We left today!!...On our way to baby!!...

We finally left today! (That pic is us at the Jax airport...waiting for our flight to Atlanta.) I was up until around midnight last night organizing and reorganizing the bags. Yes, I packed all of Livie's stuff about 3 weeks ago!...But I just loaded all our things yesterday (Steve's been traveling a lot so I couldn't pack until he was finished traveling....needed the small suitcase he uses). We have 1 medium suitcase, 2 small suitcases (the 1-2 night size), 1 duffle bag (you can cram LOTS of soft, non-breakable items in all the corners) and 2 backpacks. I thought this would give us plenty of space, but it's been a bit chilly in Beijing so we decided to pack a few extra warm clothes...obviously takes up more packing space! Our suitcases are PACKED...but lots of things that will be used in China (diapers, wipes & such) so we'll have plenty of room for things we buy when we head home. I've weighted the medium bag several times and have been shifting things to try and get it to under 44 lbs (that's the weight limit for intra-China flights...of course, the weight limit for US flights it 50 lbs...so we're fine for those flights). Oh well, after everything else we've gone through to get to her, it's certainly no great tragedy if we have to pay a few bucks for heavy luggage in China! (I'm not cheap and retentive/compulsive....I'm frugal and efficient!!!) We woke up this morning around 6:00. Wiped out last minute chores around the house, walked Putter, gave him a bath, loved on him a little extra, and waited for Teresa to pick us up. Teresa is our neighbor...she's taking care of Putter while we're gone...and getting our mail...and watering the plants...and driving us to the airport...and picking us up from the airport...and.... THE BEST NEIGHBOR EVER!!! Teresa & Robbie are also adopting from China...a few months behind us...so we'll definitely be able to return the favor! We left the house at noon...stopped and had lunch...then got to the airport about 2 hours early. We were definitely earlier than necessary, but it was worth it just to avoid any anxiety. We're in Atlanta now...spending the night here. We're staying near the airport so we're just a short shuttle ride away. We had dinner tonight at Ruby Tuesday's...a short walk up the street...and are planning to hit the sack soon. Our flight to Tokyo tomorrow is around 10:00...we plan to get to the airport between 7:00 & 7:30...again to avoid any anxiety over being rushed! We'll arrive in Tokyo 14.5 hours later....then head to Beijing after a 4 hour layover....arriving in Beijing at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night. Kinda hard to wrap our head around that long flight now...Ambien, here we come!! We're really missing little Putter...we've talked to Teresa twice already! :-) But we're so excited to finally be on our way to get Olivia!!!