Good Day + Photos

We interviewed some nannies today - they were all very nice. I don't want to say anything yet so more on that later when we choose one.

Omi is here and we have been having some fun with the photos of course. Too bad blogspot is having problems and I can't upload them.

D-Day Strikes in Fours

Okay so we're about a mile and a half from the rink on Roscoe when a young driver and her three friends rear-end me. Their car is in very bad shape. Mine looks okay, other than some plastic bumper damage, but you never know until you drive away, right?

Fintan is okay. Hooray for car-seats. In fact, he's been in really good spirits and cheerful and cute as usual. Though he is still uninsured. Gawd help us if something more dramatic had happened!

Mark and I are okay. The impact didn't feel all that bad.

Red Dog (my car) is not okay. I will take it in to the dealership to have it looked at tomorrow. For those who know me and my car's history, the dealership is the only way to go for me. They don't do body work but they will refer me out. Unfortunately they are not open on Sundays.

When we drove off, it was making some odd noises, particularly (but not limited to) when you step on the gas pedal. When we parked and took out our bags, it was clear that her front end, which had wedged under my rear end a bit in the initial impact, had done some damage to the underside of my tail. The spare tire holder is bent, but that's to be expected. The picnic table that is in the trunk floor of CR-Vs is wedged up about 4" and the trunk area floor is damaged. You can see it underneath. And what's worse, with the hockey bag and stroller in there, it actually damaged the stroller by squishing it, and so it was almost impossible to open. I did manage to yank it apart, however, and it seems to be working okay,

Yohn said that the insurance will replace the car seat, which you are supposed to do any time it is in an accident. I think it's okay but who wants to take chances. Especially when your child has no @*(@*#* insurance. (Can you tell I'm still pissed about that? I think I'm more pissed about that than I am about the car.)

Anyway, my mom comes today and I was supposed to pick her up but I don't think I should drive the car any more than I have to. We'll have to get a rental.

I felt sorry for the girl who hit me. I think she only got her license recently. She's 19, and her insurance policy started 3/6/06. Of course, she might have had it for a year already (or more). But in any case, being under 21 (and under 25) her insurance is going to skyrocket. As for mine, I'm 0% at fault, but who knows. (I do like my insurance, tho. The Hartford. I think we'll use them for homeowners insurance, too.)

Disappointments #3 & 4

We lost. Oh well.

I got rear-ended. More on that tomorrow.

Disappointments Galore

The nanny hunt is kiling me. I can't believe there are so many flakes. I am literally ready to just stay home with him. I did check out a day-care in Culver City near work but I am just worried that with his mellow nature he won't get enough attention. He really doesn't need a lot of attention but compared with babies that fuss a lot he'll get less, I just know it. What a thing to have to worry about. Today another nanny did a no-show. And I was so excited. I dunno, we set this up on the phone yesterday and she said to email her directions. I did and it did not bounce back and it was a crazy last name so it's unlikely that it went to someone else. I am just saddened by this. I have one more name to call today from a referral. Otherwise, it's agency week next week *sigh.*

The other disappointment is house-hunting. On Thursday I saw a townhouse not too far from here in the very nice part of Van Nuys sometimes referred to as Sherman Oaks Adjacent. Very posh area. Nice complex, with pools, rec room weight room, etc. Built 1989, so very modern. I love this end unit and it is well within our price range. The third bedroom has linoleum flooring which is perfect for an office (rolling chairs). It has everything I want: patio, attached garage, a separate room for our office(s), full dining with an open bar to the kitchen, large living space, extra downstairs half bath, it even has a doggy door already in the door to the large balcony off the kitchen. Mark hated the layout and is not interested in it. I could cry. I thought this was the one!!! Oh well.

Tonight we play hockey - if we lose, that'll just be one more disappointment. Three's a charm!

The "Doctor Did Not See Him" Day

Ugh. What a friggin nightmare. Today was Fintan's 2-month check-up - or - was supposed to be, anyway.

First, a little history. Mark's insurance won't pay for his initial visit(s) because they believe that he is covered by my insurance for the first 30 days, and they do not want to be the "supplemental" insurer. We tried to convince them that they are his primary insurer. Whatever. In any case, they terminated his insurance for that period. Okay, so we got him on Mark's plan to start on 2-21. I can't remember the date of the last appointment but at that time the insurance still had him listed as terminated so I had to pay for the visit myself. Then a couple weeks ago we got his insurance card. I was overjoyed and made his next appointment.

Well, today we go there and I'm all happy to hand over his card and they are happy that we finally have things cleared up... when lo and behold! the computer spits back that he was terminated on 3-31. OKAY WHAT!? Why on EARTH would he be terminated on 3-31? That's INSANE. Who pays for 30 days of insurance only!?!? Give me a break! So she calls the insurance company to see what the status actually is and they confirm that he's been terminated and blame it on the HR person who set it up.

Okay so I am ready to write a check for the visit (the immunizations that I would have started today would be $300+ so I said skip that) but lo and behold! my checkbook is not in the diaper bag (WHAT!?!) which I use as a purse these days, and they don't take card, and I have only enough cash for parking and his co-pay. So she suggests that I get the insurance straightened out before we book another appointment. Which means another two weeks. And by then he'll be 3 months old.

*sigh*

Needless to say - and I do hope Mark's HR guy or someone from Atari - whoever is responsible - isn't reading this so that Mark won't get fired for me saying so, but if for any reason I have to take Fintan to the emergency room or have to pay for any kind of urgent care at all, I am going to have to sue Atari for the expenses, because my INFANT IS F*!#@ING UNINSURED RIGHT NOW and I am TIRED of being PATIENT with them being UNABLE to GET THIS STRAIGHTENED OUT! HOW HARD CAN IT BE!? For gawd sakes!!!

Okay, I vented. My child is cranky every afternoon, gets foam at the tip of his penis, won't sleep unless it's in my arms, is a few millennia from sleeping through the night, eats 40+ ounzes a day, has bouts of "zoning out" that concern me; I have a million "is this normal?" questions I need to ask and I have many other questions and concerns like when can I start giving him rice cereal and how can we get him to sleep more at night. (I can't go back to work if I am getting up 3 times a night, this is crazy.)

Fortunately my real estate agent is always thinking of me and she gave me the name of her pediatrician in Encino, which I think is the same place Maria goes, and I think I will just go there from now on (if they take his insurance - if he ever GETS F*@&#ING insurance!!) as it is closer and comes highly recommended.

Babies Babies Everywhere

Hooray! Binky (Jenny) had her baby Aisling ("Ash-ling") last night. 8 lbs. 8 oz, 19 in. I can't wait to see her and/or see pictures of her! Binky did the whole thing with the midwives totally naturally. She said transition was a bitch but that is definitely to be expected. (It was creepy even on drugs.) I'm so glad that Finny's girlfriend is finally here! CONGRATS, BINKY & BRIAN!

I also saw photos of Maria's new baby, Marcello ("Mac"). He is amazingly adult-looking. His features are so very well defined! I thought Finny was so adult-looking but Mac takes the cake. Eat your heart out, Fabio! Maria had a successful VBAC and shares my feelings about newborn motherhood - but at least she has her mom AND a nanny to help take care of her and her baby and her toddler Truman.

Tomorrow I am going to meet up with my beloved halfling friend Lynn "Feisty" and her son Little Joseph (named for her father who died in a car accident with herself and her mother in the car while she was pregnant with Little Joseph). Joseph was born in (I think) October. He and Finny are destined to be hockey buddies along with Aisling who will probably kick both their butts. Anyway Lynn and I seldom get to hook up when she's in town so I'm glad we finally have a date :)

Since this blog is supposed to be about Finny (and now, Finny's friends), click here for the latest videos of him.

Finally - I got to play hockey!

Hello, world. I played my first game of hockey last night. Mark and I are on the same team and we had the dreadful 10pm Sunday night game. We all hate those, but you have a few each season. The hardest part is finding a sitter because you don't want to put anyone out that late at night.

Lucky for us, "uncle" Dalan said he'd come over and watch the kid. It went really well. Normally he's asleep at that time anyway, and after a feeding he pretty much conked out. Dalan did change his peepee diaper but he didn't need to. Dalan and his girlfriend played Guitar Hero and Finny slept through it, of course. Dalan likes babies :)

As for the game, I did pretty well. I'm playing forward this season (at my request) and we have Mike back in net so we feel a little more confident. I had to wear my old Oakland Seals jersey because the guy who borrowed my Snipers jersey last season while I was out hadn't washed it yet, and he needed to wear it. No biggy, the Seals jersey fits better and reminds me of some of my better playing years. Anyway I had a lot of scoring opportunities in front of the net. I found that with my out-of-shape legs and lungs, I was doing my best parking around the net and the high slot picking up the garbage. I almost had a goal on one rebound where I lifted the shot on my backhand and the goalie was down, but unfortunately I was in too close and it just clipped the top/side of the goalie's pad and came back out. Then it was a shove-it-under game as I fell down. No biggy. I had lot sof fun pretending to be Darcy Tucker. (It was not a Forsberg night for me.) Mark played well too, at defense, but he did have one blunder that resulted in a goal (Mike got a piece of it but it dropped and rolled in behind him).

Anyway, it felt good to be back. I can't wait to get back into shape and get my game on!