Helping my littlest boy into his brand new school uniform this morning made me think about those other special outfits that mark turning points in childhood.

Those tiny babygrows, vests and hats that were chosen with such care to go into the hospital bags weeks before he arrived; an expanding me holding them up to my bump and inwardly wondering how can anything growing in me ever be big enough to fill those.

Of course he grew and grew and soon those first clothes, like so many to follow, were suddenly too small.

I know it will be the same now with school uniform.

If you’d have shown me a school uniform back in those newborn days, I’d have scoffed that the need for those was surely a lifetime away.

Yet suddenly we’re here. Nearly 5 years later, gone in a blink, and we’re back with another set of clothes, lovingly chosen, labelled and laid out.

Now with two schoolboys in the family, I feel like we’ve started a new chapter in this book of life and I’m really excited to experience the next one!