It all started with a cough...

First Will got it, and then I got it. Now Mike has decided he wants to join us in the coughing fun. But this little cough has led to some craziness at the Fessler house.

Two weekends ago, Will came home with a bad cough. It started off harmless, but quickly started to sound bad. There must have been something to it, because I got sick with a cold. We decided to watch it for a few days before we called the doctor.
Last Tuesday, Aimee(baby-sitter and good friend) called me to tell me that Will wasn't breathing well. All the blood rushed out of my head and my heart sank. She continued and reassured me that Will was feeling ok, he was laughing and playing, but she could tell that he was working very hard, due to congestion, to breath. So, I called the doctor and took him that afternoon. The doctor decided to put him on breathing treatments every 4-6 hours, tested for RSV and told us to come back on Thursday. Praise God the results for RSV were negative, but we still had to continue the treatments and by Thursday we had to start giving him an oral steriod. Will hates the treatments, he fusses and tries to pull the mask off most of the time, but what can we do?

During the course of this fun, my cold turned into sinus pressure and headaches(always fun), Will didn't feel good, and we planned a short trip to Charleston to visit friends who are planting a church there. The trip was in the works for a few weeks and since we had no life-threatening illnesses, we decided to go on. We did call ahead to let them know of our situation, but they wanted us to come on. We enjoyed our time with Todd, Lori and their kids. We were able to see Todd's vision for River Church, and see the area where it will serve. That was neat, to actually see something that we had heard so much about for so long. We did get to see the city and some sights, but I didn't even pull the camera out. Thanks Todd and Lori for allowing us to stay with you. We miss you guys!

But in the midst of this chaos, some great things have happened as well. My mom came and stayed 2 days with us last week during her Spring Break. She was a huge help. Mike was able to go to Newnan to work, and I came home to a clean house and a happy baby. She even had most everything packed for us for our trip this past weekend. She truly served us out of a loving and generous heart, and we are so grateful to her. During her stay, Will started getting up on his knees like he wants to crawl. He is getting pretty good at it, we are sure he is going to be crawling any day. And then just last night, we were driving home and we got the call that Tammy's water had broken and she was in the hospital. They were supposed to induce this morning, but I haven't heard anything yet. That means sweet baby Caleb will be here soon! Our first nephew, we can't wait to meet him!

Hallelujah!

Our happy little man!

He finally did it! At 6 months Will finally slept through the night! Last night I started to get him ready for bed around 7:45. I noticed that he was sleepy, so I started to rock him. By 8:20, he was out cold so I laid him down in his crib. We didn't hear a peep out of him until 10ish. Mike walked in put in his paci, and Will went right back to sleep. He then didn't wake up until 5am!!! It was amazing! Mike and I by far had our best night of sleep since Will was born.

We don't know yet what caused this wonderful sleep, but we have a feeling it might be fewer and shorter naps. I happened to be home yesterday. So his normal routine was off a little but he still took 2 naps. The naps were at different times than he is used to. They were also shorter, around 1 & 1/2 hours total for both. We have often wondered if too much sleep during the day was not allowing him to sleep at night. We are testing this theory just in case. Will just went down about 15 minutes ago, it is a little later than last night, but still roughly the same routine as last night. We'll see how he does for tonight. Regardless, I still felt this was a blog-worthy milestone!

**UPDATE**Will did not sleep as well last night. We were up several times trying to calm him down. Mike must have rocked him 3 times to get him back to sleep.
Maybe the night before was a fluke, I don't know, but at least we see he has the ability to sleep all night. That in and of its self gives us hope!
Will in daddy's hat.
Will after his walk around the neighborhood on Tuesday. We have been blessed with 80 degree weather this week! :)
Hanging out!
We now put Will in a high-chair when we go out to eat. This is him at Cracker Barrel. He is still a little small, so we put a jacket or blanket behind him. It makes it so much easier for us to eat. Doesn't he look grown-up!

Our snowy weekend

Looking out at the snow.

Can you believe it? It actually snowed in the Atlanta area! Mike, Will and I went to Chattanooga this weekend to visit my parents and sister. We had heard talk about there being snow flurries, but didn't think much about it. When we got up this morning, the Weather Channel was talking about 3-5 inches in Atlanta. I still didn't believe it, but we packed up and left early just in case. As we got into Paulding county I was shocked! There was so much snow! It was on the roads, cars and grass. It was so pretty!
Will and Aunt Linny. We don't get to see her too much, because she lives in Nashville. We enjoyed getting to hang out with her this weekend. I sure do miss my little sis!

But, as always in the South, the snow has been short-lived. It is melting as we speak and I now see the sun peeking out. Oh well, my hope for a day out of school is diminishing! :( We didn't take Will out in the snow, it was way too windy, but he did enjoy looking at it from the window.
The snow is slowly melting. How sad!

Last night, and before the snowstorm, all of us(mom, dad, Linny, Mike, Will and I) went to my cousin Holly's house. It ended up being our family get together, which was good. We got to see everyone. Will and Jake got to see each other and play. For the first time they seemed to notice the other. They would look at each other and giggle. We sat them in a chair together, but they ended up hitting each other, so we quickly separated them. They both seemed to have fun, especially with all the attention they got. Below are some pictures of these two cute cousins! Will and Jake
Two cute cousins!
Happily playing by themselves!

In other news, Will went to the doctor last Thursday for his 6 month check-up. He was 27 inches and 15.3 pounds. He was in the 70th percentile for his height but in the 15 percentile for his weight. The doctor was concerned about his weight because he dropped from the 50th percentile at his 4 month visit. The doctor didn't seem to think that he was eating enough. He has been eating solids 3 times a day plus nursing or taking a bottle 6 times a day. But, he is also very active right now. He jumps in his jumper twice a day, kicks like crazy in the bathtub and rolls all over the place. I guess he is just burning off all of the calories he is taking in. We are now adding a small scoop of formula to his food to give him some extra calories. We have noticed that the extra calories have also allowed him to sleep better at night for the past few nights. He is sleeping 5-6 hours straight in his crib. YEAH!!
Other than that our baby is healthy and growing like he is supposed to. That's all we can ask for.
Me and my baby on his 6 month birthday.

Baseball and Mariachi Bands

Strange combination, but this is how Will spent his six month birthday. Mike's youngest brother Andrew plays baseball for South Paulding High School. Last night was their opening game and Andrew got the start(he is a left-handed pitcher, just like Mike). Anyways, it was Will's first baseball game. He watched for the first few innings, but he then got hungry and tired. After he ate his cereal and green beans, we snuggled him up in blankets and he fell alseep on Mike's chest. Will woke up in time to watch the last inning and see SPHS win. Andrew was credited with the win...sweet! Will wore his I love Baseball shirt which evidently brought Andrew some luck. Baseball players are notorioulsy superstious, so we promised Andrew that Will would wear the same shirt to the next game that he starts.

After the game we went to a Mexican resturant called El Nopal (If you happen to be in Rockmart this is a good place to eat). When we walked in we heard a mariachi band playing. They were not playing "tradional Mexican" songs. They were playing Margaritaville, evidently they did cover songs. It was pretty funny. Anyways they were walking from table to table taking requests. When they stopped at the table next to ours, Will was standing in my lap and he could not take his eyes off of them. He even laughed out loud at one of the guys playing a super huge guitar thing. The band got a kick out of Will and so they had to play at our table. Paul requested "Lonley Boys" and the band circled our table and played. One of violinists would poke his bow at Will and even brought his violin close to Will and plucked the strings so Will could see it. He was fascinated! We have some baby music instruments at home(thanks Colleen!). I might have to pull them out so that will can start playing with them. You never know, we might have a little musician on our hands!

P.S. It would have been great if I had some pictures from last night, but I left the camera at home. That figures!

We made it 6 months!

This is Will in his Master's gear. Last year Mike went to the practice round on Wednesday with my dad, uncle and cousin. My dad bought him this shirt. A member at the Frog, where Mike used to work, bought Will the hat (the Master's logo is on top). The Master's is not until April, but the PGA Tour season has already started, and yes, we are watching!
Will's clubs.
If you are going to golf, you have to have the equipment!

Well, we have been parents for half a year now, and guess what? We're still clueless!:) Parenthood has been a humbling experience for both Mike and I. We have learned that Will is the boss in our house, and if we think we have him figured out one day, he changes things on us the next day! One thing we do know is that this little guy has changed our lives forever. We honestly never believed we could love someone as much as we love Will. Each day he is doing more and more things, and our joy in watching him grow only increases. Our patience might be tested every day, we might not get to sleep as long as we had hoped, but that doesn't matter. All that matters anymore is seeing that precious smiling face look back at us. With that said, here are some new pictures of Will in honor of his 6 month birthday(which is Tuesday the 24th).
Reading a book at DiamondStarz. This is where Mike teaches pitching lessons and where he hosted an FCA banquet for Paulding and Douglas County baseball teams.
Hanging with my daddy!
Not only does Will roll over on the floor and in his crib, he has now decided to roll over in the bathtub. I sit bedside the tub on a stool everytime he takes a bath, but now I really have to watch him.
Getting ready for my pjs.
All the Fessler boys so far. Myself, Debbie and Joy hosted a couple's baby shower on Saturday for my sister-in-law Tammy. She is due to have a little boy named Caleb at the end of March. Once he gets here we can take a new picture of the guys.
Will in his new baseball pjs. I love him in his pajamas. He is soo cute!

Update on Will:
*Will is sitting for longer periods of time before falling over.
*We still haven't cut a tooth, but we feel like it can't be long.
*Will is starting to "talk". He is constantly babbling, almost like he is having a conversation. As painful as it is to say this, it sounds like Will is saying da-da-da. Mike is loving that!
*Last night he slept in his crib for three hours straight! Wow! But he woke up screaming three times after coming to our bed and had to rocked in order to go back to sleep. We are still trying to learn to sleep-I hope he gets it soon!

P.S. Katie, if you are reading this, Happy Birthday!
Will on Katie's shoulders at the Tech ballgame last week. Will turns 6 months on Katie's birthday.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Will's first trip to the ball field. I broke him in by taking him to watch TN Tech, my alma mater.
This past weekend was Will's first Valentine's Day. He had some very important firsts that happened as well.
Look at me! I can sit up on my own!
On Friday, Debbie(Mike's mom) came over to see Will and give him his Valentine. I put him on the floor while we were talking. Will was playing on his tummy, but after we watched him more closely we noticed that he was inching backwards. Almost as if he was crawling backwards. I have been told that this is a sign that crawling will happen soon. He has also been working hard at sitting up. He did it for the first time unsupported a couple of weeks ago. Now he is sitting up for longer, 10-15seconds until he falls over.
Practicing sitting.
We are still having trouble in the sleep department. He is still starting in his bed and ending up in ours. He has been very stuffy over the past few nights, so we finally gave him some children's Benadryl. It cleared him up and has allowed him to sleep better. Now if we can only figure out how to get him to sleep in his crib all night long. For now, though, I have to get up and go to work, so trying to learn this skill is not at the top of our priority list. All three of us sleeping is much more important that just Will sleeping! :)

My parents came in this weekend because my dad was coaching at Kennessaw(my dad is the volunteer pitching coach for Tennessee Tech where myself, my sister and two cousins played ball). Will went to the ball field to see his Poppy coach. This was his first time at the ball field and he loved it, naturally!:) Now he is ready for baseball season so he can watch his Uncle Andrew play ball for South Paulding.
Will watching Tech play.
Driving at Valentine's dinner.
Our Valentine's weekend was very low key, it always is with Mike and I. This year we enjoyed spending it with our cute little Valentine, Will!

What is Will up to?

No major milestones are going on at the Fessler household, but some blog worthy events have happened in the past week.

Will has settled back into somewhat of a nighttime routine. He is going to sleep in his crib somewhere around 9:30. He sleeps for a little while before waking up. Once he is comforted, he goes back to sleep. He usually wakes up around 1:30am, and Mike brings him in to our bed so he can eat. He then sleeps the rest of the night with us. He seems to be sleeping ok this way for now. I have noticed that he is not eating as much in the middle of the night. I guess he is getting bigger and doesn't need all the milk.
Will and his 3D Super Bowl glasses. He didn't care much for the game or the commercials. Just the cool glasses.

Sunday Will went into the nursery at church for the first time. What a big boy! He didn't even seem to notice that we handed him over to a complete stranger. He must have been excited at the swings and jumpers that he saw in the room. It must have been heaven to him! When we went back to get him, he was in one of the worker's laps. She was rocking him and another little girl. He looked so content! They told me he did great. That was a relief(Mike and I frantically watched the screen during the service to see if Will's number would be posted telling us to come get him).

Will has been rolling over for awhile now, but he has taken this skill to a new level. Now, he just rolls over and over until he bumps into something that stops him from rolling. You can literally put him on one side of a room and look up a few moments later and find him on the other side of the room. Needless to say, we have to keep a close eye on our little man. But don't worry, we have started to baby-proof the house.
Yes, I'm sitting in a laundry basket. My mother put me here.

Yesterday, I gave Will a sippy cup with a little juice, but mostly water. I just wanted to see what he could do with it. He brought it up to his mouth but had a hard time holding it there. Once Mike or I would hold it for him, he did his best to get some juice out. Evidently, sucking on a sippy cup is different from a bottle. He seems to like a challenge though, so we will see how long it takes him to figure this out.
Giving my sippy a try!