We made it to Virginia!

After our day at Disneyworld, we all went to bed pretty tired. I woke up around 12:30 am (which is really normal for me at this point) and couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't have to lay awake for nearly as long as I anticipated, since Chase was up and chipper and ready to go at 3:00 am! Poor kid, I'm pretty sure he thought we were going to take him to Disneyworld again that day! I tried to keep him quiet so that Ben, our driver, could get a little more sleep, but Ben quickly woke to Chase's little jibber jabber of "I see daddy! Wake daddy!" Ben got up and decided that since it was going to be a long day anyway we might as well pack up and hit the road. Chase was so hyper and happy as we packed up, and kept saying "I see Mickey Mouse!" He was fairly devastated as we pull out of Orlando around 3:45 am and did not head to the Magic Kingdom. 

All in all, for a 12 hour road trip, Chase did extremely well. He would hardly nap at all, but he did stay fairly content watching movies, playing little games with me, reading books, coloring, and looking for big trucks out the window. Here are the only pictures I snapped during the trip- of Chase mid-tantrum. I was hoping that if I pulled out the camera he would think it was a funny game, which wasn't actually the case. 

 The drive itself was beautiful. We watched the sun come up as we drove through Savannah, Georgia and all the way through North and South Carolina we were surrounded by beautiful trees.  We had to stop often (pregnant lady and toddler on board!) but still managed to make pretty good time. By 4:30 pm we were pulling into Ben's parent's home in Powhatan- and boy were we happy to finally be there!

Despite Chase's lack of sleep and naps, his attitude quickly turned fairly sweet as he greeted his Papa. He got even happier when he was introduced to Andy, the family dog. Andy is a really sweet little shih tsu, and Chase loves to get right down on the ground next to him, look him in the eye, and say "Hi there doggy!" We are still working on being "soft" with the dog and I'm pretty sure that Chase thinks a little dog like that is the greatest thing in the world!

Monday we headed out for a special outing for Chase. Knowing of Chase's love for donuts, Papa planned to take him to Krispy Kreme, so he could watch them be made and then, of course, eat one. Papa was swelling with pride as he took Chase over to show him the choices of which donuts he could pick and Chase pointed right to the chocolate covered creme filled donut, Papa's favorite!

 Chase with Papa and Grandma

 Watching Donuts be made- Chase was pretty mesmerized.

Monday night we had another Thanksgiving dinner, since we got here just a little late for the actual holiday. The dinner was filled with Southern traditional Thanksgiving dishes- aka Ben's heaven! We had turkey of course, with sides of green beans, collared greens, corn pudding, sweet potato casserole and homemade stuffing. Ben thinks that all the other stuff are just ancillary to sweet potato casserole and devoured several helpings of it. We were delighted that Ben's good friend, Brent Gunn and his little family were able to join us! Here are Ben and Brent with their little boys- Chase and Tanner- with Brent's little girl Layla in the front. 

 Grandma spoiled us by having a pie there corresponding to each of our favorites- a German Chocolate pie for Chase (well- it's Papa's fav too), a pecan pie for Ben and a mixed berry pie for me! They were delicious! Chase was all business about devouring his piece of chocolate pie!

 After dinner we had two surprise guests- Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped by! A couple in Hugo's ward dresses up as Santa and Mrs. Claus ever year and Ray arranged for them to come see Chase! This was his first exposure to Santa, and it was a pretty great first exposure. Chase was very unsure at first, and was clinging to Ben, but after a few rounds of jingle bells he warmed up a little. He loved that they gave him his own little jingle bells to hold!

 Once Santa got down to sit on the ground, Chase eventually worked his way closer and closer until he was sitting on Santa's lap. As long as they talked about the jingle bells and not anything else, Chase did fine! (We've noticed that Chase's coping mechanism when he's uncomfortable is to divert all his attention to something else, and jingle bells were the perfect outlet- after all it's his favorite song these days!) He warmed up enough to give Santa a hug before he left!

The first half of our Virginia visit has been awesome! Lots of yummy food and Santa Claus- what could be better! Stay tuned for Part II!

Disneyworld!!!!

Shout it from the rooftops- Ben is officially done with FIVE semesters of medical school! This pretty much marks our half way point through the program. The biggest hurdle is still yet to come (Step 1 of the USMLE- board exams!) but we had to take this opportunity to do a little celebrating! These last 5 semesters have been hard for our family, rewarding, but very difficult at times. Living abroad AND moving across the country, adjusting to all new things so often and making new friends- it has been quite the adventure. Since we were driving right through Orlando on our way to Virginia to visit Ben's parents, we couldn't NOT stop at Disneyworld! Ben and I realized that this is our first time doing a family vacation just the three of us. We've traveled (obviously) a lot, but never just for fun since Chase was born. With the impending arrival of our little #2 and the demands of medical school, this will obviously be the last time we do a family vacation with just the three of us. It was definitely a day to remember!

Friday morning Ben had his final exam from 8-noon. I worked all morning to pack and get the car all loaded up. Chase, of course, helped. And by helped I mean unpacked previously packed bags, zipped and unzipped zippers, and followed me (quite slowly) as I took 11 or so trips out to the car to load it up. When Ben got home from his test we handed in our key and we were OFF! The drive from Miramar to Orlando was about 4 hours. Chase did great on the first half, and really really was done being in the carseat after that. However, we still made it, smoothly and in one piece! We checked into our hotel, got cleaned up, had dinner and we all went to bed early. I could hardly sleep I was so excited for Disneyworld! I just couldn't wait to see my little one's face light up at all the excitement! We were also a little worried. This whole Disney experience could have ended up being a really expensive day of us hauling an uncooperative 23 month old through a hot theme park. Luckily- that was not on the menu for today!

Here's how it went down:

 Chase and I in front of City Hall-

The weather was gorgeous! Warm and Dry! Absolutely perfect!

Our first stop was Peter Pan. We talked it up to Chase, who only knows

the characters through Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Chase did really well-although half way through the ride he climbed right up on my lap.

It was a tad scary for him- but he still was just wide eyed with amazement taking it all in!

Next we went on Small World. As evidenced by his smile here, 

Small World was just right for this little boy!

 And from then on he decided rides were fun! In every ride he was just wide-eyed in wonder at everything going on around him. I loved watching him experience it all!

We did try to take him on the Carousel- he flat out refused to hop on one of those horses and we left before the ride even started. The carousel was the only ride he wouldn't do!

Here he is outside the teapot ride, just laughing with his dad. Ben and I loved spending this whole day just focused on Chase. He is really such a fun kid and we feel so blessed that he's ours!

 Chase really wanted to do the racecar track, although Ben informed me that right after I snapped this picture and went to get in my car Chase got very concerned about where I went and spent the rest of the ride looking for mama. He only really got excited about driving the car at the very end. 

 The Buzz Lightyear ride was a hit, and we knew it would be. Buzz is a favorite of Chase's already. He was pretty excited to meet him. A little shy at first, but he did give him a high-five.

 I mostly didn't want to be photographed in all my enormous glory today,

but I couldn't resist documenting at least a little that we were all here together!

Chase loved seeing the Castle! It was so fun to see how magical it all was for him.

 We took Chase on Pirates of the Caribbean and he did great. His favorite part was seeing the pirate ship (which he calls "Bucky" thanks to Jake and the Neverland Pirates). Ben and I, of course, reminisced about our own Pirates of the Caribbean adventure down in Dominica (where the movies were actually filmed). We had to laugh when I filled up our water bottle at the drinking fountain just outside the ride and had to dump the whole bottle out because the water came out brown. So fitting right? The water DOES come out brown in the Caribbean!

 Chase was a little concerned during Jungle Cruise,

and might have been the only one on the boat,

despite the over-enthusiastic skipper's lame jokes and puns.

 Chase was very interested in the flying carpets-

even though he hasn't ever seen Aladdin, he still thought they were pretty cool.

He was even more impressed with The Tiki Room. The kid loves birds, so we shouldn't have been surprised there.

 And at this point Chase hit a wall. It was wonderful really, we wheeled him into a more quiet corner and he slept for about 30 minutes...

 ...while Ben and I devoured this masterpiece! 

Ben had a dream to eat a funnel cake at Disneyworld. I will admit, it was delicious. 

And I really love how everything at Disney comes shaped like Mickey Mouse.

 Chase woke up chipper and happy and we were off to fly on Dumbo!

Chase hadn't seen Dumbo either, but once we showed it to him he kept repeating "Dumbo fly!"

This ride is kind of ingenious, instead of waiting in line you go into a big circus tent and they give you a pager. There is all kinds of fun stuff for the little guys to play with while you wait. Then they page you and you get to ride. This was a major highlight for Chase.

 We were worried how Chase would handle waiting in lines. He exceeded our expectations and did great! We had to work a little harder towards the end of the day to keep him happy, but these next two pictures show that Ben can keep this boy pretty happy with silly little games! 

 Chase loved meeting Goofy and Donald!

 And as soon as we said good-bye to them, Chase started asking about Mickey. Our last stop of the day was seeing Mickey Mouse, and I can't think of a better way to end the day! Chase was completely enamored with him! Mickey had started playing peek-a-boo with Chase, when Chase sweetly said "Mickey high-five?" Here is Mickey meeting Chase's request.

 The pictures don't really do it justice,

but Chase was all smiles for Mickey! 

 All in all, it was a perfect day! One I'll keep tucked away in my memories for days that are a little less whimsical than this one (like possibly tomorrow, when we make the 12 hour drive to Virginia!) It was the perfect way to celebrate the accomplishment it is to have made it this far, and so fun to enjoy our little boy before the attention gets split two ways. I'm so grateful that we had this opportunity, and grateful to Ben for going along with my plans- even the slightly crazy ones. The Magic Kingdom lived up to it's name- our day was magical!

Our last week in Florida!

We are now in the final days of our time in Florida! Ben takes his final on Friday morning and we hope to be on the road shortly thereafter. Our 12 week stay here has flown by! It has been so much fun to get to know a new place, meet some new people and have some fun new adventures. Yesterday we had our last Sunday with our ward here. Church here in Miramar has been a little different experience than we've had anywhere else, but a great one nonetheless. The ward here has been beyond welcoming and friendly and for that we are very grateful. The ward here is very eclectic with an extremely high rate of new converts and we were grateful that we had a few opportunities to serve here. It's hard to be somewhere short term, but the people in this ward didn't treat us any differently even though they knew we'd be moving in a matter of weeks. It was a wonderful learning experience for us!

The weather here for the past month has been wonderful! A little cooler than what we are used to, definitely not pool weather, but so perfect for playing outside. Chase loves to play at parks and there are several really nice parks nearby that we frequently visit. I want to give him every last chance to play outside before we go back to cold and snow (which we are excited for in a completely different way!) I tried and tried to get a good picture of Chase at the park the other day, and this was the best I got. This kid was way too busy playing to bother looking at me, let alone smile for me. 

 On a completely unrelated note, Ben was somewhat dismayed that I only made ONE pie on Thanksgiving. In my efforts to make it up to him I made an apple pie yesterday, and it just turned out so pretty I had to take a picture of it. This photographic evidence is all that is left of the pie now (only about 24 hours later). Let's just say that I'm at that point of my pregnancy where I am constantly hungry, which Ben loves because apparently that's what he feels like all the time. Chase, on the other hand, actually refused to eat any of it, which might be the first time ever that he's turned down dessert.

Besides eating insane amounts of pie and playing at the park, (and hours on end of studying for Ben) we have an extremely low-key week planned here. When you only take a few suitcases with you when you move it doesn't take too long to pack. I think I'll start packing Thursday night for our Friday departure. We hope to be in Orlando by Friday evening and will be spending Saturday at Disneyworld! Then it's on to Virginia and ultimately back to Utah! With all that excitement, hopefully my next few posts will be a little more exciting. 

Thanksgiving

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! As I reflected on our day, all the little things we did remind me of how much I have to be thankful for. We started off early this morning, and every single day I'm so thankful for this sweet little smile that greets me. Chase loves sitting up on the counter and helping cook. This morning Ben made us a delicious breakfast- it might have to become a Thanksgiving tradition. I'm so thankful for a supportive husband, and as much as I love cooking, I'm glad he likes it too and gives me a break every now and then!

 The end result of Ben and Chase's cooking: Pumpkin Pancakes! They were absolutely delicious! Chase loves "pan-takes!" I'm so grateful that food tastes good again and is appetizing!

 The rest of the morning and afternoon went great. Ben and I each snuck away to get in a good work out. I'm so thankful for a healthy body. We worked on our food for Thanksgiving dinner, the boys watched some football, we all took naps. I'm really thankful for naps. We had such a chill day that it wasn't too stressful to get all the food prepared.

 Finally, it was time for dinner! Our friends from Dominica, the Dunns, came and joined us. I'm so thankful for friends- we are truly blessed to know so many wonderful people. Being far away from family is always a little sad, but we are very thankful for our supportive families. I'm so thankful for the gospel and our little eternal family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Soaking it up

Obviously, Chase's days as an only child are numbered. He's got about 70 left and I must say, I'm enjoying them. I am soaking up the time I get to focus my whole world around this one little boy! He's truly such a delight and makes us laugh all the time. I've been working on getting all our videos of him edited and put together before the baby comes and a few nights ago at dinner I was showing Ben some of the progress I'd made. Chase LOVED seeing the videos of himself and laughed hysterically at each one, interrupted by him periodically saying "I cute!" Only he can't say a "c" sound at the first of a word yet, so it comes out "I tute!" Ben and I were laughing at Chase laughing at himself!

Another thing I'm loving about having just one little toddler is how easy it is to run errands with him. Chase likes being out and about, and with the exception of the occasional major meltdown in the middle of Target, I really like taking him with me on errands, and I know once I have him plus a newborn it will be much more difficult. I love that in this stage he loves being my little helper. He throws diapers away. He puts Ben's socks away after I do the laundry. He loves to "help" cook (darling pictures of him and Ben making pumpkin muffins below). 

He gives the best hugs these days. He'll randomly run up to me, throw his arms around my legs and say "hi there mama!" and it melts my heart every time. He gives the baby kisses and high fives (the high fives were 100% his idea, I laughed so hard the first time he did it). Even with all the naughtiness and temper tantrums that happen, he still has such a darling, sweet side that is just infectious. 

Ben teases me that even on the very hardest days with him, when I am completely ready to pull my hair out, about 30 minutes after he goes to bed I'm telling Ben how cute he is, every darling thing he did that day, everything I love about him. I always go check on him before I go to bed and I love watching him sleep. Lately I've been picking him up out of the crib and just holding him in my arms while he sleeps (thank goodness he sleeps soundly!). I can't get over how big he's gotten and how much I love him. I swear I could hold him while he sleeps forever and it's always hard to put him back in the crib. I feel just like that mom in the book "I'll Love You Forever". Oh my sweet Chase, even though you are growing up and a new baby is coming soon, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!

Chase and the Vacuum

Several months ago, when we found out that our new baby is a boy, we started talking about names for him. I really wanted to name him Beckham, which Ben wasn't too keen on (he insisted that it was weird because we aren't soccer fans). In my efforts to convince Ben that it really was a cute name, I started just referring to the baby as Beckham. Chase would repeat the name in his own little way and it was darling, which I thought might help my cause. However, I quickly realized that when Chase repeated "Beck-um" what he really thought he was saying, was "vacuum". As soon as I would start talking about Beckham, Chase would run and grab the vacuum and get all excited about it. That may have been the final straw, and Beckham was ultimately eliminated from the baby name list. 

Seriously though, Chase loves the vacuum. I can hardly vacuum while he's around because he insists on helping. (And check out that wimpy little vacuum that came with our apartment- it works about as well as you would think a tiny vacuum would work) This is a big improvement for Chase, who was scared of the vacuum when I was in Utah last summer. This one is much less threatening- baby steps, I guess. So here are a few pictures of Chase hard at work vacuuming up the mess, that undoubtedly was caused by him in the first place. 

3rd Trimester!

I'm a little over 28 weeks now and finally in my 3rd trimester! I know that second trimester is usually known as the "best" part- but for me it's definitely 3rd. I'm finally mostly over the nausea (as long as I eat every few hours, sleep at least 6 hours at night and don't go on any windy roads in the car) and really I'm not too uncomfortable (although I definitely do complain to Ben and anyone who will listen about how achy I feel at the end of the day).  I can't really sleep well at night, but I'm hoping that once I'm back in my own bed that will change (one more month!)

I am so thankful for a healthy pregnancy. Early on we got a little taste of worry several times, mostly due to inferior medical care on the island, so I'm trying to not take for granted how amazing a healthy pregnancy is and what a miracle this baby is.  Because my insurance isn't accepted in Florida, I haven't actually seen a doctor in over ten weeks! I've only actually been to the doctor twice this whole pregnancy- which is of course, way different than last time. Before you report me for medical neglect to my unborn, know that we are still monitoring everything. Our doctor set us up with everything we needed before we left and I've been able to do my own prenatal assessments here. Every few weeks I check for sugar and protein, weigh myself, and then Ben checks my blood pressure and measures fundal height- basically everything they would do at the doctor's office. And you know, I'm a nurse, Ben's half way to being a doctor, it all works:) Our OB is wonderful and I call him if I have any questions or problems. I even woke up last month with this weird bite/rash on my face, which worried Ben way more than it worried me. Ben didn't have our OB's number (it's in my cell phone), so he consulted with one of my dad's good friends (who is also an OB) and before I knew it a prescription had been called in to our pharmacy here in Miramar! I'm sure grateful for these wonderful doctors in our lives!

I'm also so happy to have another January baby! I really think it's the best time to have a baby- you have all these fun holidays leading up to birth day that makes those last weeks just fly! Plus, it's easier for me to stay home and cuddle a newborn all day when it's cold and snowy outside. Also as a bonus, since they are going to be born the same time of year, Chase's old clothes should work out perfectly for the new baby. Even though it's been a little crazy with all our moving around and medical school, I just feel incredibly blessed to have this little one coming to our family!