I’ve been a single mom for 284 days (excluding, of course, all those extended weekends J. spent in Beijing, and mine and Charlotte’s three trips to Moscow).

And god almighty am I happy to report that TODAY WILL BE MY LAST DAY OF SOLO PARENTING!

At times, I did not think this day would ever arrive. But here it is: today , my husband is finally finally moving to Beijing.

I love my daughter, really I do. And we’ve definitely had some fun together, her and I. But raising a toddler on my own, in China, has been a very challenging experience.

I credit my survival to these essentials:

• red wine
• our crazy Ayi, who really takes care of us both
• a husband who does not fear red-eye flights
• a wonderfully mature, patient, and overall good-natured toddler
• my community
• the fact that pretty much every restaurant in Beijing delivers
• sweet, wonderful alone time
• my ability to go days without showering
• did I mention red wine already?

I am sooooooooooooo excited to start my new life, one where I have a normal family, all under one roof. Of course, so long as we live abroad and continue to drag Charlotte around the world, we’ll never quite be ‘normal’  And I am so excited to share this life I have built in Beijing with J., to explore this behemoth of a city (and country) with him, to have new experiences together rather than just telling each other about them afterwards. And I am most excited about experiencing Charlotte with him, rather than resorting to photos and “she did the cutest thing today” emails.

On a related note, I’ve been thinking a lot about my blog lately. Because lately, I’ve felt that it’s becoming more of a chore and obligation than creative outlet and source of enjoyment. So things are going to change around here. For starters, I’ll probably be blogging less over the next few weeks, as family time will be a priority. And while I do want to continue blogging, I’m going to focus more on what I want to share, and less on what I think others want to read: I think this blog will focus more on sharing stories about Charlotte and our lives in Beijing with friends and family, and less about travel tips and the like.

By all means, non-friends and family are welcome to continue reading. So long as you don’t mind constant gushing about my cutie-patootie kiddo