Laughing it off, enjoy your baby and gifted.

1. The other mothers at the breastfeeding drop-in laugh at me when I say I'm worried because Alec falls asleep when he's had enough. I had it in my head that he would take himself off when he'd finished -- apparently this is not what babies do at all. I am so relieved to hear that.

2. I like the way the health visitor says: "Enjoy your baby." I heard the midwives saying it to some of the parents leaving hospital, too. It's the one piece of advice that all the healthcare professionals can agree on.

3. Nick's colleagues send him home with almost a wardrobe's worth of clothes for Alec, in all different sizes, so we'll be dressing him and thinking of them for the next 18 months. They have also sent (among other things) a squeaky rubber giraffe called Sophie -- the packaging promises that she will stimulate all of Alec's senses and teach him about cause and effect.