The Taipei Collection

Last week I took my first business trip since Amelia was born. I visited Taipei for the 2nd International Plugfest conference; the conference was good and the trip was fine, but boy was it hard to leave my little girl.

Having a baby is full of clichés: they grow up so fast; they change so quickly; they sleep so little; and you love them so much. The cliché that hit home for me last week was "you have no idea until you have one". I had no idea it was possible to miss somebody so much. I was gone less than a week, but it tore at my heart to be away from Amelia. I couldn't help but think of how hard it will be when she goes away to college and how hard it must have been on my parents when I did the same. I'm sorry Mom and Dad, I had no idea.

She changed so much in that one week. She's more responsive, more aware of her surroundings and she's even laughing and playing more (baby smiles rule). The little stinker even had a full week of sleeping through the night while I was gone (so much for having at least one good aspect of being away!). Beth even said that she recognized my voice on the phone through the static! In the end, I quickly tired of Taipei and cut out a couple days of sightseeing to get home early.

Amelia and Beth had their first baby gym class last week; Amelia did great, but all the exercise wore her out pretty good.

Here's a collection of pictures from around my trip. You can also see some pictures from Taipei. Soon it's off to Denver for another conference. Sigh.