What is Ocober p2..

It's the little things that are different when you are living a life with Spina Bifida.

Like the first day of school!

 Bags packed and ready to go....

for TWO children!

FOUR for Nathaniel and one for Audrey!

Shall I explain?

The red back pack is a 48 hour emergency supply bag. Now this might be special for us since we live a few short miles from a nuclear power plant, but our students have to have 48 hours worth of emergency supplies with them if they have anything "special". Well Spina Bifida is special so in that backpack are pull ups, catheters, lubricant, gloves, medications and a change of clothes. Also in there are detailed instructions as to Nathaniel's care, so that if for some horrible reason his regular aids at school are not available Nathaniel can still receive the care he needs.

The two black bags are all of the catheter supplies that are needed at school. 2 boxes of catheters, two bags of pull ups, 2 containers of wipes, 2 tubes of lube two boxes of gloves and a change of clothes. If you know anything about how medical supplies are sent, then you probably realize that I have to hoard supplies all year to be able to send THIS MUCH to school at once, but long ago I realized that the staff is NOT good at telling me when they are LOW on supplies. The system that we have used for years and seems to work well is that I send TWO of everything in the beginning and when they open the "back up" (or second one) they notify me so that I can replace it. This works well because we never run OUT of anything!

The Blue back pack is Nathaniel's daily back pack.

And the tan back pack is Audrey's daily pack.

Geesh... all for two kids to get to school on the first day of school!

Can you see why I feel like I organize for a week for the kids to go back to school?

But otherwise the first day of school at our house is just the same as yours....

 Excitement about choosing the "perfect" first day out fit.

 Excitement about seeing familiar friends and starting new things.

And one child thrilled to pose for pictures while the other hides from the camera.

Oh.... what is that you say?

Only MY kids pull that? Bummer.

I thought it was universal!

How are simple things different in your life?