Category Archives: Mama stuff

The End

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The time has come my friends, the end has arrived.

You may have noticed that my blog posts have been increasingly lacking in quantity and quality over the past few months.

The truth is, not to sound harsh but I think I’m over this whole blogging thing. This blog was my lifesaver during my year as a single-parent, and has been a great way to share Charlotte stories with friends and families back home. But now I find I just don’t have the time or energy to put into this little blog anymore, and when I do there are other things that I’d rather do instead. And it doesn’t help that there is a whole other facet to my life that I don’t talk about here, including my work, and something else going on in my personal life (ooh, mystery….)

I truly appreciate all the support I’ve gotten from you guys, all the comments and likes and shares. And although I’m shutting this baby down, I do still hope to find time to keep up with my favourite bloggers, so the blogosphere wont totally be rid of me ;)

And for those of you who are wondering how exactly this story ends?

J. finally realized that taking Charlotte on a cruise was just crazy-talk; we instead agreed that, while I was on a business trip last week, J. and Charlotte would spend five days in Kobe, Japan. Everybody survived, and may have even had some fun. J., high on his success in keeping Charlotte alive all by himself for five days, now has all kinds of crazy ideas for the two of them.

We have some big travel plans in the future, which include a Singapore/Indonesia trip later this month, a potential New Zealand odyssey in February, and short trips to Mongolia, Korea, and Taiwan, as well as some travel in China. I’m also trying to see if I can squeeze in a solo trip to Bhutan at some point. And pretty soon we’ll be starting to think about our move back to Canada, which should happen sometime next summer.

Charlotte continue to grow like a weed. Her Chinese skills are truly amazing, she knows stuff I don’t even know! And she is maturing very quickly too: the other night when I squeezed her tight and called her my little girl she got very insulted and insisted that she was big now. Well, she is almost 3 years old, and she is over 3ft tall. But she will always always be my little baby girl.

And, just like that, we all lived happily ever after :)

The end.

Peace out!

Travel sans Mama

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Last night over dinner, J. proposed a crazy idea: he wants to take Charlotte on a 7-day cruise next week. Just the two of them.

J. has been talking about travelling just him and Charlotte for a long time. They both have the time to do it, while I’m stuck dutifully at work. Charlotte’s poor lungs need a break from the nasty Beijing pollution. And it gives the two of them some good quality time together.

I was totally supportive of this idea, when it was just an idea. But now that an actual trip is on the table… we’ll I’m kind of freaked out.

Seven days is a long time to be away. I’m not concerned about missing J., and Charlotte would have such a blast on a cruise ship (she loves boats) that she probably wouldn’t even notice I wasn’t there. No, what worries me is me: I don’t know if I can handle seven days away from my baby girl. I’ve never spent so much time away from her- there was the five-day trip I took in the spring, but I was distracted by my awesomely beautiful surroundings. Seven days is a really long time.

I’ve also been worried about J., can he really handle single-parenting, outside of the normal routine, for an entire week?

Last night, I grilled him:

“What do you need to bring with you when you go out and about?”

“What do you do when Charlotte needs to pee and there’s not a toilet in sight?”

“Under what circumstances is it acceptable to not bring the stroller?”

And, for the final exam: “What if Charlotte gets sea-sick the first night on the boat, and you both wake up in a pool of her chunky vomit?”

I guess I need to give J. more credit, because he passed my little test with flying colours.

Relieved in knowing that the two of them would probably survive a week without me, I started thinking about what I would do with seven days to myself. At first, the idea of so much alone time made me panicky, but then ideas started to flow: a visit to the mall, finally finish my book, try the gym again, perhaps a visit to the spa, maybe even a daytrip to the Great Wall or a cooking class… And I suddenly found myself wondering how I would fit it all in to just seven days.

I still feel really uncomfortable with the idea of going so long without Charlotte, but I know her and J. will have a great time, and I will probably also enjoy myself. So I think I may grant permission…

What do you think? Can Dads survive travel without mom? Can Moms survive seven days away from their offspring? Should I give J. the go-ahead, and if so are you prepared to deal with “I miss my baby” blog whining?

Reason #347 Why I Don’t Go to the Gym

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Last weekend, I went to the gym.

I am not a gym person. I prefer to get my exercise in the form of regular daily-life things. We walk everywhere, I’m constantly chasing Charlotte around the house, we swim all the time, etc.

But since moving to Beijing, I’ve noticed that my opportunities for this kind of exercise have  really dwindled. Charlotte is older, and no longer want to be carried everywhere. Since I live on the same compound where I work, my daily walk to work takes all of 30 seconds. Everything we need is within a few kilometre radius. As a result, let’s just say that my clothes are fitting too well these days.

Something clearly needed to change, and I was really looking forward to J. arriving so that (amongst a gazillion other reasons) I would finally have time to get some exercise, which would inevitably have to involve getting my lazy butt to the gym.

On Saturday, I finally managed to do so.

On the way out, J. called to me “Have a good workout! Go hard!”

To tell you the truth, I was planning on a leisurely stroll on the treadmill while catching up on America’s Next Top Model reruns.

But then I got to the gym, and there were all these people there, ‘going hard.’ They were all sweaty and serious, and toned and buff. And I felt kind of like an idiot at my turtle pace on the treadmill. And, I may have a teeny-tiny competitive streak. So I decided to take J’s advice.

I cranked the volume on my mp3 player, and jacked up the treadmill speed to a not all that comfortable running pace. And I ran my butt off. When my legs turned to jelly, I slowed down the pace, revved up the incline, and had a brisk uphill hike. Then I did some weights. I came home sweaty, and utterly exhausted. But I felt great, determined to hit the gym again the next day.

The next day arrived, and I could not move. Every muscle in my legs had seized up. My arms and shoulders felt like lead. My feet hurt. Hell, even my elbows were achy. And I was still utterly exhausted.

It took a full three days before I could walk properly again.

I just don’t think I’m cut out for this whole gym thing…

What I think I look like at the gym

What I actually look like at the gym (note: not an actual photo of me)