Going shoe crazy!

Addison received her new AFO braces last week. Even before they arrived I was going crazy trying to find shoes. I had a really difficult time finding shoes to fit her small SMO braces, so I knew that finding them to fit the larger braces would be difficult. Before they arrived, I purchased a larger size of her current shoes as well as 2 pairs from a company called Hatchbacks. They are specially designed shoes made to fit over orthotics. I ordered two different sizes because until I had the braces in hand it was difficult for me to tell which size we would need. They are only sold online and I didn't want to order wrong and have to shop back and forth.

So, the arrival of the braces came and the orthotist decided to try the braces on with the size 5 Hatchbacks. He seemed happy with them in the short period of time she had them on. I was very hesitant. I felt that they made her feet feel two sizes bigger than normal. So, we went with them and spent the weekend wearing the Hatchbacks. They absolutely did not work!!! The poor kid could hardly move in them. Walking was extremely slow and transitions on the floor were almost impossible. So, Sunday night came and 2 more pairs of shoes got ordered online from Nike. Not many shoe company's make shoes in wide widths, but Nike does. She wore the braces very little all week due to the shoe issue.

The new shoes arrived and one works!!!! Hooray! In the meantime I also found out that New Balance makes an extra wide width. I am planning on ordering a back up pair from them. The downfall is that she has no dress shoes, so when we dress up, she has to wear tennies. I would like to try and keep one pair cleaner for those occasions and give her an everyday wear and tear pair.

At least the saga is over. This week in my house I have had:
1 pair of Nike size 6.5
1 pair of Hatchbacks size 5
1 pair of Hatchbacks size 6
1 pair of Nike size 5.5
1 pair of Nike size 6.0
1 pair of Nike size 6.0

Wow, that's a lot of money. I can't wait to return some and get my money back. More on how she's doing with them later.