Ella picking blueberries.

On the fourth, the local blueberry farm opened up and Ella and jumped at the opportunity to go pick almost $6-worth in the morning. We had a blast!

Training Ella in the art of Pyrotechnics.

You knew this had to happen sooner or later:

Looking for picture-updates on the Sheets-family?

Mom Garrett just asked for an Ezra/Ella-fix with some pictures!

I’ve been uploading our latest pictures to my Picasa account when I find time – sometimes they make their way to the stevansheets.com frontpage. Sometimes they don’t.

For those of you who NEED picture-updates on the family – bookmark this link NOW - http://picasaweb.google.com/navets

Ezra – Ella’s new puppet

Captured these precious moments this morning before heading to the office:

More of Ella & Ezra on the floor

Priceless moments:

Ezra on the floor

Ezra on the floor (in HD!)

Brother and Sister

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Ella these last couple of days that we’ve been home. This morning we drove to Lowe’s and enjoyed shopping for ant-killer. Good times.

This afternoon, Ella spent some time with her brother on the floor. We captured a couple photos and a video that will make it online soon!

From 20090602 – Ella & Ezra

Ella talks about Ezra

Tonight during my daddy/daughter date with Ella, she gave me some great information on Ezra that I’m so glad we captured on camera!

Ezra Collage

Pastor Tim txted me tonight and asked for “a photo” of Ezra with Mommy or Daddy to put up on the screen tomorrow at church for an announcement.

I couldn’t pick just one, of course, so I created this:

Ezra Paul Sheets

From 2009.05.28 – Ezra's Birth 01

Praise the Lord, Ezra was born today at 7:16AM. He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs, 11oz., and was 21-inches long! He’s HUGE!

He is a perfect creation of our Heavenly Father and a blessing to our family!

I am updating this from the hospital WiFi as Ezra is being looked after by the Specialty Care Nursery nurses. He has had some trouble breathing today and has gone into breathing distress anytime he gets worked up trying to nurse or trying to take a bottle. They have him on antibiotics and around-the-clock care for tonight.

The around-the-clock care should help Jess and I get some much-needed rest here in the hospital room. We know God is in complete control and isn’t surprised when we are at “other than normal” situations that arise!

Ella is excited about her new brother. We captured some great moments of her singing “Happy Birth Day” (yes, I meant to spell it that way):

Jess and I would both covet your prayers for Ezra tonight and especially these next few days!

Some great photos of the day are here.

In case you hadn’t heard…

Tomorrow morning at 6:30AM, my wife will undergo a c-section and our son, Ezra Paul (unless the pictures have been wrong) will be born!

Please be praying for Mommy (and Daddy!) that all goes as planned and that her recovery is safe and speedy! Also be praying for our son (and his sister!).

Great Pics of Ella

Got some great shots of Ella outside the other day while visiting my folks in Middleburg:

View the album here.

Pop Rocks

A few Fridays ago I did the unthinkable. Jess was invited to sing at a women’s banquet at church and Ella and I were given some time for a Daddy/Daughter date.

The unthinkable was that I decided to risk my sanity and take my daughter to Chuck E Cheeses for our date!

It was quite an adventure and if you watched my Twitter feeds from the night, you know that I narrowly escaped a few breakdowns and eventually made it home safe and sound having had a wonderful time with my girl!

After spending most of the evening in the play-area, Ella eventually wandered into the video-game area and played a few ticket-producing games resulting in about 80-some tickets to prove our skill at the ridiculous games we played.

We presented our tickets at the counter and Ella’s choice to get a plastic beetle-bug and a packet of Pop Rocks were not-so-quickly made.

We returned to the truck, Pop-Rocks and beetle in hand and after getting belted back in, I presented Ella with her first-ever mouth full of Pop-Rocks. Those moments I also managed to capture for you, the viewing public:

Mother’s Day Video

We’re showing this video that Jess helped me make in both morning services:

AWC Mother’s Day Video from navets on Vimeo.

My favorite response is my daughter’s, of course.

April 23, 2009 – Ella Turns Three!

Leave Ella a comment and we’ll be sure to read them to her!

Picture Updates

Two of my favorite photos from the past couple of days:

From 20090418 – At the Park with Grandma Garrett

From 20090417 – Sheets Grands & Sonic with Garrett Grands

Ella, our Zoologist

Another clip from last night’s Daddy/Daughter time:

Daddy-Daughter Time

Tonight Jess got to leave the house on her own for a few hours to enjoy a “Chick Flick” at the church. I got to spend some quality time with my daughter.

Ella was in a unique interview-worth mood tonight. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture some great moments:

Ella Videos

I went on an uploading frenzy last night. I got some great Ella clips online for your enjoyment:

Ella never ceases to amaze us.

Tonight our quick-supper consisted of McDonald’s. Ella was her usual social, adorable self tonight and I was able to capture one of her interesting little twists on an everyday phrase.

Tonight, instead of, “I love you, Daddy!” it was – “I love you Stevan”

Seconds after this video ended it was “I love you Pastor Stevan!”

If you don’t think kids repeat what they hear, you’re WRONG!

A Couple Quick Ella-Videos

My camera phone finally started uploading again tonight…

Ella, big sister.

This picture pretty much sums up Ella’s reaction to knowing yesterday that she would have a baby brother –

From 2009.02.16 – Hospital Ultrasound Visit

She’s excited. The ultrasound tech even gave Ella her OWN copy of the ultrasound picture!

Wesleyans CAN dance. (well, sorta’)

Ella and Pa-Paw dancing at TGI Fridays on Monday this week:

Two new Ella videos!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any new Ella videos. Here are a couple from vacation!

Christmas Day 2008

We’re having fun and hope you are too!

Merry Christmas From The Sheets

Breaking News: I’m gonna be a daddy, again!

Today we confirmed that Jess is ‘about’ 13-weeks pregnant!

We were privileged to hear the baby’s heartbeat and meet a great new doctor and nurses that will become ‘friends’ through this process!

Ella is excited about becoming a sister and is leaning more towards a baby sister per her consistent answers.

Thanks, in advance, for your prayers!

My girls.

I love my girls.

That’s all.

I Present To You: An Interview with Supergirl

Ella is back home after a weekend with her Sheets-Grands. Tonight she put on her Supergirl cape and ran flew around the house like any good Supergirl would. She did settle down enough to have an interview with her Daddy, though:

Interview with Supergirl from navets on Vimeo.

Tinkerbell was at our house tonight!

I found a Tinkerbell costume at Gabriel Bro’s for $1.50 the other day. It didn’t fit me too well, so I gave it to Ella.

She loves it.

When Trick or Treat-ers came to our door tonight they were greeted by a weird guy saying, “Merry Christmas” and a cute little girl dressed as Tinkerbell and the cheapest candy we could buy!

We had a blast!

10.31.08 – Ella is Tinker Bell from navets on Vimeo.

From 10.31.08 – Ella's Costume

More pictures here.

This little girl has my heart!

Ella loves the trampoline!

08.23.08 – Ella on the Trampoline from navets on Vimeo.

Proof that Ella is a genius

08.15.08 – Ella “reads” from navets on Vimeo.
Thanks to my mom for BEGGING us to make this video!

Ella & The Hamburger

08.13.08 – Ella & The Hamburger from navets on Vimeo.

Ella Wiggles

08.11.08 – Ella’s Wiggles Dance from navets on Vimeo.

2-weeks in Pennsylvania Pics

If you didn’t know already, the pictures from our 2-weeks in Pennsylvania are available here.

Here’s a slideshow for those who hate clicking:

Here are some of my favorites:

Ella and the garden bunny!

Tonight after supper, Ella and I went outside to pull some weeds in the garden and thin-out the cucumber plants that are overtaking. Mommy came out too after cleaning up the dishes and we were soon visited by our garden bunny.

Ella loved the bunny. She wanted it. Badly.

These video moments are priceless:

08.02.08 – Ella and the garden bunny from navets on Vimeo.

To the comedic commenters of the last post:

Thanks for your attempts at humor my friends and family.

Jott.com apparently has a bit of trouble translating my Maryland-Georgia-New York-South Carolina-Indiana-Wisconsin accent accurately. Thanks for forgiving Jott’s inconsistencies!

We’re home.

I’m in the office. Life is again going at too-fast a pace.

Regular dot-com updates will resume momentarily including an incredible picture-full update from vacation. Until then, please enjoy this video of Ella –

07.08.08 – Ella showing off her muscles from navets on Vimeo.

Tonight I dated my family!

Last night I was in a board meeting for more-than 3-hours. It was good and all, but it was my day-off and cut-short my time with Jess and Ella – my two favorite people in the world!

God gave me an idea this morning that I capitalized on in the form of a “surprise” date with Dad as I whisked the girls off in the van at around 3:30 this afternoon without telling them where/what we were doing.

What followed was 18-holes of miniature golf which, surprisingly, Ella made it through 16-or-so before completely losing interest! After golfing we headed out for some “fresh fries” that Ella loves so much at our McDonalds and then home for a bit before heading back out for our weekly home group!

What a memorable time we had as a family! We were both so proud of Ella for hanging in there and doing her best to play mini golf with Mommy and Daddy! She would actually hit the ball with her putter and then run and pick it up wherever it was and throw it into the pin-cup each hole! It was adorable.

It wouldn’t be fair to NOT mention that I only beat my wife tonight by 1-stroke! She gave me a run for my money, but it was an hole-in-one Eagle that put me ahead for the win on hole #16! Go me!

All the pictures from tonight are here, but below are some highlights:

One Little Ella Juping on the Bed

06.14.08 – Ella Jumping on the Bed from navets on Vimeo.

Pa-Paw or Colonel Sanders?

Yesterday we ate lunch at a KFC that happened to have a life-size statue of Colonel Sanders seated on a bench. Ella was quite inquisitive of ‘ol Colonel. When we mentioned that he looked like her Pa-Paw she instantly warmed up to him and continuously called him “Pa-Paw”!

If you’ve ever met my father than you know the resemblance!

Me and my girl!

Quite a day!

Today was my day-off and we stayed lazy this morning.

After lunch we drove to Delafield to take Ella to The Children’s Play Gallery – we had previously only driven by and wondered what it would be like. Ella LOVED it. I am sure we will be back. Pictures from the gallery are here.

While we were there, I received a text-message that our Wesleyan Denomination had just elected our first-ever female General Superintendent (Dr. JoAnne Lyon) at General Conference. Quite an historic moment – sad that I had to miss being there to see it LIVE.

After the Children’s Gallery we headed towards Milwaukee to spend a little time at two woodworking stores that I am quickly becoming fond of. Rockler and Woodcraft both provided a few needed items to help me continue my woodturning hobby. After we got Ella to bed tonight I headed out to the lathe and turned two more pens. My first pen was turned just a few days ago and mailed the next day to my Grandpa to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude for purchasing the lathe for me months ago! I didn’t even take a picture of that first-pen before sending it his way!

Tonight’s pens, however, (and one I made for Jess a day-or-two ago) are pictured here:

Ella Wiggles

05.31.08 – Ella Dancing at the Wiggles Show at 6 Flags from navets on Vimeo.

Happy Memorial Day

Another great day with the Sheets family today!

We slept in a bit, stayed lazy for the morning and in the early afternoon we headed out to Lapham Peak – a part of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.

We quickly found a geocache early on in our visit and then headed out for a couple hours of of walking on a great paved path. It was a gorgeous day. Ella passed out while we were on the trail and we got her back to the car while still asleep for a ride around in the air conditioning!

We ended the evening with a tour around downtown Delafield and then dinner at the Water Street Brewery.

What a great time together with just us!

Full photoset here.

Milwaukee Kite Festival

Today I surprised Jess and Ella with a day-away and didn’t give Jess even a hint as to what we were doing. When we arrived at Veteran’s Park on the lake in Milwaukee, I think each of us was pleasantly surprised. Hundreds of people and more than a hundred kites littered the sky across the lake. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

After a couple hours of kits we made our first visit to the Whole Foods Market and then headed to Alterra for a drink and then out to dinner at Rocky Roccoco’s Pizza in New Berlin.

It was a great day to be a family!

Full photoset is here.

Some of my favorites from the day:

Video of Ella running in the rain

04.25.08 – Ella in the garage during the rain from navets on Vimeo.

Also viewable on ellasheets.com, of course.

Do you think Ella likes her new TV?

By the way, her 2-year “Well Baby” checkup today revealed her to be 30lbs, and 35-inches long! She’s healthy! She showed off a bit for the doctor reading letters that I wrote on the table-paper!

She had two shots today and after just a few moments of screaming, she was fine again! No more shots until she’s 5!

Stay tuned for a new Ella video coming this afternoon!

Happy Birthday to Ella!

Today with Mom Garrett still visiting and a day-visit from Aunt Sher, we celebrated Ella’s 2nd birthday with cake and ice cream and of course singing “Happy Birthday”! The video’s a bit out of focus, but it’s adorable nonetheless!

04.20.08 – Ella’s Birthday Song from navets on Vimeo.

Great evening with my daughter!

Tonight Jess had a “girls night out” with some ladies from church and left Ella and Daddy home to take care of ourselves. I quickly called one of the ladies’ husbands and told him that I was a cool daddy and was taking my daughter out for icecream and that he should join us. He accepted the offer!

Before we headed out for icecream we enjoyed our “usual” walk around the house outside and a little trampoline-jumping. When we got to the “Icecream Deli”, I bought Ella a child’s-size scoop of mint chocolate chip and we enjoyed the company of Joe & Allie. Lucky for me Ella wasn’t interested in her scoop of mint chocolate chip-goodness so I got two-scoops!

Some pics from this evening:

ellasheets.com

The NEW, ellasheets.com is in its beginning stages FINALLY!

Ella and the spinning top!

04.01.08 – Ella and The Top from navets on Vimeo.

Some photos from yesterday…

From 04.06.08 – Su…

From 04.06.08 – Su…

From 04.06.08 – Su…

From 04.06.08 – SNL

From 04.06.08 – SNL

From 04.06.08 – SNL

Our Darling Daughter

04.05.08 – Ella at the table from navets on Vimeo.

Two new Ella videos

03.19.08 – Ella & the Chicken from navets on Vimeo.

03.21.08 – Ella, the drummer! from navets on Vimeo.

Cutest daughter in the world!

More new photos here.

The Bubble Wrap Episodes

Yesterday Ella got a package in the mail from Grand-Garretts that included a healthy amount of bubble wrap. She loved it!

Today she received a package from the Grand-Sheets that included a gift for daddy that quickly became HER favorite!

Bubble wrap video here:

Untitled from navets on Vimeo.

Playin’ in the snow

In between sermon-prep and other pastoral duties this week we got another 2-3 inches of snow on the ground and it was too-good to pass up some quality family-time out in the good-stuff!

Full set of photo here.

Ella loves bubbles

Seriously, she loves them:

Ella & Bubbles from navets on Vimeo.

My first Political Rally –

Tonight was amazing!

Mike Huckabee – in person – is as genuine and selfless as I imagined. His words were eloquent, his demeanor – charming (but not in a two-faced cheesy way).

We arrived at the Hotel in Pewaukee right on time, hustled through the entrance to the indoor waterpark and rushed down numerous hallways to the banquet hall lobby to wait with a few hundred other Huck-fans.

When the doors opened moments later we were ushered into the Grand Ball Room and quickly made our way to the front. I stood at the front barricade and Jess and Ella in the stroller were just a few steps behind me to the left against a wall.

Huckabee was introduced by Senate-hopeful, Tim Michaels and was quickly brought out on stage to give a 40-minute speech.

The air was electric. This man is NOT standing down – and he’s hoping for an opportunity to debate on the Republican Convention floor about where he stands as a True Conservative.

It was an honor to witness him in person and listen to the sincerity in his voice. After the speech we waited in the pressing crowd for an opportunity to shake his hand and/or get an autograph. What we received was even better.

After I asked, “Governor – would you take a picture with the most beautiful baby girl in the world?” I was pleasantly surprised with a pursuit on his part to get closer to me and Ella who was in my arms. I quickly handed her over and told him that I had to forge a similar picture a few weeks ago and that I appreciated the opportunity! A couple quick snapshots later his wife Janet took Ella out of his arms and passed her back over to me with kind remarks. I shook Governor Huckabee’s hand and he signed my poster and I told him that I was a minister here in Wisconsin, that I appreciated him and that I was praying for him. He looked at me and thanked me.

Great experience. Great pictures. In all, I took over 150 digital photos from the evening. Just under 100 “made the cut” and a few less are online for your viewing pleasure!

Here are a few:

The rest of the photos are here!

Ella.

01.17.08 – Quick Ella Clip from navets on Vimeo.

Spaghetti Night!

01.22.08 – Spaghetti Night from navets on Vimeo.

Someone give that girl a haircut!

Some of our teens are calling Ella’s hair “Emo”. No, not as in “Elmo” the puppet, but “Emo” as in “Emotional-Rock”.

We love her hair!

Ella Photoshoot

Jess got to enjoy a few hours away from home today so I was solo-parenting this afternoon.

Of course you’d expect nothing less than a new Ella photoshoot:

Photoset here.

By the way, outfit AND hair by Daddy!

A girl after her father’s heart?!

Future blogger for sure!

Some Great New Ella-Pics!

My buddy Derek sent me an e-mail today with some great pictures he took of Ella while were in Orlando the other week! They were too good not to share!

This just in…

Ella told us who she’s voting for in November!

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

If you didn’t get this in an e-mail format it probably means that we don’t have your e-mail address.

This year we are in enough of a budget-crunch that we can’t print our “usual” 200-ish Christmas cards and mail them all over the world to our friends and family thanks to our “Money Make Over” we’re undergoing.

If you want to print your own version of this photo and place it front-and-center on your kitchen fridge, here’s a link to a hi-res (300dpi) version of this 4×6-inch photo for you to print at your local Wal-Mart or Wallgreens! (just right-click the link and choose “Save Target As…”, save it to your computer, and upload it wherever you print digital photos!)

Please forgive our cheap-ness.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Apparently we’ve received 13+ inches of snow this month already here in lovely Mukwonago, WI. With our busy schedules and me being sick this last week we hadn’t had a chance until this afternoon to go and play in it! Sure I’ve shoveled and fallen enough times to make an old man out of me, but we haven’t really “enjoyed” the beautiful snow until today!

I’m so glad Jess suggested that I come home early to enjoy some family-time tonight! If I wouldn’t have agreed I would’ve missed these priceless moments:

Of course you can visit my Flickr page and see the entire photoset of today’s fun-in-the-snow!

Ella’s First Dance Video

Thanks to Beyonce for the soundtrack.

Thanks to Ella’s Mommy for teaching her these sweet moves!

I’m Daddy.

Another Ella-in-the-leaves Photo

Because I’m Daddy.

More here, of course.

Leaves!

After a hard frost last night the leaves have been falling all morning here in Mukwonago! Perfect opportunity for us to run outside and do a photoshoot!

Ella “Choo Choo”

Ella Walking

I was reminded this morning from Kathy that I have yet to post a video of Ella walking!

So…

Our baby’s growin’ up!

Ella loves apples!

Photoset of Ella & The Apple here.

ellasheets.com update

finally some new pictures from September have been put up on ellasheets.com!

October, already?!

That’s my girl!

Ella, at dinner

Tonight was a special night for the Sheets-family. Yes, we feasted, and yes, I remembered to bring the camera!

Ella-steps!

It was a good evening

Ella Video!

This evening is daddy/daughter night as Jess has a meeting with the female leaders of our youth ministry!

As we sat down to enjoy the new MuteMath live DVD, Ella was finally willing to kiss daddy on camera!

New, adorable, Ella video!

Ellasheets.com

In case you haven’t noticed, ellasheets.com is getting updated every so often. It may not be daily, but it’s every couple-of-days or so. Lately, I’ve switched formats to portrait – black – and – whites. You’re going to love them!

Proof that Ella stands on her own these days!

Ella is a doll

Our little girl just got a little older!

Just a moment ago I played the video of my Dad and I cruising in the Mini Cooper on my laptop. Ella saw it from a distance, came towards and smiled as the video finished playing.

Jess said, “put a video of her on there!”

So I did.

When I turned the screen to show Ella she came over to the couch and preceded to PULL HERSELF UP TO A STANDING POSITION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE!

Jess and I both sat speechless as the video finished and when the video was finished both of us had tears in our eyes. When the video finished, Ella sat down and crawled away.

We just experienced “a moment”.

How does she not get sick?

Some new photos of Ella!

Ella and the tower of cups!

Genius daughter –

Ella’s Cuteness –

Suds

New Ella Video!

Ella sneaking up on Mommy who was sitting on the back row in church on Sunday night!

Happy Mother’s Day

In honor of my mother, I felt like I should post a video of her talking to Ella on my cell phone!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I love you!

Ella loves Mt. Dew (bottles)

Today’s Ella Pics

Thanks to the Swanson-family and Aunt Sher, Ella LOVES her new caterpillar crawl-through!

Three new photosets on Flickr…

Three new photosets went live tonight. You must see these.

#1 – Ella’s actual birth-day and a bike ride with Daddy to Pike Lake in Warsaw.

#2 – An afternoon as a family in the grass at Winona Lake.

#3 – An evening with Jason & Mischele Denniston on Dewart Lake.

Unbelievable times. Amazing pictures (some of them)

A few to interest you:

Curls!

Check them out!

Saying goodbye to Grand-Sheets’

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at Maria’s with my folks and Ella had a chance to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa before they headed back to Pennsylvania. Good times, great breakfast!

More photos here.

A night to remember – Ella’s FIRST birthday party!

Ella turns 1-year-old on Monday! Unbelievable.

Tonight, much of our family joined together to celebrate this incredible occasion! 11 of us under one-roof for numerous hours. It was a blast.

Ella DID NOT seem to want to “dirty” herself by slinging cake everywhere – she’s definitely an OCD-ish clean-freak like her Dad! I did, however, manage to cram both of her hands into her cake to “please the audience”, which in turn sent Ella into a huge tantrum and made me look like an idiot.

Great job, Daddy…

I learned my lesson, I promise.

Video forthcoming. Pictures here.

Ella asked us to give special thanks to all of our family attendees at this year’s celebration! Grandma & Grandpa Sheets from Middleburg, PA; Grandma & Grandpa Garrett from Bluffton, IN; Aunt Sherilyn from Napperville, IL; Aunt Jaymie & Uncle Rich Halt from Marion, IN; and Uncle Kory from Indianapolis! You all mean so much to our family and we thank you for the sacrifice you made to be a part of tonight!

Three new Ella vids!

Daddy bought Ella a new dress!

One of this past week’s “Slick Deals” was an amazing deal on some dresses and other apparel at “The Children’s Store”. I was able to get 3 dresses, and a winter jacket for Ella for too-good-of-a-deal-to-pass-up.

The clothing items arrived yesterday and it didn’t take much talking into for Jess to put one of the dresses on Ella for church today:

An early birthday present

Yesterday I rode my bike through the Byer Farm trails/walkway that runs from Pike Lake to the local hospital and thought to myself, I wish I could share this experience with my family.

Last night I couldn’t stop thinking about getting Ella a bike trailer that we could hook up to one of our bike’s and safely tow her behind us on a bike ride through the neighborhood and even the local trails.

This afternoon I nearly sang the Hallelujah chorus when I found a bike trailer for under 80-bucks at Walmart.com! I quickly called our local store and had them put their last one on hold for me up at customer service.

As soon as we got home from Wal-Mart, I just HAD to put the thing together, get my daughter inside and snap a couple dozen photos. Here’s Ella inside her early birthday present.
Now, if these snow-flurries would end and the temperature would rise, we could go on a family-bike-riding excursion!

Smiley

Those EYES!

Photoset here.

If you haven’t noticed…

Ellasheets.com is getting regular updates thanks to my new friend, Canon’s PowerShot sd1000 that arrived in the mail yesterday! Here’s a nice pic of my new friend:

Ella also stars in this latest video clip taken at IWU in the foyer of the PAC (Performing Arts Center). The acoustics of her voice were quite exciting to her!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Happy Easter 2007!

BOZ – the green bear next door

As I type this, I am about 15-feet away from an almost 1-year-old young lady who shares my last name and my eye color who is absolutely enthralled with BOZ – the green bear next door.

If you’re not familiar with this new Pre-school aged Christ-centered animated series, check it out here. And remember, Ella’s birthday is on April 23rd! (she already has “Thank You God for…Friends and Helpers” if you were wondering!)

Ella in the Jumper

We took the jumper out of “storage” (beneath Ella’s crib) today and hooked it up to the doorway. What commenced soon after was nothing short of adorable:

Dinner last night had no effect on me! I even drove two 5-minute rounds of go-karts with our students at the new “Somethin’ Funn” here in Warsaw last night! My doctor’s nurse called today and asked how I was doing and when I informed them that all of my symptoms seem to be gone, they decided that we’ll just see how things go and wait for a couple more test results that the lab was waiting on to decide if we need to do something else!

I’m ready to declare that whatever WAS going on in my body has been taken care of by the Ultimate Healer!

Four MORE minutes of Ella!

A New Ella Video

Just realized I have a picture of Ella’s two teeth!

Yes, it was a beautiful day (and Ella is feeling MUCH better)!

Ella’s Sick

She’s got the nastiest diarrhea ever. She’s downing Pedialite every hour-or-so, and finally at around 10:30 she actually cracked a smile and a bit of a laugh.

Please join us in praying for her speedy recovery.

Anyone heard of the Roto Virus? Her symptoms sound VERY similar to what I can find online.

Regina Spektor

Ella is a big fan of Regina Spektor, as are her parents. Specifically, the video for “Fidelity”. She was glued to the television while this video played just moments ago. You can enjoy it here, too:

Speaking of Ella … Ella stars in the latest VidCast update over there on the sidebar! Check it out!

Ella, the paint mixer.

Peek-a-Boo

It’s a dark video, but one of the cutest moments we’ve captured!

Growing Up

Doesn’t this little girl look like what Ella will look like in a year-or-so?

Oh wait, this IS Ella, ALREADY!

I got bit!

I got bit today by Ella!

That’s right! She has her first tooth!

HURRAY!

Ella Squinting

Thursday in Indy

Woke up this morning, headed to “Higher Ground” for coffee and bagels for Jess and me to enjoy.

Ordered take-out from “China Wok” and picked up with Kory while he was on lunch break.

Headed down to Riley for a great visit with Andrew and his mother.

Came back to Kory’s and found Magee waiting in the driveway!

Headed to dinner @ Texas Roadhouse with Magee & Kory.

Back to “Higher Ground” for after-dinner coffee.

Happened upon Brad & Heidi LeRoy who were leaving coffee house.

Spent nearly an hour chatting it up with LeRoys who came BACK into the coffee house to chat with us.

Went back to Kory’s with Magee and enjoyed conversation, television, and wireless ‘net goodness!

Snapped too few photos today. I’m ashamed of myself. I didn’t even take the camera with us to dinner or to the coffee house. Shameful.

Another Ella Video

Ella and her Elmo “Giggle and Wiggle” chair!

Ella’s Impressions

Here Ella impersonates a person with no teeth:

Adorable

Black & Whites

I love my girls!

Just look at them:

My daughter is pretty much the most adorable thing in the world

It’s been a long week.

After a long week of work, my girls being sick with the flu, 4 Christmas Play performances, etc., it was great to come home tonight and share this moment with my daughter on the floor:

Quick Ella Video

Ella and her Christmas Tree

Per my mother’s request – here’s Ella staring at the Christmas tree:

Ella Has a Booster Seat!

This afternoon Jess and I took Ella to the “B.A.B.E.” store here in Warsaw. It’s a store for the county that doesn’t accept money. They only accept “B.A.B.E.” coupons. We received these coupons at Ella’s doctor’s appointments, at Jess’ OB appointments, when we finished our parenting classes, even one a month because Jess gets visits from the “Healthy Families” lady each week. We’ve been saving up these coupons (19 of them until today) and decided to make the trip to the B.A.B.E. store to see what we could get!

We ended up with some new outfits for Ella, a new teething toy, a booster seat, and even a new floor-toy (a water-filled duck).

Check out Ella in her new booster seat:

Yesterday Jess picked up a car seat cover to protect Ella during these cold months. Check it out:
Also, per “Momma Sweeny’s” request, here’s a photo of Ella and her new sweater:

Ella’s New Winter Outfit

Yesterday, “Momma Sweeny” gave Jess and I a new winter outfit for Ella. We attempted to get it washed and on her by service last night but that didn’t happen.

When Jess and Ella were able to join me for a trip to Ft. Wayne today for a District Youth Cabinet meeting, we decided that it was the perfect time to use Ella’s new outfit.

Ella & Daddy’s Football Nap

While we attempted to watch the Colts beat the Bills, Ella and Daddy found themselves indulging in the “Wesleyan Hour” this afternoon. Before snoring, Mommy captured these precious moments with the camera.

An Ella Update

Finally – some new pictures of Ella! Hurray!

AND a video!

Elladorable!

Our little Eskimo!

Tonight was Warsaw Wesleyan’s first-ever “Trunk ‘N Treat” Halloween alternative celebration. 25 vehicles circled up, filled their trunks full of candy, we gave a Gospel presentation and kids went home with enough candy to keep 20 dentists in business! Our trunks were to be “decorated” as we saw fit. Our decoration theme? “Winter in Montana (plus an igloo)”

Here’s our little Eskimo in her wintery-bliss.

Igloo artwork by yours truly. Nice, huh?

Now, my thoughts on Halloween.

#1 – I’m very thankful that my parents took us Trick-or-Treating as kids. I have some great family memories of being dressed in stupid costumes and receiving incredible amounts of free candy from my neighbors. (one of those memories includes dragging my little sister, Sherilyn, around the neighborhood in my wagon in her JOY Dish Detergent bottle costume – which I’m pretty sure was a display from a grocery store that my mom asked for and retro-fitted to make into a Halloween costume)

#2 – I am also glad that I was a part of “Harvest Parties” or whatever the local church we were at called them – where we did “alternatives to trick-or-treating”. I have fond memories of dressing up as a mummy and saying I was “Lazarus” because it was a church-event.

#3 – I was very glad to be a part of a church that offered a safe alternative to the average trick-or-treating that took place in our town tonight.

#4 – When Ella is old enough, I look forward to taking her trick-or-treating on the only opportunity each year when our neighbors will willingly open their front doors and hand her gobs of free candy for her to share with her father.

#5 – The Sheets family will never be displaying “gory” or “evil” items as “decorations” during this time of year. We will always roll our eyes at the neighbor who buys hundreds of dollars worth of Halloween decorations and wonder what it is they’re celebrating and will double-visit their house if they have good candy.

Two new Ella Videos!

#1: “Talking with Daddy”

#2: “Yucky Shots, Episode 2″

Yum! Carrots!

The Sheets Family Round-up

This morning, eight members of the Sheets family joined together over large stacks of Maria’s pancakes for a farewell after a very enjoyable weekend! My grandparents – Jim and Aletha left soon after breakfast. My sister, Sherilyn, headed back to Chicago-land about an hour later, and my folks head back to Pennsylvania soon after sun-up tomorrow morning!

It has been an extreme privilege to have our families (and yes, Kory, you ARE family) spending the weekend here in Warsaw. We are in awe each time we pause to think about where both of us have come from heritage-wise and are grateful for the love that continues to flow from our relatives and fill this household. I need to mention, too, that Jess’ grandparents and parents drove over from Bluffton to take part in Ella’s dedication on Sunday. It was also a great privilege for Mom and Dad Garrett to spend lunch and part of the afternoon with us, too! My “brother” Kory also came up from Indianapolis on Sunday to join in the festivities.

The dedication on Sunday was such a special event. Pastor J really put us all at ease and made the event a special memory for all of us involved!

Ella did SO GREAT all weekend – she showed off, she screamed her head off, she spit up, she slept, she ate, she was held by more people in one weekend than she’s probably ever been held by! It was quite the weekend for us all. Things return to their normal, yet still fast-paced way tomorrow.

Mom graciously allowed me to download pictures taken with her camera from the dedication. The photoset from the day can be found here. Pictures from today can be found here.

Also – file this one under “blubbering parents”. It’s a clip from the duet Jess and I sang on Sunday following Ella’s dedication ceremony. Thanks to my sister, Sherilyn, for capturing this priceless memory:

VIDEO: The feeding “fight” goes on

Ella eats cereal!

Last night, for the first time, Ella had rice cereal before bed!

Ella Update

Grandma and Grandpa Garrett came this afternoon for a welcomed visit. I went and hit a bucket of golf balls with Dad Garrett and the ladies enjoyed some shopping and visiting. Tonight, at the dinner table, Ella drank from Grandma’s glass!

Enjoy:

Ella’s Well-Baby Appointment today

At 20-weeks, Ella is now 16lbs, 5oz.!
She’s also 26-inches long.

She’s in the 90th percentile in most of her stats!

We’ve also been given the “go ahead” to start her on rice cereal and fruits and vegetables!

Can you imagine the new pictures that will soon be taken?!

Survivor starts tonight. This Sheets family will be enjoying our “regularly scheduled” television programming starting up!

In other news, the new Pigeon John album is incredible.

A Very-Full Saturday

Breakfast this morning as a family included two teens – Josh and Gene. Good times at Maria’s House of Pancakes!

After a full breakfast, we began a day’s worth of movie-making. We finished the final edit around 7PM tonight and are debuting “Recycled” on Wednesday at our final BOX Road Trip! When it’s done being debuted, I’ll post it online to show off.

While I was away all day, Jess had some quality time with our amazing daughter – who, by the way, slept in HER OWN ROOM last night for the first time ever! What a momentous occasion!

Jess was able to find time to do a little Ella-recording this afternoon, too, and I was so proud at what I found on the camera tonight I just had to post it!

She also took a bunch of pictures that would be a pitty if I didn’t share with all of you:

You’re Gonna Love These

And I am sorry about the lacking in updates lately – you can imagine how busy life is right now if I am struggling to keep up with updating stevansheets.com with any sort of regularity. Forgive me.

Ella-Talk

You know you love it!

Family Photoshoot

Tonight, after the Community Singspiration – Jess and I took some time to do a photoshoot with our amazingly beautiful daughter.

Photoset here.

Slideshow:

Ella’s Chat today

Ella Slideshow

Baby Night

Tonight Jess and I had the privilege of meeting Nathaniel Ivan Barker for the first time. He is the 2-week-old son of our friends, Erik & Megan Barker.

It was amazing to hold such a small bundle of joy again and t was a special treat to hold this new-life, again realizing just how blessed we are to have our own newborn daughter, Ella!

Speaking of Ella – what post about a baby would be complete without a mosaic of our daughter?

Yesterday’s Photoshoot

Toughest Baby in the World

This morning we went to the local Well-Child Clinic to get Ella’s vaccination shots.

Here is how it all went down:

Is she not the toughest baby in the world?!

We were SO proud of her (and of the way we gave her Baby Tylenol before we even went to the clinic – thanks for the tip, Dr. Pitts!)

Our 14-pound baby is now sound asleep in her carseat and I’m off to work! (Yes, that’s right our 3.5-month old is already 14-pounds!)

Ella & The Husky

I shouldn’t post this incriminating video of me making my daughter cry. She likes the stuffed animal/teether at first, but then Daddy decides to make it growl. Shame on Daddy.

A Long Sunday

Nothing like some Daddy-Daughter time to make for a great evening.

Our plan was to head to Fairmount for the last night of Family Camp this evening, but a full-morning preaching in both services and an afternoon heat-wave kept us grounded here at home.

Some of the Daddy-Ella moments were captured here for your enjoyment:

Update already!

Goodness gracious. I must be busy or something!

Hopefully you’re all visiting www.ellasheets.com for the daily Ella-update. If not – here’s what you’re missing:

Ella Swims!

Yes that’s right – Ella went swimming tonight!

Tonight was our 3rd BOX “Road Trip” for the Summer – held at the home of Dan & Tina Warren. God blessed us with a rain-free evening to enjoy food, fellowship, and a swimming pool!

Before things got too crazy, I was able to bring Ella into the pool (which was a cold, 82-degrees). She enjoyed it until I took her all the way under for her first time! She came back up with a big cough and an instant “I’m not-so-happy-with-Daddy” cry. She calmed down after a minute and I eventually gave her back to Jess to get warm.

The rest of the evening consisted mainly of Junior and Senior-high boys trying to “take out Pastor Stevan” – thinking they could move the un-movable! It was a great time!

Photoset of Ella from today is here.
Photoset of tonight’s Road Trip is here.

Finally tonight, a video clip of Josh Warren playing his “Virtual Boxing” game in the basement of their home!

Two New Ella Videos

First up – a clip of Ella in her door-jumper for the first time! Not too exciting, but the Grandparents are sure to enjoy!

Second – a clip of Ella chatting with Daddy about life, and love, and the fact that Mommy is away at a meeting.

So THIS is Father’s Day…

I could get used to this!

By the way – Happy Father’s Day to the world’s greatest dad – Rev. Paul K. Sheets – a father that I hope I can one day emulate to the point of MY children wanting to emulate the qualities I have taken from my father. Dad – you’re a source of incredible strength for your family – thank you for loving Christ first and for raising us to see Jesus in you before we ever knew Him!

I also need to give a “shout-out” to a the greatest Father-in-law who didn’t complain a BIT that I didn’t tell the world that he beat me on Friday by one-stroke on nine holes! Thanks for helping raise your daughter to be the greatest wife and mother of our daughter!

Happy Father’s Day to me (from Ella!)

WWC Staff Cook-Out in Marion

This afternoon the Sheets family jumped in the car and headed South. We arrived in Marion for a cook-out at the home of Pastor Gale & Janet Janofski – our new pastor that will be with us starting July 9th! They treated the Warsaw Wesleyan staff to a great cook-out and fellowship around their fire-pit. Ella had a rough night, but I managed to snap this photo before the crying started:

It was a great time for us all to enjoy the fellowship of our new Senior Pastor and get to know his family a bit better, too!

Complete photoset here.

Highlights from the night:

Tomorrow we’ll enjoy worship and then a full afternoon and evening of errand-running and packing for camp!

Monday morning we’ll be leaving by 7:30AM for a week of Junior High Camp – I’m even teaching a seminar through the week this year! We’ll return sometime Friday evening and quickly do a LOT of laundry and resting! The following Monday we’ll jump back in the church van and head down to Fairmount for another week of camp – this time, Senior High Camp – where this year, I get the honor of speaking on the first night! After THAT exhausting week, we’ll be home for a few short hours and get back on the road in the “Sweeny Limo” and head FURTHER South – this time for a week in the Carolinas with my family – and a Sheets-side Family Reunion!

Please pray for the Sheets Clan over the next few weeks – Ella is FINALLY getting used to her “schedule” and these weeks of camp with either make or break us (and/or her)! We WILL have an air conditioned apartment for the two weeks of camp, but the change of pace and the location difference will be obvious to our bundle of joy! Even so, we are SO looking foward to seeing how the Lord moves in these two weeks of camp in the lives of the teens who will be present! It will be a good time for us, too, as we will have even MORE opportunity to pour into the lives of OUR teens who will be attending both events!

Stay tuned for updates from Fairmount and beyond (as I find Internet access)!

Finally, I leave you with yet another Ella-clip – this one is of her chatting it up with Mommy and Daddy tonight:

More Ella Videos

Ella sneezing:

Ella being “silly”:

Video I told you about yesterday…

Work Day

Woke up this morning to my smiling daughter and the need to get up and go to work at our new pastor’s house! After a few minutes of being awake, Ella was once again ready to go back to sleep –

She’s so cute!

It was a big day working on Pastor J and Jan’s new home.

I spent most of the day working with Gabe Ritter – my electrician friend. We had planned on only needing to do a simple wiring job to make it possible for the Janofski’s to install their dryer, but ended up doing a lot more once we started on the project. It was great to see our Warsaw Wesleyan people come out and give their time and effort to the projects that we all worked on!

When I got home this evening I quickly mowed the yard, watered the garden, and then came inside to enjoy some more smiley-time with Ella. I captured a couple new video clips of her tonight that will eventually be available on her video-page here. I’m getting tired of having to change all of my camera-created .MP4 files to .MOV files before uploading to youtube – anyone have any suggestions on a QUICK way to make MP4’s in to MOV’s? (some of you have NO idea what that even means I’m sure…)

Ella can now eat toys…

Another Ella Photoshoot!

My day off started with an Ella Photoshoot!

Enjoy the 33-photos here.

We also enjoyed a lunch outing with our friends Steve & Rita Zerbe! They were driving through on their way to Muncie and called us this morning for a spontaneous get-together! Good times!

After lunch we had a pleasant surprise visit from Lindsay Helfrich, too!

Ella and Daddy also got in the important day-off nap:

It was a good Thursday.

Today had more than 24-hours, I think!

Went golfing with two of my buds today.

Scott Greene and Glen Robinson both joined me for the “front nine” at the Raccoon Run this morning for some good relationship-building.

We didn’t actually play a “real game” of golf today, however.

Nope – we played “Bingo, Bango, Bongo” – a golf game that I thought Scott came up with, but upon further review, it’s all over the web.

The game is played with each hole having “3 points”.

Point 1 – given to the first player to reach the green.
Point 2 – given to the player who gets closest to the pin once everyone has reached the green.
Point 3 – given to the first player who sinks the putt.

Obviously some interesting strategies are born after one realizes the benefit of chipping “close” to the green instead of ON the green to possibly get a shot at Point #2. It was quite fun, actually. In the end, Scott won and Glen and I tied.

After our golf-outing and getting some work done in the office, it was off to the house for a quick clean-up before tonight’s first-ever BOX ROAD TRIP.

Tonight 32-people came to the Sheets’ Home for fellowship, food, baby-holding, and even a Texas Hold’em Tournament!

Much fun was had by ALL, I’m sure – though Stevan and Jess (don’t you LOVE third-person statements?) are a bit tired after attempting to entertain such a group in their miniature home.

A lot more pictures of tonight are here.

After everyone went home, I finally got some “Daddy time” with Ella. Of course I took some pictures:

Lot’s more Ella pictures here.

Also, I made a nice little Ella Wallpaper for you to enjoy – open this and right-mouse-click it to save as your desktop!

Tonight we also caught some great Ella-moments on film. Of course we’ll share with everyone in the world:

First, Ella “talking”:

Now, Ella standing:

Back Home

Got home tonight at around 9PM. We got quite a lot of brainstorming and job-description-hashing done over the last two days and I’m glad to have a rest from the whiteboard and smell of markers!

If you look closely at the above photo you can see all that our “Marketing and Promotions Team” brainstormed this afternoon. It’s going to be a busy 18-months as we continue to plan and build “SET APART” – the 2007 International Wesleyan Youth Convention:
I have quite a lot of new-work to begin working on as soon as I get back into the office tomorrow. Yippey!

When I got home, Ella was waiting for me! Not like waiting at the door with her arms outstretched, but she’s only 6-weeks old, ya know?!

Isn’t she the most beautiful baby girl you’ve ever seen?!?!

After a few minutes of Ella-time, we took her outside to show her the garden (and to water it, of course). I also finally snapped some photos to show you just how much the garden is growing!!

More pictures of today’s brainstorming here.
More pictures of Ella from tonight here.
More pictures of my garden here.

Thank you Mr. Pence

Thanks to Kory’s comment on the post of Ella in the rocking chair, I present you faithful stevansheets.com readers with the following:

http://guitar.ellasheets.com

Cleaning up the classroom

Today our family headed to Jess’ first-grade classroom for one final “clean up”.

Ella enjoyed sitting in the “Author’s Chair”:

When all was said and done, we had a carload of school-stuff to be sifted through in the next weeks and stored.

Here Mommy looks around her classroom:

Jess talked about how much she will miss Harrison and the people she worked with. She will miss the kiddos, too, but she is excited at her new role as full-time Mommy. (Even the full-time Mommy of a baby girl that will not stop crying right now!)

Speaking of crying – here’s a short clip I shot today of Ella on the changing table letting us know that she wasn’t too happy:

First date-night in 6-weeks!

Thanks to Mom & Dad Garrett, Jess and I were able to have our first-in-six-weeks date-night! We drove up to Goshen, watched X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and then enjoyed dinner at the Backyard BBQ restaurant!

We were celebrating two years of marriage tonight – our anniversary is actually on Monday, but I will be in Indianapolis for a meeting on Monday – and it was convenient that Mom and Dad Garrett both had Friday off and could watch Ella while we dated!

Ella did wonderfully – though it was good to know that we were missed by our daughter as we missed her for the 6-ish hours that we were gone:

Tomorrow, Jess and I will head to her former classroom and finish packing up her belongings and storing them here at our house. It’s official, now, that Jess will NOT be returning to Harrison next year – she’s going to be a full-time Mommy for the next year as she applied for a one-year “parental leave”.

In other news, Stevan’s new friend arrived today – and I got all of about 1500 songs loaded on to it before coming home for date-night. (1500 of about 4000 thus far) By the way – this is an Apple iPOD.

It was good to get away for a few hours tonight with my favorite woman, the love of my life. Celebrating two years of marriage is quite interesting – we amazed ourselves to think that at this time two years ago we NEVER would’ve thought we’d be parents in two years! Never! And yet God is blessing us as parents – everyday!

Somebody found her thumb!

Sure she’s sucked her thumb for about 3-5 seconds, but tonight while waiting for her dinner, Ella had her thumb in her mouth long enough for this photo and this video clip!

My Wonderful Daughter

Tonight I tasted Ella-drool in mass quantities.

I was holding her above my face and making daddy-faces at her when suddenly my mouth was overcome with thick-water.

Ella has begun to drool.

Sure this is normal and all, but it will change the way Daddy plays with Ella before bed if he doesn’t want to have to brush his teeth again.

Ella attended theBOX tonight, by the way – her first-ever Wednesday night appearance. She did wonderfully.

Tonight was our last “normal” BOX event for the Summer. Starting next week we’ll be in a different location every week for theBOX Road Trips. First stop – our place. Can you imagine? 30+ teens in our living room for 2-hours?! What have we gotten ourselves into?

Ella will entertain, of course.

Tuesday

Ella’s finishing her final feeding before what we hope to be another long night’s sleep. Last night Ella slept for 4-and-a-half hours in a row! We couldn’t believe it! We wore her out for sure with the numerous visits to family and the traveling from here to Bluffton and back – but it was all worth it. She’s been a bit fussy during the day today, but she fell asleep in my arms tonight while we watched some television. I woke her up to give her a bath and she’s just about ready to head to bed – and so are we!

I did manage to get some more photos taken of my favorite newborn tonight, too. The complete photoset is here (and includes 56 new faces!)

My favorite:

Memorial Day Festivities

For Memorial Day, today we planned a trip to Bluffton to visit with Jess’ side of the family! While Jess was finishing getting ready this morning I filmed the following two quick clips:

I just had to share those!

While in Bluffton, Ella made her rounds of being held by various family members! It was a BIG day for her and she really did terrific! She slept the entire way there and the whole way back, too!

Some photos from the day:

The full photoset can be found here.

Our Many-Faced Daughter

Caught some more shots of Ella and her expressive expressions this morning:

Ella

Don’t you just want to pinch those cheeks? (hers, of course)

A shot of Ella with Grandpa Garrett:

And finally – SUPER-ELLA

Ella talks to her Grand-Sheets’ in South Carolina

Grandpa Sheets

Look at this proud Great-Grandpa:

We had another splendid day with my Grandparents today. They came over and made us lunch this afternoon – fried fish that Grandpa caught – some in the ocean and some in a lake (crappie and trout).

Tonight they sat through our Annual Church Conference and then we watched the final hour of American Idol with them in their Motorcoach and snacked on fried cheese sandwiches. It was a great evening.

They take off tomorrow morning to head up to Northern New York to visit with my Aunt Judy & Uncle Ken Davis and family. It has been good to have them here with us for these couple of days. We will enjoy breakfast with them tomorrow morning before they head off.

Ella Meets New Family Members

This afternoon my Grandparents from Greensboro, NC arrived in their motorcoach. They are parked in our church’s parking lot for the next few days. Tonight they got to meet Ella for the first time.

You remember Ella –

Well, they love her!

Grandpa has a cold, so Grandma did the holding tonight

Grandma and Grandpa stayed long enough to watch American Idol. They’re making us lunch tomorrow – they’re cooking up some fish that Grandpa caught not too long ago.

Tomorrow night we have our church annual conference.

I’m also feverishly working on my message for Sunday morning. It’s entitled, “A Child of the Father”. You can guess about some of the illustrations!

A Couple More Photos

I took a few photos of Ella today when I got home from the office before heading to my Monday night Bible Study.

Okay, I took almost 60 photos, but it’s still only a few in comparison to the huge amount that I’ve taken of her in this first month of her life…

Tonight, for the first time we captured Ella smiling – enjoy these:

The entire photoset from today is available here.
Another favorite from today:

And another…

Two Photos

Enjoy:

Another full day!

This afternoon Mom Garrett and Jess got Ella all dressed up for her Warsaw Wesleyan Baby Shower!

Here’s her closeup:

The baby shower was great (or so I’ve heard). I managed to snap a few photos of the festivities:

Also, during the Baby Shower, two friends stopped by – Ben and Candace – on their way to their Prom!

After the shower, I took the numerous balloons and tied them to an extra notepad I had in my office. I scribbled my dot-com and my e-mail and a short message on the notepad, tied all of the balloons to it and headed outside:

Hopefully someone will contact me after finding my makeshift aircraft!

Ella, of course, found the entire day exhausting.

We are very glad to have Mom Garrett here with us again tonight. She and Jess will recuperate from today’s events tomorrow – and I will be making lunch! Jess is still having moderate pain from the mastitis, so continue to pray for her healing!

A New Life

It’s Friday night. I’m sitting at the computer at a quarter-till-eleven in the evening. I have changed 3 diapers tonight already. I have bathed my daughter. I have rocked her to sleep, even.

This is a new life.

She is SO worth it!

We had a NETWORK meeting this morning at the First Christian Church here in Warsaw. We got to check out their new youth center:

Before our meeting got underway, we took a quick walk over to the Warsaw Justice Building to answer once and for all whether the stained-glass mural that we pass by as we drive through town is actually a map of Warsaw.

The answer? Yes. Actually it’s an “artistic map” of Kosciusko County!

Here’s the lineup of today’s Network attendees:

L-R – Rick Nier (Winona Lake Free Methodist), Scott Greene (Warsaw Community). Kevin Lilly (Warsaw Community Grace Brethren), David McBeath (Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian), John Bryan Lowe III (New Life Church & World Outreach), Gary Boschain (First Christian), and Yours Truly (Warsaw Wesleyan).

Aren’t we a motley-looking bunch? John Bryan is a bit of an exhibitionist, I guess! He likes to surprise us on occasion.

After work I came home and we packed up Ella and headed for a night of grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Good times. She slept the entire time. We came home, ate quickly and then gave her a bath. She is now finishing off her late-night meal and will hopefully/prayerfully sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow Mom Garrett comes to town to help Jess at the Baby Shower that our church is putting on tomorrow afternoon! I’ll sneak in to take a few photos if I get the chance. Mom Garrett will also be spending the night and helping us get Ella prepared for her second Sunday in church!

Snug as a bug in a rug!

Isn’t this the face of “satisfaction”?
Tonight we put Ella in her new “snuggly” – a gift from her 2nd Cousins in L.A., Brock & Esther Sheets (thank you guys).

Until this gift arrived, we have been “swaddling” Ella with her two arms OUT – they are not included in the burrito-style folding of two “receiving blankets” because they would somehow find their way OUT of our intricately folded origami swaddling and up to Ella’s face and into her mouth.

So, we receive this gift from Brock & Esther (and baby Reagan) and decide to give it a shot – keeping Ella’s hands down by her side to encourage her to be MORE swaddled.

What commenced seemed more like a straight-jacket than a cuddly, swaddled situation –

With merely her tiny little head protruding from this “swaddle-me blanket”, Ella looked hilarious – so of course I snapped photos of our little one.

For about 5-minutes we were literally SHOCKED at how calm she was at having her hands down by her side, wrapped snuggly by this new invention we received from L.A.

About 5-minutes, I said.

In just that amount of time, while we watched, my Houdini-daughter managed to free both of her arms and get them BOTH within mouth-reach!

Seriously, it was an amazing thing to watch.

So, for your next birthday party, corporate event, bar mitzvah, or other “shindig”, consider hiring “Escaping Ella” to entertain your guests!

9lbs., 3oz.!

Yes folks, our baby girl weighed in at 9-pounds, 3-ounces today at her weight-check at Dr. Pitts’ office!

Jess had to see Dr. Pitts today and was diagnosed with “mastitis” (look it up if you’re curious).

Some antibiotics should take care of the problem.

My wife is a trooper!

I came home this afternoon JUST in time to miss the “projectile poopage” that happened just minutes before I walked through the door.

Sure was sad to miss that photo-op!

A Long Day…

A 2-hour and a 3-hour segment of sleep last night made for a long day today.

Going to bed early is something quite “new” for me and one of the things that will continue to take some “getting used to” as this whole Fatherhood thing continues on.

When I got home today it was a beautiful thing to enjoy burping Ella as she released her last few gulps of “dinner” onto my clean shirt! I spent a few hours with Jess and Ella before heading back to my weekly Bible Study group where I had to confess my being nearly a MONTH behind in our weekly readings! A MONTH! They were shocked. I had to buy the sodas around the table (a “punishment” we set up early in our founding). It was good to be back with the guys again enjoying their fellowship and God’s Word together with like-minded brothers.

Tonight Ella decided to “vocalize” her dislike of going to bed before Mommy and Daddy.

This is NOT the first time, of course, but it brings into question this thought – Will the feeling of needing to “make things better” for my daughter when she is screaming her tiny little head off, suddenly or gradually go away? Obviously, if her little hand was in a door-jam or she was being fed something too hot, etc., the instant reaction is AND SHOULD be to help her quickly, but the “I’m vocalizing my dislike of this thing” (tonight it is sleeping – tomorrow, who knows) – when will that get easier to “ignore”? Will it ever?

Some have said it will. Some have said that they knew those who DIDN’T “get over” those useless cries and kept themselves only 2-inches from their baby at all times.

Have I mentioned lately just how life-chaning fatherhood has been thus far?

3-weeks and already my life is COMPLETELY different than it was even that morning of Ella’s birth!

I need some sleep and some time to talk about the day with my wife. She is a beautiful woman, ya know.

(this is the first post in a while without a picture of Ella – but as always, you can see a daily-updated photo of our darling daughter at www.ellasheets.com!)

Happy Mother’s Day

First – a “Happy Mother’s Day” to MY mother, Sally Sheets! Thanks, Mom for all you’ve done to make sure this toe-headed yungin’ grew up to be a man who fears the Lord. Thank you for putting up with my “antics” (read “sermon illustrations”) and for always loving me and being my supreme example of a wife/mother who loves the Lord first with her family right behind!

Second – a “Happy Mother’s Day” to the newest mother I know – my wife! You are the most beautiful wife that I could’ve ever asked for (and yes, I tell her that to her face, not just online!) Thank you for being so tough. For sticking through the hard-stuff and for giving your very life to the cause of raising our daughter! You amaze me.

Third – a “Happy Mother’s Day” to my Mom-in-law whom I’ve grown to love ever since the first time I met her on the first time I picked Jess up for a date! Wow time has flown! You’ve raised two great girls and are an influential part in both of their family’s lives – in a GREAT way! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Jess enjoyed her first Mother’s Day today at church with our daughter Ella with the help of HER mother who drove over from Bluffton this morning to assist in the “first day of church” since Ella’s birth! After church we took Ella on her first meal-out to Applebee’s! She slept the entire time!

After lunch my buddy, Jeremy came over to spend some quality time getting to know our daughter and conversing with us.

Tonight we enjoyed the Survivor finale, though we weren’t excited with the result. Terry should’ve won!

Pray for the Sheets family this week as Daddy goes back to work and Mommy is home with Ella by herself with NO family in town these first few days to help. (This is notably MORE of a stressful situation for Stevan than it is for Jess as was marked by his typical stressful “bowing before the porcelain throne” this evening upon realizing the coming week’s largeness.)

Some photos from today:

Three generations!

Ella on stage with Daddy during morning announcements

Ella is asleep at Applebee’s while we eat.

Ella is visited by her buddy J.T. Freeman

Sleeping Beauties

This is what Saturday is all about!

Note the new La-Z-Boy recliner that Jess received for Mother’s Day!

Zerbe Visit

This evening, Steve & Rita Zerbe, along with their daughter, Allison and her two boys, Brennan & Micah stopped through on their way back to Michigan to meet Ella!

“Grandma” Rita holds Ella

“Grandpa” Steve holds Ella

Jess holds a 5-month-old Micah

Steve & Rita’s Grandson, Brennan.

Ella’s best face all day!

The rest of tonight’s photos are here.

Took some more pictures.

Even more pictures of our darling daughter today.

Enjoy them ALL here. Enjoy a sampling below:

Glen and Natalie Robinson visited us tonight.

Glen and Natalie are ready to be parents!

Mom and Dad Garrett are here this evening to spend the night! This means a bit more sleep for the new Mommy and Daddy! Thank you Grand-Garretts!

Day off with Ella

What does a daddy do on his day off when he has a new baby girl?

Apparently he takes over a hundred photos of her and puts them on the web.

Enjoy these (and the rest, here.)

I also shot a quick video clip of Ella letting us know that she was hungry –

Ella’s Photoshoot with Aunt Sherilyn & Grandma Sheets

Monday, Monday (da, da, da da da da…)

This morning it pained me to leave my wife and daughter alone as I left for a full-day of work. As I drove to my meeting this morning in Fort Wayne, I spent about the first 30-minutes thinking about how different life has become since the birth of our darling, Ella! I prayed for my wife to have the strength to do all of the “motherly things” and I prayed that my daughter would continue on her schedule of 3-hour feedings. When I called in to check on wife and baby I praised the Lord after hearing a cheerful wife on the other end of the conversation.

God answered prayer today by giving Jess and Ella an entire morning – alone – for the first time – and with HUGE success!

I even called my dad for some helpful tips on “how to leave your wife and daughter and go back to work.” He was a helpful source of wisdom on the phone this morning, too.

Ella continues to change before our eyes – everyday. That’s probably the most incredible part of this whole “parenting” thing – to think that I have been able to witness the first 15 days of another human being’s life – and to see her changing right in front of me – it’s just a bit overwhelming, really.

I have a new-found respect for my peers who are Fathers. I shook some of my buddy’s hands today at our meeting and told them – seriously – that I now respect them on a new level – for having made it as far as each of them has in the realm of Fatherhood.

My mom and sister both arrived safe and sound last evening and were able to spend some quality hours with Ella and us this afternoon. Today we went through another bag-full of Grandma-Sheets-collected clothing items for Ella. Ella is probably the only 15-day-old I know with more clothing than I have probably ever owned.

This evening “Aunt” Pam Sempel and her daughter, Jenna arrived from Marion to meet Ella face-to-face, finally. They joined Mom and Sherilyn for dinner.

Ella happened to take an evening nap just long-enough for Jess and Me to catch up over a plate of yummy-goodness provided by Renee “Momma” Sweeny. The nightly dinners that have been provided by our church people have been an absolute blessing!

Tomorrow is another full-day of work and Jess’ first check-up since the C-section at the Doctor’s office. We’ll get an update on her continued healing at that appointment.

Another Nap with Daddy

This afternoon after Daddy returned from church, he and Ella settled in for a bit of a nap –

Mom and Sherilyn arrived this evening just after 9PM – they drove all day from South Carolina to be here for the week.

I go back to work starting tomorrow morning – with a morning meeting in Ft. Wayne to start the week off. I will attempt to juggle my daughter, work, and my family this week – your prayers, faithful stevansheets.com readers would be appreciated. Today we also said thank you and goodbye to Mom Garrett who so faithfully stood by us during this incredible first two-weeks with Ella! In just an hour she will be 2-weeks old – is that unbelievable?

The Tylenol PM is already running through my system, so I say goodnight here.

A great day!

Isn’t she adorable?!

We had such a great day today! Jaymie and Rich arrived soon after Dad Garrett did and we cooked-out on the grill for the first time of the season! Lunch was terrific and after a rest-bit, Rich offered to join me outside to work in the attempted-garden. Thanks to Rich’s help, we got the majority of the roots OUT and I will be able to plant seeds THIS WEEK now! This is SUCH a blessing after I had almost given up hopes to get the garden in after the birth of Ella!

After our backyard adventures I am beginning to fall asleep as I type this tonight! We just finished two episodes of “Little People, Big World” on TLC and I’m now partaking of an online chat with two of the people on the show – Matt & Zach Roloff. It’s a pretty incredible show about how a family of “Little People” functions in a “Big People” world! Saturdays at 8PM on TLC is when the show airs.

My little girl is looking MORE girlish!

Today, Mom Garrett put on Ella’s headband with bow. Oh dear.

Today’s Ella’s first cook-out! Dad Garrett has already arrived from Bluffton and Aunt Jaymie & Uncle Rich are on their way from Marion.

The grill is already burning some charcoal, and the brauts and burgers are ready to be cooked!

Today will be a fun day!

Ella & Daddy

Ella and Daddy had two special times today. First a bath. She cried the entire time.

Then this afternoon Ella took a good long nap and I took it upon myself to wake her up for her 4PM-ish feeding time.

The video below is of me waking her up, and thinking that it was a cry that we were about to capture on film. If you watch until the end of the video you will see (hear?) exactly what we caught on film.

Enjoy –

Ella goes to the doctor!

Ella had her first Doctor’s visit this afternoon. Dr. Pitts, who we met after Ella was one-day-old, is a great guy – with quite the “unique” bedside manner.

For instance – when talking to me about Ella’s complications at birth (she wouldn’t breathe for 3-minutes after they pulled her from Jess) he tried to explain how “normal” it was. He explained how the Doctors that were there on that night knew way in advance how Ella was doing – and only decided on a C-section as a precaution for “real” complications. To further illustrate his words, the Doctor placed on of his hands on my throat and began to physically choke me (lightly, thankfully) – yes, CHOKE me. And after about 3-seconds of choking, he stopped and said – “See, you did fine during that – and so did Ella with the umbilical cord.”

Interesting, huh?

He also went on to explain to me how much Jess actually went through with her c-section.

He asked me if I owned a chainsaw. I said, no. He said, “Borrow one, and start it up. Take the chainsaw and cut through your car trunk. After you’ve chopped through the trunk, stop the chainsaw and wait for your trunk to heal.”

I get it.

I think.

All in all it was a great visit – Ella is back up to 8lbs. and she’s even grown and inch – she’s now 21-inches long! A full half-inch in less than 12-days?! My daughter is growing like a weed! (a pretty, good-smelling, adorable weed, however)

Tonight we also had a visit from two of Jess’ first-graders and one of their moms. Good times.

Did I mention that last night Jess and I actually had Ella sleeping in OUR ROOM for the first time since Mom Garrett arrived to help these two kids out? That’s right – Ella slept in her bassinet in our room instead of in the living room where Mom Garrett has been living since last Thursday. We’ve decided that we need to be prepared for when Mom Garrett leaves us this weekend and allow ourselves to grow accustomed to the sounds our baby makes while “sleeping”. I think we did a good job, though you’ll have to ask Mom Garrett to know for sure.

Ella will be watching Survivor tonight at 8PM – this will be her second episode. She’s cheering for Terry.

Another first, today – Jess feeding our daughter in public – wanna see?!?!

Today’s photoset here.

Ella’s first day of school!

Took Ella to meet Jess’ co-workers and students today!

More pics here!

Doctor-visit tomorrow…I’m also typing one-handed as I rock Ella to sleep!

Gas-smile or Daddy-smile?

Today’s photoshoot consisted of Baby Ella being propped up on a pillow and either smiling because she enjoys her picture being taken or because she had amazing gas.

Also – for those of you who DON’T check out the OTHER photos everyday, here’s a picture of yesterday’s nose snot that sucked out with that miniature turkey-baster!

Aren’t I just a proud Poppa?! Yep.

Morning Nap with Daddy

THESE are the moments I will cherish for a lifetime.

We had planned on another busy day of showing off our baby Ella today, but after a night of un-scheduled feedings, both Mommy and Baby are “pooped”! (literally, actually)

Feedings are back on schedule and Mommy is feeling better after a mid-morning nap. Mommy and Ella will be napping together today (or atleast at the same time!)

Continue to pray for them both as they BOTH recover from quite the ordeal just last week!

Ella’s First Video Collage

(music: Mute Math – “Reset”)

Our first trip to Wal-Mart with Ella was a COMPLETE success! She slept the whole time! We saw a few people from church and they were all honored to get a glimpse of our new daughter!

Jess is doing MUCH better today – she is still in constant pain from the major surgery she underwent, but the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting closer!

Ella is also doing very well – she is sleeping during the night for 4-5 hours in a row! That’s INCREDIBLE! When she does wake up, she feeds for under an hour and then goes back to sleep again!

The Lord is truly blessing our humble family with a good baby!

Funny Photo of Ella

I’m pretty sure this one is going to be a classic – Ella “checking her watch” as she is being talked to by a Pastor – Rev. Bill Kinnan (our current interim at Warsaw Wesleyan.)

Today we’re heading out with Ella. Yep – we’re going shopping. Not quite sure how it will go, but we’re giving it a shot!

Tonight Dad Garrett is coming to town to take Mom Garrett out for their Anniversary (today!) dinner!

Ella’s first Doctor’s Appointment is scheduled for Thursday afternoon this week. Her doctor is Dr. Pitts – who we have ONLY heard amazing things about and who, when we finally met him at the hospital, was VERY outspoken about his love for the Lord!

I e-mailed Jess’ school district with the birth details for them to announce in their bi-weekly newsletter. I also e-mailed the Alumni office of IWU and gave them the details (and a photo) – if you get the Triangle (IWU’s alumni magazine) you may soon be seeing our daughter in print!

As I type this, Ella is freshly fed and changed and is swinging to her heart’s content. She is actually asleep being rocked by 4 “D” batteries in her Graco swing!

My Little Bottle Rocket

Ella – in pictures

Isn’t she absolutely beautiful?!

Her bilirubin level is down to 13! No more light, no more blood-draws, either! HURRAY & Praise the Lord!

More photos from today’s festivities can be found in two photosets here, and here.

Here are some of our favorites:

Yella’ Ella

Tonight I chatted with my newly father-hooded cousin, Brock (Reagan was born 3.5 months ago). It was great to talk to someone with some newborn experience this close together! When I asked if he had seen pictures, he said, “Yes, I’ve seen Yella’ Ella!”

Funny.

Ella’s bilirubin level today (blood taken before noon) was aleady down to 14.4! (It was up over 17 yesterday – and was at 15.4 when we left the hospital on Wednesday)

Thank you for joining us in prayer!

Jess is doing remarkably well. We are without a doubt OVERWHELMINGLY blessed to have the support of both sets of parents. Mom Garrett has been here since Thursday morning and has been an overwhelming support. Tonight she and I will take “shifts” at bringing “hungry Ella” to Momma – after last night, where she allowed me to be sleep while SHE took care of Ella and Jess! Now that I’m a bit “caught up”, I can’t wait for my “new job”! (I will still be suplementing my sleep with a bit of Tylenol PM)

Tonight we finally took the time to give Ella her first “real” bath! Sure we can’t yet sit her in the sink and use the sprayer and such, but we put her on the towel next to the sink and I used my fatherhood skills (and the knowledge from watching the hospital video on bathing your child) and washed our baby Ella for the first time! It was awesome –

Check out my pink baby!

almost done!

drying off

Finishing touch – a kiss from Mommy and Daddy

More photos of tonight’s bath and some visitors, too, are available here.
Tonight, Ella also enjoyed her first-ever game of “thumb wrestling” with her Grandpa Sheets. Enjoy these two videos –

I’m lovin’ this!

Ella’s Picture of the day!

She’s still beautiful (and yellow!).

She Can Swing!

Today we got to put Ella in her swing for the first time – captured above for your viewing pleasure.

She loved it for about 3-minutes before violently kicking and screaming.

We’ll try it again tomorrow.

I took some more pictures this afternoon and evening (no kidding?!).

Here are some of my favorites, but the rest can be found here.

Counting with Grandma Sheets?

Miss “Squishy Cheeks”

My daughter is NOT affected by Kryptonite! (actually this is a “phototherapy device” placed on Ella’s back to help rid the bilirubin causing the jaundice-yellow many of you have probably been wondering about…)

Flowers from Ella’s Grandpa and Grandma Sheets (my parents) to welcome Ella and to bring cheer to Jess and the whole house!

We are continuing to get Ella’s blood drawn daily to watch the bilirubin count. Please join us in praying for it to be significantly lower tomorrow!

Continuing to learn…

After a few phone calls this afternoon, we were asked by Sherrie, KCH’s “lactation consultant” to come in for some more hands-on breastfeeding tips. Boy are we glad that we went to that meeting. Ella ate for more than 40-minutes straight while we were there and has been sleeping now for over 30-minutes! Jess got the “training” she needed and Mom Garrett and I learned a lot about how we could/should help Jess during this time!

THANK YOU, SHERRIE!
Some photos from last night’s Grandparents Sheets visit are now available. Full photoset here.

So, THIS is parenting.

Yikes.
The first night as “parents in our own home” was completely different than I ever would’ve expected.

It’s everyone else’s child that causes the “up-all-night” nights, right?

Wrong.

I’m pretty sure I was able to gather about 3 or 4 10-minute naps in between the excruciating screams of a child that screams like I heard last night SHOULD NOT be possible.

Jess, on the other hand didn’t get ANY sleep last night. None whatsoever.

At 5AM, she came out to me (I moved to the couch) and said, “should I call my mom?”

I literally jumped up and said, “YES!”

Mom Garrett is now here and is providing the much-needed input and babysitting that these two “kids with a kid” need today.

My parents also arrived late last night and did all the great granparent-like reactions to our newborn daughter. They are in love!

We’re on our way to the hospital this afternoon to chat with the “lactation consultant”. Ella has decided that she’s hungry but she doesn’t want mommy’s milk right now!

Pray for these “kids with a kid”, would ya?! This is a new experience that’s absolutely making us “grown up”!

Ella’s Homecoming

Today at 4:45PM, our daughter, Ella Marie, came home.

It’s amazing to think that she was born just this week and already she is home with us in our home!

I can’t imagine you getting tired of seeing pictures of our new daughter, so in Ella’s honor, we’ve started her OWN website – www.ellasheets.com is now the site where you will find a NEW daily photo of our darling daughter. The idea is to take a photo of her EVERYDAY for the first year of her life – the biggest “changes” come during this year, so we want to capture those changes in digital-format and keep track of them there! Currently, you can view 4-pictures on that site – she’s been with us for 4 days, so there are 4-pictures! You get the idea.

The site may grow as Ella grows, but currently it holds a photo-a-day of our new baby girl!

Of course there will still be MORE photos here on stevansheets.com – in fact, here you go:

Our Daughter, the (home) movie star!

If you haven’t seen them already:

Ella on the night she was born – I’m rocking her in the nursery – her first rock with her Daddy. We’re waiting for the phone call that says I can bring her back to Mommy (who just underwent emergency c-section). The phone call comes right at the end of the video clip, too! (runtime – 1:08)

Next up – a video of me asking Ella what she thinks about the current gas prices (outrageous) and her reaction (and NO, I was not pinching my daughter to make her react this way!): (runtime (:32)

Finally, my “freshly arrived” daughter and a BIG yawn and continual hiccups (runtime – :43 )

Of course some photos need to round-out the video clips! Full photoset of today’s picture-taking is here.

Again, the full photoset from today can be found here.

Ella Update – 36 hours-ish

She’s been with us for a little more than 36-hours and already we’ve learned so much.

The emotional-rush of “realizing” the birth of your first daughter is something I am still at grips with grasping. This morning, a flood of emotion hit me and I became physically ill and Jess sent me home to get some non-hospital-fake-bed rest. My wife, who just gave birth to our daughter is STILL taking care of me in her way!

Thank you God for my wife and daughter.

I’m on my way back to the hospital this afternoon after some much needed and wife-directed “home-bed” rest. I will return to the diaper-changing, daughter-calming, and wife-helping that I have already enjoyed!

Ella has finally worn off of the “I’m not going to cry when I’m hungry” phase and has quickly learned how to use her lungs and vocal chords to their fullest. She is an amazing creation!

To all of the well-wishers via comments here at stevansheets.com – THANKS! It has been good to read the comments again and again (and again!), though I have yet to be able to print off the posts and comments for Jess as our printer is like most American-family’s printers – WITHOUT INK!

We have had so many great visits over the last 36-hours and we thank each of you for your prayers and support (and girlie-clothing!) Ella also sends her heartfelt cry of approval to the support her Mommy and Daddy are receiving from those who love them.

Looks like we may be coming home sometime tomorrow (Wednesday) if all goes as planned today. Jess begins eating “real” (though still, “hospital”) food today. She also needs to get up and walk for a bit. I will be there for those events – maybe even chew up her food for her like a mother bird does for her babies. Okay, no that won’t be happening, but it just flowed from my fingers – so I had to write it. Remember, I’m a bit delusional this afternoon…

My daughter, Ella

“My daughter.”

Incredible words.

“My daughter” spoken from a guy who if he wasn&#