Little Boys and Tools

What is it about tools that makes boys so excited? Chase already loves them! He has a little toy hammer that he loves to pound on things. This week we struck near-disaster (which is being slightly overly dramatic)- our fan broke. We can't afford to run the AC often and that fan is what keeps us all from dying of dehydration and heat stroke. Those babies are expensive and I really didn't want to buy a new one with only 4 months left on the island. We called a local kid in our branch, Jemuel, who fixes fans to ask if he could take a look and see if it could be fixed. Sweet Jemuel came over right after school and went to work on our fan. Chase was ALL OVER IT! He stayed right by Jemuel's side, watched very closely, and kept trying to "help" with Jemuel's tools. Jemuel was darling with him and would point to which tool he needed next and ask Chase to hand it to him. Chase was very serious about his role as helper- needless to say it was darling to watch!

At one point, Chase thought his box of wipes would be helpful.

About 20 minutes later we had a working fan and happy little boy!

Only in Dominica Moments

We've had quite a few Only in Dominica moments lately- to recap:

1. On Friday Nicole (Relief Society President) and I went to do a few visits of sisters in our ward. We did one earlier in the day and just walked there, arrived totally sweaty and gross, it is so hot in Dominica right now! The other sister we wanted to visit is a local sister who lives down in Portsmouth and said we could come later in the day. So after Chase got up from his afternoon nap Nicole, Chase and I headed down to Portsmouth. I put Chase in the moby wrap and we caught a transport. Her house is maybe 3/4 mile from where the transport drops you off, so we walked the rest of the way. We had a nice visit with her, and I only inwardly freaked out when a rooster walked right into her house and Chase was kind of interested in it. Those talons could do serious damage (I think, I actually know very little about rooster behavior). It is truly amazing to see how the locals live in little shacks, most without running water, wood floors. Our apartment looks like serious luxury after that! After the visit we walked back to the bus stop to catch a transport home and it was HOT. We waited for awhile to catch a transport, along with a bunch of teenagers- I think school must have just gotten out. The teenagers pile into the transport and there is only one seat left- shotgun by the driver. So I hop in the shotgun, with Chase strapped to me in the Moby, and Nicole sat on my lap- totally hot and sweaty from the walk and we laughed the whole way home. Remember carseats and seatbelts and safety? Not so much a thing in Dominica!

2. The power went out last night around 5 pm. Our place, in all it's glory and cleanliness, has one major fault: No Generator. It went out just as I was trying to look up the recipe I was making for dinner, creamy tomato basil soup. No power, no internet. I thought I could make the soup from memory and thanks to our propane stove, I could make dinner without power. I had to pull out a lantern so I could see what I was doing, but I started making dinner, thinking I was remembering the recipe pretty close. It was going great, until I realized that after the soup simmers, you have to blend it to mix up the tomatoes and onions. No power, no blender. Oversight on my part. So I have this mostly finished soup that we can't really eat for dinner. I started to freak out a little bit out of frustration with the inconvenience of it all. My always calm husband reassured me that we could eat something else for dinner and it would be fine. Not wanting to open the fridge too many times (we had no idea how long the power would be out and didn't want the food to spoil) we decided to make crepes. I whipped up some crepes and we ate by lantern light, which Chase thought was thoroughly entertaining. The cute little guy kept pointing at the design the lantern made on the ceiling and thought it was hilarious when Ben made little shadow geese for him. Almost the minute we finished our dinner the power came back on- perfect timing right? Nothing like 90 minutes without power to make you appreciate it!

Our Crazy Weekend

We had quite the crazy weekend here in Portsmouth! It was so so busy, mostly with church stuff.

(Clarification: Our little branch is stationed in Portsmouth, but there is a small group of members that meet in Roseau- the capitol city, which is an hour away. The group in Roseau is still technically part of our branch)

Our branch hosted a "family fair" in the field by the church on Saturday.

It's an effort to try to spread the gospel a little and help the community like us more.

We had a bunch of local kids there that thought the games were so fun,

and a few adults came and were able to talk to the missionaries.

See the banner around the little fair, kind of containing it?

Well Chase felt strongly that he should only be on the outside of this banner.

Hence, Ben spent the whole time following our independent boy around the field

while I manned the ring toss game.

And despite our best efforts with the sunscreen, all three Hugos came

home a little burnt- the summer heat and intensity has arrived!

I think the event was a success!

Saturday night we got a call from our Branch President informing us that there had been a change of plans, that instead of normal church in Portsmouth we would all be heading down to Roseau for a baptism of a new member at 8, followed by church afterwards. We were supposed to meet at the school at 6:45 am. Our whole branch was packed into this bus, the picture doesn't do it justice- what you can't really see due to the angle is that almost every person also has a child on their lap. Ben and I had taken dramamine since we get very carsick on the long drive, so we were extremely drowsy and just out of it- which does not do great things for our people skills.

We made it in time to see Cathy baptized, in a beautiful river not far from the building where the group meets. Cathy was baptized by her husband who was just baptized himself a few months ago. As I sat there watching from the rock I was perched on, I thought that this must be the type of setting that they baptized people in the Book of Mormon. It was a sweet, spiritual moment and I'm glad we got to witness it.

And here we are all crammed into the small space for sacrament meeting. By the time we finally got home several hours later we were all tired, hungry, hot and a little less than cheery. Traveling around on a bus, in the heat, with a bunch of people, when there is lots of waiting around between things is hard anyway, but it is especially hard with kids. At times, it was almost so miserable that in hindsight it is comical! What an adventure we have had in Dominica! In a few months we will be back to normal church meetings, in a chapel with a foyer, carpet, classrooms, and airconditioning/heating, which sounds lovely, but I'll never forget these funny/miserable/quirky little things we did down here and all the memories we made!

Man vs. Food

Who do you think won?

Chase has been a difficult little eater lately. He still loves bananas, banana bread, yogurt, cottage cheese, quesedillas, applesauce, and of course- cookies. Vegetables end up on the floor. So do scrambled eggs, chicken, bread, and anything else he isn't feeling particularly cooperative about eating. Pretty much anything I try to feed him for dinner also gets thrown on the floor, I think he's too tired to cooperate with eating at that point. Either way, I know he's clearly getting enough food, but with our already limited resources finding food he wants to eat is a bigger challenge. And I have to clean the floor more often, like after every meal. I'm hoping it's a phase that will end soon. Last week we had the following conversation:

Me: Chase! We do not throw food.

Chase: Looks at me with beautiful innocent eyes and throws more food on the floor.

Me: No no! Chase, do we throw food?

Chase: Nods head yes and says "yeah"

Maybe I need to change my tactics? The message is not getting through.

St. Patricks Day

My sweet baby-

St. Patricks Day 2011

St Patricks Day 2012

What a difference a year makes in a baby! I forgot it was St. Patricks Day and originally dressed Chase in this cute little dog outfit a friend gave us. By 7 am I realized my mistake and put him in this little outfit, which I love. Unfortunately, Chase is pretty much grown out of it. It was pretty tight, and I promised him once St. Patricks Day was over I would put it in the pile of clothes to take back to the states for a little brother to wear at some point. I really hope Chase does get a little brother, because I seriously have a hard time packing away my favorite outfits. It makes me so sad when he out grows them!

Maybe it's because his mom forced him to wear a slightly-too-small outfit all day, but Chase was not a happy camper for St. Patricks Day. I snapped this picture at the end of the day, after many tears when I didn't hold him while I cooked dinner, and when his toys wouldn't fit through the holes he was trying to put them through, when I wouldn't let him play with the trash can and then when I handed him his milk and apparently that wasn't what he wanted. Most days this boy is delightful, but this was one of those days I was all too eager to put him to bed as soon as possible (just keeping it real folks).

In other events at the Hugo home, Ben is working studiously away at his cardiovascular pathophysiology, microbiology and pharmacology. I now know those drugs better than I ever did learning them in nursing school. I'm supposed to be doing CE courses online to keep my license active (which I have been doing, I've done 21 of the 30 credits so far that have to be done by next January) but with all this studying Ben and I are doing together I feel like the licensing bureau should give me credit and renew my license! I think by the time we are done here, I'll have earned a quarter of a medical degree. Ben really amazes me though. He is so focused and so disciplined. I get bored and kind of ornery when we study together for three hours- and he does 16 hours 6 days a week! He's one dedicated man!

I'm loving my calling as the First Councilor in the Relief Society Presidency. (To clarify, the presidency is just me and the president, Nicole. We are the presidency, compassionate service chair/committee, relief society teachers, visiting teaching supervisors, enrichment committee, etc.) We had an activity on Friday where the head of the Ross Counseling Department came and gave a presentation on mental and emotional health. I made the refreshments, two new recipes I found on pinterest that turned out really good for mint chocolate cookies and coconut cream pie bars. Nicole brought juice and actually found us a table cloth at James Store (aka- the random store of junk and everything imaginable that probably won't work after you buy it). We were pretty proud of ourselves that we had a fairly nice looking table (plastic lime green and purple table cloth, paper plates and forks, juice in water bottles and then the treats I made). The activity was fun and the treats were all gone, so I'm hoping that means everyone liked them.

The next day I was talking to my mom who had just gotten home from her stake's big Relief Society birthday celebration, complete with a main session, several seminars (one of which she presented) and lunch. She told me about how the entire church was decorated, the chapel, halls, foyer, classrooms full of antique framed photographs, quilts, floral arrangements, and an entire covered wagon. To which I responded,

"Wow. Nicole and I were pretty proud of

ourselves for having a tablecloth."

That's life in Dominica for you!

A little taste of "normal" life

As fun as our adventure here has been, I've been craving "normal" life. You know, the type where when Dad comes home from work (or in our case, school) and he gets to spend the evening with his family. Mom and Dad go on dates on weekends and they have time to hang out on Saturday afternoons. That kind of normal. Instead, Ben comes home for dinner, we put the baby to bed, and then we spend the next three hours drilling on pathophysiology and pharmacology. At least we get a little time together right? Ben spends the whole weekend studying, and just like weeknights, after Chase goes to bed I spend a few hours helping him drill on the material.

This last weekend, we got a little taste of "normal". Ben had a test on Friday so we had the whole weekend together! It was so fun and so refreshing. Chase just soaked up the time with his dad and I loved having time with Ben that was unimpeded by the stress of studying new material. We had plans to spend some time at the pool, but the cloudy and windy weather didn't cooperate. Instead we went on walks, made cookies, went grocery shopping and played with our cute baby boy. After Chase was in bed, Ben and I got to eat ice cream and catch up on recent episodes of The Office. It seems so simple, but it was just the little break I had been craving to get us through until the end of April when Ben has another break.

The icing on the cake of our fun weekend was that Ben did extremely well on his test! All those hours of studying and drilling paid off!

Somehow when I was taking pictures of our weekend with Ben I didn't manage to get Ben in more than one picture. Oh well, the kiddo is cute! These pictures show how busy this kid is too!

Chase only recently decided that he can hold his

own sippy cup while he drinks.

We are so proud.

Chase in a hat

My mom got Chase this hat at H&M while we were in Arizona in February. I just showed it to Chase a few days ago and he LOVES it! He'll go get it when I ask him to and he loves putting it on. Of course, he pulls it back off almost immediately, but it's pretty darling to watch. He also thought it was hilarious to pull it all the way over his eyes and run around blind. Such a goofy kid!

I'm pretty sure this is Chase saying,

"Thanks for the cool hat Grammy!"

He recently learned to sign hat- which is just patting your head. It's pretty cute though, we love watching him figure out new things. The new goal now is to get him to keep the hat on for more than two seconds.

Chase's time with the guys

As previously stated, I left Chase with my dad and brothers while I was in Scottsdale with my mom and sister. I was seriously nervous about leaving him, mostly worried about how much I knew I'd miss him, but I knew that the trip would be much more fun and relaxing without him. After spending a few days in Kaysville at my parents house my worries about Chase's wellbeing without me were dispelled; Chase absolutely loves my dad and brothers. He loved playing with them and I knew they'd watch him closely and keep him away from danger (you know, like stairs and outlets). Chase cried when I said good-bye to him at the airport, but my dad assured me that as soon as the car started moving he was absolutely fine.

Will sent us pictures from his phone throughout the trip, which made me miss my baby less and made me feel better about how he was doing. As these pictures show, Chase was well taken care of and had a blast with the guys.

The first night we were gone they ordered wings and watched the Jazz game. Here is Chase, looking very serious about being included in guys night. Apparently after he ate his dinner he ate 4 chicken wings.

On Sunday my dad was in meetings all day, so Will was watching Chase.

Will sent me these pictures and told me Chase likes wearing his hood like that.

Playing in the pit

After getting those cute pictures I told Will that those aren't Chase's church clothes.

After explaining which clothes I had for him to wear to church will sent me these pictures:

Should I go to church like this?

Or this?

I think I told him that clothes are preferable.

Chase was kind of on a "liquid strike" while we were there.

I think Will sent this to me to assure me Chase was drinking.

They spent a little time up at Fatboys.

Here's Chase walking around like he owns the place.

They had lunch there with my grandparents and Chase wowed them with his tricks,

and he ate most of my aunt's lunch.

Kid has a big appetite.

And I think this one was proof that they were feeding Chase.

Chase totally bonded with the Smith men while he stayed with them and they took great care of him. They had lots of fun wrestling on my parents bed, playing with cars and balls and doing all kinds of ridiculous things to make Chase laugh. Both my brothers had their first experience changing a dirty diaper and lived through it. Chase still had all his fingers and toes and from what I heard barely noticed I was gone. (Although the last day my dad said he walked all over the house calling out "mama? Mama!" He was looking for me:) Thank you so much for watching him boys- Chase loves you and so do I!

Sundays

Oh the challenge of Sundays. . .

First to focus on the positive- we get a day with Ben, we get to go to church and worship and feel renewed, life moves a little slower on Sundays.

Seriously though, church with our 14 month old son is a challenge. He normally goes down for his morning nap at 9, right when church starts. Do you think he just naps there in our arms? Rarely. Meaning almost never. During sacrament he really likes to hit things on the metal chairs and make a really loud noise. I'm longing for those padded benches and carpet you have in a normal church building. And then when he's really fussy we can go stand outside on the balcony with him, which is usually extremely hot. I have a great appreciation for the foyer now and I'm sorely missing it.

Yesterday Chase fell asleep during the last few minutes of Sacrament. Ben carefully moved into Sunday school without waking Chase and we enjoyed 15 minutes of the lesson before Chase woke up, angry at only getting a 25 minute nap. Ben took him out and came back without him. Ben informed me that he left him in nursery. Ahem, Ben, babies have to be 18 months to go to nursery. Ben said they didn't mind, and neither did Chase, so he just left him there. I'm a rule follower by nature, so I let him stay for Sunday School but went down and got him for the third hour. He spent the entire third hour running back and forth through the curtain that separates Relief Society and Priesthood. Each time he'd run through the curtain with his arms in the air, as if saying, "I've arrived!" Basically he managed to be an interruption and distraction to both Relief Society and Elders Quorum. We are officially those parents who let their kid wander and be a little distracting, because we know that trying to contain him will only cause more fussiness and screaming and will probably be more distracting.

Basically I've noticed that I have to work pretty hard at church- work hard to keep Chase contained and somewhat quiet, and work hard to try to pay attention enough to get something out the lessons and talks. After venting to my mom yesterday about how hard church is with a toddler, she reassured me that this will continue to be a challenge for at least the next ten years. Yay- something to look forward to.

As hard and frustrating as life with a baby can be at times, he sure is worth it! He's doing the cutest things these days, including folding his arms for the beginning of prayers (like the first 2 seconds before he gets distracted by something else) and helping put things away. He melts my heart!

He is so busy and into everything, but really he's been like that since the minute he was mobile last summer! That last picture just cracks me up. He loves playing with his blocks and that little green rake is now a favorite (one of the beach toys from a previous post). Also, on Saturday he got ahold of the little syringe that goes with his infant ibuprofen. He was fascinated by it. He played with it for 45 minutes straight. Maybe he's showing medical aspirations? I tried bringing it to church in hopes that it would make church a little easier. It did not. He just wanted to bang the syringe on the metal chairs. Plan failed. Maybe I'll come up with something more successful for next week.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday- so we celebrated a little. Meaning, I read Chase his Dr. Seuss books and we were happy that Dr. Seuss was born. I love the Seuss books, Chase does too! He's been hearing Dr. Seuss since he was just a little lime size peanut in my tummy. My mom gave me a book when I was pregnant called, "Oh Baby! The places you'll go! A book to be read in utero" which was a darling book about the excitement of a baby coming to Earth and all the fun things they'll experience through Seuss's books. Research showed that babies who were read to in utero responded to the sing-songy rhymes after birth, inferring that babies could even gain some intellectual benefit from being read to in utero. I read the book to Chase whenever I had a minute and wanted to put my feet up anyway and it never failed to get him dancing all over the place in there.

After Chase was born I started to reading to him almost immediately. Even from a tiny age he was mesmorized by the pictures in books. As he's gotten older, and now clearly understands more, reading time is still one of my favorite things we do. I think reading to children is so important and I'm so glad that my little Chase loves it as much as I do. Here is a picture of Chase carrying around "The Foot Book"- a definite favorite. Thanks to this book, Chase can successfully locate his own feet (unlike eyes, ears, nose and mouth that he can only locate on others). We love Dr. Seuss!

It finally happened. . .

It finally happened. . . Chase likes the beach!

For the first 9 months we lived here we tried taking Chase to the beach on and off with mostly frustrating results- he'd try to eat sand, and get mad when I'd stop him, or he'd rub sand in his eyes, and get mad when it hurt, or a wave would crash into him and scare him. I'd usually call it good after 15 minutes on the beach. And after all that we still had to walk 20 minutes home, usually with a fussy baby, and once we got home we'd get sand EVERYWHERE in our apartment. Without a vacuum, I feel like I'm sweeping up sand for days after a trip to the beach. For these reasons, we rarely went to the beach. It killed me a little, living an easy walk from a beautiful beach on a tropical island, and we dont' even go enjoy it.

Enter Chase's birthday. I took some of the extra "beach" cupcakes from Chase's party to our downstairs neighbor, Nyla, a cute single gal who is a first semester here. A few days later she came upstairs with a present for Chase. She'd gone grocery shopping in Roseau and stopped by a toy store there and bought Chase a huge collection of beach toys! A big boat, bucket, shovel, watering can and a whole bunch of shapes that can be used in the sand. Chase has a blast playing with them in our apartment.

I took the beach toys to the pool a few times, which Chase loved. About a month ago I got a text from my friend Holly saying she was taking her kids to the pool if anyone wanted to join. Chase and I packed up and headed out, only to find that the pool was closed for cleaning. A little frustrated, we decided to head down to the beach since it's only a little farther and we were all sunscreened and in swim suits. A gritted my teeth a little thinking it would never last and wouldn't be worth the mess. I was wrong- it was delightful! For the next hour and a half Chase played happily in the sand with the toys Nyla gave him. The other kids all enjoyed the toys too. I got to sit on the beach and chat with the other moms. It was a wonderful afternoon! I walked home with a big smile on my face, so happy that we live on this beautiful island!

So apparently, all Chase needed was beach toys.

Pictures from our fun day at the beach

Chase and Flat Stanley