Success's (And lots of pics!)

I wrote a post a few months ago about a new set of questions.  I wrote about how adults & children were noticing Caitlin was still wearing nappies and at 4 years old that's not the norm.  We have been trying different things to keep Caitlin clean and for two years we were struggling.  But a few weeks ago after the millionth time of changing and tweaking meds, and changing the time of her daily washout we have seemed to find what's right for her!  Caitlin has been asking could she wear pants for a couple of months now so we took the plunge!  I ordered her incontinence pants from Upsy Daisy (if anyone wants to look them up!).  They are brilliant.  They have a hidden pad inside them, look like regular pants and I just added another pad to be extra safe.  They are expensive but it's so worth it.  Caitlin was so delighted she was wearing pants that she refused to put trousers on for a half hour and instead admired herself in the mirror lol.  She did have a blip while we were in Donegal as she got a tummy bug so had to go back into nappies again for a couple of days but apart from that she's been in the same pair of pants all day long every day! (Obviously they are washed every day too lol!) We have increased catheter's to every 2-3 hours which can be tricky when we are out but we manage and I just change the pad when we are doing her cath.  It's nowere near as hard as I thought it would be!  Another issue we had was doing Caitlin's catheter when we were out because she is getting too big to lie down on a regular changing table and I hated lying her down on dirty floors to do her cath.  We could bring a towel but towels are bulky and along with everything else we have to bring out, we needed to find a practical solution.  I hadn't been able to manage to cath her on the toilet yet as it is very difficult with little girls but today, using a different, shorter catheter, I managed it :) Yay!! Caitlin was hesitant at first but I give her a unused catheter to hold herself which she deemed to be a "wand" and she waved that around pretending to be the fairy godmother from Cinderella while I did what I had to do :)  It's amazing to think she should be starting primary school wearing pants.  I was so worried she would be teased or feel badly or embarrassed about herself for wearing nappies so this will make a huge difference.  I just hope it continues!  That's the thing about spina bifida, sometime's things work great for a while then for what seems like no reason it just stops working.  For now though it's all good and I'll take that ;)

In other news, we had the appointment with the paediatrician in January (although it seems like a life time ago now!) and she doesn't suspect autism.  She says she has hyperacusis, which means she is extremely sensitive to noise which is fairly common with having hydrocephalus.  I have read there is some treatments but we weren't offered anything, only to keep exposing her to noise.  I asked her OT to do a noise assessment with her so we will see what comes of that.  She is coping better though, she even ventured off in soft play for a minute today alone, although she got really scared and soon came back.  Still, it's progress!  I also learnt today she doesn't like going through tunnels that move from side to side, she was absolutely terrified when she crawled into one at soft play and it started moving.  It seems she just hates anything that is unpredictable as it makes her very anxious.  We will continue to figure it out as she grows and there's plenty of things she still loves to do, and I've lots of pics to share of the happy times we've had over the past couple of months :)

 St. Patrick's Day!

Donegal :)

The Farm!

A visit to Tropical World :)

The beach were Caitlin ran barefoot in the sand.  It just shows all things are possible.

Aoife ran in the sand for the first time too!

Easter Sunday - the girls were very happy children when they seen all the chocolate!

Looking like a little angel!  She said she was a princess and did a curtsey for everybody :)

We set up a treasure hunt for the girls, Caitlin quickly filled up her bucket!

Aoife got distracted by the one egg she found and by the time she went looking again, Caitlin had found them all.  Aoife wasn't impressed.

The Annual Photo with the Tricolour that flies on Easter Sunday to commemorate Ireland's dead.  Every year I compare photos and can never believe how big they have got in a year!

Easter Sunday Dinner - Caitlin said the waiting was "so boring"  - but she enjoyed the ice-cream!

Aoife giving the chocolate egg a kiss ;)

Another reason I love Donegal - Lots of walks with the family :)

And the beautiful scenery :)

And there's more!  Stories with Grandad,

Cuddles with Daddy,

First time on a big swing,

Having fun with cousins,

And of course lots of laughter :)

Lastly, Caitlin couldn't have had 2 weeks off school without a trip to the zoo!

Cousins Aoife & Caiden

Caitlin & her friend from school Jonathan, enjoying a play date & holding hands, so sweet :)

It's been a fantastic couple of months with a lot of achievements and success for my Caitlin.  To top it all off, we received the letter on Friday that she has been accepted to mainstream primary school for P1 in September!  I'm excited, nervous, scared and happy, a bundle of emotions really.  I know there will be new challenges moving from a small class of children who all have impairments to a class of 23 where she is the only child with an impairment, but with her resilience, determination and attitude along with the fact she is a sweet, funny little girl, I think she will make friends and have tons of fun and hopefully learn lots! :)