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.

Two Month Update!

Well, we completely forgot about January. In fact, the whole month is a blank. (not really)

Ian turned 28 and received some wicked sweet board games for his birthday, along with snarky remarks from his darling wife. He was, and remains, utterly thrilled. Seriously, these games are pretty great, if you're into games: Ticket to Ride and Jambo.

What else, what else? Oh yeah: Ian accepted a post-doctoral fellowship at the highly-esteemed Columbia University! He was the only candidate out of over 1000 candidates - we're quite proud of this fellow. It's a three year position which drops us right into New York City (we will most likely be living in Morningside Heights). This position was in competition with a tenure-track position at Wayne State in Detroit, MI. There was much deliberation over what job to take, especially when we compared housing prices and transportation costs, not to mention job security and pay. But, all said and done, could we seriously say no to Columbia? We will have to sell our beautiful little car and will end up paying 4x as much for housing (for square footage), but we're both really looking forward to the adventure of New York City. 

All of this means that I actually do need to squeak my master's degree out this summer, but I'm on the right track to get everything done on time. I had two papers accepted for presentations next month, and another nominated for a grad school prize. I also applied to the National Women's Studies Association conference next fall - we'll see how that goes (for my thoughts on research and school related things, I recently started a blog on tumblr). I've decided on a concentration on sexuality (completing coursework this semester), and believe my second concentration will be counseling, which I could finish up this summer when working on my thesis.

Ian has 52 days to finish his dissertation. He's reworking the first and second chapters, so it's quite a task. His foot has healed up nicely from his stress fracture in December. When the weather allows, my little ninja is out scaring the locals as he zips past.

Our kitties continue to flourish and purr. We've avoided all chickpeas in our stews. We are working on making our bedtimes closer to midnight (and actually succeeding at this). And we've been shoveling a lot of snow. Much snow. Tired of snow.

We also (through much hard work and dedication on our end) became aunts and uncles this week! My beautiful sister and her doting husband Jason had their first child, Josiah Paul Furrow, aka "Furrito," born February 16th.

  

Ian and I purchased tickets to visit this cutie in April. I can't wait to not only see this fine lad (a "McBaby," as my mother has designated any current and expected grandchildren), but Sarah and Jason's work on their orphanage and property. Check out their blog - neat stuff.

The Holiday Special

We're a little late posting this month, but it's been the week from Hades. Our skepticism in the "only three things can go wrong" belief has proven itself just. Merry Christmas?

Backing up, I FINISHED MY FIRST SEMESTER OF GRAD SCHOOL! Yay. Pats on the back all around. I wrote a few large papers, took an exam, ruffled and finished this and that, and managed to get a somewhat reasonable amount of sleep through it all. Ian and milk tea (in no particular order) kept me sane. Again I say, yay.

Ian has 6 interviews on the books for various positions, the bulk of which are positioned on the East Coast. He is, as I write, on a plane to Boston for some of his interviews and to give a paper at the Eastern APA. That lucky dog.

Our string of bad luck started last week, when Ian tried on his suit from the wedding to make sure everything still fit for his interviews... and it was too small. A combination of stress, stress fracture (inability to run or do any useful exercise), and certain people depending on their husbands to do all of the cooking, even when said husbands are overworked and stressed themselves, culminated in both of us gaining weight since the summer (when we were at our most svelte - glistening muscles, luscious hair, healthy glows... now we look like pasty marshmallows with bags under our eyes).

So, new suit. We spent some time at the Banana Republic Factory Store and found him some dressy duds. I may be biased, but my sweetie cuts quite the figure in his new charcoal suit. While I was helping Ian shop, six people also asked me for help. I guess I have a Banana Republic aura or something?

We started really packing and preparing for our trip to Albuquerque on Monday night. Conducted a Target run, packed our bags, fussed over how to best fold shirts and how Ian should carry his suit, etc. I went into work on Tuesday and was frantically making sure all emergencies were taken care of before we flew out Wednesday morning. And then I received a phone call from Ian. Who had just received a text from his dear mother in Albuquerque. Who was wondering: Where are Ian and Rachel? Why aren't they at the airport. Yeah. We missed our flight. Planned on flying out a day after we were scheduled to leave. Can you say clusterfuck? We did our darnedest to get out to Albuquerque, but it was going to be an additional $400 each above and beyond what we already paid to fly out, which financially, just not feasible. We're still pretty embarrassed, but more than that, really sad that we didn't get to spend Christmas with Ian's mom and family. It's one of those things that I'm sure is going to be hilarious in a few years, right? We were able to salvage my plane ticket to use at another time, but ended up having to purchase a whole new plane ticket for Ian's trip to Boston.

We decided to drive to Minnesota to visit my family, which, while not our original plan, was very nice. We got up very early on Wednesday morning, packed the car, and said goodbye to our little kitties. We had a great visit - played some Canasta, hung out with family friends and extended family, ate the McCready traditional Christmas breakfast, which I love (grapefruit, pecan/caramel rolls, and summer sausage), the whole nine yards. Weather was excellent driving in and driving out.

I'd commissioned our good friend Emily to check in on the cats while we were gone to make sure they were doing alright. Emily, though not a cat person, is always willing to lend a hand if needed. We received a frantic message on Christmas Eve that when she went to check on the cats, they had been locked in Ian's study. Our landlords were to perform an inspection on Wednesday, and apparently they closed both cats in a very small room with no access to food, water, or their litter box. For TWO days. Our cats are intrepid little creatures and were as polite as they could be in the situation - they peed in a bucket and used a (previously) reusable grocery bag for their other kitty needs. Poor things. They both seem to be doing fine now, but when our landlords finally have office hours (tomorrow), we will have words.

Anyways, after driving all day, we got back last night, dealt with the cats, unpacked the car, repacked Ian's suitcase for Boston, oh-so-carefully checked his flight information for his Monday morning ride to Boston, and then Ian's phone completely pooped out. Screen gone, totally on the fritz. Ian couldn't go to Boston without a phone, so we redid our voicemails and he now has my phone. I dropped him off at the airport this morning.

Ian called a while later - his first flight to Philadelphia was seriously delayed and overbooked (they didn't even have a seat for him when he showed up two hours early), and they'd completely cancelled the second leg of his flight to Boston due to bad weather, couldn't even get him there until Wednesday night, which would mean Ian misses all of his interviews, comes into town to give his paper, and then flies out again. Ian was finally able to talk his way into a ticket (phew!), and in good faith something would get him to Boston, boarded the flight to Philly. And he caught the last flight out to Boston by pure chance. We were prepared to rent a car or have to pay for a train or bus ride to get him there. (PHEW!)

While none of this stress is comparable to having your home destroyed in a natural disaster, or losing a job, I think this week has been the hardest thing we've been through together. What I know thought is that I have an amazing partner who will be strong for me when I can't hold it together, and will allow me to be strong for him when he is overwhelmed. We will forever have neurosis about flight schedules and kennelling the cats, but we will enjoy it all together.

Jan - we'll see you this spring! We are so sorry.
Mom and Dad - thank you so much for being so flexible and letting us visit at the last minute; it was good to be home for Christmas, even if it wasn't we had planned.

It's gradually getting colder outside and time is flying by, it feels like our last post was last week, not last month!

Well, the headlines are (in order of importance): Ian's job applications are all out, save a few strays as they come up, we have a new kitten (hello, Peter!), and I completed my midterms (how successfully is yet to be determined!). We also bought a vacuum cleaner, which has both revolutionized our apartment (broom, nobody likes your style!) and frightened the crap out of the cats. Double win.

Job Applications Out!
Ian has thus far submitted almost 50 job applications for  jobs all over the country, as well as few international positions. There are many ancient philosopher openings at this time, so we have a good feeling about getting several interviews, and hopefully will have a few good schools to choose from in the spring. So, we could really end up anywhere next year, maybe even right here in Michigan!

So far Ian has one interview on the books, a smaller school trying to scoop up bright apples before the big conferences in December. We expect to start hearing from more schools in the coming weeks.

New Kitten!
Everyone say "Hello, Peter!"

Isn't he a handsome little thing? We adopted him a little over two weeks ago from Planned Pethood, a local rescue agency. He is almost 4 months old. He's had a few health problems coming in, but he's very active overall. But also a cuddle-bug, a kitty that will actively seek out pets, will gladly climb on your lap or back and fall asleep while purring. He is a sweetheart. He is a little gassy... so I guess he fits right in?

Vixen put up a major stink the first four days, but now they chase each other around the apartment and have fun playing together. At least it looks like fun?

Midterms
Actually, not that exciting. But they are done. And I'm not dead from the work or from Ian slaying my crabby, weepy pants. CRABBY WEEPY PANTS. I think that adequately describes midterms week.

Thanksgiving Week
We are flying out to California this week to visit my dad's side of the family. I'm looking forward to introducing everyone to Ian, especially my grandma, who I haven't seen in several years. Unfortunately I will have to bring a lot of work with me on the trip, it will be nice to take a few days away from the office and have time to see my family. I'm especially anxious to see my parents.

Until next month - stay warm and dry and we'll do our best to do the same!

Keeping On

This month has seen our life explode in a mushroom cloud of hectic deadlines. After giving my brown bag to the department (it went fine, by the way), I had a lot of improvements to make to the "sample of my scholarly writing" (as many of the job postings call it) before I was comfortable showing it to strangers. Thus began what is always a long and painful process, and anyone who says it's not long and painful is either lying or had nothing worth saying in the first place: the rewrite.

There's a sweet spot in between composition from scratch (it's own kind of headache) and mere copy-editing that can paralyze me ("writer's block," if you will). It's that point in a project where you know a lot of it is in place, but there's a lot that has to change, and you're not quite sure if changing the stuff that has to change is going to knock the stuff that's fine out of whack, so it will all have to be redone, and opening the document just greets you with a wall of text and where are you going to start? 

I felt nothing of the sort during my undergrad years, because I knew that deep down nothing I wrote mattered. I took up a position because I had to, wrote it down because I was told to and forgot about it afterward. Grad school is different, because somewhere along the way you become an academic, responsible for the things you say and write down. Papers and arguments follow you around, and people know what you've said and expect you to defend it if they disagree with you. That's a lot of pressure, because the academic career is a long one (the only way out is death).

So that was my October, as it was lived in my head. A lot of other things happened as well, frenetic activity on the outside: the annual job postings in Philosophy were published and I set about seeing what opportunities we would have in parts unknown. I'm happy to report that everyone seems to want Ancient Philosophy scholars, because there are many plum jobs out there for a guy like me. Enough that I'm going to be faintly embarrassed if none of these opportunities come to pass.

Our CSA share dried up as well, which is sad and signals the slow decline into winter. Winter. WINTER. When I first got to Ann Arbor, a colleague from Texas said "by April, you'll be slitting your wrist just to see some color." He felt pities his fellow south-westerner, trapped with him in a frozen wasteland that for some reason people long ago tried to settle. Oh, Michigan makes up for its 6 months of frosty negligence, with its spring flowers and flourishing foodshed. You say to yourself on that first tanktop day: "You know, it's not so bad here." And thus the cycle of abuse continues.

Rachel learned that graduate school is harder than she thought. I remember her sitting at our kitchen table a week before classes started, saying "How hard could it be?" And she sure found out. To be honest, though, observing me is not the way to get a good perspective on how most people make it through grad school. When you get right down to it, I'm paid to do nothing. Sure, if I didn't work hard at my dissertation and make progress, I'd be all kinds of screwed by the end of the year, but no one would come demanding their money back.

But back to Rachel. Being challenged for the first time in several years, she went through something of an adjustment period. She has a lot on her plate: school, a part-time job, ambitions of physical fitness and dietary perfection, a labyrinthine administration which she must navigate for any number of trivial school-related requests, and her own very high standards of excellence. I do what I can to see that she doesn't have to worry about too much besides the cat poop (which is her duty), but occasionally it emerges that we have different thresholds at which clutter and sloth cross from background noise to the whole of consciousness. Putting someone in charge of the housework who does not really consider the tidiness of any space but the area immediately surrounding his desk is not the way to run a tight ship, but we get by.

Rachel's been spearheading the effort to get us some new transportation. We've learned that October is a great time to buy a car, because dealers are getting their new year's inventory in, and our faithful Grand Prix isn't getting any younger (it hit 113000 miles recently). We're thinking a nice compact, like a Fiesta, but God almighty did they have to call it a Fiesta? Might as well have called it a Ford Swirly or a Ford Wedgie.

When you hear from us next, we'll be on Thanksgiving's doorstep and I'll have crossed the job-search Rubicon, all applications out and away, hopefully flying with the angels into the grateful arms of a philosophy department somewhere it doesn't snow half the year. One has so little control over one's fate in the academic job market that any hope is too much to hope for, but I'm pretty accomplished and as entitled to a measure of optimism as anyone.