so here's a brief overview of the past 18 months, just in case you've missed all or part of isagani's life.

august 11, 2004

he was born at ucsf on a lovely wednesday evening at 8 lbs. exactly. after 32 hours of what i considered to be a tough labor, our little "chocolate", as he was known to us, had finally arrived. after coming home for one night, we had to return to the hospital the next afternoon because gani had a high fever and was dehydrated. he also had a worsening case of jaundice, which kept us in the hospital for an additional week. poor lolo, who had come all the way up from west covina, saw him for only a day, and had to go back to work. but fortunately, lola stuck around and saved us sleep-deprived and exhausted parents. lola minnie and lola paz tag teamed and cooked some bomb arroz caldo to help with recovery. man, those days were rough. just reflecting back on it makes me really appreciate how far we've come (with sleep, at least).

the west covina crew doing our favorite activity

fast-forward through the months... the three of us have tried to make this an adventure. isagani has already been on a plane more times than i can count-- making trips down and up from sf, to westco and back (we're trying to take advantage of his free airfare before he turns two).

in december 04, we went with the family to las vegas after christmas. what was supposed to be a 4-hour drive ended up being an 8-hour drive, with marley (then 14 months) and gani (4 months) screaming at different points, and with mel and i trying to figure out creative ways to sooth them (including trying to breastfeed while strapped to a carseat).

perci and gani on the staten island ferry

then in june 05, perci, gani and i took a trip to new york. we visited our wonderful friend rizalene, and subleased a room in spanish harlem. besides it being 90+ degrees and humid as hell, we had the freshest time. because of the time difference, we decided to stay on california time the entire trip, which meant waking up around noon, and sleeping at around 2 or 3 am. so there were times when we'd be out, riding the subway home at 1 am, with gani wide awake and playing with other passengers. my favorite picture is one from riz's camera of us standing on the cobblestone streets of the meatpacking district at midnight, with a cab zooming by in the back, and gani just smiling like he's ready to party. he was amazing throughout the entire trip-- up for anything and never complained.

seven sacred pools

uncle jonel reading uncle ricky's book he illustrated to gani

learning how to walk in maui

manilatown heritage foundation's runbutan team
maui marathon 2005

in september 05, we took another trip, this time to maui to run the maui marathon as a fundraiser for the manilatown heritage foundation. both perci and i ran the 26.2 mile marathon of torture which actually became a huge spiritual journey for us and our collective that we ran with. i could do an entire blog about that experience alone, but i'd rather not revisit it too deeply, and instead refer you to a fellow runner, joanne's blog, which sums up so incredibly eloquently her and our experience there.

now, we've only got 6 months until his free airfare pass expires, so we need to get moving on planning our next trip. we're hoping to visit our dear friends/cousins in san pancho, mexico. but we also feel the philippines calling us very strongly.

other milestones... perci graduated from sf state. we're so proud of his hard work-- parenting and finishing up his last year was tough, but he did it! gani's first birthday was at crissy field, where we usually conducted our training runs. it was great to celebrate gani's first life day and our first year as parents with people we love so much. gani also started daycare, which he loves. he's got his friends orlando, matthew, kaylani, and of course his ro-dawg lupita. they're adorable together, and it's great to see him learning to play with the other kids. he's got ALL his teeth, still wears 12 month clothes (little guy), grew his hair down to his shoulders, had it cut, and grew it out to his shoulders again, and remains loving and adorable to this day.

perci's graduation

gani's 1st birthday party, crissy field, sf

looks like papa, eats like mama

reading with uncle j.r. and sporting his little boy hair

with "sister" marley