Finding the new norm

Dancer Girl was able to reduce the hours in her brace recently.  This is great news because it means that the brace is doing it's job and we are heading towards a brace-free day!

However, it means adjusting our routine and we are finding it harder to do than we thought!

Dancer Girl prefers to get her hours in during the day and avoid sleeping in the brace.  She hasn't ever fully gotten used to sleeping in it.  Many girls do, maybe even most, but for Dancer Girl it has ben a struggle.  She wasn't a good sleeper before the brace though...

So, to get her hours in during the day she literally has to wear it pretty much every waking hour. That is where the problem arises.

She dances.  A lot.

     She has youth group where she'd rather not wear the brace.

            And church where she often helps in the nursery.

                   And outings with friends.

                          And homeschool classes or field trips.

You get the idea.

Suddenly getting 10-12 hours into the day isn't so easy. So we are trying to plan ahead & juggle days and nights in the brace to get her the hours during the day while reducing the number of nights she wears it.

It doesn't always work, and can result in frustrations, but we are getting better at finding our new norm.