We celebrated Alex being one week old by being discharged from hospital – at last. Ten nights in hospital with terrible food and almost no sleep wasn’t the greatest experience, so being released was quite a moment! Alex is still jaundiced, and we’ll probable have to pop back to be monitored, but at least we could take him home 🙂

We got Alex ready for his first journey, dressing him in one if the lovely cardigans knitted by his Grandma – think he might need to grow into it a little more (but at least it kept him warm!!):

As the car had been stolen, complete with our new baby car seat, we were driven home by our lovely NCT friends, Bryony & Dan.

After a warm shower and my first plate of nutritious food in over a week, we had our first of many visitors. Alex first met Katharine:

And then a new friend, little Emmett who came with his parents David and Bergin! I love this picture of Matt and David with their children – quite a different picture from the ones we have of the two of them at Warwick University over a decade ago!

Over the course of Alex’s second week, we had lovely visits from friends and family, and drop ins from the health visitor and midwife – both of whom were pleased with Alex’s progress – phew!

Most exciting of all were our first excursions out as a family – the very first trip was through the park in his pram to the rather familiar King’s College Hospital for a jaundice check (still there, but no worse). He slept the whole way in his pram which was a good sign – and even on the bus on the way home.

More fun was his first trip in the baby bjorn sling to the local deli for lunch – again, he snoozed comfortably the entire time – but it was wonderful to get out of the house and into the Autumn sunshine with him.

The week closed with the arrival of his incredibly excited grandparents from Michigan – am still amazed that they managed to wait two weeks to visit, but it quickly became clear that they were going to make up for lost times with the number of cuddles Alex was now getting!