Well, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go....

I'd better be careful, or I'll start singing!  We are waiting for our limo to take us to the airport.  We'll be in Beijing on Thursday evening.  We lose a day going there and gain it back again when we return.  I'm surprisingly calm.  I'm glad that we are able to leave later in the day.  It makes for a much more peaceful day!  Hopefully, the next time I post, we'll be in Beijing.  Last time we went to China, though, we had a VERY long delay at the airport before we could even take off.  Praying that doesn't happen this time.

We have a crib!

It's here - a real live crib!  Sorry, no pictures.  My camera is packed!  My hubby went and picked it up and between him, our oldest, our youngest, and myself, we got the thing all set up!  How many Master's Degrees (and one almost Phd) does it take to set up a crib?  Too many!  Having the crib finally makes it seem like this is really happening.  I don't know why a crib makes it feel real and not: plane tickets, lots of suitcases, travel immunizations, stress, and packing?

I keep forgetting... Not like I have anything else on my mind!

We finally were able to finalize getting our oldest to be here while we are gone.  It is such a relief to know that he (and most likely some friends) will be able to keep things going here at the house while we are gone.  So, if anyone sees any huge parties at our place, let us know!! 

We have been really busy!

So, I got everything packed on Saturday.  I had everyone place all that they wanted to go to China on our bed.  That way I could see it all AND I knew that if I wanted to go to bed, everything had to get packed!  It all fit into five carry on suitcases and one large checked bag.  WooHoo!

                                                    Here is part of what I started with...

                                                          Then I moved on to this......

                                                      WooHoo!  I ended with this!!


Today T and I got our hair cut.  But, earlier today, E was saying that her jaw hurt.  T and E had their wisdom teeth pulled before Christmas, but that was ages ago.  Something clicked in my head and I quickly made an appointment for her to see the doctor.  Turns out she has an infection at one of the extraction sites.  Poor thing.  They had to drain it, which was painful for her.  So now she is on a full course of very strong antibiotics.  Thank goodness we found this all out before we had to leave! 

I'm cleaning the house today and finishing up tomorrow.  Every thing that I do, I now think that "the next time that I do this, we'll have a baby toddling around!"  We meet her in one week!

Trying not to look like this....

I just read over the last post, and I sure hope that I can get everything done!

So long as I have my coffee (and those of you that know me, know what my coffee looks like!) I should be fine. 

Food, cleaning, and packing

Last week was our annual SCUBA banquet and my wonderful son won a gift certificate for me in the raffle.  It was for a local dinner club - where you put together meals for freezing!  I went today and made three meals for us to eat after we get home.  I made: Greek Salmon, Manhattan Steaks, and Parmesan Chicken Tenders.  I got a couple of sides to go along with them, so we should be all set for a few days.  I already have some meals in the freezer ready to go, so at least we won't starve when we get home!  I remember the last times we came home with a new child/children, and it is just so overwhelming trying to assimilate back to the correct time and help a frightened/stressed child at the same time. 

Today I washed the last of our clothes to be packed, and tomorrow is the big packing day.  I really want to have everything in suitcases by tomorrow evening and downstairs by the front door.  Wish me luck!  Any thoughts on how to pack lightly?  I ALWAYS totally overpack...

Then Monday and Tuesday are cleaning days.  I'd like to get the house pretty much in shape so that we can come home and just veg out. 

Soon there will be a baby here....

So Ray has spent the evening trying to figure out how to put security gates at the top and the bottom of the steps.  He has a plan!  For some reason, we are gating up everything!  All the other kids just got a gate slid through the rungs of the steps, but Betsy gets the royal treatment.  I guess that now that we are "older" we know all the many hazards that can befall a little one (or something like that)!

Now - on to packing!  Several of my cyber buddies have been able to pack carry on only (or COO).  I doubt that I will be able to pull that off.  Especially with all of us traveling.  I finally got all the clothes for Betsy layed out on our bed.  These are the outfits that MeiMei put together for me last week after my shopping spree at Target.

Didn't she do a great job?  I take her with me when I go shopping.  She has a great eye for fashion!