Our life lately

Of course, our life lately revolves around two things: medical school and our little boy. Ben's still working hard, studying long hours and stays extremely busy with school. Chase, of course, is still adorable.

We just recently got some missionaries on our island! We haven't had Elders here the whole time we've been here, but we recently got a few companionships that are assigned to Dominica for a few months. They just got in last weekend. We signed up to have them over for dinner on Tuesday. We loved having the company of these sweet Elders. And small world moment, Elder Christiansen- on the right- is from none other than Kaysville, Ut! He went to Davis High and played football with my little brother Nate. Crazy!
Chase is pulling himself up on everything now. He usually looks so happy with himself. Now I need to baby proof another level of our home!
Chase loves this little rope. It's supposed to hold the curtains back, but we rarely use it and Chase thinks that it is a great toy!
Chase and I have been hanging out at the pool a little more lately. I think I've got Chase liking the idea of swimming these days. I put these darling little flip flops on him the other day and I had to take a picture. Is there anything in the world cuter than baby feet?
Chase usually rides in his stroller with his feet propped up like this. I get lots of comments on how cute it is, he just looks so comfortable! And he was confused by these shoes, it's the first time he's worn shoes and he just kept trying to take them off. It was darling while it lasted:)
Chase is getting better at feeding himself, although this picture is proof that giving him chunks of avocado usually just results in a huge mess. He does really well with puffs, little pieces of bread or tortilla, scrambled eggs and green beans though.
And lastly, I bought him this darling outfit last Spring. I loved it and I've been so excited to put him in it. It finally almost fits, so he wore it to church last Sunday. He looked so cute we tried to get a picture. He wasn't feeling like being photographed. These were the best we got. I'll try again another day!

Sadie and "BABY CHASE!!!!!!!"

Chase has a cute little friend here. Her name is Sadie and she lives next door. She has been completely attached to Chase since the day we moved in. Sadie was just barely learning to talk then and one of the few things she'd say was "Baby Chase". Whenever she'd see me with Chase she'd yell it out in the most excited little voice- "Baby CHASE!!!" Whenever she'd see me without Chase attached, it would be a question "Baby Chase?", to which I would usually respond, "Baby Chase is sleeping." Now when Sadie sees me without Chase she says immediately "baby Chase is sleepin' " Chase's face lights up now when he sees Sadie. He knows she likes him and that she's FUN! Sadie's mom, Michelle, snapped these pictures of them playing the other day. Chase is starting to interact with other kids now, which is so so fun to watch.

I've noticed that now almost everyone in our branch calls him Baby Chase. It's partly due to the fact that there is a 7 year old girl, Chaise, in our branch. Mostly, I think it's because they hear Sadie yelling it out all the time. Hooray for Baby Chase!

Days 9 & 10...

Day 9: What has made living on the island easier?

I actually did a whole post about this last summer. To recap: Without a doubt, good friends. There have been a few wonderful ladies in our branch here that have helped me keep my sanity! Technology has made it much easier, with skype and email. I still eat a lot of ice cream, although I've been trying to cut back:)

Day 10: What will you miss when you leave?

Almost every night I take dinner up to Ben on campus. We sit on a picnic table that overlooks the ocean and watch the sunset while we eat. It's always breathtaking and I love it.

Day 8: Does your spouse like it here?

I need to finish this challenge up! The weekend was busy and got me off track!

I asked Ben what he thinks of living here. Here is how the conversation went down.

Ben: "What do you think?"

Courtney: "I think you miss beef a lot and on Sundays when we stay home all afternoon you get really hot and miss airconditioning a lot* but mostly you are an adventurous person and you enjoy living here."

Ben: "Yep- that's pretty much it."

Ben and I have had a couple of conversations lately about how he misses eating beef. He even asked if I thought possibly my mom could make flank steak for our first meal when we get back. I said I thought she probably would. He went on to describe his ideal meal that my mom could make for him- flank steak with chili sauce, homemade rolls, grilled pineapple and "that really good salad". Got all that Mom? (That really good salad is the one with romaine lettuce, broccoli and ramen noodles)

*Campus is air conditioned, so the heat here doesn't affect Ben all that much

It's not even Halloween yet. . .

. . . and I'm already thinking about Christmas. I do this every year, I really love fall and I really love winter, especially Christmas time. And since the birth of Chase last January I feel like Ben and I are real grown-ups now and that means doing our own Christmas card. I love getting Christmas cards. I think it is so fun to get such fun mail during the month of December. And when you live in a 3rd world country, which I do, you have to plan these things out early. So if you would like to receive a Christmas card from us, leave me your address:) If you don't want to leave it in a comment, you can email it to me court.hugo@gmail.com

Thanks!

Day 7: What is the best meal you've had on the island

This one is hard for me. Cooking here has been hard for me. It's hard to make yummy, nutritious meals with the limited resources here. A lot of my standby recipes I made a lot when we lived in the states don't work here, so I've had to find a bunch of new ones that do work. Ben found this recipe for me to try and we've really liked it, so this is probably the best meal we've had here.

COCONUT CURRY CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 white onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - chopped 1 large potate, cubed

2 1/2 tablespoons yellow curry powder 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1 (14 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk 1 Tbsp Lime juice 2 Tbsp brown sugar 1/3 cup chicken stock salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and cook until tender. Mix in the chicken, and cook 10 minutes, or until juices run clear.
2.	Mix the potato, curry powder and garlic salt into the skillet. Pour in the coconut milk, lime juice, brown sugar and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Serve over rice. **I add carrots and broccoli to this recipe with the chicken and we really like it that way

Day 6: Tell about an "only in Dominica" moment. . .

I've had so many of these, here are just a few:

• I went to get a new lighter to use to light our oven with. I went to James Store, this crazy store right by campus that is just packed full of the most random things, most of it just really looks like junk. I asked for help to find a lighter because it is nearly impossible to find anything in there without help. The store worker took me back and found the lighters and proceeded to try at least 12 lighters before he found one that worked to give to me to buy. What did he do with the 11 reject lighters that didn't actually work? Put them right back in the shelf, for some poor, unsuspecting customer to buy.
• When we are out in even the tiniest amount of rain (you know the kind that is falling so softly that you hardly notice it) locals will always stop me to tell me to cover up my baby. Even sometimes when I have the rain cover over the stroller they will stop to tell me to keep my baby dry. I want to say, "You do know he gets wet when I bathe him right?" I don't know why they are so concerned about babies getting wet, but they are. I just don't think that if Chase little legs get wet from a little light rain in 80 degree weather is not going to hurt him. He doesn't seem to mind.
• Locals always think Chase is a girl. I really don't know how they mistake my handsome little man as a girl, but I get told that I have a beautiful daughter a lot. And I think every outfit he owns is blue. It's still a mystery to me. Doesn't he just look like a little boy?

Day 5: What don't you miss about home

Although I do miss our car a whole lot, I do NOT miss dealing with gas prices! As expensive as life is here (groceries are 2-3 times more expensive than they would be in the states, our rent is high, etc.) at least we don't have to pay to fuel a car! I love that.

9 months

My sweet baby boy is 9 months old!

He is still just the sweetest, funniest, tiniest thing around.

He finally weighs 17 pounds and we've moved him up to size 2 diapers (which are really big on him, but we ran out of the size 1-2 diapers that were working so well).

He still wears his 3-6 month clothes,

and as you can see in the picture below, they are still kind of big on him.

He's crawling all over the place and getting into everything.

He's learned to climb into things too, like shelves and inside cupboards.

In the last month he's discovered a whole new world of food- we introduced chicken, kiwi, broccoli, peaches, eggs, cheese and pasta. After all that went well, we started giving him little bites of whatever we are eating for dinner. We gave him black bean soup one night and he absolutely loved it. I've been taking dinner to campus to eat with Ben so he doesn't have to take too much of a break from studying. Chase sits on Ben's lap while Ben eats and insists on sharing Ben's dinner. So every other bite goes in Chase mouth. He loves it! Ben has given Chase a few bites of cookies now- of course Chase loved it! This kid will eat anything now!

Notice the can of green beans behind him. I snapped this while he was playing in the food storage. He thinks it is the most fun game ever. I kept him entertained while I was on a long distance call with someone back in the states, so I was happy too.

And at 9 months old he still has 0 teeth. I'm not complaining about this one! We call him gummy bear or gumdrop, because he's cute and sweet and little and has the sweetest little gummy smile!

Day 4: What has been your favorite trip

My favorite site so far on the island has been Emerald Pool. I mean, seriously, take a look at that-

Day 3: How does the weather affect you?

Oh the weather! Dominican weather has basically two varieties- super super hot and humid or rain. I have always loved rainy weather, it's probably the Utah girl in me growing up praying for rain all the time. I love how cozy it is inside when it rains and I really don't mind being out when it's lightly raining. I love that it cools down during rainstorms as well! That is always a welcome relief. The flip side of this is that huge downpours are pretty common and can start without any notice. I've come home completely soaked (like water dripping off my clothes and hair) many times. When it rains a lot then our water gets shut off, which is also inconvenient.

The hot and humid is mostly okay, sometimes pretty uncomfortable, but I think I would rather live someplace hot than someplace freezing cold all the time. There are days where I think I might just melt, but it's okay. I do love that we have access to the beach and a pool for those hot days!

Chase has decided that 5:30 am is a really good time to wake up (but since this does mean I get to sleep all night I'll take it!). After Chase eats I get us both dressed and I put Chase in the stroller and we walk/hike/jog for about an hour to get some exercise. From 6:00 to 7:00 am it feels absolutely fabulous outside. This is one of my favorite times of day. It's not cool, not hot and the air just feels fresh. I love it. I wish Dominica felt like that all day.

We loved conference! We watched the whole thing on my laptop. We put Chase down for his naps at the first of every session so we could watch the first hour or so in peace. Once he woke up it was a different story. Chase really didn't want to sit and watch with us. We are still working on teaching him about reverence. Oh well, we sure think he's cute though.

Day 2: What has been better than you expected?

If you talked to me about our move to Dominica last Spring, I would have told you that I was extremely nervous about centipedes. The centipedes here can be a foot long and they are poisonous. They look evil. I was so worried about getting stung by one, and more important, so worried about my baby being stung by a centipede. I have yet to see a live one. I've seen a baby centipede dead on the road, but have never actually faced a live one. You have no idea how happy this makes me. If I can leave the island next August having never seen a live centipede I will be a happy girl!

Also- although not truly associated with Dominica- staying at home with this little one has been even more fun and rewarding than I could have imagined. I'm so glad I get to stay at home with him, the thought of going to work all day and leaving him with a sitter tears me up inside. I miss him when he takes an extra long nap! He is my best little buddy. I'm sure glad he came into our lives when he did!

Day 1: What do you miss most about home

I have several thoughts on this- I miss so many things about home! Here is the short list:

1. Family and Friends! I'm lucky that I get to skype with my mom, dad, brother and sister fairly regularly, and I keep in contact with a lot of my friends through email and facebook. This is the first time I've been away for this long and it's been really hard to not see all the people I love.

2. Our car- although I love that most everything is within walking distance and I can just put the baby in the stroller to go to the grocery store, friends houses, campus, etc. I miss the ease sometimes of driving a car. Especially because the car has air conditioning and walking around here pushing the stroller can get very very hot. I especially missed it when I had strep and had to go into the health clinic and then to the pharmacy to get antibiotics (strep throat+pushing a stroller 1 mile just to get a prescription in 95 degree weather= no fun)

3. Stores like Target- I just think back now on all the things you can buy in Target, really anything you could ever need. There is just nothing like that available here. We can get basic groceries and some other necessities, but it's very limited. I think I might cry when I walk into Target when we move back to the states.

4. My dishes- this sounds like such a little thing, but living in this rental with a semi-furnished kitchen (meaning we have 4 plates, a few forks and spoons, 1 pot, 2 pans, you get the idea- it's everything absolutely necessary with no extras) makes me miss my beautiful dishes I got for our wedding, along with all the other kitchenware that just makes cooking so easy. I miss our nice sharp knives, our blender, all my different sizes of pots and pans, all my measuring cups (here I have a 1 cup measuring cup and a 1/4 cup measuring cup and that's it), our pretty silverware. This might sound ridiculous, but I will appreciate all our stuff so much when we get back!

5. I miss getting dressed up! I miss being able to wear layers, high heels and actually styling my hair with a blow dryer and curling iron. Someday. . .

And just for Heidi, who would be extremely disappointed in me if I posted anything without pictures of her sweet little nephew- here are a few pictures I snapped of Chaser today.

Although Chase doesn't have a super cute happy face here (it was really hot and he was really tired) I thought he was acting so funny. He loves loves loves keys. He had his head rested on Ben's chest, but one hand was always reaching over for his keys.

Chaser in his stroller. He has been quite the somber kid today. Maybe he's finally getting a tooth? In the picture above he's smiling at a little friend who was playing peek-a-boo with him. It was one of the few smiles he gave out all day.