SO its official, I am am awake- I think- and six plus weeks ino the reality of momdom. Whew! Its a high octane pursuit, this mom thing. Luckily Team Warner is up to the task of being the best parents they can be no matter what and let me tell you, "no matter what" seems to be the norm.
Not much time for musing, but I will attach some photos of the little lady who is growning quickly!
She loves the play mat, her dad, and the Hug Me swing.......
More soon...
Here are some photos of our little lady lounging around with us.....check back for updates as she looks different everyday!
Charlotte, like her mother, has a flair for drama, she came on the heels of a full moon dedicated to the Hindu goddess of abundance, during the heated last weeks of our nations most momentous election and she brought with her not just the SPIRIT of change, but change itself. In our house, as we ride thr ebb and flow of HER world, we chant YES WE CAN...we CAN operate o 2 hours of sleep, we CAN laugh at projectile fecal matter flying onto our lovely sheets, we CAN imagine a world that we are happy to raise our child in, we CAN imagine that one day we will wonder how she was ever so small. YES WE CAN be in love with the fruits of our labour..we CAN and we ARE and it's amazing
Her actual birth story was a happy one...water broke at 11:05 pm on full moon of October 14th..Geoffrey ad I labored together by candlelight until 2:30 whe our amazing doula/friend Kim arrived to help lead us for the last leg of Mission New Life. It was overwhelming and painful and transformational but mostly it was beautiful. She was polite eough to appear by lunch time ( 12:25 pm ) the next day, a little less poilte with her willful decision to come into the world head down but facing the WRONG way!!! Its ok, because at 7.5 cm dialted I had done my warrior woman meditation and gotten her so far along that she came less tha 3 hours after I decided on a last stage epidural to make it from 7.5-10 cm. That too was a meditation and one that I have relived everyday since. A meditation on the unknown, on the fruitlessness of plans and the pridefulness of believing that you know what is right. Right is no longer in the vocabulary at our house, only what makes sese in that moment....
Charlotte Olivia is probably 8 pounds by now, she is long and thin with silky waves of dark voluminous hair..her eyes are dark and curious and full of words she will one day say and ideas that we cannot even begin to imagine. She has been out for sushi and to the polls for early mornig voting, she is even pretty hip to the sounds of Keith Oberman and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. From the look on her face we think she is happy to be here, happy to take our world, then the WHOLE world by storm.
Hopefully the storm will be in a theatre near you sooner rather than later.
WIth love and hope,
Ciara, Geoffrey and Charlotte Olivia Warner
I am so incredibly excited about what is on the horizon. Every moment is literally pregnant with the promise and wonder of what it means to create new life, to accompant this life on a complicated internal journey that soon, any moment or day now, will take on a whole new component outside of me and in the world, I am very ready to meet this little woman, very ready to see who she is and why she picked us fto bestow the very special gift of being her parents. But part of me thinks that some of the complexity comes from wondering how it will be to be one person again, not two. We will be one family, but three different souls. So our little lovely daughter communcates to us in the middle of the night, of her happiness there in the warm safety of my belly, but also of her desire to get out and see the universe. We are ready. All of us. We welcome her wholeheartedly. For now, we just love her and each other and wait.
So here is the debut of our first" baby" video- in fact- it is really our first attempt at a video of any sort. Granted it was filmed sans baby and is mostly a tour of the nursery, but we knew some certain grandmothers who would be interested in seeing the place where their babies plan to grow and nurture THEIR baby. It has dawned on us that this is a strange concept - the act of watching your child grow into an adult and then have a child that they follow a similar journey with. We decided that this tour- pre the babies birth was a perfect introduction to the larger motion picture Ciara, Geoff and the Magical Birth and Life of Their Amazing Baby. Keep a lookout for more of that project as it unfolds.
As for an update, it's really quite simple. We are mostly ready, and I am mostly pregnant. So the latter has really been center stage to all other events as being quite off balance and having a mysterious guest banging around in my belly has a way of changing your life tremendously- in preparation- it seems for the BIG change that will come when she makes her official debut. We could not be happier and more excited and so we wake up every morning not sure if today will be the day that the next step in the journey begins. It really gives new meaning to the sentiment "rise and shine"....
Stay tuned.....
XOXO,
C and G
Thank you everyone who was a part of our Celebration Of Life this past Sunday. Although I stuck to Unfuzzy Navels and Pellegrino, it has taken me a day to recover from the rum punch infused festivities that took over our house to celebrate all things new and upcoming in our lives. If the party was any indication, new life is big, loud, fun, funny and unable to be contained. It was a pleasure to see and hug and get belly rubs from so many loved ones all at once. Our little lady was glad for all the love and honor being showered on her and her parents from so many wonderful people. For those of you who couldn't be there, you were missed but we thought about you throughout the day. It may be ahwile until I can put on a bright red dress and wander from room to room talking and laughing and connecting with our larger "family", so I am glad that we had the chance to do that before these last weeks of preparing to wlecome Baby Warner begin. As soon as our little lady emerges from her comfy happy place to the world we have prepared for her, we look forward to many more festivities. Till then, we love you all and thank you all for everything that you bring to our lives. We are still waiting on shower photos so today I have included a picture of me with my pregnant gals pals at yoga class this morning. In those classes when I close my eyes and think about the bountiful blessings that have been bestowed upon me, I am always thinking of my beloved husband, all of you and the amazing being we can't wait to meet. I have a big smile of my face here as I am in the presence of so much life( 15 lives to be exact) this is sort of a metaphor for how I feel everywhere. Much of this is thanks to all of you.
Check back soon for rum infused picture memories.
Namaste,
Ciara
First off, welcome home Tio Pancho (a.k.a) my brother Ricardo - half of the Uncle Team for our daughter. He has finally returned from 6 + months of writing and adventuring in Mexico and back home in LA getting geared up for his role as PhD in Comparative Literature Uncle. He is no doubt currently compiling multiple "readings" for our baby in Spanish, English and other languages. The impending birth aligns with the beginning of Year One of his PhD program at USC which is great timing as far as we are all concerned.
With 10 or so weeks left in the baby count down, Geoff and I have just returned from an anniversary pre-baby get-away weekend in San Diego where we had romantic candle lit dinners and got lots of fresh sea air. The weekend also included wandering through botanical gardens and having conversations with various kind and adorable strangers eager to impart love, advice and wisdom on the expecting parents. We moved slow and I familiarized myself with EVERY SINGLE PUBLIC BATHROOM in the San Diego area, but a good time was had by all. We arrive home to begin our Childbirth Preparation classes, attend our sure to be lively baby shower festivities and visit with Geoff's dad, his wife and her kids who are coming to town this week for the occasion.
If this blog entry lacks my usual spirited nature, it is only because my passenger is a little distracting at the moment. She is pleasant and active and has a really nice sharp kicking style sure to be helpful with her soccer career. For those of you we get to see later this week, wheeee!! For everyone else, loving thoughts and well wishes for an amazing August.
Ok, so we moved, two rounds of parental visits occurred and Geoff started a new job all this month. I have "grown" and for everyone's comic relief - except mine- will share the hilarious fact that a size 40 H bra does exist. That's all I am going to say about that. We had wonderful visits with Pete (Geoff's dad) and later Nancy and Butch (Geoff's mom and her lovely husband). The themes of these visits? Mostly eating, we took Geoff's dad to the Getty Center for a picnic of delectable Larchmont sandwiches. Nancy and Butch opted for my version of Chicken Picatta, a little good Brazilian and some In and Out. Yum!! Nancy and Butch helped make the pending arrival of Baby Warner more real than ever by buying us a gorgeous 3 in one crib (crib, toddler bed, full bed in one!!) and by coming bearing a nice batch of organic clothing for our little organic princess. Walking around Baby Town can really put the real into becoming a parent. Who knew that a voyage to Reseda (deep in the Valley for us) on a steamy summer day would bear such an impact on the future of our lives??
So that's where we have been. For those of you who missed it, Baby Warner will be a girl (Libra, due Oct 12th) addition to our team. Geoff has already explored the availability of teeny weenie Liverpool Football Club jerseys for her to wear (our English Premiere League faves- "football" being soccer for all those who don't know we are soccer fanatics). Speaking of soccer. Thanks to our good friend John a.k.a "Uncle Carlin", Baby W got to be in the same green room as David Beckham a few weeks ago. Mommy and daddy were late fighting LA traffic and missed a face to face official meeting though, Uncle Carlin promises a meet and greet later this month. Suffice it to say mom, dad and baby have bells on their toes.
For those of you who check your e-mail, an e-vite should be here or on its way to the untraditional (shocking) Baby Shower/House Warming/Celebration of Life/Open House that will be held at Château Oyster (our house) on Sunday August 10th from 3-7. It will be a co-ed, NO LAME GAMES, relaxed event with hors d’oeuvres alcohol (because not everyone has dedicated their bodies to creating new life!) Keep your eyes peeled. For those of you who have been asking, we are registered at myregistry.com (a great site for creating links to lots of stores) and babiesrus.com under Ciara or Geoff Warner (see links on left).
So that's all for now, we look forward to seeing you all or talking to you soon.
Love,
Us
