Coorection: BOTH babies are from China. Definately saves wear and tear on DW's hips.

-Blast

Yup. Used to have a dome on the top, but we traded that one in, and don't have the extra bucks right not to have a dome installed. My wife has her pink flamingo out too. But underneath I have a pulaski, Mcleod, shovel, you know, guy stuff...

"...Backpacker mag really went downhill when Dorn took over..."

Indeed it did...

Exactly!!!

"...saves wear and tear on DW's hips..."

But you miss out on the morning sickness, mood swings, middle of the night grocery runs for really strange foods, etc etc etc...

OBG,

Trust me, the strange foods thing was covered!
Check out my tales of the trip:
China Part 4: Eating *Things*

-Blast

See, that just proves that you have (luckily for you) skipped one of the rites of passage into fatherhood. What I was refering to is your wife waking you up at at oh-dark-thirty, wanting you go go out into a hurricane to find her something that she craves and no one in their right mind has it in the pantry. So off you go, half asleep, looking for sweet and sour pickled pigs feet or something. And you'd better find it and get back with it fast! (try that living in a town of 3000, with no all night markets)

Bugs, raw snake, that kind of stuff, been there done that too...

I realize I'm chiming in a bit late on this post, but here are a few of my thoughts. I'm far from an ultaliter and will never likely get my pack weight down to that level, in large part as I do not desire to do so for a variety of reasons. That said, I have been successful at replacing heavier gear with lighter (but by no means cutting edge) gear. For example, I got rid of my old polarguard bag and bought a down bag (used, vintage piece on ebay). In the process I saved several pounds. I also found lighter raingear (Land's End jacket and thrift store pants). I chose a smaller and lighter pack (again a vintage piece from ebay). I use short gaiters rather than knee high gaiters. I have gone to actually weighing out food portions and cutting back on excess food. The list goes on and on. I don't weigh my gear so I can't come up with a before and after total weight but the difference adds up after a bit. I'm no less prepared now than before, but my pack weight is noticeably less heavy than in the past. Lower pack weight, up to a certain point, does not have to be a function of leaving everything at home and only carrying the latest and greatest.