  In preparing for the first return to backpacking we’ve used the lessons from last week’s camp trip alongside our experience backpacking without kids to sketch a strategy. Every pound has to be carefully scrutinized for value. We have to plan every meal, mostly dehydrated, snack, tool, and piece of equipment we bring.
One of the biggest hurtles we have to overcome is the sleeping situation. My beloved Supertent (affectionately named by John in irony the year we met, before he understood its true glory), a 4-pound orange and yellow on gray Kelty 2-man, no longer suffices our 2-man/2-child (=>3-man? ) size family. A 3- or even 4-man tent quickly jumps up to six pounds. You can find four and five pound tents in this size, but they drop temp ratings to compensate.
Camping in Texas, this is a benefit rather than detriment, but we have to plan on camping primarily in New Mexico, since that’s our favorite place to camp. I’ve found myself in freezing temps in June on Wheeler more than once, even in a white out on Colorado’s Pike’s Peak once in June! Logistics-wise, we're planning on alternating between one of us (probably mostly John) carrying the largest load in a large pack while the other (me) carries a 2-day-pack and slings Ellie on front. Aidan has a small backpack that he hikes with often. This will be enough to carry his clothes and maybe a waterbottle. If we’re very lucky, he’ll carry his own bedroll. But we have to plan on the contingency of switching that roll midway through the trip to an adult pack. Another tricky issue to examine is diapers. Ellie has one BM a day. It’s not unlikely when backpacking to go several days with no BMs, probably in adjustment to the dehydrated food. Knowing this, I’m considering using cloth diapers for the trip. I don’t know yet, but I like the idea of washing out the diapers from each day and letting them dry overnight rather than having to pack out all the dirty diapers in a ziplock.
Working on this little conundrum sure makes me appreciate indigenous potty training methods! Loyal readers know I've been reading the kids Laura Ingles Wilder's Little House series. Believe it or not, these books have helped both empower us in our belief this can be accomplished and give us ideas for how to go about accomplishing it!
Wilder's books are a recounting of her family's life living as pioneers and in one book in particular, they make the move from Wisconsin to Kansas in a covered wagon with Laura, her big sister, and her little sister--then a baby named Carry. If the Ingles family can make it in the wild west all alone with three kids and nothing more than a mule can haul, surely we'll be fine in New Mexico's Jemez mountains for four days. 
