[MamaChinch]

It's hard to pack light especially for trip 2 !! I gave up and didn't worry about it, I packed as lightly as I felt comfortable, making sure I had everything for DD. We each had one suitcase and one carry on and used a backpack as a pruse. The one thing to remember is that on the flight to Russia you are allowed more weight and they will only weigh your checked in suitcase. In-country, your allowance is less and it is a TOTAL weight of all you bags, including carry ons. I mis-understood this on trip one and had to pay. I was over on trip two, but they let me slide, the woman at the ticket counter said, you have baby items? I said yes and she smiled and said that's okay!
Although we did have some gifts, when we were there we asked the Baby House director what they needed. She said they needed diapers, so we went and purchased a bunch of diapers in various sizes for them, and they were very grateful for that.
Ditton on the hot pot! We made coffee, soup, oatmeal, tea......