Beach Time with Stagge Family

In July, Yaya, Papa, Uncle Neet, Aunt Highy, and baby came to North Carolina to visit us and we spent a week at Carolina Beach. We had a great time enjoying the beach. I have lots of pictures to share as my mom is a big picture taker and I end up with HUNDREDS when spend a week together. I have some other pictures to share later on but here are some of pictures of our week at the beach. Thank you so much for coming to visit us!!! Uncle Justi, you were very missed....

Hannah (or baby as emma called her) is in a mommy love stage which means that she wants to crawl back into my sisters tummy and stay there. If we got her distracted from my sister, she was more than happy to play with us but if Heidi was within sight, she wanted to be touching her. Here is one of the only pictures I got with my sweet niece Hannah. She is the cutest little blond headed girls. Very sweet and happy. Emma and Hannah hit it off great and only had a couple of spats over sharing (mostly Emma of course)

Ahhhh TV time....gotta love Elmo.....
We went to Wilmington for the evening for dinner. We got to the restaurant and both girls were being fussy. I being the prepared parent that I am pulled out two suckers. They were both so happy as long as they had their suckers. Suckers before dinner....bad parenting.....or genius parenting........you decide after sitting at a restaurant with two toddlers near bed time....









My mom took these great pictures of Emma and Hannah...don't you think she should be a child photographer????

Meemaw and Papa

Meemaw and Papa came to visit us at the end of June. Our visit started with a softball tournament for the Pell men, then some time with just Meemaw and Papa and ended with a trip to Charleston to have some good full Pell family fun. Here are some of the pictures of our time together.....Thank you for the visit Meemaw and Papa!! Can't wait till we see you again!

Meemaw and Emma feeding the ducks
Some great fun at the beach in Charleston. (Your welcome adults for not posting some great swimsuit pics......maybe next time....)

Emma's birthday celebration.....

Singin In the Rain

Our Little Boy

We got the call today for a beautiful one month old little boy. More details to come.....

Married 7 Years to my High School Sweetheart

Today, John and I have been married for seven years. I can honestly say that they have been the happiest years of my life. For those of you that don't know our story, we met in 6th grade and started dating our senior year of high school (this means we have been together for almost 13 years!). I decided that I didn't want to follow the boy after high school and we dated long distance for a year and a half before I finally realized I didn't want to live my life without him. We got married, traveled around the world, moved across the country, had our beautiful baby girl Emma and did a lot in between. Life couldn't be better. John is an amazing husband and I couldn't imagine a better partner to walk through life with. His ability to make me laugh, his passion for life, and his love for his daughter are just a few of the reasons that I love him more and more every day. Life so far has been quite an adventure and with our son on the way, I am sure it will prove to get even more crazy. Today I thank my husband for the wonderful life that I lead. Here's to many more years and adventures to come.......

The Binky Fairy

As of June 15th, Emma is officially binky free. When Emma was born, we said we wanted to try and stay away from her using a binky. Within a week, we gave in and she was fully attached. Emma has not gone to sleep without a binky since that first week. We said we were going to break the habit when she turned one, then 18 months.....but the binky made sleep time so much easier. You popped that thing in her mouth and her eyes drooped and she cuddled in for sleep. She never used it during her awake times but for sleeping, she was fully dependent. I tell you all this to say so when I say getting rid of the binky was EASY you will understand my suprise!! A friend of mine suggested that we use the binky fairy. When Emma woke up, we made an envelope to send her binky to the binky fairy. Emma helped me color it and then put her binky inside. I explained to her that binky's were for babies. She doesn't like anything that is for babies because she is a "big girl". I told her if she put her binky in the mail, we got back to the house for nap time, the binky fairy will have left her something new to sleep with (a stuffed kitty or YOW as Emma calls it).

Emma only asked for her binky during this first nap and cried for about 20 minutes before she fell asleep with her Yow.

Emma now sleeps with her Yow (the stuffed kitty), her baby (the ugliest baby she has), and her baby juice (a water bottle that goes wherever the baby goes) but she is binky free. Whitley, Emma will thank you for her lack of buck teeth when she gets older!!!

Daddy John and Mommy Sarah

At the beginning of June, Tim and Lindsey dropped the boys off for a weekend away for the 5th wedding anniversary. We had a great time with all the kids. Went to the Science Center and to a concert in the park. By the end of the weekend they were missing their mom and dad and started calling us Daddy John and Mommy Sarah. Luke cried when he had to say goodbye to John. We have really bonded with our nephews and love being their Auntie and Uncle.

And She Shall Be Called.......YAYA

For those of you that know my mom, she has had a hard time deciding what her grandchildren will call her. She did not want to be called Grandma, but wanted something more unique. This has been an active conversation in my family since we were pregnant with Emma. The day before she got here for her visit, we were practicing with Emma saying Grandma and out popped YAYA. Emma loved her visit with her YAYA.

She even got her first haircut from YAYA. I know that you were all getting attached to the rat tail but it had to go....

Pirate Party

On May 13th, Emma's good friend Kai turned 1 and had a pirate party.  We were all asked to dress up in our pirate gear and come for the fun.  

Garage Sale or Calling all Pack Rats

We are going to be having a garage sale on June 13th to raise money toward our remaining adoption fees. If you have any items that we can take off your hands, please let us know:

Email: sarahpdiane@yahoo.com
Phone: 360.220.5382
Or commenting on this blog

We will arrange a time to come and get it.

Thanks!