Bella's 9 Months

On December 18, Bella turned 9 months. It's hard to believe that in 3 short months she'll be 1 year old. Many changes this past month. She's started to say Dada, although I'm not sure she really knows what she's saying. She's also waving and two little bottom teeth have popped through. But the biggest change is she can now stand on her own. She can't last for more than a minute, but everyday she's getting better and better at it. Soon she'll be walking, then watch out Beau... here she comes. She lost a pound at her 9 month check up, probably due to her hand trauma and being sick, now weighing in at 17 lbs. But her appetite has returned and I'm sure she's putting on the lbs.

I have yet to capture most of these milestones on camera, but soon, I promise.

Traveling Dinner

A few weeks ago we had the annual Kesterson Family Progressive Dinner. This year the dinner took place in the country. So, we started out with appetizers at our house, moved to Gram's house for the main course, then ended the night at Bob and Janice's house for dessert. The food was so yummy. In fact, we went back to Gram's house the following day to pick up leftovers. We had a great time. Only about 350 days left until Progressive Dinner 2011.

Kaeli and NancyAmi and Janice

Kelly and GramJoe, Bella, Joel and Bob

Kylie went for a ride on the fire truck...with Beau's help of course.Beau enjoyed the cheese ball Aunt Kaeli made.

At Gram's house right before the big "baby" announcement. Congrats Chris & Laura and Dave and Jenell on your upcoming bundles of joy.White Elephant gift exchange. Kelly received an ugly face mug that turned out to be worth $500. Will she sell it or bring it back next year for the White Elephant? We'll see...I think Mark liked Whitney's gift better than Whitney.

Farmer or Musician

A few weeks ago Beau helped Joel clean up around the house. He's a little farmer in the making.


Later he played for Bella and Daddy one of his favorite songs. ABC's. Although it does get a little hairy when the pick falls into the guitar.

Breakfast With Santa

In early December, Janice bought 5 of her grand kids tickets to Breakfast with Santa (Bella was too young to attend). Kelly, Whitney and I decided to tag along as to help wrangle in the kids when needed. Last minute Leah wasn't able to come, but Chrys (Whitney's mom) took her place. We had a great time seeing Santa, looking at the fish, watching the ballerinas and dancers, and then dancing.

Later that day Bob and Janice took pictures with the kids for their Christmas cards and the day ended with a leaf fight. It was a great start to the holiday season.

Gingerbread and Gumdrops

A few weeks ago we had Katelyn over for a Gingerbread decorating party. Beau and Kate really worked as a team to make this house a home for Mr. Gingerbread. Kate decorated while Beau ate the decorations. I finally had to tell them to stop eating or the poor Gingerbread man wouldn't have a home to sleep in. These two kids are SO much fun to see play together. Crazy Cousins...

The finished product.
I asked them to get close to the house and smile. This was the result. So funny.

Hot Hot Hot

Sorry for the long post. This is over 2 weeks worth of information.

The day after Thanksgiving Bella had a horrible accident. She touched the face of a very hot oven and ended up burning both her palms. She was immediately rushed to the ER, packed in ice, bandaged up, and sent home with Tylenol with codine. She ended up with severe 2nd degree and slight 3rd degree burns.

As requested by the ER, we made a return visit the following day. It was very hard to see her damaged hands, in fact... it made me a little sick. I'll spare you the gruesome picture of her raw hand. But Bella remained in good spirits most of the time.

At the Oakdale ER for the second timeAt home, loaded with lots of drugs.

During our return visit to the Oakdale ER we were giving a referral to Shriner's Children's Hospital in Sacramento...Burn Unit. So, 3 days after the incident we headed to Shriner's. It was here the real drama started. They debrided her hand (removing all the loose/ bad tissue), cleaned it (aka scrubbing it with a wash cloth), then bandaged it up. They told us we had to clean her hands 2 times a day and do physical therapy 3 times a day, stop giving her Tylenol with codine and stick to the regular stuff, and if it didn't heal properly within 2 weeks she may have to have a skin graft. The reason for the physical therapy is so that it doesn't scar and limit her hand movement permanently. This first visit to Shriner's was such an awful experience, it's permanently seared in our memories. Seeing her tortured was hard, but it had to happen in order for her to heal properly. So... we headed home to begin our healing journey.

Bella's left hand, the less damaged one.Bella's right hand, the more seriously burned hand, with blisters on every fingertip.
One week into her recovery, she's gripping her cup just fine...
...and she's finally crawling again, with a slight variation. Can't nobody hold her down.

Due to the fact that the blister on her left hand popped and was nearly healed, we were told during our second visit to Shriner's that we can remove that bandage and just lotion it up 3-4 times a day. Hooray for one recovered hand.

Bella hanging out in the truck before our third and last visit to Shriner's. Here's hoping we receive good news and don't need a skin graft.

And good news came. She's totally healed. No skin graft is needed. Now we only have to continue to do massage therapy and physical therapy 3 times a day. We have a follow up appt in January, but the worse of it is over, and she's back to crawling normally. Thank you to everyone who continued to pray for Bella during this process. We totally believe that it's through all the prayers that she healed so quickly and so well.

Bella's healed right hand.

Gobble Gobble

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family at my Aunt's house in Linden. It's always a blast getting together and seeing my family, but this year Melissa made it even more special. She created a super game. It consisted of 2 teams and challenges that lasted all day long. We had mandatory break times to eat, but other than that the game was in play. Unfortunately my team lost, but we put in a good effort.

Again, I failed with taking pictures. I didn't take one. Luckily Melissa took a few...

Dinner time for Bella...Bella was in the Thanksgiving spirit and ate almost double the amount she typically does.

Handsome Beau...looks like he has chew in his mouth, yuck

Joel and Beau working on one of the challenges, a puzzle.

A few members of the winning team showing off their finished puzzle.

A few members of the losing team showing off our finished puzzle.