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.