Hi my name is Vince. I will crush you.

7 months old. He keeps getting closer and closer to that one yr old mark. Simply amazing.



It being Christmas, and with all of the things that are going on around us these days, and with all the stuff that we had to go through last year, Jen and I just look at each other lately and all we can do is give thanks for this unbelievable gift that we have been blessed with. We have this remarkable little person who makes us laugh and cry. Who makes us proud and joyful with every passing day. Sometimes we're just at a loss of words to describe it.

But all of that being said, Vince gave us a good crushing this Christmas. It started on Sunday. The crying. The no-sleeping. The general crankiness. By Christmas day, Vince was just miserable and accompany that with a 102 degree fever. Poor Vince. He could barely play with wrapping paper and boxes. Even had to cancel a play date with his buddy Luke from Austin (sorry again Svobodas). The doctor took a look and determined that Vince had developed an ear infection. Otitis Media to be exact. Pretty common for babies. Most of our friends warned us about it. The remedy, antibiotics. Twice a day. Should take a few days to clear up. In the meantime, he is crying relentlessly and needless to say, Vincent's sleep patterns, which were inconsistent to begin with, are now just FUBAR


Merry Christmas from Houston!!!

But even sickness couldn't keep this kid from partying hard this Christmas. A few weeks before Christmas, Vince took in his very first concert. He got to watch his Cuya Ralph in the Houston Boys Choir annual Christmas concert. Midway through the show, Vincent got bored and tried to sing along. He listened to the rest of the concert from the lobby. This was Ralph's last year to perform with the Boys choir. Its kind of like Menudo, where they kick you out after you (and your voice) reach a certain age.



And as usual we spent Christmas day with Auntie Fe. The infamous Magic Microphone made an appearance as is normal at an asian party. Vincent got to hear papa do his best (or worst) Ricky Martin impersonation. That is probably what caused his ear infection.


Lolo singing "oops, I did it again"


Guess how many of these kids are sick


Too much partying


Vincent recieved far and away the most gifts this year. Mama was a distant second. Papa is still waiting for Santa. The most handy gift that Vincent recieved this year was probably his high chair. Perfect for feeding time. So far, Vincent has tried, rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, apples, peaches, pears, and bananas. He seems to enjoy the sweet potatoes the most. An interesting side note to this is that his poop now looks and SMELLS like a grown person's poop. And please allow me to emphasize again the SMELL.


Uncle John, if you don't buy me a gift than you are a Loser!!

Here's a quick video of Ate Ana opening some gifts


And while we're talking about eating, Vincent has two teeth. Both bottoms. They work too. Mama has the bloody nipples to prove it.


I have more teeth than Lolo now!!!

On the mobility front, Vince turned over finally this month. But he seems to have gotten bored with that rather quickly. He prefers sitting up and playing with his numerous toys, which seem to be scattered EVERYWHERE. He also really likes being stood up and leaning against the coffee table or couch. He can't quite pull himself up yet, but he's working on it. He's also attempting to crawl. But all he can manage so far is kind of a backwards squirm. All in good time, I suppose.



In other news, after several months of preparation Vincent's buddy Gabrielle (and the rest of the Fernandes family) made their final move to Bangkok. Good luck guys. Hope we can visit soon.

Gabrielle, who are all these people, and why are they taking all of your stuff????


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So that was Vincent's first Christmas. Hope you all enjoyed the holiday as much as he did. To close, I leave you with Vincent's favorite Christmas song

The temperature has gotten quite a bit colder lately. Meaning, no more trips to the park for the little guy. So instead, we've been making trips to the Galleria just to get out of the house. In case you were interested, I rate wandering around the Galleria during christmas time just a little above watching a "Date my Mom" marathon on MTV (i.e. I hate it). But I guess this is one of those "sacrifices" that Im supposed to make as a parent. On one of these trips, I invited my bro to share in the torture....err...joy.

So anyway, it being Christmas and all, Vincent and Ate Ana had a visit with Santa. Of course with the holidays, the line was long. But Vince made a new friend while waiting. By sheer coincidence, Eva Lin lined up right behind us. Mama and Papa knew Eva's dad Frank from their carefree college days in Austin. Eva was scared of me at first (as most women tend to be), but Vince's charm helped to win her over.

"Hey Eva, do you know what this line is for?"


Surprisingly, the actual picture taking with Santa was uneventful. I had envisioned 2 screaming kids. And one annoyed Santa.

I tried to upload the actual picture that we paid for, but I'm not very good at the internet. So this one will have to do for now.


Mama promised Ana a trip to Dylan's Candy Bar after the pictures with Santa. Ana picked out a lollipop the size of her face. So needless to say, she was happy.

Here's a cool picture of Ana by the ice skating rink


Vince also seems to enjoy these outings. Maybe its all the people he likes to stare at. Maybe its all the lights. Maybe he's happy that consumer spending seems to have rebounded after a sluggish past 2 fiscal quarters. eh, he probably just farted.

Here is what we look like at the mall



Here's a completely unrelated but horribly cute picture. Just to tide you guys over until the next update



Laters

EDIT: Vincent has a new little buddy, Rees. I got to be friends with Rees's dad a few years ago when we were both trying to look busy at a big energy company in Houston. Rees will have a pretty amazing story to tell one day. He came into the world a little early than normal, he's a 4 month preemie. He has battled like a champion so far, but he's still in the NICU and probably a few months away yet from going home. He can use as many prayers as he can get, so please keep Rees in your thoughts.