She’s Already Taking Over

Amy and I have spent a little bit of each day this week organizing our belongings for our trip to China.  We go back and forth as you can imagine nervous first-time parents traveling halfway around the world would.  We want to pack light but dread the thought of leaving something behind that we'll find out we need.  We know many things will be dirt cheap there but we are uncertain how much cushion to give ourselves if we end up buying a ton of stuff.  Most of all, we have never had to care for a baby, let alone travel with one, so we are ever racking our brains to figure out what we need to have in the first place.

 

I think we've settled on taking one personal bag each (purse for her, small shoulder bag for me), one backpack to carry on (with our toiletries plus a change of clothes), and three check-in items: a small duffel bag, a small suitcase, and a large suitcase.  The funny thing is that Amy's and my stuff could fit in the small duffel bag, while Jada's stuff – diapers, Cheerios, clothes, and what not – could take up the small suitcase and large suitcase.  (I say "could" because we've co-mingled stuff between the three items).  We kid each other that she's like the emperor – one of us will be carrying her, and the other her bags.  She's already taking over.