Rowan Hits Puberty at 8 Months!

This picture is for all of you out there who think Rowan looks like his Grandpa Theron. There are some striking similarities, right? I mean, look at those eyes! nose! hairline! Rowan just loves his "Grandpa-T", and everytime Grandpa entered the room, Rowan was all smiles! He also loved manhandling those handlebars so conveniently located on Grandpa's face.

A Couplet of Cousins

Here they are. Two little cousins just 9 days apart. They both share a love for blocks, rolling over, and blowing raspberries. They also approach life with the same chill, happy, easygoing manner. Seriously, both of these little rugrats are just such content little creatures!

There is one major difference, however. And I'm not talking about gender...

Hello! Tea Party!

All the ladies in the house wanted to have a tea party.......so the girlies got busy making cucumber sandwiches and special "chocolate-raspberry-blueberry-m&m-cream cheese filling" cakes. Each little baker made their own version.
The party was a hit! And the girls were quite proud of themselves. Notice the daffodils on the table. Elizabeth and Sophia halted the proceedings exclaiming, "We have to have flowers! Flowers! Let's get some flowers!" The crazy thing about this tea-party was that there really wasn't a bit of tea involved. The girls opted to serve hot chocolate instead!

More cute pics of ROWAN!!

Dewey Doggy and the Baby

Every morning I (Hamish) get up with the babe and hang out with him for a while. I read the paper while Rowan plays. Lately he has been infatuated with Dewey. Throwing the ball for Dewey is a sure fire way to stop Rowan from crying. I took these pictures the other morning, trying to take advantage of the sunlight streaming in through the front window.

A New Throne For Prince Rowan

Ellen has been searching for just the right highchair for Rowan. Years ago she reupholstered a vintage metal high chair for her parents, and really enjoyed the process of giving the old chair a new and improved look, but didn't think of the little humble chair often until...

she nannied Elizabeth and Sophia. Part of her job was keeping the girls highchairs clean - which proved to be a beast of a job. There was not only one, but two of these beasts to clean and care for. They were huge. They were plastic. They had leather cushions. And they were always a bit stinky no matter how hard she scrubbed. They looked very similar to this chair. Eric and Doug will probably recall that Ellen didn't do the best job staying on top of these "highchairs" - Ellen admits to hating them with a passion. Every time she pealed back their cushions and hosed the little food bits out of the plastic crevices, it would be time for the next meal and they would be filled with bits of food all over again. Ellen would recall and daydream about her mother's simple metal vintage chair. It could even fold up into a tidy, flat, hangable position. Easy! Easy! Easy! And it was cute to boot.

As soon as we saw that little positive sign on the pregnancy test, Ellen's search for a little vintage high chair began. And it continued throughout the pregnancy. Her search went on through Rowan's first months of life as the high chair of this particular species proved to remain elusive on all fronts. In fact, the search has only recently ended - much to Ellen's delight! And now it sits in our kitchen, and little Rowan glows as he sits in it and eats like the little prince that he is! And Ellen is able to quickly, and easily wipe away any sweet potato he may have left behind. And there has been much rejoicing and dancing in our house ever since.

BEHOLD! We present to you the little-vintage-metal-foldable-wipeable-odorfree highchair!

...............................................BEFORE.............................................




...............................................AFTER..............................................

Mango Sticky Rice

We had a few friends over last week, and enjoyed some Mango Sticky Rice (THANKS MIRIAM!) for dessert. It was not only easy peezy to make, but delicious too (even though I slightly undercooked the rice). This dessert was the perfect complement to a pineapple shrimp red curry. I thought I would share the recipe for all the adventurous Thai cooks out there - you know who you are!



RECIPE

MIX TOGETHER (in pot)
14 oz Can Coconut Milk (Miriam says that LIGHT coconut milk works just as well without all that fat)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Calrose Rice
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Coconut Extract

Cook on HIGH, stirring, and bring to boil. Turn on LOW and place lid on pot. Cook for 30 - 35 minutes.

While rice mixture is cooking, cut mango into either slices or bite size pieces. Mango can go right on top of rice, mixed into, or as garnish on side. Serve warm or cool, whichever you prefer. ENJOY!

Kirk's had a BIG weekend!

ROWAN'S FIRST SWIM!

A Lovely Time At Martha's Vineyard

The Two-Hour Star Wars Holiday Special in only Five Minutes!

I never knew this existed. Starring Jefferson Starship and Chewy's family along with all your favorite Star Wars Originals!

Christmas Tree OH! Christmas Tree

The Amazing Hamishina

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

The Most Amazing Dog!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH AND SOPHIA

Top Gear: Smallest Production Car Ever

Apple Cider Doughnuts PLUS Doughnut Holes!

Jess and I made some kick-butt delicious apple cider doughnuts. For a full description of this pastery adventure, more pics, and THE RECIPE, click here

Thanks for the pic and the wonderful entry Jess!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NONA!

Exactly One Year Ago

Tom and Sarah's

Susan Ellen Ethington Nebeker

You can read Susan's obituary here:

http://obits.oregonlive.com/Oregon/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=93501700

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or to have us email you a copy of Susan's life sketch and remarks given at the funeral.
Hamish - hmgreenaway@gmail.com
Ellen - ellen.greenaway@gmail.com

Rowan's Ears

In staring at Rowan for hours and hours, we've come to look at his ears and wonder where those peculiar folds of flesh came from. Does he inherit his father's teeny ears? Are they still traumatized from being squozen (not a real word, I know) during birth? Does he inherit his great uncle Lynn's funny looking pointy bit on the top of his ear through some sort of genetic surprise? Who knows. We do know that they are pretty cute. He has earlobes, unlike his mother, whose ears fuse directly to the side of her head. Thats a good thing. All we really know is that they are pretty damn cute.

More pics

Hello. My name is:

ROWAN!!
Little Niblet is now officially Rowan Campbell Greenaway. After much discussion, deliberation and agonizing, we picked a name. I know that for those of you who were following the decision closely, this name may come as a surprise. We weren't trying to fool anyone, it just came to us a few weeks ago as even a possibility. For those of you not familiar with its origin, it is indeed a Scottish name, reflecting our family roots (at least some of those roots). It means "little red one" which he can certainly be sometimes, even if he is a little blondie. Rowan is also the name of a tree that we call the Mountain Ash here in America. In England and Scotland they call it the Rowan and plant them around churches. Apparently they keep the evil spirits away. Hopefully Rowan can keep the evil away from our new little family.

As far as Campbell goes, its a family name on Ellen's side. Ellen's maternal grandmother's maternal grandmother (so what's that, great-great grandmother) was Florence Ruby Campbell. We wanted to have some history in little Rowan's name. I always liked having my grandfather's name as my middle name. So that's where Campbell came from. The combo of the two is pretty good I think. A nice strong name.

Now Ellen, Rowan, and I are living back in the yurt. Rowan is sleeping in the same crib that his uncle Lane slept in as a baby. It's fitting because everyone says that little Rowan looks like him. We have had several people comment that "He looks just like Lane!" We'll see what he ends up looking like as he grows up. Its really strange how he seems to change everyday. It's fun to check him out every morning and see how he's changed overnight.

Rowan and Ellen are both doing well today. Everyone is recovering from the whole birth ordeal. Today was his due date, and both Ellen and I are glad that he decided to arrive a few days early. Had he decided to wait a few days, he surely would have been a nine pounder. I don't think Ellen would have appreciated him being any bigger.

Little Niblet at 2 Days

We have been snapping lots of pictures in the hospital the last few days and I thought that we should share some of them. Little Niblet has been going through a lot of changes as time has slowly passed. He is starting to lose his massive cone head and forming a head that is slightly more normal. Well, normal maybe isn't the right word. He still has a pretty big noggin on top of his neck. I think that he might get that from his grandpa Michael. Well, hopefully its big because it is chock full of brains. I already know he's pretty smart because he's figured out that it's really nice to hang out nestled in Mama's bosom. Smart guy.

He's been a relaxed kid so far, but every once and a while he airs out his lungs with a lusty cry. I think Ellen has a better touch with getting him to calm down than I do. Maybe that has something to do with that equipment that she is carrying. I get to walk around with him quite a bit, but the hospital doesn't let us walk around in the halls holding him. I guess they are a little paranoid about someone falling and squishing a baby. That would be bad, so I understand. We mostly just hang around in the room. It's pretty cozy in here with our private room and Wi-Fi. The nurses have been great and leave us alone for the most part except when we ask for something. I was a little afraid that they would barge in more than they do. We have been really happy with the whole experience.

So we are going home today to live in the yurt (circular building, no center support, mongolian, made of yak skin)at the Nebeker compound for a while. It will be a little bit more work not having the nursery to pass Niblet off to when we really need to sleep, but we have lots of family and friends around to help us out if we need it. I think that Ellen knows what she's doing, though. And I'll learn as I go.

As far as the pictures go, that brunette with Ellen, Niblet, and me is Alisha, the midwife. She did a great job getting Ellen through the whole labor with gentle prodding and much needed encouragement at some really intense moments. It was perfect.

NIBLET ARRIVES!!

Finally he is here. Little Baby Greenaway was born yesterday morning at 8:17 am. He was 8lbs. 14oz. and 21 inches long. A big baby, especially for a little woman like Ellen. She did great and got him out into the world pretty quickly. We arrived at the hospital a little after midnight and he was born eight hours later. Needless to say, we were both pretty tired by the end of it all, but Ellen did all the hard work herself. Niblet (for those of you who don't know, thats what we have been calling him in utero) was born and put straight into my (Hamish's) arms. I held him for quite a while and then cut the cord.

We don't have a name quite yet and are still calling him Niblet and Nibby out of habit, but we are getting to know him and his ways before we settle on a name. So far he has been quite a chill little guy. He likes to suck on his hands and has been pretty content this whole time. He's been good and allowed us to get our rest since he was born. Niblet is an easygoing little (or big) guy.

We had the whole Nebeker family in to visit yesterday and everyone got to hold him. Grandma Ellen really didn't want to give him back. That's sort of how we all feel, though. We're so glad to finally have him here with us.

Bountiful Harvest

We are heavy into the harvest of the garden here in Oregon. we have squash and zuchinni everywhere and beets and carrots ready to pick. Peas are on and the tomatoes are about to arrive any day. They sit there slowly ripening, taunting us with their deliciousness. We have plums falling off the trees and there were enough ripe apples today to make two pies. We are loving the fresh garden goodness. It is so nice to be able to walk out and pick what we need for the nights dinner. Mmmmm.....

Waiting...

Ellen has been given two due dates for her baby: July 26 is what the ultrasound said and August 4 is what the dates said. So here we are now in between the two dates, waiting for little niblet to arrive. When will it be?

So to pass the time, we took some clay and painted up Ellen's protuberant belly. It looked pretty good.

Nebeker Day at the Beach

So a few days ago, the whole Nebeker family took a trip to the Oregon coast. We went over near Tillamook and had a day of it. Hamish caught a crab in the surf and promptly fell asleep on the sand, probably his favorite pastime. Meanwhile, Ellen and the rest of the family played. Kirk and Tara and their kids ran around and built a sandcastle with Lane and his girlfriend Ashley, who was here to visit. Pam and Avery were there enjoying the salt water, too. Holly ran around after the kids while Theron and Susan sat back and watched the chaos. Afterwards, the whole family took a trip to the Tillamook cheese factories for a feast of ice cream and cheese curds (for those of you who don't know, they squeek when you eat them).