Elsa Marie Nisewaner

On Monday, July 12, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Arne and I welcomed Elsa Marie Nisewaner into the world! At 9 pounds, 9 ounces and 22 inches long, she started out as a very big girl. She joined us 9 days after her due date by an unplanned Cesarean, due to stress on her system during the push, potentially caused by the cord being wrapped around her foot.



Her first night was in the NICU to clear her lungs of gunk and give her extra oxygen.




After 24 hours the oxygen tube was out and she was moved to the Packard Special Care Nursery (Intermediate Care), where she still had a lot of monitors.



She spent 4 days there (one more day then Mom in the hospital) being cared for by a number of great nurses.



We could see her whenever we wanted and that was nice. I think she has her dad's eyes.



We brought her home on Saturday, July 17th. It was nice to cuddle without the wires.



We spent the weekend introducing her to her home, the dogs,



her dad's garden, and the cradle grandpa built her.



At her one week appointment, we learned she is in the 99th percentile for length, 81st for weight, and 61st for head circumference, and overall very healthy.





We spend a lot of time sleeping with Elsa during the day. This is good, because we also spend a lot of time awake at odd hours. We are just so happy to have her join our family!

All Set for Baby

Arne's dad built us a beautiful cradle for the baby. It is now all set in our room, ready for the baby to join us. He created a picture gallery of the process of making the cradle...it is really quite impressive.



The rest of the baby's room is all set, with a crib, changing table, and lots of cute little clothes.





It is nice to have everything ready as we get set to go to the hospital. In the next few days a little boy or girl will join our family.

Getting Bigger and Older

It is the 4th of July and we are still waiting to find out the birthday of our first child. Clearly it will not be the July 3rd due date. This is the time of birthdays in Arne's family, and soon there will be one more birthday to celebrate. Last weekend, his dad turned 70, and there was a big party. Arne put together an amazing video of the event.

Bob's 70th from Arne Stokstad on Vimeo.

We hope that baby joins us soon, but until then, Arne is having a great time working on his garden. The corn really did grow "knee high by 4th of July" and all the plants seem to thrive under his care.



I am also thriving, and continue to get bigger. On due date, we went over to a friends house and I got to play soccer with her daughter. Look at how my belly shows as I say "Goooooaaaaaal!"

The Little Farm

"And then spring became the summer..." from Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond keeps running through my head now. I think this is in part because of everything we are growing for the summer: the baby to be, plants in our yard, and plants out at the little farm.

The little farm is our community garden plot at Eleanor Pardee Garden - plot G60. After a year on the wait list, the week after our wedding, the coordinator called us up and offered us a plot.



The plot started out filled with weeds...it was not looking good, but still had a lot of potential. Arne worked over Memorial weekend to clear the garden, while I bought plants.



Finally it was all cleared!



Now Arne has filled the garden with lots of plants. We have a row of blueberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, sunflowers, and lots of seeds.



The seeds are amazing. In only a week there are shoots of watermelon,



beans,



and corn!



Arne tells me the heat and the good soil that retains moisture is helping our garden really take off.

I am looking forward to all the good foods we will have from the little farm. Until then, it is nice to walk over with the dogs and meet up with Arne and just enjoy seeing everything get bigger, even my belly with baby to be!

The Big Adventure: Getting Married

On May 15th, Arne and I started on one of life's bigger adventures - marriage. We created a magical day to share the love we have for each other with family and friends. Many family members and friends joined us at the Mountain Terrace for a day in the sun.



The ceremony was at noon, officiated by one of my college friends, Lance Savitsky, who put together a lovely ceremony. My sister was my attendant, Arne's friend Justin was his, and our niece Erika was the flower girl. Our mom's did readings, we listened to the Pathetique Adagio in remembrance of those who were not there, and then after the vows, we got to KISS!



It was great to see all our friends and their kids. One of my favorite pictures from my friends is me with Tracy's daughter Sage:



The reception was like a garden party, with a host of fun kid activities (my favorite was the bouncy house), yummy food, and then cupcakes for dessert. Our first dance was, "Can't help falling in love." It was a wonderful day, the only mild issue was that when we came home our dog Bogey was sick, and we had to do a wedding night trip to the vet. For those who are wondering, we are both keeping our names the same.

Arne's dad took a lot of great pictures of the day - Arne's Dad's Pictures. Our pictures from the wedding photographer are also posted - Christina Shook Photos.



The following weekend, we headed up to the Russian River Valley and had a mini-moon, staying at the Farmhouse Inn. It was a lovely and relaxing time to explore the area, pamper ourselves, and just enjoy each other. In February, we did the real big honeymoon to New Zealand. Why do the honeymoon early? Well, we have done quite a few things backwards, and if you look closely at the wedding pictures, yes, I do look a little big, and that is because we are expecting our first baby July 3rd (sex to be learned when baby is born)!

Windows & Doors

For some reason, a month before the wedding date, I decided that I needed new windows and sliding glass doors. After two and a half years, I did not want to feel a draft at night anymore and this was clearly the right time to do this project!



I had 3 workmen come out and install vinyl double pained Energy Star windows and doors. It was cool to see them bring everything in and cut some of the outer layers to spec.



Upstairs Green Room Windows

The big window, old:



Now empty, for bringing in the bedroom sliding doors!



Now new, and actually closes!



The small window, old:



In Transition:



Now new, and opens and closes!



Bedroom Sliding Doors

This had to be brought in through the front upstairs windows, because the door was so big. Old:



Empty:



New and no more draft:



Downstairs Sliding Doors

I started off with this:



Then some work was done on the open space:



Now new, with an integrated dog door:



Kitchen Little Window

From old,



to new, with a fancy pattern:



It is nice to have everything new and working for the summer...hopefully this will help the heating bill!

Domestic Weekend - Gardening & Jam

This weekend, in the rain, Arne created a strawberry garden for our back yard. First he had to spend some time preparing the plants and the area. Arne has a little seedling farm he created.



Some of the seedlings come from lupine seeds we brought back from New Zealand. They are currently growing and getting bigger along with the other plants on the "incubator" table.



After preparing all the plants, Arne needed to dig out the area for the plants and create a fence to keep out the dogs.



Right now the garden is filled with strawberry plants and herbs. Once the plants are all big, then I will be able to make strawberry jam with our own plants! This weekend I made jam with strawberries from the farmer's market.



We had a lovely domestic weekend, working in the garden and kitchen!