Former American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi spent her first few days as a new mother on a mammoth cross-country road trip with her husband and baby.

The songwriter and her partner Mike McCuddy recently became proud parents of a son named Greyson James Carroll McCuddy, who was born to a surrogate mother in Los Angeles.

The couple decided to travel back to their home in Maine last week (ends10Feb13), so they jumped in a minivan and set off on a 3,200-mile (5,150-kilometre) road trip to get their little boy home.

The journey took several days, but they finally reached their destination this week (beg11Feb13).

In a series of posts on Twitter.com, Dioguardi writes, "Gotta love a minivan... I never thought I'd say love and minivan in the same sentence."