Jamila is now six months old this week January 5, 2007.........

November and December brought visitors and activities. Above is a family picture on Dominic's birthday in November. We got to go out to eat at one of Dominic's favorite places-Fire Mountain. It is a buffet and serves lots of grilled meats-Dominic loves the meat! At least there is a salad bar and veggies too but I enjoy it all.

Jamila is now sitting up though she is still wobbly sometimes and falls over as she is trying to grab things to play with. So I put her in the boppy that used to help me breatfeed her. And there is that beloved octopus that makes noise. Each leg is a note in a scale. Very fun!! I can play chopsticks on it and a few other tunes too. She is almost 6 months here.

Jamila has really gained a lot of weight in the last 2 months as you will be able to tell from the pictures.


I love the highchair and so does she!!! It makes it easier to feed her and she joins me in the kitchen at a different angle now too. She loves playing with that cup.


Jamila loves to try to feed herself so I feed her as much as I can before she starts to take over the spoon which she chomps on. When she tires of chewing on it, I pry it out of her little hand and get another spoonful which she joyfully accepts even if she shows the yucky face at first. She will try the food again and then roll it around in her mouth and swallow or spit it back out. However she is feeling at the moment. At the end of her meal, I let her use the bowl and spoon as much as she wants till she is finished.


Last week, Jamila and I spent the day with Carmel and Carmel had a great time helping me with Jamila. Jamila finds Carmel fascinating and Carmel feels the same about Jamila. I love this shot!


Dominic with the two CUTIES!!!!


In November, the Kumi and Kambuga families started an African Sing Along and the first gathering was a great success. The children danced around the whole time and the community was introduced to some languages they never heard before.


Also in November, there was a Baha'i Winter School at Pensacola Beach and we got to stay in the hotel. This was the view from our window. Every evening we went to sleep with the soft lulling of the waves and every morning we woke to the same sound but with some birds. It was such a relaxing way to sleep and wake. We met a lot of wonderful people too.

The following photos are 4 months old....


I love her serious thinking look. All I can say is look out world!! Here comes Jamila.


And one of my favorite sleeping pictures. She just fell asleep in mid play.


Peeping out to see the world...


The Kumi family joined us for Thanksgiving dinner in our apartment.


Daddy's little girl for sure.

The following photos are 5 months of age...

December brought many visitors to our little apartment and more smiles from Jamila too.


I love that smile!!!


My dad came to visit after one of his work conferences and boy did grandfather and granddaughter have fun together.


We went to see Perdido Key which is about 30 minutes west of where we live and has a national park so the beach is untouched in that area.


The developed area off in the near distance.


Jamila in control of her food. One of the most amazing parts of being a parent is helping your child become independent. From the moment the child is born, you as a parent are trying to help the child to do things on their own. Every so often, though, I get a tug on my heart strings when I see how much she is now able to do on her own and she does not need mommy to do that anymore. It is a great process to be a part of and to watch.

Grandpa bought Jamila a baby play station otherwise known as a saucer and boy is it fun. The first time we put her in it, she methodically went around the circle trying out every toy then went to the one that interested her most. We were amazed!!


The cute hat was made by my step-mom for her first dear grandchild.


Full view of Jamila's new toy. She gets involved in each toy at different times. There is a mirror and sometimes I leave the room for a minute and come back and there she is staring at the baby in the mirror. It is very cute!!


Carmel getting to hold Jamila!! Yippee!!!


We got a visit from Auntie Tae-Jin and Uncle Vahid from Michigan.

One of the days we went to the beach and there were tons of shells being washed to shore so we went looking for whole ones and that was lots of fun.






Jamila loves Papa's hats. Or is it Papa likes putting his hats on Jamila? One of our nice sunny days for the 10 rainy gloomy wintery days before.

Jamila is 4 months old.....

Thanks everyone for your heartfelt comments about my last posting on isolation as a stay at home mom. One of these days when we get a second car, it will help me to be able to get out during the day. I feel close to all of you in spirit even though I can't be with you physically. I never felt this isolated before because I had options to get out and also I never had to take care of somebody 24 hours 7 days a week with no long breaks. I am learning to take advantage and fully utilize my short breaks. My time is no longer my time alone but really for the family. Being a parent truly makes me appreciate my parents so much more than before. Dominic feels the same. There was no way for us to know the position our parents have been in until now.

I really miss Chicago for the public transportation and for it being convenient in a big city way. Jamila is 4 months now and this picture of her with Dominic getting ready for one of their walks is sooo sweet.

This is one of Dominic's photographs after a family dinner outing. I like to go out to eat once a week just to get out but to be with the family too. And since both Dominic and I are usually exhausted by the middle of the week or the end of the week it is good to take a break. Dominic works 7 days a week right now so he is constantly without a break.
I love this picture!!! Jamila is talking to all the dangling things. There is a mobile furthur above her not pictured that she converses with regularly. She is always trying to figure out what is going on and why things make certain noises or look new. You can see in her eye and her expressions she is really thinking hard.
This is the first smile caught on camera. What a brilliant smile!
And here is her serious and intense look when she is studying things. She also has a popping eye studying look when she can hardly believe what she is seeing. She is so interested in the world and can hardly get enough most days.

Tummy time for Jamila. Some days are better than others with this activity. She was enjoying her tummy time in this picture.
Everyday, Jamila and I have a dancing, bouncing, flying play time to my world music. She smiles and laughs out loud. One of her favorite songs is an East Indian song called Aaj Mera Jee Karda from the Monsoon Wedding soundtrack and another favorite is Maria Salome by Saida Karoli from Tanzania who is from Dominic and Jamila's tribe, the Haya.

Isolation as a mother in this country is a very big and real issue. It is such a blessing to stay home with the babies of our world but what a lot of work it is and sometimes just trying to make a meal is a real feat. I can see why there is post partum depression here in the U.S. and wonder if this issue is as great in other countries where the mother and parents are supported by the whole family especially the female members. And I also wonder as those countries become more industrialized and more big city oriented if post partum depression increases. This is the scoop, there is no real community set up in the U.S. for stay at home mom's unless you live in the same city or area as your family. And even then, depending on the way the supporting family members live life, it may not be that supportive. There is very little time for community oriented activities without a time limit. Even if you can meet up with some friends, many times there is a time limit because they work 40-60 hours a week and they work hard so their time is really precious. Our society is just busy.

This contrasts drastically with the Tanzanian culture of you have time to talk to anyone even if you will be late for work. And you can get off of work for funerals, weddings and many other happenings without getting fired if you stay beyond your expected time off. I really like the idea of having time for people and miss that kind of thinking.

There must be a middle ground between these two cultures. I know that in Japan, it is way worse in terms of time especially for the father in the family. I hope one day that we can work but not work ourselves to death. I hope that we can actually have time to volunteer to help others that may need our help. I hope that we can have time to help ourselves in a more person to person community building type of way in the near future. This means not worrying that we only have an hour to spend with a friend and if we go over the time then our whole world is off kilter.

Jamila is 3 months old.......
And she has been having lots of adventures in her life. I have been behind the last 3 weeks in posting because I became so tired I started going to bed early around 8 or 9 and I usually post after that time when Jamila is sound asleep. This is one of the first times I have had time to post some pictures.

One of our weekly family outings to the beach. We go in the late afternoon early evening when it is not as hot. She was bearing the hat mom put on her.
Dominic and Jamila in the warm Gulf of Mexico. It is like bath water and the color is gorgeous.



Sometimes Jamila is not so sure she likes her carseat but eventually she can sit in it for an hour without too much fuss.


Our self portrait while at home in the nice cool apartment.
Our sleeping angel. She looks like she is meditating. This is the look she gets in her carseat when she is not wanting to be in the carseat but is tired enough she can fall asleep.
Mom taking pictures of me and that flash always makes me surprised.
This is Jamila's front carrier which she loves to be in when you are walking. She usually falls asleep in the evenings when nothing else works.
Our friends Martin and Carmel visiting us.

















Some action shots of Jamila in motion. I can never quite get the shot I want but these are fun.

Life before Jamila is hard to remember now. This is mostly because no matter how prepared you are for motherhood or parenthood, you are never totally prepared. How can you imagine something you have never experienced before to its fullest implications? There is no way even with the best imagination in the world. I do think it is worth the imagining and then you find out how much better and harder it really is than you imagined.

Motherhood is great, wonderful, amazing, full of surprises, frustration, love, dedication and million other things that might bore you to tears. I can say this, I do not miss working. I only miss the daily contact with friends and co-workers. The work itself I do not miss. I think one reason for this is I have been able to do so much of what I ever wanted in my life that there is no room for wishing I could have done something. I have traveled around the world, finished a degree, served my Faith, made numerous friends around the world, married and best of all I have continued to grow and apply what I have learned to make my life to continue to have more meaning. Having a child now is right and will be an amazing adventure. There are still many things I would like to accomplish but I don't feel stiffled or cut off from the possibility of reaching those goals later in life. A very good friend of mine always says that women can have it all just not all at the same time. It is strange that it seems to be that way for me. The things I would like to do I still have time for and if I don't finish them I know I have lived my life fully with love and dignity. All that really matters is the love of my family and friends anyways.

Some more pictures of Jamila...8 weeks old


Jamila and I hang out in our apartment most days finding things to do and resting since she still loves to sleep. It is hard to believe that she has been in our lives for only 8 weeks. I remember things before she came but it is fleeting just like other times in my life where there has been a multi-dimensional change in the way I live. Now my focus is Jamila and trying to get enough time in with Dominic when she is resting. My energy is all on the family for now. And keeping myself healthy and happy.
This hat is from my sister, Sine, who wanted to give Jamila something not so obviously girly. Soooo cute!!!!
Bathtime with Papa, one of her favorite things to do. And it makes her sleepy too.
This may sound strange but Jamila picked this shirt out for herself. How you may ask did she do this? Well we held up different shirts up for her to look at and this one had the most favorable reaction of the raising of her eyebrows and opening her eyes wide. The other shirts made her cry.
Jamila seems to really enjoy Hand Hand Fingers Thumb. She gets very wide eyes and starts to try to talk while I read it. Also her legs get into the story too like she is very excited about the story pumping away.
This was a gift from one of my friend's children, Paula. Paula thought Jamila would like this octopus and she figured right. Paula is about 2 1/2 years old and she has great taste. The legs of the octopus when sqeezed make the notes of the scale. It sounds a bit like a harmonica.
These are Jamila's foot rattles to help her realize her feet are attached to her since she really moves those legs like she is going somewhere and fast. She really likes the cow but not the sheep. In fact the sheep made her upset when it was held in front of her and the cow made her smile.
Jamila is laughing and smiling without any sound and we finally caught it on camera!!! She really likes the pink pig with the corn-she always is looking at it and talking to it.
Such a sweet picture of her having sweet dreams. I love watching her sleep. There is something so special in being able to see Jamila in all her states and the sleeping one is the most vulnerable and oh so peaceful for her and for me.