Packing in full force

5 days left until we leave for China, and it looks like a tornado tore through our condo. Boxes and misc "stuff" litter the floor in every room right now.

At times as we're going through things I really feel like we belong on the show Hoarders. I just threw away no less than 30 mini bottles of shampoo/conditioner/lotion/etc from under one of our sinks and discovered some half used Clinique gift makeup samples that are probably 15 years old (those are in the trash, too).

I haven't made it through all of the closets yet, but I'll be tackling the one in Dean's room this evening. I started to work on it Saturday, but it was just too tough with him at my feet picking up everything and shoving it into his mouth.

Dean is spending the week with grandparents - the first half with Langfords and the second half with Adgates. He'll be so spoiled rotten by the time we take off next Monday! We are spoiled, too, with having family so close to where we live. It's going to be such a challenge to not be able to pick up the phone and call a grandparent if Dean's sick or if we just need a mental parent break. Holidays are going to be real tough, too.

Here's a couple pics from Dean's first Easter:

The little guy is still healing from ear infections in both ears that started about 3 weeks ago. He heads to the Dr. tomorrow morning for another ear check, and if the infection is still there, he'll receive a series of 3 shots over the next three days to knock it out. We're hoping and praying that he is well and can fly without pain, especially since it's a VERY long trip!

It will take us almost 24 hours of flying time to get to Hong Kong, and then about an hour by car to the city of Shenzhen on mainland China. We leave Atlanta and fly to Los Angeles (3-1/2 hrs), switch planes and head to Taipei in Taiwan (18 hrs), then switch planes again for a flight to Hong Kong (1-1/2 hrs). We figure everyone on the plane to Taipei will know us by the end. I can only imagine the looks we'll get from passengers around us as we settle in to our seats.

Will Dean be "that" baby that screams the whole way? Will we get any sleep? How will we both eat with an infant in arms? Will the flight attendants be patient enough to bring our meals at different times? What do we do with stinky dirty diapers? Is it considered rude to let him crawl through the aisles to burn off some excess energy? Should we bathe his entire body in hand sanitizer if we do???

We'll have to get back to you on the answers. For now, it's back to packing.