Rough week

It's going to be a rough week for my family. I can't go into details at this point, but I could really use everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Strawberry picking

These pictures were too cute not to share. We took Carter strawberry picking to get the first strawberries we let him try. So much fun!

I'm behind again. . .

First of all camping didn't go exactly as we planned. We left Sunday morning around 9am, thinking that Carter would nap most of the way there. He didn't. This left him fairly cranky by the time we got there. Once we got to the campgrounds, we did a quick walk, and then decided to set up because it looked like rain. Just as we got everything set up, it started to rain. Also, about 15 minutes after we got our tent set up, I tripped over the door, bruising my knee and tearing the tent. It rained all afternoon and all night, into the next morning. Carter would not go to bed because it was too light out and too noisy. We finally got him to bed after 10pm. Carter woke up screaming, scared from the storm 5-6 times. I'm sure the people camping next to us loved us.
Things started to clear up the next morning after breakfast. We had a picnic lunch at a park and let Carter play. He loved it! Then we took Carter for a swim at the beach. He loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. We had a great day!
The night was another story. I worked really hard to try to put Carter to bed at his normal time, but he just would scream if I put him in his pack-and-play. After an hour of this, we decided to go for a car ride to see if he would fall asleep. He finally falls asleep after nearly 45 minutes of driving. We then try to move him to the pack and play. No luck. He resumes his hysterical screaming. Tim and I decide to get a hotel room at this point. We knew neither of us could take another night without sleep. Luckily the closest hotel was most empty and gave us a room for a great deal. It took us almost an hour to get Carter bathed and calmed down. He slept until almost 8:30 the next morning.
Instead of camping one more day, we decided to call it quits early. I'm thinking we'll try camping again next summer.

S'mores Brownies

I found these on http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/04/smores-brownies/

S’mores Brownies

adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1991

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
5 large eggs
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
12 big marshmallows (I also diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter. These marshmallows dissolve when baked, so you can leave them out, or throw them in. Up to you!)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9×13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Stir butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a heavy saucepan of simmering water. Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers. Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30- 40 minutes minutes.

Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool. Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky. Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.


Yum!

Camping!

We're leaving to go camping tomorrow morning. I'm a little concerned with the weather forcast: hot and rainy. It'll be the first time we take Carter somewhere to stay overnight besides Tim's parents house. It'll also be the first time for us to use our new tent. We purchased it right after our wedding. We ended up not going that first summer because we used all of our vacation traveling to Greece. Last summer I was hugely pregnant or we had a newborn, so we didn't go camping. I'm a little bit nervous on how Carter will do. No matter what, it'll be great to get away.

How many words is average?

I'm trying to find some good sources of how many words/phrases are average at each age. I feel like I have no real concept of what is "average" because the kids I'm around tend to be either very verbal or very not verbal. For example my cousin Joe at the age of 3, could explain that he didn't want any of the pages of his dinasaur book read that contained information about carnivores (yes, he actually used that word) because they scared him. You can't tell me that the average 3 year old knows that (or maybe even the average 7 year old). On the other end of the spectrum one of my nephews was barely talking at 3. (He's now 7, and doing much better verbally, but I would have to guess still behind.)
So far the words/phrases Carter has are:
Mama
Dada
Umpa (His word for Grandpa)
Is (His word for Chris)
Baba- bottle
What is it? - (I didn't believe this one at first, but he says it all the time when pointing to things and it's always in the correct context)
It's done- (I'm not completely sure about this one because we've only heard it a couple times)
Bye-bye
I'm sure there are a couple more, but these are the only ones I can think of right now.
I have a feeling that we will be doing much of his learning using music. He loves music!

The Great Wagon Debate

Tim and I have been debating on whether Carter should have a plastic or a metal wagon as a birthday gift. Tim strongly feels that the classic metal ones are a superior choice. I, on the otherhand, would like one of the cool plastic ones with underseat storage, seatbelts, and cup holders. My big negatives on the metal ones are that they are heavy, they rust, no seats/seat belts, and I don't for see me using it as a substitue for a stroller once Carter gets a little bit bigger (and we have another child). Any thoughts/ reviews on the subject?