packing....

Looking at the photo of stacked toddler girl outfits below...I see a trend of animal prints. No, I am not bringing all this.



Anna, Miriam and I leave in six days for China! It is finally time to pull out all the little girl clothes I have been stashing in the closet for the last eleven months since we started this adoption. Since then we have twice received weights, heights, and feet length on the girls. My guess is that both Elsie and Charis wear about size 18 mos clothes. A guess is all that is. I am packing clothes in sizes 12 mos, 18 mos and 24 mos. The truth is that it's possible very little of what I am packing will fit. In that case we will hit the Walmart in Nanning. Walmart has revolutionized travel to China. I think we could go there with just the clothes on our back and buy all we need in China...if we wanted too. I don't want too. I want to be prepared to hunker down in hotel room snuggling my new babies...not dragging brand new kids to big department store to find clothes, diapers and snacks. It is going to be rough on Charis and Elsie to do all the stuff we HAVE to do.....like official adoption appointments. These two toddlers will not be used to car travel or shopping at all. Hopefully the outfits I'm bringing will fit. I think they will look adorable in anything though.

Our first adoption was from China ten years ago. Mike, Michael and I traveled to adopt Anna. We went COO (carry on only). I loved it. No checking luggage or waiting long hours for luggage to be unloaded off plane. COO is not as practical nowadays with airline security. I do pack all basic necessities in my carry on bag though. Meds, camera, IPOD, basic makeup, change of underwear and tshirt, and all important paperwork. I like to feel that even if all my luggage is lost we could still get by with what is in "carry on' bag and what we could buy in China. This has worked well. 98% of the time your luggage winds up with you after your flight. The other 2% of the time it is sure good to be prepared