The 2nd Surgery (And Some More Fun Stuff!!!)

PREFACE

First off, we want to wish all of you a (very) belated Happy Holidays. Our Christmas was eventful - the first ever for us with our new addition.

This first picture is a star we hung on the Christmas Tree at Church (a prayer tree).

Forever in our minds and hearts - especially during the Holidays.

THE LONG AWAITED BLOG UPDATE

Did you hear the news? Apparently having a baby changes things.

More like, having a baby changes EVERYTHING!

Like most expectant parents, we got the memo ("Get your sleep now!" and "Your life will never be the same."), but we weren't really listening. The message is being heard loud and clear now.

That is not to say that we can't have fun.

Apparently, a new phenomenon called "cone-ing" has been sweeping the nation. Dave was dared to go cone-ing, and since he's not one to pass up a dare, that's exactly what he did (such a guy).

Cone-ing is when you order an ice cream cone at a drive-through, and when offered the cone, instead of grabbing the cone, you grab the ice-cream. It's very messy, but the drive-through attendants really love it (yeah right).

Click HERE to see Dave cone-ing. The video should open in its own window, but if it doesn't, just click "back" to return to the blog.

Moving on... Hopefully this is going to be the last of (for a while) the uber-long blog updates, and we can just focus on the fun stuff. But, for now, our life is consumed with questions about surgery (wait until you see the pictures!), cleft lips, cleft palates, bottles, etc...

Claire has successfully had and healed from her 2nd surgery. She has a long road ahead of her, but for now, we all get a break until around September 2013.

But, before we get into all of that technical mumbo-jumbo, here's a bit of the "happenings" (a.k.a. The Business of the Brunsmans) in our neck of the woods.

I'M NOT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION ANYMORE?

Poor Peyton (the dog) has been neglected since about June 2012. We feed her, and we play with her (some), but she certainly is not getting the attention she once enjoyed. When the baby is crying, she comes running because she's equated "crying" with "attention for baby," which could also lead to "attention for doggie."

On the contrary, what actually happens is this - "Peyton, you're in the way" or "Peyton, get out of here." Then we feel bad, but Peyton goes and entertains herself (that is, until Claire cries again).

Peyton's 5th birthday was on November 5th. Of course a dog has no frame of reference for something like a birthday, and we're, of course, not going to throw a party for a dog (lame). We do, however, let her have some (non-chocolate) cake on her birthday as a little treat (for us - it's hilarious!).

This year we didn't give Peyton her cake until November 7th. Sorry Peyton!

To make it up to her (she's very hurt), here are a few pictures of her enjoying her (non-chocolate, non-doggie biscuit) birthday treat.

Of course, Claire was thrilled with the birthday celebration.

Happy Birthday Peyton! Sorry we were late. Now go back to your corner and entertain yourself until we to want to spend time with you again - we have a baby now. Didn't you get the memo?

WE HAVE FRIENDS NOW

Not that we didn't have friends before, but now, since Claire basically dictates our every move, friends with babies are king - a sort of support group (ha!).

On November 21, some friends from Church, Chris and Darcy, came over to hang out. Their baby, Bailey, was born a few weeks before Claire.

The "event" went something like this:

Us - "Let's eat."
Baby - "I need to eat too."
Us - "I guess the food will be cold."
Baby - "But I'm not full yet."
Us - "Let's eat."
Baby - "I'm tired."
Us - "We're hungry."
Baby - "Play with me."
Us - "Let's take a picture."
Baby - "OK, but I'm not going to smile."

This is a picture from our first "Play Date". Darcy and Jen, with Bailey and Claire.

Check out the mane on that baby. What a cutie! We had a really good time hanging out with Chris, Darcy, and Bailey.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Our tradition is that on the day after Thanskgiving (Thanksgiving was covered in the previous post), we set up our Christmas tree and we hang all of our decorations. It's a cumbersome process but it's fun.

For some reason, we don't have video footage or a photograph, but Claire was really into sitting in her bouncy seat, staring off into space at the lights. For a bit, we really thought about keeping the tree up year-round so that we could utilize an easy distraction for the baby (not).

We do have some video footage of Claire's Christmas loot.

Click HERE to watch a video of Peyton opening one of her presents (You'll see Claire's loot, too). The video should open up in a new tab, but if it doesn't you may need to use your "Back" button. FYI.

This is a photo of Claire sitting with her huge score.

Quite the first Christmas for someone who doesn't even know what's going on!

MORE CHRISTMAS

We all took a road trip to Green Valley, Arizona, to visit Dave's Grandparents and Mom (who flew in from Indiana) for Christmas. It's a 10-Hour drive.

We learned a very valuable lesson with regards to traveling with a baby.

LESSON: Travel at night so that the baby doesn't need to eat or be entertained.

When we got to Green Valley (after 10 hours of crying baby and having to let the dog out every two hours), Gram greeted us (if you can call it a greeting) by opening the door and saying "I think I hear a baby!" She then took Claire into the house and left us on the doorstep.

No "Hello". No hug. Just "Give me the baby!"

Apparently even we (not just the dog) are playing second-fiddle to the baby now, too.

Gram and Grandad had never met Claire, and they made the most of the visit. They really enjoyed holding her, playing with her, and trying to feed her (it seriously takes some practice), and we were sad to have to leave. Even with all of the (crying while) driving, the trip was totally worth it.

Here are some photos from our visit with Great Gram and Grandad.

Claire was exhausted after such a long drive.

Claire wore three (That's right, THREE!) different outfits on Christmas Day. The first one was the Church outfit, and the other two are for fun.

By the way (we just learned this), you can click on the individual pictures to see the full resolution version (for printing, downloading, etc...).

Here are few pictures of the happy Great Grandparents with Claire.

A LITTLE ASIDE ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS VISIT

As stated before, Claire basically dictates our every move, and going to Church is no exception (She doesn't even take a break for Jesus).

When we decide which Mass we're going to attend, we count our time backwards so that we can figure out when we should feed her so that she'll be asleep during the service (we don't want to be THOSE parents - the ones with the screaming baby).

Claire had been experiencing some serious stomach discomfort while we were in Arizona, so we knew that our "goal" was going to be a sketchy proposition, but we're always willing to try.

On Christmas, we timed everything perfectly, and luckily Claire was sawing logs pretty early on. During the sermon, the priest, who was talking about a child's joy at Christmas, meandered back (to the very back) to our pew. He was holding the "Gospel Book", and he got back to us and said "Can I trade you?"

Ummmm, sure.

He said, "Don't worry, I won't wake her up."

Of course, we were thinking, "Yeah, right!"

The priest took Claire up to the very front of the Church and held her for about 10 minutes. Amazingly, she didn't make a peep. Whew!

BACK TO THE ARIZONA VISIT

Since this was Claire's first Christmas, we had been trying (and trying) to get a picture of her with Santa Claus.

The mall in Santa Clarita had the photo opp available, but they were charging for photo packages, with a minimum package charge of $30. Yeah, right!

Luckily, Santa Claus was roaming around a store in Green Valley, allowing photos for free. Now that's more like it!

This is a picture of Claire meeting Santa Claus for the first time. Thrilling!

Not worth $30, but totally priceless.

Lastly, how cute is this?

Dave's Grandparents have been married for almost 67 Years (in July). I think that this photo really gives us something to look forward to.

MAKING HER PRESENCE KNOWN

Claire has begun chatting with us.

Click HERE to watch the video of Claire cooing. Again, the video should open up in its own window, but if it doesn't, use your "back" button to get back to the blog.

PLAYING DRESS UP

As you saw in the Christmas Pictures, apparently one great joy of having a babies is dressing them up however you please.

Our friends Ian and Anita have been visiting us a lot, and often times, we'll play cards - Hearts or Euchre (We've been trying to bring Euchre to the west coast for 10 Years). When we lay a good card, or when something cool happens, we've started saying "Yeaaaah, boy!" completely mocking D-List Celebrity Flavor Flav.

One day, when Ian and Anita were coming to visit us, we dressed Claire up in a Flavor Flav "trademark" clock, backwards hat, and all of the bling to boot.

Cute, huh?

Our own little gangsta, weirdo, or reality show star (take your pick).

A FEW LAST BITS TO NOTE

Claire is an interesting little girl. She's spunky, spirited, and tough.

One day, when she was suffering from a bout of the screams, Jen was in the nursery trying to calm her down. We have an iPod with a dock in the nursery, and we generally just have the music set to shuffle - that way, Claire gets exposed to both of our musical interests equally.

While on shuffle, a song by Big and Rich came on - it's a hidden track on their CD.

Click HERE to listen to the song. It's a hidden track that starts at 2:42 into the song.

Apparently Claire likes hillbilly music. Jen likes Country (the new soft-rock/pop stuff) and Dave likes Hard Rock and Movie Soundtracks, so we don't exactly even know why she likes the "bluegrassy" stuff.

But, as a test, we tried something else.

Dave has a Van Halen tribute album called "Strummin' With The Devil". It's a bunch of old-school Van Halen music with a bluegrass style. Claire loves it.

Click HERE to listen to a sample.

So, when she's being a crab-apple, we just turn up some bluegrass and dance around like fools (Don't say a friggin' word!).

Anything to maintain some quiet!

Lastly, here are a few other pictures for you to enjoy.

ENOUGH OF THE FUN STUFF - ON TO SURGERY #2

For the purposes of this explanation, let's refer to a facial anatomy diagram.

In November, Claire had a Lip-Adhesion procedure, which was for the purpose of stretching her (side) lips so that they could be bound together as one working lip during her 2nd procedure. Another aspect of the 1st surgery was called a columellar lengthening (a.k.a. building the Columella - the tissue that separates the nostrils).

Since Claire was born with a Bilateral Cleft Lip, plastic surgery is required in order to lengthen the Columella and to create the Philtrum. She'll need further work to redefine her nose, but that'll come at a later date.

The second surgery, which happened on December 10th, was called Cheiloplasty, which is just medical jargon for "lip surgery."

In LA, a Cheiloplasty is a Lip Reduction. In Cleft-World (a.k.a. the real world), Cheiloplasty is the actual surgical joining of the lip muscles in order to create one working upper lip.

The purpose of the 2nd Procedure was to create a Philtrum, but also to define the Supraalar Creases (both sides), to form a Supratip, and to build the Cupid's Bow (the curve at the center of the upper lip).

Confusing enough?

During the surgery, Claire also received little plastic tubes that had to stay in her nostrils for about a week-and-a-half, which were solely for aiding in the formation of her nostrils (not to help with breathing).

After the surgery, we were called back to the recovery room. She looked so different, we barely even recognized our own daughter. We were so used to seeing Claire with her cleft lip that any change looked surprisingly abnormal.

As a matter of fact, for at least two weeks after her tubes were removed, when we looked at her she just didn't look like our baby, and we both shared a strange feeling that a stranger was living in our house - almost like we didn't even know her.

Further (and this is really weird), every time we looked at someone else's baby (before the surgeries), we were so used to seeing Claire's cleft, that every other baby looked strange to us (this still happens sometimes for us).

Indeed, a strange phenomenon to experience.

The string of pictures on the left is the front-on facial progressions from November through healing after the 2nd surgery. The string of pictures on the right are the profile progressions, again from November through healing after the 2nd surgery. Keep in mind that the entire two-surgery process (including healing) took just over one month (November 25th - December 29).

BEFORE SURGERY (November 25)

AFTER SURGERY #1 - THE LIP ADHESION AND COLUMELLAR LENGTHENING

BEFORE SURGERY #2 - EVERYTHING BECAME DETACHED (Not According To Plan)

AFTER SURGERY #2 - NOTE THE TUBES IN THE NOSE

AFTER SURGERY #2 - TUBES OUT - FULLY HEALED (December 29)

We think you'll agree that the results are astounding.

Here's one more view of the before/after so you can more easily compare the results (November 25th - December 29), and it's still getting better every day.

That's all for now. The next post will be shorter and less technical - promise!

Speaking of the next post, next time we'll talk about visitors galore, The Rose Bowl, The National Championship Game (boo!), and some amazing friends.

In the meantime, as always, thanks for reading! The amazing support system we have in our family and our friends is such a blessing. We're so lucky to have such a (new) little trooper in our lives who's able to teach us a thing or two about life.

Love,

Dave, Jen, Clairelynne, and Peyton (the dog)