It's Been 6 Months...

MANY, MANY THANKS!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who responded to Jen's donation request for the MS Walk. She far exceeded her goal of $1,000, which goes to show that people love and care about Jen, but also that good things can happen when we all band together for a really important cause.

Last year, Jen was suffering from extreme exhaustion (partly) on account of the pregnancy, so the walk took a long time. This year, she completed the 3-Mile walk in about 1:20 (not including a ruthlessly long bathroom break).

We made (with permanent marker) a little onesie for Claire to wear at the Walk. A lot of the shirts at the event say something along the lines of "I walk for _______".

And what fun is having a baby if you can't randomly pose her in strange settings. Wells Fargo was a sponsor of the event so they had their horse carriage on hand for a photo opportunity (which we took advantage of).

The walk is around the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA. These pics are from the "first leg" of the walk (in front of us and behind us). Look at that crowd!

This is the best shirt we saw all day. This woman was actually at the event last year too. Good to see her getting out there and walking for a good cause - her cause.

And lastly, here is a picture of Dave, Jen, and Claire at the finish line.

Our friends, Ian and Anita came down to the walk in support of Jen.

THE BUSINESS OF CLAIRE

Since this Blog is called "The Business of the Brunsmans", not "The Business of Claire" (ha), we have a little bit more to report in the land of Dave and Jen.

One of our friends helped us to get tickets to the 2013 Rose Bowl Game (Stanford vs. Wisconsin). We had never been inside the Rose Bowl, although we had been to the stadium on multiple occasions (twice for the above event but also with various members of the family). What a great stadium!

If you're wondering, we cheered for Stanford (as you will see in the first set of pics) because Andrew Luck (the Quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts) hails from Stanford. Stanford won, by the way.

Here, Dave is putting a Stanford logo on Jen's cheek with beer as a lubricant (one of it's many uses). Jen was thrilled.

Jen and Dave in front of the Stadium (Jen does not like getting her picture taken).

This is how close our seats were... along with a picture of us in front of a Stanford/Wisconsin Rose Bowl Kiosk outside the Stadium.

And finally, a picture of us with our friends, Michael and Adriana. They are the ones who helped us to score the tickets - and such good seats.

But you may be asking yourself, "You guys were gone all day (basically). What did you do with your child?"

Good question. As a Christmas Gift to us, our friends Ian and Anita offered to watch Claire while we went to the Rose Bowl Game. While we totally love Claire, and we appreciate all that she brings to our lives, it was REALLY nice to have a little bit of time away - without concern. Thank goodness for good friends!

Ian and Anita claimed that Claire was really good. We can only take them for their word.

A month before the Rose Bowl, we gave Ian and Anita a test-run. We went out to see the most recent James Bond movie (a 3-hour outing). Apparently Claire cried the ENTIRE time. Not a good test-run indeed!

THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - AS PAINFUL AS IT MAY BE IS

On the subject of Football. On January 7th, the Notre Dame Football Team tried to win their first National Championship game since 1988.

Seeing that Notre Dame failed to win the game, the only other thing of note (aside from tons of our friends coming over to watch the game and to witness Dave ultimately crying - thank you very much!) was how cute Claire and Peyton were for the occasion. Family photo opportunities galore!

The National Championship is the only game that Notre Dame has lost since Claire was born. For a bit we thought that she may be a lucky charm (of sorts). Guess not. Thanks a lot Claire! Basically, you really let us down when it most counted.

Now that that painful episode is out of the way, we have some really fun things to report about Claire, which is really (probably) why all of you read this blog to begin with. It's ok, you can admit it.

LET'S TALK ABOUT EASTER

On February 13th, we all went to get our ashes on Ash Wednesday - a first for both Jen and Claire. The picture was just too cute to pass up. Claire is enthused to say the least. Claire went to church and got her Worship on!

For Lent, Jen gave up the snooze button, Dave gave up (ahem) bad language (it's going to be a work in progress), and Claire gave up having only breast milk as her main source of nutrition (more on this in the next blog post).

I was going to say that Claire gave up beer for Lent...

Ian and Anita gave Claire her first Easter Basket (good thing because Jen and I totally forgot about that). Bunny Ears provided by Ian. Claire likes to grab EVERYTHING nowadays - hence Anita's laugh.

Palm Sunday, Claire really enjoyed life :) The picture was Jen's idea (and was actually taken by Jen too) - too cute to pass up for sure!

On Holy Thursday, we were invited to a friends house for a true Jewish Seder Meal, which was really cool. The event is really solemn, so we didn't take any pictures, but we are (perhaps) considering making a Seder Meal part of our Holy Week celebration in preparation for Easter, especially because a Seder Meal is exactly what happened on the first Good Friday!

And speaking of that, on Good Friday, the same friends (The Smith Family - no really... the Smith's) invited us on a short hike that incorporates climbing a (small) mountain with the Stations of the Cross. Another very cool thing. We carried a wooden cross on the hike in remembrance of Christ and we planted it at the top of the hill. This is another idea we're hoping to incorporate into our Holy Week celebration.

This is Claire on her first hike (she's going to be outdoorsy - I just know it!) and a picture of Dave, Jen, and Claire at the top of the hill on Good Friday.

Grandpa Merle was in California for the occasion too.

And then for Easter, we actually attended the Vigil (7pm on Saturday Evening - it's a 3-Hour Service) because one of our friends was being Confirmed into the Church, as well as receiving her First Holy Communion through the RCIA class (the same process that Jen went through last year).

Believe it or not, Claire actually did not sleep during the Vigil Mass (a bit of a surprise), yet she was generally in a good mood (another surprise) for the entire service. Babies and church can, in fact, mix.

This first picture is Claire in her Easter dress (for the Vigil), and the second picture is of Claire in her Easter outfit (on Easter Sunday).

AND THE OTHER HOLIDAYS SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

On January 31, she celebrated National Dress Like an Indiana Corn Cob Day

OK, no such day exists. This is an outfit that we received from our Indiana Baby Shower (last July) from Dan Moore (one of Dave's High School friends). He totally had us pegged for the hillbillies that we still are.

On Valentine's Day, Claire apparently got no love.

But then she found out that she did, in fact, get some love.

Before St. Patrick's Day, we found this hat (we didn't buy it, but we are not above ripping off a picture before we put the funny hat back on the shelf).

To commemorate St. Patrick's Day, we thought about dying Claire's milk bottle green, but apparently the food coloring is not safe for babies, so we dressed her up instead and posed her with a Leprechaun.

We did not celebrate Groundhog Day, Lincoln's Birthday, President's Day, or April Fools Day. Sorry to disappoint. On the other hand, Claire is VERY excited about her very first Tax Day.

VISITOR'S GALORE!!!

We are very lucky because so many of our family members (and friends) have come out to visit Claire.  With more on the docket, it seems that the stream of visitors is never going to end, but that is OK with us!!!

Jen's Uncle Gary Milhoan came to California on a business trip. This was a visit he couldn't pass up.

Ariane Labrzycki (we call her "Ari"), who lived with us for a short spell last summer, is attending the University of New Orleans on a full-ride scholarship for Volleyball. She came back to California during her Winter Break, and she had to stop by to finally meet Clairelynne. She came bearing gifts too - an awesome ceramic "Nurse" Piggy Bank (Ari is studying Medicine - hence the "Nurse").

The first picture (along with the one of Gary (Above)) was taken the day before Claire's 2nd Surgery (this, luckily will be the ONLY time the "S-Word" is mentioned in this Blog Post) on December 9th. The next "S-Word" will be sometime around September-ish. We will, of course, keep you posted.

In February (was supposed to be in January - but that's an entirely different story to be included, also, in the next Blog Post), Jen's mom came out with Jen's Grandpa.

This first picture is of the Four Generations (Grandma Lynda, Mother Jen, Great-Grandpa Charles, Baby Clairelynne). These opportunities just don't happen all that often so we wanted to commemorate the visit with a picture.

While Lynda and Grandpa Simon (Chuck is his first name) were visiting, some family from San Bernardino stopped by to say Hello. Here, Grandpa Simon and John Profant are catching up on old times.

Joan Valle (John Profant's daughter) also came along for the ride.

Great-Grandpa and Grandma are thrilled about Claire's amazing cards skills - or maybe they are trying to concentrate while Claire distracts (Euchre anyone?).

And Great-Grandpa just couldn't get enough.

Next, Dave's Dad came out with his wife, Billie. Billie (at first) said that she was nervous about holding such a small baby, but now that she's gone, all she wants to do is to hold her.

Here is a picture of Claire feeling very much the same way (nervous) :)

Just a few more of Grandma and Grandpa Brunsman with Claire.

And last, but certainly not least, Jen's Dad came out for a quick visit around Easter. Unfortunately, his wife, Suzy, wasn't able to make the trip this time.

Grandpa Merle likes to nap with Claire, tease Claire with food, and read to Claire.

If you are keeping tabs, Claire has 3 Grandpas, 4 Grandmas, 2 Great-Grandpas, 1 Great-Grandma (all of whom have been able to meet her!) and tons of Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. As Grandpa Merle said, it's never a bad thing to have a situation where a lot of people love you. We agree. So Claire, just remember how lucky you are when you're a teenager and you want to start being difficult. Remember all of this love!

Ian and Dave have been working on a running regimine for the last several weeks. Jen's Dad decided that he wanted to go with us on one run, but the weather in California during his visit was a bit chilly so he needed to borrow a shirt. In order to take advantage of this opportunity fully, Dave let Merle borrow one of his precious Notre Dame shirts.

The side-note here is that Merle (practically) despises Notre Dame and all that it stands for (he is an Ohio State Fan (insert cheating scandal jab here)). Merle said that he was going to claim that this photo was altered in PhotoShop. You heard it here first... this photo certainly was NOT altered.

Look how happy he looks to be wearing that shirt!

And while we're back on the subject of Notre Dame, Claire loves to wear daddy's Notre Dame hat.

Even if you despise Notre Dame, you can't hate that!

That's all for now. The next post will cover new foods, play dates, Jen's first day back to work, and some very interesting breast milk facts (you truly will not believe this).

In the meantime, as always, thanks for reading!

Love,

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