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.

Why Pensacola?

For those of you who don't know the story behind moving to Pensacola, here it goes. After I found out I was pregnant, Dominic and I decided I would give notice at my workplace, The Baha'i National Center. As the time got closer to when I would no longer be working, it seemed that Dominic's luck in finding a full-time job in the Chicago area was not surfacing. So we bit the bullet and Dominic flew out to Pensacola, Florida where our dear friends the Kumi's live. They had told us that there was a very good market of jobs for Dominic. In April, he flew out and got a job offer the first day he started looking and later he also found a part time job in addition to his full time job. This was the best opportunity he had since he was in the States so we decided to move to Pensacola for the time being. Hurricanes and all.....

At any rate, we are now settled in an apartment in a condo community and we have the major furniture set up with boxes here and there still.

Goodbye Chicago....Hello Pensacola

Such a move across the country has been very crazy. The following pictures are from the last couple of weeks in Chicago and our first weeks in Pensacola. We could not have completed the move without the help of my mom. She rode down with us and helped with Jamila and setting up our new home. It is strange leaving Chicago now that we became somewhat established there. We had made many friends of varying backgrounds and left many Tanzanians there which were our family from the first day we met them. Now we have to establish ourselves again in a new community.

Why do we have so much stuff? And it really isn't that much compared to some other people.
My step-mom, Nancy, me, Jamila and my father in the House of Worship. Jamila's second time there.
The grandparents playing with Jamila.
Two proud fathers with their children-Papa Nii and Jamila.
My birthing team Mojgan, Anne and Kim and my mom was the fourth person not pictured.
Israil and me for the last time in Gilson park. Miss you....
Tae-Jin and Vahid were the last people to see us in Chicago. We had a going away breakfast.
The Kambuga family leaving Chicago.
Goodbye Loyola El stop....
Goodbye yucky traffic on the Dan Ryan...
Dominic the truck driver. He had quite a job driving as you can see from the next picture.

The cutest girl in our lives, Jamila Nyamwiza. She is making all sorts of expressions and we try to catch them but it is hard.


Jamila chewing on her butterfly teether. She was very interested in it.

21 days old or 3 weeks...

Here is Jamila after a diaper change.

We were hanging out on the bed nursing and making faces at each other. She also has a great time listening to interesting sounds like the rattle that has a squeeky sound and a paper sound. She stops sucking on her pacifier to try to figure out what is happening then she goes back to sucking after a moment or so. She gets this look on her face and in her eye that something is going on and all must be well so I will go back to my pacifier.















Papa and Jamila out for one of our walks to Lake Michigan. Dominick says this is so Jamila can see the world and so God can really see us in the outdoors.
















Hanging out with Papa on his legs.

Uncle Aziz, a friend of Dominick's from Tanzania who now lives in the States.

Jamila is Pronounced Jameela.....

Now I have a few moments to update you all on what is going on this week. We are all recovering from the delivery and just enjoying our time together as a family until we move to Pensacola, Florida, and Dominic's going back to work. Our sleep is erratic as you may know but I take the time to enjoy this time with Jamila and look at her while she sleeps and nurses and looks around at her new world.



I have a feeling she will have this expression when she gets older....

Peacefully sleeping on our bed.

Our first family shots and this is the best one so far. It seems we all have a hard time coordinating pleasing expressions for the camera when our picture is being taken.

So cute...this is her first visit to the House of Worship and it was one of the hottest days.

My father enjoying his first grandchild on an overnight visit from one of his many meetings in D.C.