so thankful that his leg is healing and that if he had to fracture his leg he did it in cold, snowy January!

Anna is Two Months Old!

Anna was two months old on December 31. At her two month appointment she weighed 10 lbs, 12.5 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference. Anna is such a sweet and precious baby! She has already brought us so much joy and we love her so very much!!Anna is a smiley baby and incredibly social with us. She loves to smile and "talk" and is already initiating "conversations" with me and using her expressions and sounds to get my attention. She is absolutely adorable!!
Anna has been a good eater and sleeper from the beginning and at 2 months she has a six hour stretch between feedings at night. She truly is a happy baby and rarely fusses. However, when she gets mad, she is mad!

Anna loves "riding around" with me in the Baby Bjorn both awake and asleep. I think she would stay in it all day long if my back could handle it! Anna also loves her swing and will do short stints in the bouncy seat or Boppy as long as there is sufficient entertainment (which there almost always is with Jacob around!)


Anna is very strong. She holds her head up, pushes off my chest with her arms, and enjoys "standing" and putting some weight on her legs. When I have her on my shoulder she likes to stand up on my belly and crane her head to see everything that's going on behind me. She loves looking at mobiles, lights, and her elephant painting that hangs over her changing table.

Our first two months with Anna have been wonderful with the exception of our three night stint at Vanderbilt. On Thursday, December 16th I was getting Anna ready for bed and thought she seemed a little warm. I took her temperature and it was 101.2 which is over the 100.4 threshold for babies under 2 months of age. I called the pediatrician's office and was advised to take her to Vanderbilt. So, off Anna and I went to the hospital at 10:30pm. (Jimmy was close behind after Nana arrived at our house to stay with Jacob.)

The doctors said they would start treating her immediately with antibiotics, as all babies less than 2 months are treated as if they have a serious bacterial infection. It was scary as they took samples of her blood, urine, and spinal fluid to evaluate over 48 hours for bacterial growth. Needless to say, it was a very long evening. There were no inpatient rooms available so Anna and I were in an ER evaluation room for the night. At 4am a nurse finally brought me a cot so I could lie down and get a couple hours of sleep. We were moved to an inpatient room the next day and stayed Friday and Saturday nights to wait out the 48 hour tests. Thankfully everything came back normal and it was "concluded" that it was a virus that caused her fever and there was no need for concern. We feel so blessed that everything turned out just fine for our precious Anna. Hopefully this will be our last visit to Vanderbilt!

We love you, Anna and look forward to many years of fun with you!!

Christmas 2010

We had such a wonderful Christmas with our family. As expected, Jacob was super fun and Anna slept through most of it. Jimmy's dad visited us for the holidays and we spent Christmas Eve at my parents' home and Christmas Day at ours.

Christmas Eve
Our Family of Four Christmas Eve - some of us were happier than others :)

The Dahlroos Clan

The PortersNana and Gramps gave Jacob this awesome rocking horse. It makes noises and moves its head and tail - so cute! Jacob loves it and rocks so fast and thankfully hasn't "rocked off"....yet. Nana and Anna spent lots of time snugglingNana and Gramps gave Jacob a lawnmower that he LOVES. Upon opening it he pushed it to the hallway to "mow" the carpet. Jacob always makes sure the lawnmower is in the correct gear and has adequate gas. :)Christmas Day
Fun with Gramps at breakfastJacob wasn't sure if Uncle David knew the proper way to peel a clementine Nana and Anna "chatting" awayAfter breakfast Jacob decided to clean with his new vacuumMore fun with the horseDavid and Cetta showing off some Christmas giftsJacob's favorite gift from Santa was his kitchen set. He confiscated a Slim Jim from Daddy's stocking and decided it was a great tool for cooking. Uncle David gave Jacob a bowling set.......and his first bowling lesson. GrandDad and Anna

Anna was NOT digging her Santa hat and her squeaky hedgehog from Uncle David was not making it better! With the hat gone and paci found, Anna is happy again

Jacob showing Anna how the hedgehog squeaks

The day after Christmas we went to Sunnyside to see the Christmas lights. Jacob had already been with Nana and Gramps a few weeks ago and he was excited to show us the ropes. Even though it was super cold Jacob loved it and walked up the big hill twice. We think this will become a family tradition.