We interrupt this pity party...

... to bring you GOOD NEWS! Not just good, FANTASTIC!

The last week at the Hugo home has been rough. The cold-of-death hit Chase and I last weekend and we've been basically miserable coughing, with sore throats and runny noses. (Spoiler alert- we are half way through our THIRD box of Kleenex since Sunday) Luckily, Ben stayed mostly healthy until after his big test on Thursday, but the cold-of-death has now hit him as Chase and I are starting to come out of it. I've now downgraded it to just a regular cold :)

But, amidst the misery of the week, we couldn't help but take a break from our pity party to celebrate and shout for joy that these two got engaged!

My brother Will and his new sweet finance Katie Newbold are getting married January 5th and we couldn't be more thrilled! We are so glad that Will found someone as beautiful, sweet and awesome as Katie, because he definitely deserves it!

In unrelated news- funny moments of Chase this week:

Chase was really, really awful during dinner. As we were cleaning up:
Ben: Chase, that was not good behavior. You need to say you are sorry.
Chase: (in the whiney-est voice possible) I no want to! I no want to!
Ben: Say you are sorry.
Chase: I no want to! (Seriously- it would have been so much easier for him to just say sorry)

Chase has been pronouncing milk "milp" all week. It's now evolved to "milp-k".

Ben: Chase, can you say "go Cougars!"
Chase: Go Aggies!

Chase: Milp!
Me: What's the magic word? (We are working on using please and thankyou)
Chase: Daddy! (yeah- that works a lot of the time too)

I'm glad we have a 20 month old for entertainment around here!

We have a new game. . .

. . . it's called "cheese!"

It's pretty simple. Chase hands you the camera and then says "CHEESE!"

and then runs around to see what his picture looks like.

Maybe we've over-photographed the kid in his short 20 month life?

I think it's part of the territory of being a first child.

From this game though, we've gotten some gems, as follows:

This poor little one has been sick this weekend- for the first time ever. It's really not too bad, a croupy cough and a stuffy nose. He's just been a little more mellow, a little more sweet, and slightly less demanding. He has, however, had a really hard time sleeping. He coughs and then cries and cries and it just breaks our hearts. Ben had a sleepover in Chase's room last night, and after a late night run to the pharmacy to get a Vicks vaporizer, hanging out in the bathroom with a hot shower running for steam, and a bunch of lullabies and rhythmic shushing, he finally conked out for good around 2 am. We're feeling pretty blessed that we made it 20 months without illness and that our baby is so sweet when he's sick. We are, however, getting stir crazy at home and I'm hoping his cough leaves soon so we can get out of the house! 

20 Weeks for Baby #2

Well, we did it. 

We made it half way through the pregnancy.

There were times during June/July that I wondered if it would ever end!

 20 1/2 weeks

This pregnancy has been just like my first in most ways:

• Morning sickness that lasts way beyond the first trimester- I feel slightly bitter when my baby center emails started saying, "You are probably over morning sickness by now". Zofran is still my friend. It has, however, become more tolerable over the last month.
• I have no real desire for sweet things most of the time- which isn't normal for me at all. Really hearty foods like steak, hamburgers, turkey sandwiches, and mashed potatoes sound amazing to me. I have to force myself to eat fruit a lot of the time. All of this is totally opposite of how I normally feel.
• Feeling the baby kick is my absolute favorite thing! I think it's so endearing.

The main differences this time around:

• We had Chase's name picked out around 15 weeks. We still don't have a name for this guy. And I have a feeling we'll probably decide his name in the hospital.
• Last time around we talked about Chase all the time, planned for him, shopped for him. This time around, we are still talking about Chase all the time, planning for him (to be a big brother, to switch to a regular bed, etc.) and shopping for him (he needs winter clothes, baby boy #2 already has adorable stuff to wear from Chase). I feel like #2 is being slighted, but I guess once he's born things will change. 
• No shopping- we are getting a swing, maybe a double stroller, and that's about it. Chase had tons and tons of adorable little clothes and beautiful blankets, so this little guy is basically set! This part make me a little sad, but it's good for our med student budget.

Before church with my two boys-

Chase says, "CHEESE!" now for the camera

and we love it! I love that cheesy little smile!

Normal

One thing that was hard about our life in Dominica was that we rarely felt like a "normal" family that could do normal things. Ben had to study ALL THE TIME and we didn't have many resources available-- so while we enjoyed our time there and did enjoy what the experience had to offer (you know, picnics while watching the sunset over the ocean, trips to the beach whenever we wanted) we were desperately craving normal life! Our time in Utah was more like vacation, so now that we are all settled in Florida we are loving all the normal things that surround us! I had a frustrating day a few days ago and we needed a few groceries and other things, so I packed up Chase and took him to Target. I walked around Target and was immediately SO THANKFUL to be back in the United States. Every single grocery item on my list was there- and none of it was even rotten or expired! And some of it was on sale! (Unheard of in Dominica- unless it's way past its expiration date) Retail therapy! It was awesome!

Last night we finished up dinner a little earlier than usual and still had another hour before Chase's bedtime. Ben studies at home at night now, which really can't happen until after Chase is in bed anyway. Ben suggested we go get ice cream- something we haven't done in over a year and a half (and we've never taken Chase with us- he was about 1 month old the last time we did it). Chase was ALL FOR IT! We packed up the car and headed to Cold Stone, which is just a few minutes from where we live. Chase loved being out, looking at all the flavors, and mostly eating his ice cream! This kid never sits still- but put a cup of ice cream and a spoon in front of him and he's all business!

Chase loves "chocate" and talks about it all the time, so we got him chocolate ice cream with sprinkles and I think he thought it was heaven. Ben and I just laughed at his determination! It was such a fun little Friday night activity for us. We probably sound so lame, but we are so enjoying all those little things that we just couldn't do while on the island! We felt like a normal family!

Grandma's visit

Since Ben's parents are letting us use their extra car here in Florida, which allowed us to fly instead of make a 4 day drive, Ben's mom Diane brought it down for us. She got to spend a few days here and reconnect with Chase, who she hasn't seen since he was just a tiny newborn! Chase, of course, loved having extra love and attention! She bought him a little early Christmas present, this Lightning McQueen car at Costco which is now one of his favorite toys! It has lots of buttons that make some awesome car noises, basically little boy heaven! He insisted on holding this huge toy on his lap the whole way home from Costco. We were glad that Chase got to know his Grandma a little better and loved having the extra help while we were getting settled! 

Welcome to Miramar!

We are all settled in Miramar! When we arrived on Thursday evening our apartment wasn't quite ready yet, so she put us in a temporary apartment until Saturday afternoon. I was so anxious to get all moved in and settled! Housing is really, really expensive in Miramar, and all we could afford here was a one bedroom apartment, (which we were fine with, we've been sharing our room with Chase since December, so it would only be a few more months). We were paying dearly just for a one bedroom (read- double our rent from Dominica- which was already high). Our landlord nicely surprised us and upgraded us to a two bedroom apartment for the same price! Since she was so nice to do that we couldn't really complain about the inconvenience of our apartment not being ready. The new place is really nice and spacious- especially compared to what we are used to. I'm loving having a washer, dryer and dishwasher (this is a first for us!) So- if anyone really cares, here is a little tour of our home for the next 12 weeks:

The view from our front room

 This is what you see when you walk in the door

 Our dining area

 The kitchen

 Chase's bedroom

 Our bedroom

 Our little vanity and the master closet-

this is Chase's favorite hide and seek spot.

This morning I found him in there and he promptly pushed 

me out the door, said, "I'm hidin'!" and closed the door.

 That's the whole place! It's small, but it will definitely work. And although all the furniture and decorations aren't exactly to my taste (like the ugly bedding) we are so grateful to have found a furnished apartment so close to campus and other places, like CVS and Target! After living in Dominica I'd say we have pretty low expectations and Miramar has seemed so luxurious to us! Everywhere you drive in our area it just looks beautiful, lakes everywhere, all the buildings must have strict building codes because they are all in the same style, all the grounds are manicured and look beautiful. We went to our new ward yesterday and we loved it. Everyone was so kind and welcoming. Plus- we are here with our friends the Dunns from Dominica. It's fun to have another family close by that we already know. This whole move could not have gone smoother and we are feeling very blessed!

We sent Ben back to school this morning! Chase enjoyed having his dad around so much, it was a little sad to see him go! These two are best buddies!

 And I just loved this picture too much to post it. On Saturday morning I put him in his little Aggie shirt from Aunt Heidi to celebrate Utah State winning Friday nights game. We told them they won and to show us "touchdown!" I love it! Also- Chase loves football now, only he calls it "apple". Whenever Ben has a game on he'll point to the TV and say, "Apple!"

Saying Goodbye to Utah

We've said goodbye to our beloved Utah once again. More than saying goodbye to Utah, we didn't want to leave the people there that we love so much! We really had a blast during our month there. As we prepped to leave I was filled with a little anxiety- being at my parents house is such a safe place for me. I felt like I could leave the worries of the world and medical school behind me and just relax and enjoy being with family. Chase was in heaven there! He loved all the attention and playing in the big yard and with all those toys! Moving to Florida I realized I had to leave that comfort zone once again, which is fine, but it tears at my heart just a little. 

Ben had to study most of the time we were there. He has a big test right at the first of this next semester, so he couldn't relax as much as he'd like. He had a great time though in the little time he did take off, and really enjoyed eating lots of the yummy food he missed so much on the island. 

Our last weekend there, my mom asked my dad to "bond" (aka- babysit) with Chase so that we could have a girls afternoon while Ben was busy studying. My dad, of course, was thrilled to rearrange his schedule to spend the afternoon with Chase. They went to Will's house and helped him fix a few things. Apparently, Chase was all over "helping" with the tools, and my dad was pretty proud that after some instruction Chase could almost always retrieve a nut, bolt or washer for them. Chase was very serious about helping. My dad also fed him donuts- which Chase really really loved- he still talks about donuts. Heidi bought them these matching t-shirts (my mom and Heidi also have the same one- I didn't get a picture of all of them though) and I thought this was just too darn cute!

While the guys had their bonding time, my mom, Heidi and I went to Salt Lake to have lunch at a yummy french bakery. It was lovely- we all reminisced about our time in Paris. Then we headed up to Park City to do some shopping. It was so fun to have a little girls time and not worry about my sweet boy! I absolutely love spending time with my mom and sister! Chase loved them too, as pictured below:

So he really isn't smiling here,

but believe me, he loves Heidi.

All too soon our time in Utah came to a close. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday running errands and packing to get ready to move, yet again. Thursday morning my dad took us to the airport and we were on our way to Florida! The last 6 times we've flown with Chase it has been to Dominica and back- a two day journey that is taxing at the best, and the last 5 of those times I've done it by myself with him. Flying on a domestic flight to Florida with with two parents and only one baby seems so simple compared to international travel. There was even extra seats on the plane so we were able to bring Chase's carseat on and give him his own seat. Chase did great and was so excited to be on an "aweplane" again. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale with no problem and Ben's mom was there to meet us with the car we'd be using for the next few months (we'll drive it back to them in Virginia when we are done and fly home from there). It has been smooth sailing! So so different from our journey to Dominica 16 months ago when everything went completely wrong. 

So far we are loving being in Florida. We love the area where we live and are excited to be here! Our apartment seems really nice and our life here should be so much simpler and less stressful than our time in Dominica! Pics and more details about Florida coming soon!

Our Weekend with Caldwells!

When we lived in Provo we had the best next door neighbors you could ever ask for! Mike and Meghan Caldwell lived next door to us and we became fast friends with them (once we met and actually started talking quite a few months after we moved in). We hung out with them most weekends and a lot during the week. Mike and Ben even devised a system on knocks on our shared wall that meant things like, "Can you come over now?" "Yes we are coming" "No- don't come yet" etc. It was seriously a blast living by them and we were so sad when we both moved away. Last weekend they made the trek up from California to visit us! It was fabulous to reconnect with our dear friends! Their little boy, Ethan, is 4 months older than Chase and we always joked that they would be best friends. Well, I think they are! They had a blast together, with the exception of both fighting over the "big truck". We swam, ate yummy food, had our traditional movie night after the boys were asleep, talked and talked, and just generally loved catching up with our old friends. 

And now- here are about 100 pictures of cute Ethan and Chase. These boys were seriously so funny together, it made my heart hurt a little that they don't actually get to live by each other and see each other all the time! We tried to do pictures of them together- and after taking about 200 pictures, we got some pretty cute and hilarious shots!

Most of which look like this- 

one boy looking at the camera, or in this case, no boys looking at the camera

 This one cracks me up-

you know the hilarious things parents do to get kids to look at the camera and smile-

it looks like it worked for Chase,

but Ethan is just embarrassed for the adults acting like monkeys.

 This is when we told them to hug-

obviously Ethan was a little more enthusiastic than Chase...

 ...which turned into this. 

Chase walking away while Ethan is still hugging him.

 Here is another shot at a hug...

 ...which ended here.

I thought for sure there would be tears,

but they were actually laughing! Sweetest little boys around!

We had such a blast with Caldwells! We miss them so much already and wish they could just move around the country with us and be our permanent next door neighbors forever!

PS: We made it to Florida! More on that later.