Enzo at 4

Enzo is my favorite boy in the world. He'll be 4 years old in a week.

Enzo has started schooling last June in the same school as her Ate Zia. He is in Junior Casa, Zia is in Senior Casa. Enzo used to be quiet and doesn't socialize as much. Since his school, he talks a lot and even smiles a lot.

He mimics what her Ate Zia does, so some of his skills are advanced for his age. He reads very well, and he enjoys reading books. He uses my iPhone a lot, can operate my computers to view pictures and play its music playlist, can type and spell letters using Word. His writing and coloring still needs practice but he keeps doing them. He sings well, in fact, he memorizes the songs he likes to listen and sings with them when they are being played. He is also your typical young boy, sobrang kulit at magulo. He runs around, jumps from the top of the couch, climbs the tree in the lawn so he also gets the usual bumps and bruises. Hopefully, no major accidents in the future.

He is usually kulang sa pansin. If I'm playing with Zia or talking with Zia, he'll tell me "How about Enzo?" His Ate Zia would usually concede and give way to his little brother. They would have occasional fights but eventually would share their toys, their books, the iPhone, the computer even me.

Iza's Baptism

My youngest child is a Catholic!

Iza had her baptism last October 9, 2010 at St. Andrew Parish in Makati. The original schedule was 10am, so the whole family woke up early in Las Pinas for the big event. The plan was to use 2 vehicles - one car with me, Zia, Enzo and Lalay (one of the helpers), the other car would ride Judith, Iza and Cris (another helper). Then disaster struck! The traffic in Alabang was crawling in a snail pace figuratively! So Judith called Jing in Makati to inform the parish office that we will not reach the church on time. We were informed that our schedule has been moved to 11:30am.

I reached Makati at 10am but learning that our schedule has been moved, I proceeded to the reception place, Hae Song restaurant, to inform them of the change of time. This is where the second disaster happened. I was told by one of the restaurant personnel that allegedly somebody called them up and moved our reception from October 9 to October 15! I demanded that they show proof regarding this caller because only Judith and I communicated with them all throughout the preparations. They were apologetic and promised that they would do the necessary adjustments since the lunch will start at 12noon instead of the original 11am.

When we arrived at the church, Judith was already there. Also present were Mommy, Daddy, Tita Nilds, Candee and Gian, Joy, Mek, Kyla and Miguel, Jojo. Lare, Alicia and Zack, Jing and Noli plus the ninongs.

Iza's godfathers are Dr. Arnel Tolentino and Dr. Jose Tecson, both close friend of ours from medical school and my fraternity brothers, Ryan Li, Judith's cousin who is now based in Taiwan, and Mek.

Iza's godmothers are Jing, Jay and Drs. Ina Crisologo and Deb Palmes. Ina however was in Batangas for an out-of-town lecture and Deb is based in Aklan.

Because we were quite early now for our schedule, we had picture taking done inside the church. Through out this time, Iza was very cooperative. She was smiling to those who would want to talk to her, and would just be quiet if left alone, not as grumpy as our previous baptism experiences from Zia and Enzo. The 2 kids were just busy playing in the church with their cousins until the ceremony started.

The baptism ceremony was short, solemn and direct to the point. The presiding priest was Fr. Jeffrey Jamias. The church provided us with booklets and candles to be used throughout the ceremony. Iza was just quiet and awake during the sacrament. She was wearing the same white clothes her Ate Zia and Kuya Enzo wore during their baptisms. And to top it all, I was baptized in the same church 39 years ago!



After the ceremony, we proceeded to Hae Song. It is an Asian fusion restaurant located in Makati as well. Judith and I found the place to be ideal for the reception, they offer mostly Korean and Japanese cuisine. When we tried their buffet we found it very good, specially the price. When we talked with its owner, she was very accommodating with our requests.

When we reached the place, some of our friends were already there. Our friends and classmates from med school - Kim, Sonia, Mike, Charms and her husband Jay seated together with Eye Republic colleagues Rainier, Happy and Ken.

Judith arranged a surprise treat to Mommy since she just celebrated her birthday, so she invited Mommy's old friends and most of them came to celebrate with us. Mommy had a great time as well.

It was quite tiring juggling your time talking with friends, eating, taking pictures, and looking after Zia's and Enzo's endless playing inside the restaurant. But it was all worth it. After the disasters, the reception ended well. We thought the day will end well but our day was still far from over. (I will post another blog entry for that)

Just like me, Judith and the godparents, our role for Iza just started. Hopefully we can guide her to be a good Christian when she grows up.

To see the pictures of the baptism, please click HERE.

Zia at 5

My eldest daughter is growing so fast. At present she's enrolled still at Montessori de Manila as a Senior Casa student. Last week, Judith and I received her report card and we talked with her teacher, Teacher Asian.

Zia according to her teacher is a very good student. She finishes her tasks well and right, she is an advanced reader for her age and she enjoys singing and dancing. However she still often wanders around specially if her tasks bore her.

She has finished her occupational therapy sessions last May, and her recent assessment from her developmental pediatrician showed her development stage is at par with her age.

She enjoys dancing, she likes to listen to my music collections and would play them to my computer and phone over and over. Early this year, her favorites were Abba songs, then Michael Jackson songs, then she discovered MTV, and would dance to the pop songs in front of the TV. At present, she enjoys Usher, Justin Bieber, Super Junior, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and other danceable tunes of other artists.

Because we have exposed her to different books, she enjoys reading very much. She writes better now and she colors her books adequately. She can count in English, Tagalog and Spanish. She has a very sweet laugh but she does her usual drama once in a while.

Enzo is her sparring partner, they have a very good relationship. She is very accommodating to him, very Ate. Sometime she manipulates him to get what she wants, but she is very giving.

Since Iza was born, Zia and Enzo are sleeping with me in a different room with Judith and Iza. Zia is very Ate as well with Iza. Once Iza cries, she calls at once one of the yayas or either me or Judith. She always do gigil with her and kisses her all the time.

Her allergy still nags her almost daily. Her rhinitis makes her sneeze every morning, sometimes eczema is present on the back of her knees and her neck. She had 2 asthma attacks this year.

She bikes during afternoons or play in the lawn with Enzo. She even climbs a small tree in our lawn. At night, before we sleep in our room, Zia, Enzo and me have a routine wherein after they finish their milk and toothbrush, we play horsey, hayan na si Papa, and tickletime. Once the lights are off, we will watch their favorite video in my phone then it's storytime! I tell them short stories, usually made-up stories with simple lessons for them to remember. We've been doing these for the past 3 months, since Iza was born, and I've never felt so close to my 2 older kids. I can't wait til Iza joins our party!

News Flash!

I found this in the internet.

Iza

It's been a year since my last post, many events have passed, but none as special as last week's. My third child was born.

Her name is Teresa Czarina G. Perez or Iza for short. Her name is derived from her Lola Goody and my Tatay's name. Tatay would have wanted a Cesar III, but now I have 3 kids with Cesar in their names.

She was born July 1, 2010 at 1:11PM. It was a Thursday, and our usual Thursday begins when Judith goes to Perpetual Help College of Medicine to attend its weekly conferences, I was sending off Zia and Enzo to school. After bringing the kids at Montessori at 9:30AM, I received a call from Judith, she told me that we are going now to PGH, she is on labor and 5cms dilated already when examined by our kumare Janice.

I called my clinic to cancel all my appointments, then fetched Judith and off to PGH. We arrived shortly after 1030AM. She was sent directly to the Labor Room, and was examined by the Ob Redidents. It was very comforting to know that Judith's attending MD, Dra. Llave is already in the hospital, attending to another patient. All the necessary stuff was done and the next part is the waiting time. Epidural anesthesia was also given to Judith by Dr. Ting Odi. After more than an hour, she was then transferred to the Delivery Room.

Judith showed tremendous strength. It was very evident that she was in great pain but she endured all of it. Inside the Delivery Room, after more that 7 tries, Iza came out! Again, a mixture of emotions - happiness, concern, fear, relief - overwhelm me. Here's my third child, my bunso! And she looks just fine.

We were transferred to our private room at around 4PM, Iza was just wearing temporary clothes since we did not bring any bags. Candy, Ogie and Joy visited us, along with Kim on the first day. Daddy, Jing, Tita Nilds and Ryan visited us before we were discharged.

Happiness and a new chapter begins.

Washington DC 2009

Judith was quite excited on our trip going to Washington DC. After meeting my relatives in New York, it is now her chance to meet her relatives in US.

Before leaving New York, Tito Bobs bought us food from NY Chinatown for baon in our bus trip. As much as we would like to bring all the food, we brought fried rice, chicken and pork asado. We ate some during the bus stop over somewhere in Maryland.

After a 4 hour bus ride, we reached DC and just like in Boston and New York, once we alighted from our vehicles, our relatives are already there, ready to welcome us. Judith's cousin Karen and her husband Bodgie helped us with our bags then asked us where do we want to go first. Our answer: SHOPPING!

Our schedule in DC is quite limited. Karen and Bodgie have been lobbying for a longer stay for us, but we can only stay there for 4 days and 3 nights. Judith and Karen have not seen each other for nearly 4 years. They are quite close, like sisters, practically growing up together in Pinas. So after leaving our bags in their home, we went to go shopping. Bodgie drove us to an Outlet Store in Leesburg, an hour's drive from their home. We reached the place at around 6PM, we left when they closed at 9pm.

Judith and I were surprised how low the prices on these stores. The stores are branded stores but the prices are really low. Judith's smile never left her face, as if she hit jackpot in a casino. She knows the range of prices in Manila, so the items she bought (shoes and bags) were really priced better compared to those back home. After a 4 hour bus trip, 3 hours of shopping and 2 hours of car trip in DC, we were all hungry and tired going home. We were planning to buy food then eat back home, but, as if a bad joke was done to us, ALL food places that we visited was closed or closing. So, when we reached home, we ended up eating the food Tito Bobs gave us from New York! Buti na lang marami talagang pinadala si Tito, masarap pa. Tawanan na lang kami habang kumakain.

The next day was TOUR day. We went to the National Mall of DC wherein we visited the National Air and Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Natural History, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, World War II Veterans Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol and the White House. Pictures galore on every stop, as we were accompanied by Karen and Bodgie. The National Mall was really a tourist haven for all the famous landmarks of DC. As usual, Judith and I enjoyed the artworks from the museums. The Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials were magnificent structures. The Washington Monument was very imposing, along with the Capitol Building, but the White House is really an awe-inspiring building.

We capped the day by going to the nearby National Harbor, a newly built marina where shopping and dining places are present. We were feted by Tita Raquel (Karen's mom) to a hearty Chinese banquet. The servers on that restaurant were quite queer-looking since most of them were chong-sam wearing caucasians! However, the food and the service were excellent. Then we watched an open-air jazz concert nearby. Coolness! Upon reaching Bodgie's home, we played some Wii Sports games in their den.

The next day was again shopping day. We went back to Leesburg for another round of Outlet Store buying spree. This time, the whole day was alloted for shopping alone. We bought stuff for the kids and for pasalubongs back home. We ate dinner in a Cheesecake Factory restaurant, again for free courtesy of the Dioquinos.

In our last day in DC, we were a bit sad because we will leave Karen, Bodgie and specially Roen, their cute daughter. During our stay, she would love to show us her stuff, her shoulder bags, her toys, her make-up, her toy car, her shoes, her room, etc. She reminds us of Zia. There was an instance when we were talking with Zia via Skype, Roen was smiling when she heard Zia singing one of her favorite songs as well. Actually, Zia has many similarities with Roen, hopefully someday they would be as close as their mothers.

We left DC with many smiles, many shopping goodies and many good memories.

To view our pictures, please click HERE

New York 2009

We left Boston quite in a nick of time!

I booked a bus trip from Boston to New York online. BoltBus is the name of the bus line. Our schedule was to leave Boston South Station in 5PM. We never realized that the South Station was a large station with many gates and terminals. All along I assumed that the bus will pick us up outside the station, so JR and Rainier dropped me and Judith outside South Station. Lucky for us, Rainier thought otherwise, he checked inside the station and found the right gate for us to board. Judith immediately ran 3 floors up the terminal and found the bus dispatcher, pleaded him to wait for us before the bus leaves. As we boarded the bus, it began to move out. Whew!

The bus ride was quite nice. The bus has a wifi connection, it has electrical plugs and the leg space is roomy. We enjoyed the scenery from Boston to New York. We even talked to the kids using Skype inside the bus. As we see the skyline of New York coming near, our excitement also grows bigger.

We reached New York City at around 9PM. The moment we alighted from the bus, I already saw Tito Bobs and Tita Josie waiting for us in the station. Again, it was very gratifying to see familiar faces especially relatives in a big new city. We rode a cab going to Tito Bobs' apartment in Manhattan, and enjoyed the night scenes in the street. Tito Bobs' place is like an apartment with a DVD library. His collection of movies, musicals, concerts and other videos are things to envy. The apartment reminded me of my Lola Taba's place (Nanay's, Tito Bobs' and Tita Josie's mother) in Makati when I was still a small boy. The arrangements of the appliances, its designs and its stuff look very familiar. The best part of the apartment is the view outside the bedroom - the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Of course, once we set foot in his apartment, Tito Bobs (and Tita Josie) began to be our lifeline. Tita immediately gave us our subway ticket pass good for a week, Tito Bobs went to shop in the nearby grocery for food and other stuff - all for me and Judith. We talked and talked until the wee hours of the morning.



Our first day in New York began with a Sunday Mass in the Church of the Holy Conception just across the street where Tito lives. After the mass, we ate our breakfast in a diner nearby called Ambrosia. Well, the food is quite heavenly-filling and a good preparation for our long day ahead. When Tito and Tita asked us what do we want to see first, we opted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So we rode our first subway ride with them and walked until we reached the museum.


The Met is a huge place! Tito bought us the tickets and we REALLY enjoyed our visit there. The Egyptian exhibit is a grand one (as if we were in the pyramids), the European sculptures were very exquisite, the African and the Latin American artworks are very exotic, very mysterious, but the paintings on the second floor are our favorites. Works of Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Manet, Picasso, etc., were there for us to wonder! We took lots of pictures and bought souvenirs (actually even the souvenirs were bought by Tito so we did not spend a thing there). Me and Judith were worrying for Tito and Tita because the two of us are prepared for such long walks, and they might be tired with us, but to our surprise, we were tiring ahead of them.


After almost 4 hours in the museum, we went to Times Square to buy Broadway show tickets. As we walk towards Broadway Ave we saw parts of the street closed for vehicles to accommodate people, mainly tourists. We took pictures of people, buildings, interesting sights, etc. As we reached the ticket place, Tito Bobs again bought us tickets to watch Mamma Mia. Because the play is still 3 hours away, we decided to go to the Empire State Building. We had snacks first at a nearby McDonald's again courtesy of Tito. Upon entering the Empire State, we found that the queue was long but once we were on the viewdeck of the famous building, the scenery was breath-taking. Well, actually breath-taking for me since I am afraid of heights. Even inside the building, we were all amazed of the classy designs from the walls to the floors. Of course, the viewdeck was paid by Tito Bobs.



We reached the theater just in time, and Tita, me and Judith enjoyed the play. Judith was dancing at the end of the show to her delight. We walked back again to Times Square to see this famous place at night time. It was truly a plaza with a nightly light show. A sight to behold and a grand way to finish the night.



The next day, after breakfast, we rode the Circle Line. It is a tourist ship which routes the whole Manhattan Island. Along the waters, we saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge and the other famous and interesting sights of New York. There is a tour guide annotating some facts about the famous places and it is quite informative. Tita Josie, Tito Bobs and his friend Keith were with us during this 3 hour trip. Afterwards, Tita Josie accompanied us going to Queens. We rode the train to reach her son and my cousin, Chris' home. Chris is also a doctor, his wife Iris is also an ophthalmologist. They have a son, Ryan, who is as old as Enzo.


The whole Arboleda clan had a mini reunion in Chris' house because of us. My uncles Francis and Lito were there. Tito Francis came with his son Wesley. Tito Lito's family was complete - Tita Lorna and the kids (well, big kids) Matthew and Mike. We had dinner together and watched the Baseball Home Run Derby. My cousins except for Chris, are all huge, they probably outweigh me at least 50 pounds. But being with them, having fun with them makes me realize how lucky I am to have relatives like them. After the mini-party, Tito Francis even drove us to his home, maybe an hour away from Chris' place. Tito and Wesley were very comfortable during the car trip, but Judith and I were so cold since Tito's car is a convertible, running in a highway at 10PM. Because of the trip in his home, we were able to see my other cousins, Jeffrey and Tiffany, who missed the get-together. After one round of beer, Tito Francis brought us back to Chris' place.


The next day, me, Judith and Tita Josie were fetched by Tito Francis to go to upstate New York to visit Tita Madre in Maryknoll Sisters, Ossening, New York. Tita Madre was diagnosed to have lung cancer last year, and since then, no relatives have visited her yet. After an hour and a half drive, we reached the place, and we were so amazed how beautiful the compound of the Maryknoll lay people. Once we reached the building of Tita Madre, she accompanied us to their dining area and she gave us a feast for our lunch. She just finished a tiring diagnostic exam during the morning but she was so excited and enthusiastically introduced us to ALL people in the building. She even gave us a tour of the place, showed us their museum, their big chapel and their beautiful courtyard with plenty of flowers. She was so thrilled to see us that she was so tired when we reached her room. Of course I was so thrilled as well to see her up and about than languishing in a hospital bed. I gave her some advises regarding her condition, got some medical information from her as well so that I can ask my doctor friends who are pulmonologists and oncologists. As much as we would want to stay more and longer to Tita, we still have to go back to Manhattan, so in the mid afternoon, we bade Tita farewell. Before we reached Manhattan, Tito Francis passed by Coney Island. It is one of the popular beaches in NY. After some pictures, we retired to Tito Bobs place. Judith cooked dinner for all of us to finish the memorable day.


The next day Tito Bobs and Tita Josie let us see NY for ourselves. Of course, before we left the apartment, they even gave us pocket money! Judith and I went to the Central Park, the Chrysler Building, Macy's, the Apple Store, Rockefeller Plaza, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Philippine Consulate Office, the Disney Store, the NBA Store, and took pictures and shopped for pasalubongs. We returned to Tito's place just to change clothes because we were off again to see my friends from high school. They booked a Japanese restaurant near downtown called Megu, and we (Yeng, Leslie and Jude) had a grand time talking about the younger years. Of course, it was a free treat again for us. Another great way to end the day.

After breakfast the next day, we packed our bags and Tito Bobs accompanied us for our bus trip going to Washington DC.

Next stop: Washington DC!

For more pictures, click HERE.