Retiring This Blog

Hello to our four readers!

You've probably noticed a lack of lunaversary posts! Really, this is because of two things:

1. We're lazy and forgetful.
2. I blog almost daily at This, That, and the Other, and I have facebook, so any information anyone would be getting from this blog they can get elsewhere.

That said, Ian and I decided last night to retire this blog.
 You can find us at Plant Matters discussing our adventures as budding vegans, or follow my thoughts at This, That, and the Other.

Love,
Rachel

Retro Post: Sunshine and Interviews

Christmas in New York was bright and sunny, though the cold finally set in on Boxing Day. This was the first Christmas when we sought out no family but ourselves. This was non-optimal, in a way, since other people, like my mother, were alone on the day, which makes me sad to think about. But she's in Albuquerque and we're up here. Life is not a sitcom, where everyone has unlimited resources to spend on whims.

Christmas Day, as I recall, was the first cloudy day in a while, and the stark shadowless day answered our mood: muted, but cozy in its way. Our Christmas tree, decorated in love and friendship, shined in the window alcove and we spent the day eating and talking to Felicity, who by that time had given a hint of the smiles that were soon to cross her face more or less constantly. It was a nice time, a sign that we could no longer be "alone on the holidays," because we were a family.

On Boxing Day, I hauled my carryon to Penn station for a train to DC and the Eastern APA. I had secured two first-round interviews (with a third school giving me a fly-out), and it was time to sing for my supper. The details are of little interest: I did well enough, or so I thought, though to date I seem to have struck out on both counts. What is of some interest, though, is how I felt during the proceedings. My Ph.D., now confirmed, coated my fragile self-regard in teflon. 

Nothing really had changed about me: I had published nothing, still an all-but featherless gosling fresh from the nest. But my name-tag said "Columbia" and I was Dr. Whoever, and that made all the difference. Through all the middle-school dance of the convention, I felt a comfort in my skin I could not have imagined a year ago. It bodes well for the future. Plus, word came a few days later that I was getting published in a top journal, so nuts to you, people who didn't give me a flyback. Your loss.

I returned to Manhattan for a night, then it was off with Rachel and Felicity to Albuquerque. Felicity still had a grandmother to meet, after all, and it was wonderful to watch them together. As it happened, a good deal of my family converged on Albuquerque for our visit: Hillary and Ben, who fairly shine with peace and good health; my cousins Dierdre and Erin, who brought her husband and 18-month old boy…

(Funny story about him. Erin asked to hold Felicity at one point, and Clay's face darkened as he looked on. He chopped the air with his tiny hand and pouted: "mine! mine! mine!")

…and were there to see my aunt Lynn and our Steve, Steve, who live in Pecos (outside Santa Fe). Everyone got to meet the baby (Hillary said Felicity made her feel "eggy," a trenchant if not entirely un-gross way to put it) and Felicity took to Mom in a way that has to be seen to be believed. 

I cannot close the curtain on this entry without two further stories. In a 48 hour period I had the privilege of not one but two fairly traumatic diaper-change experiences. The trauma had nothing to do with the smell, color or quantity of Felicity's poop—if one believes Hollywood, the worst thing that can happen to a man is to have to interact with baby feces; movies greatly exaggerate the matter.

First, she let one rip while we were sitting in a cafe in Nob Hill, and no diaper could contain the pea-green fury. It was a shabby-chic cafe on Central, so the bathroom had a small sink and toilet, and no changing surface to speak of. So I stripped Felicity naked on the tile floor (she was on top of her portable changing mat, barely big enough to hold her), hoping against hope that she never brought her little hands down to touch the floor. She coped much better than I did, smiling and cooing at me through the whole matter, though she did start shivering before I managed to get her new outfit on (it seemed there would not be enough wipes in the world to get her clean).

The second happened on the flight between Albuquerque and Atlanta. Felicity needed a change, and we were hours from landing, so off I went to the lavatory, which turned out, unlike pretty much every other plan I've been on ever, not to have a changing table. So I unfold the portable changing table onto the toilet seat, the only surface in sight, but Felicity is too long to go on it without some part of her body hanging down, so one of my hands is always occupied in keeping her from sliding off the seat as the other hand digs blindly around the diaper bag for all the necessaries. Just as I get her diaper open and am fumbling for wipes, Felicity pees in a tiny sprinkling arc off the toilet and onto the floor. Then we hit turbulence and the plane starts tilting side to side. I'll leave the rest to imagination, but spoiler alert: we're both still here, and Felicity cried for maybe two seconds total and looked up at me trustingly the rest of the time. It was quite moving, despite the Nile delta of urine blobbing along the floor.

In conclusion: Flick-a-Dee!

Welcome 2012

We're a little late this month, but we're posting, so that's something, right?

Sweet Felicity is 5 weeks old today. Overall she is an easy-going baby - she usually only wakes up once in the middle of the night, naps like a pro, and doesn't cry in public places like airplanes, restaurants, etc. We can already tell she is a people-person and will be outgoing; she readily smiles at strangers and enjoys being held by most anyone (unless it's time to eat, in which case only mom will suffice!). We haven't been able to capture one of her million-watt smiles on camera yet, but they're inconsistent at this point and a little hard to predict.

Rachel's parents were in town in late November to visit. Although Paul missed the birth by about 36 hours, Beth was an invaluable part of Rachel's birth support (see birth story here) and stayed on an additional two weeks to make sure of the following: 1) we didn't kill our child; 2) we remembered to eat and had food to consume on hand; 3) we didn't drown in our own laundry and lack of cleaning skills. Seriously though, we absolutely could not have made it those first few weeks without her (some people, not mentioned in this post, may have bawled their eyes out when she left). We asked her to move in...

You'll be surprised to know that we are doing other things besides bragging up our sweet offspring. Most importantly, Ian is once again in the throes of the job hunt. He interviewed with Georgetown and Indiana University at the Eastern APA last week, and Washington University (St. Louis, MO) has requested a fly-out interview in February.

We're currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting Jan, Ian's mom. Felicity is her first grandchild and, against all expectations, Jan is enthralled with her. We've been eating a ridiculous amount of chile (of the red and green variety, or "Christmas" if you have them together in one dish). Ian's sister Hilly and her husband Ben join us tomorrow for what promises to be a fantastic weekend. The four of us drove to Santa Fe for the afternoon which was a whole lot of fun.

And, skipping around a bit, Ian and I did our own Christmas for the first time. We had a little tree in the bay windows of our apartment which we didn't kill (awesome!). For the most part, we made some excellent food and just hung out. For Christmas Eve, we made prosciutto and date ebelskivers for brunch and Ian made posole with pork and all of the fixings for dinner. On Christmas morning, true to McCready tradition, Rachel made homemade sticky rolls (they looked ridiculous but tasted heavenly) to pair with grapefruit and summer sausage (which we couldn't find in New York, so we had some other sort of sausage...). Ian still doesn't quite understand the food combination (do any of us?), but he's learning to just smile and nod when it comes to Christmas traditions and Rachel's staunch desire to adhere to all of things she grew up with. SMILE AND NOD. For dinner, we had roasted rack of lamb, garlic and Parmesan mashed potatoes, and shaved brussel sprouts with pecans. There was an unfortunately eggy pecan and chocolate pie in the mix of Christmas food, a disgraceful recipe pulled up online from Emeril. Fail Emeril, fail.

So far being parents is really suiting us. Neither of us anticipated wanting and having a baby so soon in our marriage, but it has absolutely been the best adventure and we can't imagine our lives without our sweet bundle of joy (with the poop-sack attached to her bum).

Welcome Little Felicity Brian McCready-Flora!

The baby is here, the baby is here!

Pictures and her birth story are cross-listed on my blog.

Love from New York,
Rachel, Ian, and Baby Felicity

It's November!

As of today, Ian and I have been married for exactly one and a half years.

What news, you ask? Not the news we'd hoped to share by now! I'm still massively pregnant (estimated due date of 11/28/2011). Despite a few weeks of lots of contractions (they call this prodromal labor, or "fooled 'ya again" labor), baby Felicity seems to be quite content to stay where she is. She probably knows we haven't quite figured out how to work the heat in our apartment yet...

Today my parents arrive in New York to spend Thanksgiving with us. I am unbelievably excited to see them and spend this time with them. Hopefully the baby will arrive before my dad has to take off next Monday.

Ian is loving his time at Columbia University so far. He is currently teaching a core curriculum course and gets to read and teach lots of fun authors like Descartes, Aristotle, Augustine, Machiavelli, and Locke. He has been working hard not only teaching his class, but on his own research as well. In addition to all of this, job application time! Ian conducted a limited job search, meaning that he only applied to the best of the best. Although we love living in New York, it would also be fantastic to find a more permanent position.

I have been on maternity leave for a week so far. I moved to part time in mid-October, and was planning on working until this week, but last Monday, after showering, dressing, and eating my breakfast, I just couldn't make it out the door to actually walk up the hill to get to the subway. Too much stress at work, too many contractions, and just too much discomfort (and a very strong desire to not be touched by strangers on the subway or have to smell their strong perfumes/colognes).

Ian and I have been spending lots of time together, which has been really nice, whether it's cooking dinner (Rachel sits at the table and chops things, Ian cooks), cleaning (Rachel fluffs pillows and arranges books, Ian actually cleans), doing laundry (Rachel sorts and folds the clothes, Ian carries them to the basement, does the laundry, and puts the clothes away), or hanging out (Rachel reads a fun book or spends time online, Ian prepares for class). Okay, it's not quite that bad, but I think both Ian and I will be glad and relieved when I can bend over again (yes, Ian currently has to put my socks on and sometimes my shoes) and can stay on my feet a little longer!

(These pictures are two weeks old, but you get the point: huge belly, puffy everything, pregnancy "glow")

A Four-Month Update from the Slackers

I know, I know, no update since March! Shame shame, tsk tsk. I thought I would share the highlights.

April

I finished my second semester of my grad program, which turned out to be quite difficult as pregnancy can make you not feel great the first few months (what? crazy!). I managed to squeak through with good grades, which was surprising as all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep, and was also working in the Ann Arbor office of GreenPath for 20+ hours a week.

Ian and I traveled to Honduras in April to meet our new nephew, baby Josiah, and to hang out with Sarah and Jason. We had a lot of fun cooking and talking, and Ian and I were excited to see all of the progress that's been made on the orphanage and community they're building. Josiah was the first baby Ian ever held, and after about a minute with baby in arms, Ian declared he wanted one too.

May

We celebrated out first year anniversary by staying in a very sweet little bed and breakfast over the border in Canada. The highlight of the trip (above and beyond just relaxing together for a few days) was a Brazilian BBQ with amazing food.

June

We traveled to Albuquerque to visit the lovely Jan (Ian's dearest mother) and gorge ourselves on New Mexican food. The trip was really low-key and an excellent way to unwind with family and friends. Vixen (our two-year old female kitty) stayed in Albuquerque with Jan (much to the dismay of Jan's two other cats) so she could enjoy being an outdoor kitty and start living again. So far, we hear reports that Vixen is starting to lose weight (which is good, we had taken to calling her 'Tubs,' which was completely appropriate as she weighed about double what she was supposed to) and is learning to frolic and chase bugs again.

Ian successfully completed his dissertation defense on June 22nd, 2011! (Yay baby!). We had drinks with a few friends after the defense to celebrate, and then went to a really lovely dinner at Pacific Rim with Ian's wonderful adviser and two members from the dissertation committee.

I finished my third semester of grad school about the same time. I have an independent study to finish up, and then just have to write that darned thesis before our little wrinkled prune arrives in November.

I also gave Ian his first Father's Day present (it's an Aristotle-themed gift; the text translates to 'happiness' in Greek):

July

We found out that we're having a girl on July 1st. So far, she looks healthy and well and is growing normally (even though she looks like an alien in her ultrasound pictures). I've been feeling flutters since the middle of June, which is the most precious, beautiful thing. In the past week they've transformed into little ninja moves and I swear she tap dances on my bladder when I'm trying to concentrate or sleep! Ian has been able to feel the baby move a couple of times as well.

Ian submitted his dissertation to the graduate school on July 8th and received this little number to prove he's legit:

About a week before our move we placed my sweet little kitten with our friends in Ann Arbor (we decided to adopt out / foster both cats as we had no idea how big our new place would be, Columbia never told us if we would be able to have pets or not, and Peter, though the sweetest and most loving cat you could find, would probably knead the baby to death with his affection). Being kitty-free isn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially now that we're in a new place. Ian's and my allergies both improved, and it is nice not to have to lint-roll our selves off before we leave the house (which lets face it, was never that effective anyways). Now we can wear black with confidence!

.... To the Present

Aaaannnnddd of course the BIG news is that we've moved to New York City! We arrived on Friday, July 15th. Although Columbia University did approve us for subsidized housing before our move, we had no information other than the address and that it was a one-bedroom unit. As our apartment last year was just about or slightly under 500 square feet and was really too small for us, we were very much hoping for a larger space, especially with, you know, another human being on the way!

I almost cried when I was let into our apartment for the first time - it's so beautiful and spacious and just really, really lovely. We are still in the process of unpacking (an awful heat wave arrived in the city about the same time that was did, and we only finally broke down and had an AC unit installed yesterday, so progress has been slow due to pregnancy woes and the heat), but will put up pictures as soon as everything is in place (almost there!).

It certainly is very different living without a car, but we already love it. For instance, we love that we don't have to pay around $400 a month for street parking, which frankly doesn't seem to exist anywhere near our apartment. But we do have to get creative to do things we normally would drive to do, like go grocery shopping, look at furniture, and get anything back to our apartment.

We're slowly exploring our environment. We discovered a muli-level Trader Joe's that is a few subway stops down from our apartment - it has a (mind-blowingly cool) cart escalator, and there is another grocery store about five blocks down that has excellent produce but is a little expensive. It's different shopping for a few days at a time instead of a few weeks at a time, but hey, no car (wahoo!). We also discovered a few great cafes and an excellent Asian restaurant  / noodle bar a block away before we unpacked our kitchen. We furniture shopped for a few days and located a fantastic sleeper couch (which will hopefully arrive before Sarah and Jason visit in last August so they have a bed), and have in general been walking everywhere to do as much as we can muster energy for (well, it's really me mustering energy and Ian being patient with my waddle-walk and lack of energy). We both already feel and look a little healthier, and it's only been a week!

I start at my new office at Penn Plaza on Monday. It's just a skip and jump down the 1 line, and I'm hoping to make friends with my new coworkers (that's right, we have no friends here, and I can say that legitimately this time).

And what else has been happening?

Well, pregnancy. Pregnancy has been happening. The highlights are amazing, but everything else... isn't. Weeks of terrible allergies were followed by weeks of being unable to fall asleep at night. And these have been followed by THE PREGNANCY PLAGUE. Basically, my entire body has broken out into hives of varying degrees of itchiness, starting with my lovely stretch marks (which some have suggested I get tattooed onto my belly as they look like amazing flames stretching up the sides of my belly button), and moving on to hips, butt, legs, arms, back...you name it.

My allergist and midwife weren't really sure what it was, and scheduled me with dermatology. After a few nights of crying for hours (mostly in the shower under cold water, and on Ian's comforting lap) and unable to wait for or move the derm date closer, we went to the ER, where they gave me the official diagnosis of "rash." Helpful, right? As our friend Dustin put it, "I didn't know symptoms could be diagnoses now." When I did finally see Dermatology in early July, they did two skin biopsies from my right hip and prescribed some meds. For a week or so I was on an oral steroid, a topical steroid, and taking way too many oatmeal baths and literally going through a tube of aloe vera a day.

After a week and half, the biopsy results came back as positive for Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy (I specifically LOVE the plaques part), or PUPPPs for short. Basically, it's an aggressive rash that creates bumps and hives all of your body (but never your face), makes you terribly itchy and uncomfortable to the point of actually going crazy, but doesn't harm the baby at all. And no one knows why it happens. PUPPPs usually pops up in the last month or so of pregnancy and lasts until 2-4 weeks after birth (sometimes longer if you are breastfeeding, from my reading).

Two weeks ago the rash was essentially over my entire body, but topical steroids really helped 95% of the rash to disappear. The only thing is that you have to take a 4-6 week break in between the topical steroids so your body doesn't get used to them and so you don't start actually taking them in as prolonged exposure could hurt our little bean sprout. I've been off of them for a week now and the itching is getting progressively worse, but it's not nearly as bad as it was a month ago, so that's good at least.

We'll post pictures of the new place in the next few days, and I'll try to get ultrasound pictures up soon as well.

Love,
Rachel (and Ian)

Springtime In Michigan?

Another month has flown by! Not too many updates to relay... but things are certainly changing in our household.

First, we're really settling into the idea of moving towards the end of the summer. We submitted our housing application to Columbia for subsidized housing with a few specific requests. We are eagerly (some people more than others) awaiting them to respond. According to the information they provided, they will send us three floor plans... and we get to choose between them. Callooh Callay (anyone?)!

My midterms are done with (phew) and I now have about three and a half weeks left in the semester to write about 50-60 pages worth of term papers. Yikes. Ian is working so very diligently to finish up his dissertation before we go to Honduras next month, just under a month. You might say we're a little harried and stressed right now!

The really big news is that we're expecting a baby! Since only family read this (it's now quite 'out' yet, so keep it mum), I feel fine saying this! If you follow my personal blog you'll know that we decided to start trying in March, and by trying, I mean, not actively trying to prevent pregnancy - no rhyme or reason here.

I had a pre-conception appointment with my gynecologist last Friday (March 18th) and she did a pregnancy test just to check, and it came up negative. Ian and I shrugged our shoulders and talked about tracking dates and my temperature next month as a possibility. We hadn't been tracking any of my dates or times before trying, so it wasn't a big surprise.

On Sunday I was feeling really off. I really needed to walk and to be alone, so at about eight in the evening I drove over to Target (retail therapy and I love Target, so don't judge!) and walked around the store looking at things for about an hour. I picked up a pack of pregnancy tests on a whim, along with a few other things, and headed back home. Ian and I cooked dinner together, and I took a pregnancy test right before bed. And it was positive. Bah? I'm pretty sure I screamed at Ian and then there was some general jumping up and down. All I could say all night was, "Wow." The shock has worn off a very little bit, but I keep having to go through a mental checklist of my body to believe it's actually real: two positive tests, the bloaties, and a slew of physical/body symptoms that no one really wants to read about (or hear about, you can ask Ian all about that!).

I had gone a little pregnancy crazy before we found out about the positive test (I'm a planner that loves to shop, so shush!), so we have a small library of prenatal workout and yoga DVDs, a few pregnancy books... and Ian has a doula/birthing partner book (lucky dog!).

So, hopefully goes well with our pea in the pod. We'll probably "announce" in a month when I'm a little further along. To the best we can figure, we're due 11/27/2011.