Baby Benjamin has been with us now for a week. It’s crazy to think it’s still a week until his official due date. The week has gone far too quickly, and every day he changes a little bit more.

We stayed in hospital for two days. I know most people can’t wait to get home after having a baby, but I’m not going to lie – other than missing Harrison and Alex, I loved being there and would have happily stayed another couple of nights. The care from the staff was absolutely faultless, and it was nice not to have to worry about anyone or anything else. I could be in a complete baby bubble and do nothing apart from getting to know our little baby.

When we came home it was a bit of a shock to the system. Suddenly there was lots of noise and all of us competing with each other for attention. I was really proud of how well Harrison and Alex coped with suddenly having to share their mummy and daddy with another little person. I would say Ben is demanding, but he really isn’t! He so far seems to be a really content little baby, who loves being cuddled but is also happy to lie in his bouncer and watch the world around him. It has been lovely to see how Harrison has immediately taken his role of big brother very seriously, helping to feed him and hold him. On our first evening together, he got his new puppet teddy and gave it to Ben to cuddle. We haven’t really had any issues – he’s maybe a little bit more hyper and noisy than usual but his routine has been mixed up, with daddy and nanny taking him and picking him up from school. We’ve had a few toilet accidents as well, which I did expect, but nothing too major. Alex has been really good as well. He isn’t quite as bothered by him as Harrison is, but does love giving him cuddles. He’s a bit more cuddly than normal, which I guess is his way of making sure he still has our attention. I’m not complaining – I love the random cuddles and kisses!

In terms of sleep, he’s (so far!) pretty good at night. The first couple of nights he wouldn’t settle in his moses basket, moaning and fidgeting every time I put him down, so I did end up giving in and letting him sleep on my chest. We don’t really want to do co-sleeping again, but I also know how important it is for us all to get some sleep. After a couple of co-sleeping nights, we tried swaddling, as it did seem to be his little arms and legs that woke him up. I’ve never swaddled a baby before, but we had been sent some lovely swaddle wraps from Silly Billyz. This seemed to do the trick, with him sleeping until about 3am in his basket before coming in with me. On his seventh night, he slept from 12am – 5.30am – hoping after having two babies that were (and still are!) rubbish sleepers, it will be third time lucky and he will be a good little sleeper!

On Thursday we went to declare his birth. To officially register him we would have had to go to Birmingham register office, which is a pain for us to get to, but we had the option of declaring his birth at Solihull, which is easier to get to. They then send the information to Birmingham and then the birth certificate gets posted out to us. We wrapped him up and took him on his first ever bus journey in his gorgeous Cosatto Giggle from Beebies Baby Store (more about that soon). Of course, he slept the entire two hours we were out! On the bus on the way there Harrison was nattering away to two old ladies and was proudly telling them about his new baby brother, which was adorable!

So that is baby Ben’s first week. It’s gone too quickly for my liking, and I’m holding onto every second as much as possible, taking as many photos as I can, giving him as many cuddles as I can, breathing in that incredible smell that only a newborn has as often as I can, and looking at his little chubby face as often as I can. He’s changing so quickly!