Jacob Ryan Baby News

The Corner Has Been Turned...We Think

2007-11-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the last you heard from us was roughly three and half weeks ago and life was not the easiest. I had gone back to work, Jen was still feeling the effects of the surgery and Jake was wreaking havoc on the night telling the world (mostly just his parents) that he was not going to go quietly into dreamland.

Between then and now we have had halloween, group birthday parties and Grothtoberfest. I have had busy work weeks, Jen has has filled her days at home and Jake has visited the doctor a couple of times. We have all looked as tired as we have felt but have kept smiles on our faces (except for Jakers) because we feel like we are a very lucky family.

The doctors diagnosed Jake with an acid reflux problem that we have tried to medicate off and on with terrible luck the past couple of weeks and finally gave up around four days ago. He would not keep the medicine down and we were sick of watching him try to choke it down and then watch it all come right back up after he ate. So, Jen has held off of any dairy products and we have continued with our schedule and by a miracle, or simple grace, Jake has finally gotten on a schedule that does not include waking us up 5-6 times a night.

Over the last four nights he has slept a minimum of 3 hours at a time with a max out of around 5 and a half hours. The normal (and read that with heavy quotes) is to go to bed around 10 or 11 PM wake up around 3 AM, get some grub then hit the hay until around 6 AM. It is as if heaven has dropped down to terra firma and answered his parent's prayers. I no longer have to confiscate a coffee pot for my workday and Jen isn't at wits end by the time I arrive home.

In our absence from the blog we have still taken pics, many pics, and instead of putting them all up here I have uploaded them to the web to a location I can pass along here. There are lots, some repeats from previous blog entries, but many new ones that I'm sure you will all enjoy!

Take a peek at http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisgrothkopp/JacobRyanPics

Big Sis and Jake Play Nice

2007-10-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Before we tucked in Alyssa for a good night's rest we popped little Jake down with her to see how the two worked together. After some initial fist-a-cuffs and a brief pitched battle over who was going to get the much sought after stuffed dog, Lap, they settled in to their pillows and decided they could set aside their differences, be satisfied with the stuffed animals nearest them and show mom a little love for the camera...

Back by Popular Demand...Pics of Jake...

2007-10-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

People say, "I like reading what you write!" "The writing is soooo good!" Yeah, people, okay, I get it. I'll give you more pictures... jeez.... :)

Oh What a Night

2007-10-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

To start this post off I want to give a huge kudos, pat on the back, high five and gold medal to all parents who are reading this blog who have raised multiple young children at the same time. Last night Jen and I had our first night where Jake was not the only kid who needed a little TLC.

For those of you who are just joining the party, it is a known fact that Jake has his days and nights a little mixed up. His favorite time to be up...10 PM to 1 AM. Well, yesterday was no exception. Our little guy took a nap from around 8-10 PM but around 11:15 he perked up compoletely and was looking for some of mom's milk. Normally she would have been right there, ready to take him...however....

Around 10:30 PM we heard a rustling outside our door and with a little creak, our door opened to Alyssa looking very tired and very unhappy. A migraine, or at least a very severe headache, was keeping her up and causing enough discomfort to keep her awake. Jen and I jumped into action (luckily Jake was sleeping and did not need any immediate help), acquired a cold, damp wash cloth, fed her some disgusting (her words) medicine to help ease the pain and then Jen laid with her to help calm her down and allow her to get some shut eye. All of this left me in our bedroom alone with the little one.

His little cherub face looked so calm, and he was nice an quiet....and then....he awoke....

I did everything a dad with no food can do to quiet a baby with healthy lungs and an empty stomach, but in the end I had to wake Jen (who also looked very calm and angelic) to appease Jake's needs. Then, as I have done since we have been back home, I returned to bed to get some shut-eye before work while Jen fulfilled the role of top mom.

It is because of last night that I write this post and say "Wow" for all of our mom's who managed to raise their horde of little ones and not have any of us end up on the wrong side of Corrections...

Daddy Goes Back to Work

2007-10-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life, you just miss the bus, and in the case of paid paternity leave that was the case for this working dad. I was able to take a week of virtually no contact with work (paternity leave) and then a few more days of pseudo-work where I would check in intermittently but really wasn't doing much besides an occasional email and surfing the web with the appearance of work. The bus that I missed, even though I was running for the bus stop, was the month-long paternity leave that Microsoft offers. Why would that matter you may ask? Well, Microsoft purchased our company and has incorported us into their world domination plans...but we don't get their benefits until January at the earliest. I am hoping a well placed call to Microsoft HR and a threat of monopoly charges might get me the retro-active benefits I am looking for... :)

Jen gets the joy of staying home with Jake until the end of January and she has been a trooper about getting up to appease our little guy. I wake up every time he cries and occasionally try to calm him down without any food, but most of the time he is looking for mom and for services that I am unable to render. Knowing all of this, Jen has spared me too many lengthy periods in the middle of the night where I get up and tend to Jake. She has absorbed that hit with grace and I hope is getting her rest during the day while I am at work and Alyssa is at school.

Jake seems to be enjoying what the doctors dubbed "tummy-time" although he almost always spits up milk when he is plopped on his front side. He spends time trying to raise his head looking like a toppled bobble-head doll that someone has bumped while his arms and legs move in spasmodic fits and starts as though he is battling the air in an attempt to move. My goal is to get him crawling by Christmas but Jen seems to think that is unreasonable. I say, set your goals high... :)

Getting Out of the House

2007-10-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

We don't have many pics from this little endeavor, but since we have all been fairly cooped up for the past week and a half we decided to load up the family 4 x 4 with mom, dad, Alyssa, Jake and the dog and make our way to the local bastion of young, urban professionals...the Marymoor dog park.

With the dog whining in the back of the car, Alyssa singing along to Brad Paisley, Jake making noises similar to that of a squeaky wheel on a hot weel toy and Jen and I smiling at our all-american family in the front seat (2 kids, 1 dog, SUV, country music blaring, suburban home) we rolled down the freeway towards our little slice of heaven.

When we arrived I donned the baby bjorn for the first time since bringing Jake home. For those of you who may be wondering to yourselves, "What the heck is a baby bjorn?", or "Why does Chris have Mr. Borg's kid?", I can clarify for you. No, I do not have the former tennis star's child. What I do have is a harness that I can strap to my chest and support young Jake without having to carry or push him around in his car seat. I have to admit, I only had the bjorn on for about 45 minutes but in that short time I could feel it a bit in my lower back and it made me appreciate even more the strain of carrying a baby for nine months. Way to go ladies, I don't know how you do it...and even more so how you can do it with a smile.

Baby Zag Fan

2007-10-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Check out the little Zag fan! Thanks to Deanna and Rob for the onesy and Cathy (Nana) for the blanket!!!

Baby's First Doctor Visit

2007-10-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

We packed up the family hybrid yesterday for the long trek into lower Northrup to visit Jake's new (read "only") pediatrician for his first check-up. They took us right in and we had to strip down Jake to his birthday suit so they could properly weigh, measure, poke and prod the little guy to see how he is holding up to his new surroundings.

Many of you (and by "you" I mean people who think I am a large man) thought that any offspring I were to produce would have a large head. Perhaps one that could hold $20k in nickels without batting an eye. Well, I am here to tell you that young Jacob's head falls squarely on the average line as he is in the 50th percentile for head size. Head weight I can't speak to (his brain is most likely incredibly dense...that didn't come out right) but the circumference is well within normal limits.

In other measurements, he has returned to his fighting weight of 8 pounds 9 ounces (75th percentile) and we are sure has already rocketed past that number in the last 24 hours. His length is in the 90th percentile and was measured at 21 inches. Rim rattling dunks should only be a few years away at this pace...

Breathtaking Bundle of Beautiful Baby Boy

2007-10-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

Based on the title of this post you may think that I am going to fill this text with cute alliterations related to little Jake. However, my brain reached its creative limit with the title so you will have to settle for some standard prose from here on out.

Jake and his fatigued parents have now been home for four wonderful nights. The funny thing is that Jake doesn't realize the difference between day and night and has decided to keep them flip flopped for now. Theories abound as to why this is the case, but theories don't wake up when he yells in the middle of the night so we are disregarding them as academically interesting but unapplicable.

Jen has been a model mother throughout this process as she is the one that Jake is yelling for during the night since daddy can't feed him steaks just yet. Without complaint she rolls out of bed, scoops Jake from his little swing (a god send for keeping him asleep during the intervals between feedings) and rocks him in the nursery until he has had enough to eat.

While we have been home we have been overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of our family and friends who have visited us with prepared meals, groceries, flowers and little gifts for Jake. The assistance has made a huge difference in our first few days back home and has allowed us to relax our concerns from the daily rituals that seem pretty easy when you don't have a 6 day old who needs constant attention and care. We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have such a great support group who all seem to love Jake as much as we do.

Today is Jake's first appointment with his new pedatrician and he will be sure to report back on the poking, prodding and general impression of his new doctor's offices.

The following are more pictures for all to enjoy....

My First Night at Home

2007-10-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Mom and dad got me home at around 3 PM and I decided to go easy on them and just slept quietly in my car seat. They seemed busy getting resettled after a few nights at the hospital and it looked like they were setting up my nursery to get ready for some action later tonight...and I can tell you right they should make sure the diaper bag is stocked.

We went downstairs once the house was organized we got comfortable on the couch to watch some football and recorded shows. I just kicked back and relaxed and tried to take in my new surroundings. We all fell asleep as a family on the couch, and after a quick nap downstairs decided to move upstairs to the bedroom. Dad brought up my play yard and was getting very frustrated trying to get it to set up. Mom says he is smart but I don't know...

At about midnight Dad has the play yard ready and I had a full tummy and was looking for a bed. I spent a couple of minutes hanging out on my parent's bed with them and then was put in the play yard with my teddy bear for a night's sleep. Mommy got up with me a couple times during the night to feed me and change my diaper and then daddy got up with me at around 5:45 to burp me and keep an eye on me for the rest of the morning. We were both happy that mom got to sleep for a few hours without any interruption. She deserves it!

Well, I will write more later this week. Right now I am tired and this blanket feels really comfortable. I wonder if mom is ready to feed me lunch...

Jake Heads Home

2007-10-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

At around 2:30 PM today (10/6/2007) we packed up the room, took some final pictures and escaped...uh, I mean were escorted...uh, I mean left the hospital and headed home. Now the fun starts. :)

The Little Guy Gets Clipped

2007-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Both Jen and I agreed that little Jakey needed to have a circumcision (or as it is listed and talked about here at the hospital...a "circ"). It is no secret that I am not much of a needle or blood guy but I wanted to show my support for the little guy since I was the one sending him under the knife and he had no say in the matter.

To do the quick clip they have to restrain his legs which was a little tough to see, but he was wrapped in a blanket and enjoying some sugar water through a bottle nipple so he wasn't even making a peep. When the doc came he quickly applied a local anesthetic and I stood off his shoulder as he trimmed Jake's peepee (man, why did I choose that word).

I am proud to report that Jake didn't make a peep (he probably has a sweet tooth like me and that sugar water distracted from the main event) and that he is recovering nicely back with mom and dad. He must have gotten his toughness from mom who, as I have stated many times before, has been the total trooper throughout this entire process.

Love you honey....and Jakey....and Lys!!!

Oh What a Night...

2007-10-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

I was tempted to try logging an entry in the middle of the night to see how truly delirious I was. However, the delirium was so great I wasn't able to grab the laptop and peck my way through an incoherent update.

At about 8:45 last night our final guests for the day departed and to Jen and me it felt like it was already 2 AM, which was an unfortunate feeling to have since our young Jake was interested in getting some milk that hadn't quite arrived for his consumption. From 9 PM until about 2:30 AM both Jen and I kept trying anything we could to get him to stop crying if even for a few moments. He fed on more colostrum, laid on Jen's chest, walked the room with me, had a binky in or a binky out, he was rocked, rolled and cradled. However, even with all of that, the combination of the lack of real food and some built up gas (and at one point hiccups) caused JR (as you can see I am trying all name variations) to consistently be uncomfortable and aching for a good cry.

Finally, at about 2:30 I crashed out while Jen pulled feeding and watching duty from 2:30 until 5. I awoke at 5 to find Jen rocking and feeding the little guy, after which I took over the watching duties and Jen was able to get some quality zzzz's while Jacob and I did some father son bonding. So, needless to say we are an exhausted bunch, but we survived the night and now Jake is happily sleeping in his bassonet while I write this note and Jen flips the channels on the tube.

Rocking the Diapers

2007-10-05T13:53:00.001-07:00

Everything is "coming out okay" for our little Jacob as I have already changed three diapers today with a nurse changing the fourth...and my mom may have changed a fifth. Today has been nice and relaxing for both Jen and myself. She has continued to progress well and has eaten among other things part of a turkey Subway sandwich and some Pad See Iew (0 stars). My mom came out to say hello and get some baby time and a couple of Jen's coworkers and friends joined the party supplying us with the Thai food and some beverages if we feel so inclined (oh and some flowers as well...these guys were thorough).

Other than having a happy, healthy baby, a quickly recovering mother and wife and a fatigued but incredibly happy husband and dad there is not much else to report. I'm sure tonight will offer some more challenges and we will be sure to log those for everyone's enjoyment. Here are some more pics for your enjoyment...

The Morning is Finally Arriving

2007-10-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

It is almost the end of our first night with little Jake and we are still holding in there. Jen and I each were able to steal about two and half hours of sleep over the course of the night which is less than I expected to get (lord knows why) and I'm sure about as much as Jen thought she would be getting. Our boy has some good lungs and can let out a decent cry, but overall I can't really say that he spent a whole lot of time crying last night...but that could have been because one or the other of us had him in our arms for the entire evening. :)

Jen is progressing fairly well, but she has had the displeasure of dealing with the side effect of vomiting. She has had the chance to get up out of bed a couple of times and even took a quick walk from one end of the room and back to her bed. The sciatica that caused her to contact the doc and push up the delivery date has disappeared with the arrival of our baby (he is no longer setting up camp on her spine).

I managed to change my first diaper this morning (a changing that followed closely on a changing from the nurse...our boy has been eating). Just like me, he has settled down once he has a clean set of undies and is tightly wrapped in some warm baby blankets. :)

We will fire up so more pics later this AM, but for now we are going to refocus on Jacob and see if we can't steal a few more zzzz's before today's group of visitors arrive.

Jacob Opens to a Full House

2007-10-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Even though the baby came 6 days early, it didn't mean that he was going to enter the world with just mommy and daddy. Our wonderful godmother, Jackie Wilburn, batted in the clean up spot by joining Jen in the operating room while they did all of the icky needle and prep stuff (I am a large, large baby when it comes to needles), but I came swooping in behind the curtain to offer Jen what support I could. Jackie acted as the documentarian as she took footage of stuff none of us will probably ever watch again, but we completely appreciated the effort. :)

The time between when they rolled Jen towards the OR to when she was getting rolled to our room was less than an hour. For me it seemed pretty painless but Jen made it all look easy when I know that it wasn't. Once we reached the room we had the full squad awaiting our arrival. For my side of the family this is our first grand-baby (we inherited the beautiful Alyssa at 3) so my side came out in force. For Jen's family this is the first grand-son so they also came out to offer their support.

In any case, I am having trouble finding the words right now due to excitement, fatigue and amazement so I will leave you with some more pics...

Say Hello to Jacob Ryan Grothkopp!!

2007-10-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Stats --

Born on: October 4th, 2007
Born at: 5:19 PM PST
Tipping the scales at: 8 lbs 9 ozs
Standing tall at: 20.5"

Getting Ready to Head to the Hospital!

2007-10-04T14:15:00.001-07:00

I got the call from Jen at 11:40 AM that she was heading to the hospital and got the green light to have the baby early. After bombing through town in a taxi and then cruising the rest of the way home as fast as I could (within the speed limit) I made a pit stop at Bartell Drugs to get a new 8mm tape and then headed home to find Jen getting the house ready for departure. Many boring cleaning activities followed and we are in the final few moments before heading to the hospital for a few days.

More to come from inside the hospital...

T-minus 8 days....and counting

2007-10-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

It was many months ago that I set up this blog as a place to keep people apprised of our babies progress. Well, there is not much to report as we muscle through the weeks attending various doctor appointments and one thrilling baby class (I added excitement with my inability to handle seeing an epidural on TV).

However, we are in the stretch run and the baby could literally come any day now. Jen and I each have our guesses for the baby's weight and length but are interested to hear what everyone else thinks...so, jump to the message down below and comment on little "baby g"'s girth at birth!

A secondary guessing game, if people are so inclined, can be for the baby name (something that has been under tight wraps for the past 4 months). For anyone out there brave enough to wager a guess, the comment section is all yours....

The Due Date and Guess the Weight

2007-06-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

I figure that I should put the due date up here so that everyone knows when the first American pope is going to be born. Since I couldn't live up to the prediction my grandma made many years ago, I figure this little one can pick up the banner that I dropped when I stole that kids fruit wrap in first grade.

The due date is October 10, 2007...exactly 31 years and 364 days after my birthday. I say we just put it off a day so that there are two double birthdays in the family (Jen and Scotty, me and the baby).

I would also like to open up the un-official voting for the weight of the baby. You can enter your vote by commenting on this blog entry. As you are pondering the weight keep the following things in mind:

- I am of Croatian and German descent, a hearty, big-baby folk
- I currently stand 6'6" tall and tip the scales at just over 250
- My head is large
- As a baby I weighed just a few ticks over 7 lbs
- Jen stands at a beautiful 5'10" tall
- She weighed in at 9 lbs 9 oz

So, get your algorithms tuned, grab the abacus, tap your calculator and look to the stars. The person who guesses closest without going over...okay fine, we won't do it Price is Right style...whoever is closest will get to share a beverage with our wonderful new mom and partake in a portion of the hospital food we will be subsisting on for three days. Beat that Deal or No Deal....

Let the guessing begin...

It's a Boy!!!

2007-05-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Jen, Alyssa and I arrived at Innervision Ultrasound 20 minutes early and ready to see what nature has in store for our family. There was a 30 minute delay before they let us into the room, but we eventually found ourselves gathered around Jen watching the projection screen to see what was to see.

It was amazing to see the baby, fully formed with its arms, legs, feet, hands and in the words of Austin Powers, his "twig and berries". We were all very excited to see the baby moving around and Alyssa seems very happy to be getting a baby brother. I should have recorded her excited exclamation, "It's a baby brother!" for some future time when he breaks one of her toys to remind her that at one point she was excited to have him as a sibling.

Baby names are in the works, but we have decided for it to be a birthday surprise for the rest of the family. So, feel free to ask but you will be getting some interesting names in response. What does everyone think about "Acorn Rasberry Grothkopp" (we can't let the celebs have all the crazy names) ? :)

Trip to the Ultrasound Folks

2007-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

We are making a pre-Memorial Day weekend trip to an Ultrasound lab in Greenwood because we are too impatient to wait until our Tuesday appointment with Jen's regular OB/GYN. It is a sunny day, we are getting ready for the big reunion and we are excited to find out the gender of the little one that Jen is carrying.

I think there have been guesses both ways on whether we are getting a boy or a girl (and people know I would love to have a little boy to play around with), but the general consensus is that we are looking for a healthy baby with all two arms, two legs and some chubby cheeks we can all squeeze. :)

Soon we won't have to wonder anymore!

Greetings from Bothell!!

2007-05-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hello family, friends and those of you who found your way to this blog. This is going to be the home of all updates related to the new baby that Jen and I are expecting 2 days shy of my 32nd birthday.

We will be posting any new developments as they happen and hopefully will give everyone enough information to satiate your appetites. :)

Keep your eye on the blog!!!