Ben and Chase

We had family pictures taken down on the beach a few nights ago. My sweet next door neighbor is wanting to practice her photography skills, and I jumped at the chance for some family pictures for our Christmas card. When we were all done and getting ready to leave she snapped this picture of Ben and Chase. I love it, for so many reasons. I love the beauty of the island. We are so lucky to be here. I love the way it captures the sweet bond between Ben and Chase. I love seeing them together. Ben is an amazing dad to Chase, and I can tell that Chase knows his dad loves him. Chase's whole face lights up when Ben comes home at the end of the day. Mostly I love this picture because I love the people in it. These two are my whole world.

Thanks Michelle for capturing this sweet moment!

Pool Time!

We are loving having Ben around! Today we went to the pool. Ben has been living here with us in the tropics since April and this was his first time to the pool! (When you take a look at how white he is though that information probably didn't come as a surprise) Our little Chase is slowly warming up to the concept of swimming. I think having daddy there made him feel better about it. Ben is convinced that the reason Chase isn't too happy at the pool is because I make him wear that hat. Whatever, I think it's cute. Ben takes it off him every chance he gets. Right before we left we were talking with Will, who wanted more pictures of Chase's concerned face in the water. I think Chase delivered on that one! Although in a few pictures he's actually looking more on the happy side! Progress!

Then we came home and Chase was pretty happy to play around on the floor.

Ben snapped these pictures of him.

Whenever Ben is around, Chase tends to be pretty content to play on the floor like this.

I swear as soon as Ben leaves, Chase demands me to hold him.

Oh well, it's cute and nice while it lasts!

I love my two boys!

More Chase

It may seem like I just post all the time about Chase, pictures of Chase, updates on every tiny aspect of Chase's life, what new trick he's doing, how he's sleeping, etc. This may be annoying to some of you (but if it is, I figure no one forces you to read our blog). In case you think I'm just obsessed with my child (which is definitely true), here is a sample of the backlash that occurs if I don't update often (or in this case, skype often enough- any type of lack of technology centering on Chase as the main subject)

On my facebook wall today from one of his adoring fans:

SKYPE ME PLEASE

(minutes later)

STOP WITH HOLDING YOUR CHILD FROM ME

(seconds later)

SERIOUSLY, SO UPSET

Okay- message received.

This was from my darling sister Heidi, who might be just as enamored and in love with our little boy as Ben and I are. Once she did get us on Skype, Chase had just fallen asleep. And although she begged me to go wake him up, I refused her persuasion and she didn't get to see her little nephew today. To make up for it, sweet Heidi, here are some pictures of the little man. It's hard to get a good picture these days, this kid never holds still. His smile is the sweetest thing ever and no photo can really capture how cute it is. He has Ben and I completely wrapped around his little finger.

He is loving bath time and has just now figured out how to splash- like really splash. Tonight he splashed repeatedly, followed with squeals of delight. It was the cutest little thing.
He's perfecting the art of throwing a tantrum. This morning when I wasn't doing what he wanted fast enough, he progressed from a cry to a full-blown tantrum in a matter of seconds. I had to laugh when he pulled the binky out of his mouth and threw it at me. Oh I think we are in trouble when he turns two!

He is so close to crawling. He's can pull himself up on all fours now and will rock back and forth a little. He rolls all over the place and he's just starting to pull himself up on things. This kiddo is super mobile!

We have some GOOD NEWS!

Ben has officially passed Semester 1 of medical school!

This may not sound like that big of news, but believe me, it is. To give you a little perspective, when we got here last April, the class that was just completing Semester 1 had 20% of their class fail. With most med schools in the US if you fail a class you just retake it during the summer. With Ross, if you fail a block (they do block grades instead of class grades, three blocks are in a semester) then you have to repeat the entire semester! If you fail two blocks, then you have to leave the island and appeal to try to get back in. So passing here is a big deal. We knew it might be close for us, but luckily Ben's hard work paid off! He worked so so hard this semester and we are now in celebration mode!

These pictures are actually from a couple of days ago, but I thought Chase looked darling, so I thought I'd throw them up there.

That's all folks!

Batibou

Ben finished finals on Monday morning. We don't get his scores back for a few more days, we are waiting with great anxiety and anticipation. In the meantime though, we are enjoying the break! Chase and I love having Ben around! We've had some seriously rainy weather ever since finals got out, but we've still managed to have some fun. We had a fun little BBQ with the other first semester students in the branch and their families. We've gone to the gym, taken a few naps, watched some movies, taken a few walks in the rain, made cinnamon rolls, and just enjoyed each other!

Today the sun came out! We finally got out of the house and got to have some fun! Today we ventured out to Batibou Beach, which is rumored to be one of the prettiest beaches on the island. It did not disappoint! The ride there was an adventure- we planned to meet a few other families from our branch in Portsmouth at 9:30 to catch a transport to the beach. We were all there and piled in the transport pulling out at 9:35 (pretty punctual group- definitely a good start to a good day!) We were packed in that transport and the road there was super windy- as they always are in Dominica. I got pretty sick- not quite as bad as a few of the kids on our transport that actually threw up. I think we were all pretty happy to get out of that bus! Then we hiked down through some pretty serious mud to the beach. About 15 minutes later we were enjoying the sunshine in this beautiful place!

Our four families were the only ones on this beach for the majority of the day, until other friends from the branch joined us! A fabulous advantage to living on a remote, non-touristy island is that we get the beautiful beaches all to ourselves!

If you can see that rock clear out in the ocean on the left- Ben, Jesse, Eric and Travis all trekked out there and climbed up on that rock and jumped off into the ocean. It's maybe a 10-15 foot jump, but with the waves and open water surrounding us, Jessica, Holly, Shantell and I were pretty happy that none of us became widows:)

Chase still has luke-warm feelings about swimming,

although he was really calm and pretty content all day.

He did get a little upset when I wouldn't let him eat that whole mouthful of sand he really wanted to devour. What a mean mommy I can be!

I really love these girls! I'm lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful women here in the branch that just make life here much more enjoyable!

Me, Shantell, Holly and Jessica

We packed up and left at the perfect time, or maybe 20 minutes too late. We got caught in a traditional Dominican downpour on the muddy hike back up to the main road. For some reason, I think Ben and I forgot we live in the rainforest and didn't have umbrellas with us. So we got soaked of course. We hailed a nice taxi driver to drive us back to Picard (where we live) at a cheap price. We all piled in his van, a super tight squeeze again, but luckily no one threw up this time:) The drive back was a little more relaxed. As crazy as it is to pack four families into one of these vans, all sitting basically on top of each other, they make the adventure just that much more fun and memorable. Someday we'll be back in the states with carseats and seatbelts and life will just be so different than the relaxed slow pace of life here!

The last few days...

...have been a little rough, to say the least. Ben has had all week off classes to prepare for his final, which is Monday morning (pray for him!) and gets home around midnight or later every night. I see him for maybe 15 minutes a day. Totally understandable, these medical school tests are a big deal and I'm proud of him for working so hard. Wednesday afternoon and evening I started feeling sick, but I thought it was just a little cold and would go away on it's own. Thursday I just kept doing the normal stuff, worked out, took Chase to the pool, etc. By Thursday night I felt horrible, and on suggestion from my mom, took a look at my throat- white spots. Yuck. I took my temperature- high. More yuck. I've never had strep before in my life- somehow I made it through 13 years of public school, all my siblings having strep various times, nursing school and lots of exposure in hospitals and care centers, and never got it. Now I live in a 3rd world country, with a husband extremely busy with finals and a baby to take care of- of course I got it now!

I went to the clinic on campus on Friday to get antibiotics. I missed America a little, when you can drive to see the doctor, instead of loading your baby in the stroller and walking half a mile each way to the health clinic and pharmacy. I am grateful that they at least have the antibiotics here on the island! Chase and I have spent the last two days taking it easy, I try to nap when he does, and after a few doses of the antibiotics I'm starting to feel better.

Chase on the other hand has been a little angel for me, and two of the last three nights has slept through the night! That makes a total of three nights this week that he's slept 10 hours straight and it's been amazing! I'm hoping it can become a more consistant trend!

So basically, that is what has been going on around the Hugo home these last few days. To recap- Ben- studying, studying, more studying, Courtney- sick, Chase- little angel, slept through the night, we love this child!

After Ben's test on Monday we are going to do a little relaxing and a little exploring of this beautiful island!

Chase recently

This little bug has been making us laugh a lot lately.

His new favorite thing:

After he finishes eating I let him have the spoon for a little while.

He chews on both ends of the spoon

and plays around with his little dish

for about 15 minutes

and is as happy as can be.

I love seeing him discover new things.

Our messy little guy after a breakfast of bananas and oatmeal.

Sometimes he likes to stick his hand in his mouth with the food

and then rub that all over his face.

A few mornings ago he bonked his head on the tile floor of our place(we have since gotten foam play mats to rectify the situation). He was crying and I was comforting him, Ben wanted to give it a try. So I handed the crying babe over to his dad who said, "Chase- you need to be tough!" Immediately Chase stopped crying. He whimpered a few times, stayed quiet for a few minutes and then was back to his normal self. Apparently he just needed to hear it from another guy.

Ben and I really really love this little boy! He brings us so much happiness and is the light of our lives!

Church in Dominica

I've had a lot of people ask questions about church here in Dominica- it is so different than church in Utah! We are part of the Portsmouth Branch. We meet in Portsmouth, there are about 60 of us there each week, 10-15 of which are locals, the rest of us are students and their families. We meet in this lovely green building- the second floor is where Sacrament meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society and Priesthood are held, the bottom floor is primary and the Branch President's office. Nursery meets in the Branch President's office. We are tightly packed in this building and we are very limited in resources- but I can tell you- the church is still true in Dominica!

Our branch presidency is made up of students and most people in the ward serve in multiple capacities. As the second counselor in the Primary presidency, I'm also the chorister and end up spending quite a bit of time in nursery each Sunday as well. Some Sundays Primary seems like a zoo and I'm exhausted when we get home! I'm definitely learning a lot about being flexible, working with what I've got, making the best of the situation, and serving wherever I'm needed (at least I'm trying to get better at these things!) Mostly I'm loving the experience.

And I just loved what this little boy said in nursery a few weeks ago while I was teaching the Joseph Smith story:

Me: Do you know what church we go to?

2 year old boy: The GREEN one!

Me: ...That's right, good job!

7 months

Our little guy is 7 months old, and as evidenced by these pictures he never holds still. Ever. Well- sometimes while he's sleeping...even then he wakes up at a completely different spot in his crib from where I laid him down. He wants to touch everything, put everything in his mouth and is interested in everything. He loves toys now and has definite favorites. He still loves reading books, although now he also wants to eat the books, so it takes a little longer to get through them. This past month we added bananas, peas, mangos, carrots and pears to his diet. Mangos are his absolute favorite- go figure for a little island baby. He's started to get really silly, giggles all the time, loves watching other kids play, and now has a slight "mommy preference" although he still goes crazy for his dad.

I tried to take some pictures of him tonight and I couldn't really get a good one- he wouldn't hold still long enough and our camera just isn't that fast! These were the best I got:




Cute Story: Last night Chase was struggling with bedtime. He usually goes down about 7:30 and sleeps until at least 1-2 am, but last night he was up at 9:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. We kept calming him down and once we put him back in his crib he'd start screaming again. Ben finally just laid down on the bed in Chase room with Chase next to him. Chase stared very intently at Ben and took his little finger and started flicking Ben lower lip. After a minute of doing this and studying Ben's lip, Chase pulled the binky out of his mouth and tried to put it in Ben's mouth. I guess he figured out that daddy has a mouth too and probably wanted to suck on a binky too (because why wouldn't you want to suck on a binky?). It melts my heart to see the loving sweet way Ben interacts with Chase and the way Chase just beams with happiness when he's with his dad.

In Dominica Today...

This post is just a collection of the recent happenings in our life in Dominica, along with some pictures I took of Chaser this morning that I just love (the boy and the pictures)

In International news, the possible Hurricane Emily is headed our way. I have never studied meteorology, so I don't quite understand the weather reports, but as far as I can tell the storm should hit us sometime early tomorrow morning. This could be anywhere from a full-blown hurricane, or more likely just a whole lot of rain and wind, more on the tropical storm level or less. Or it could miss us all together. They are estimating it's a 90% chance that we will get hit. Either way, I'm trying to pull out all I know from being a scoutmaster's daughter and trying to "Be Prepared". While my mom was here she helped us get some good food storage stocked up and stuff for 72 hour kits. We've got flashlights and lots of batteries in case we loose power (although our place does have a generator- so hopefully that won't happen). I've got a lot of stored water, because inevitably in any big rainstorm our water gets shut off. Today I'm running to the store to get paper plates and utensils so we won't have to worry about dishes should the water be off long term.
In Chase news- this kid really really wants to be able to crawl. He tries to propel himself with his feet, but hasn't figured out how to coordinate that with his arms yet. He ends up with his face in the bed, arms flailing to each side, with his little bum in the air and his feet moving away. It's hilarious. He usually ends up just rolling to one side and smiling to himself. He also has started being okay with being in his crib by himself. Some mornings he'll wake up and just lay in his crib and talk to himself for 30 minutes! It's amazing- I get to doze for a little longer and when I go in to get him he's all smiles and so happy to see me. It's so endearing I just love it!
Ben is still just studying- he works so hard! I love Sundays when he takes a break and spends the whole day with us, but first thing Monday morning it's back to the books! He has three practical exams today (one anatomy exam, one histology exam and one doctor-interviewing-skills exam), then his Block 3 exam a week from today. Then he gets a full week to study for finals- this semester is wrapping up fast!
And the most exciting thing in my life lately, besides Chase's new accomplishments, is probably that I finally figured out what channel will give me the Today show in the morning. For some reason it just makes me less homesick to spend a few minutes while I'm making and cleaning up breakfast to get some news of what is going on in the states, along with interesting segments on the latest in health, movies or real estate.

So that's life for the Hugo family in Dominica for now- I'll post later to let you know how we survive the possible impending storm!