Liliana Sue

What a crazy and eventful time we have had since I last wrote you all. I'm sorry I have not written sooner, but things have been very hectic around our house and I have been waiting for things to settle down a little bit. The pictures tell my story of what has been going on. Let's take a look, shall we? You're going to see a lot more pictures of me standing up and walking around. I don't care to sit down much anymore unless I'm deeply involved in something. I always ask to walk. I just grab a hold of someone's fingers, whoever is closest, and off we go. I still can't quite navigate by myself yet, but I'm getting closer. I get a little ahead of myself sometimes and would fall flat on my face if it weren't for my trusted support person. Pictures one and two show me standing unsupported. If I'm on a chair or something that already has me half way to a standing position, I can get to a full standing position on my own, and do so often. If I'm on the floor, I still need help standing up, but once I'm there I can stand all by myself. I get a little nervous and don't like to stand unsupported for too long, but some time I get so involved reading my books I don't realize that I stopped leaning on my book case. Picture 3 shows me standing at the window. I like to look out and see what is going on out there. Sometimes daddy shovels the snow and throws some at the window and I chuckle. Have I told you how much I love lolipops??? I love lolipops this much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much that I leave a little bit of sticky every where I go...on my table...on the windowsil...on the bookcase...on the floor...on my clothes...on daddy's computer...on my hands...on my face...in my hair. Have I mentioned how much I love lolipops? Pictures 4 and 5 show me enjoying a few licks. Pictures 6 and 7 are me and daddy playing on the computer. One day daddy started showing me some of the many pictures that he has taken over the years. I like to look at the planets and animals. I ask to sit in the chair every day so that can look at some more. Now daddy asks me what I want to see and we do internet searches to see what we can find. Picture 8 shows how much fun we had looking at pictures together. Notice our big smiles.

Toward the end of Febuary, our family was saddened by the loss of a very special person.

In Loving Memory of Frances L. Romans, Liliana's Great Gramma and LeeAnn's Grandmother
August 1, 1919 - February 23, 2008

"God saw you were getting tired,
and a cure was not be.
So he put His arms around you
And whispered, "Come with me."

With tearful eyes, we watched you
Suffer and saw you fade away.
Although we loved you dearly
We could not make you stay.

A golden heart stopped beating,
Hard working hands came to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best."

If only each and every one of you had the amazing opportunity to meet my Grandmother! She was truly an inspiration and role model to all of her Grand Children and Great Grand Children. Although I miss her dearly and wish we had more time with her, I know that she is looking down and enjoying watching us from afar. I will never forget the way she hugged, the way she smelled and most of all, her ability to love endlessly! We love you lots Grandma-

March started out with another emotional event. While mommy and I were out for a car ride, we were t-boned by another vehicle. We were driving along minding our own businuss when another car pulled straight out of a parking lot and hit us directly in the side. She said she didn't even see us. Thankfully, although shaken around and shaken up a little, everyone was fine. The car as you can see would beg to differ. The main impact was on the passenger side rear sliding door...precisely where I sit in my car seat. Lets be thankful that it was a small vehicle that hit us and it was not yet traveling very fast. The van is currently being repaired and we can't wait to get it back.












In these next two pictures, I am looking at some pictures on my own. Daddy sets up a slide show and I hit a button to scroll the images at my own leisure. Most of the time the slow, outdated computer can't keep up with my fast paced clicks. The next picutre shows me teasing the cat. I absolutely love that cat. If she's not around I ask for her. When she is around, we exchange meows or I chase her about the house. The next seven pictures are from this year's Stride and Ride event. It was a blast! For some reason they always hold in on the same day as the time change so I loose an extra hour of sleep. Not to mention that I was awake for a couple of hours during th night. I had just fallen back asleep when Mommy and Daddy had to wake me up to get ready to leave for the walk. I was extremely tired all day but still had an amazing time. When we arrived at the mall, there was already a large crowd of people...hundreds. I was having fun watching all the different people and teams, ome of them in very unique and interesting costumes. Some of the volunteers were dressed up as well. My favorite was a turtle. I could not take my eyes off of him. I was smiling at him the entire time. Daddy and I walked over to him and he gave me a hug. When he walked off to see other kids I was following him as quickly as I could, with daddy's help of course. I followed him everywhere. See the turtle picture below. When the event started I got into my car that Papa rented for me. I enjoyed it very much and did not want to get out. We made several laps around the mall with all of the other walkers and finished about an hour later gathering with all the other walkers for the raffle and prizes. Acouple of our group members won prized. Our group ended up coming in second place in the amount of money raised per team. We only missed first place by a couple of hundred dollars. Thank you all for your donations!!! We were told the entire event raised over $100,000. How amazing is that! The third image from the walk is me walking around the mall with daddy's help. This is how I get around these days...most of the time. The next picture shows part of our decorations. After the walk, we hung out in the mall for a while. I got to go into the mall playscape with some of my cousins. It sure was fun. I got to sit on a hippo, and aligator, a turtle and a frog and I walked all over the place. The last picture is a couple days later. It just shows what I like to do with my marker caps. I'm very creative.














Thank you all for checking up on me! As you can see, we have been through a lot, but we are doing great. I hope that you and your families are doing fine as well. I'll see you all again next time.