Why every parent posts a photo of their child's first day of school... | Children's and Family Photographer, Loughborough.

I thought that this would be easier the second time.  It isn't.  Because as well as being the second time, it is also the last time.

I'm sobbing as I write this. Not because I'm worried about my little girl, as I know she will be absolutely fine.  She's far better at handling new situations than I am.

I'm not quite sure how it happened.  5 minutes ago I was handed a screaming, pooping teeny tiny bundle and suddenly I'm watching that bundle put on her uniform.  Her. Uniform. 

I don't remember the first time she sat up, or her first steps. I know it all happened because I have photographs but I can't actually visualise it.  It is all a blur.

I knew it was soon.  I knew it, because once I read that I should cling onto every stage - every breast feed, every time I picked her up, every night I helped with her pyjamas.  I hadn't noticed these stages ending, they just did.

Until 2 weeks ago, I went to buckle her shoes and she said "No Mummy! I can do it"... and at that moment I realised that I had just witnessed a last time.

And then I realised that the uniform hanging in the wardrobe wasn't there for a future event.  She was going to wear it.  And she was going to take her first step into the big wide world.  A world where where she wouldn't need me to hold her hand every step of the way.

Before I became a parent myself I remember my facebook newsfeed being filled with 1st day of school photos and thinking what's all the fuss?  They're going to school.  So what? Everybody does it. Well, today it's my turn and suddenly it all makes sense.

I am saying goodbye to my baby and hello to a young lady who is ridiculously funny (but doesn't know it), extremely easy to be around and who gives the best cuddles in the world.  The sort that make you feel truly loved.  I am so proud of her that I think I am going to burst.

That is why every parent posts a photo of their child's first day at school.  Here are mine.

My friend Nikki is a Specialist Newborn and Family Photographer in Bramhall, Stockport - pop over to her latest blog to ooh and aah over some scrummy newborns...