Monday, April 16, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
How I got into dolls as an adult...
My adult journey started after my boyfriend, now husband, and I were taking a trip
to the mall just after Christmas, when I visited him where he was
living. There was a mall stand selling realistic sized dolls, My Way
Baby. I fell in love with one of the pre-made dolls. I though it looked
like my boyfriend as a child. They were on sale as the stand was closing
for the season. So my boyfriend bought him for me. I also picked out a few
outfits to go with him. A few weeks later I was at Toys R Us picking
out a birthday present for my little cousin. I wandered into the doll
isle and saw a doll sized Graco pack-n-play. I thought it would be great
for my new little edition. I only had enough money to get the birthday
present so I tucked the pack-n-play in the back of my mind. That night
while talking to my boyfriend I mentioned it. He was a bit confused so I
pulled up ToysRus' website and messaged him the link. While on the site I
started reading the reviews on the Pack-n-Play. One of the reviews
mentioned an "Electronic Neonate" doll. This intrigued me. So I googled searched the term.
I was brought to a wonderful page. My eyes lit up when I saw it. There on my computer screen were dolls. Not just any dolls BUT dolls that looked like the Baby Think it Over dolls from high school that I fell in love with. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was ANYONE could buy them. They had a few different types. There was the basic 3; Unweighted Neonate- a basic light weight baby doll; Weighted Neonate- a basic baby doll with a bag inside that added weight, and Electronic Neonate- an electric baby doll similar to the RealCare baby. The difference between the RealCare and Electronic Neonate were that the RealCare was a simulator on a real baby schedule and the Electronic Neonate was a play doll so it cycled through care quickly. I was so excited. Here was my chance to finally own an electronic baby, made from the a doll I loved.
The excitement was short lived when I realized that the Neonates store was closing, and not just closing but closing in a week. On the plus side of that the dolls and all items were 50% off. I called my boyfriend crying. Here I found the exact baby I had wanted from a couple years prior to find out it was slipping through my hands. He told me to call them and order one. To put it on my credit card and he'd pay my card. The joy returned. Only to come crashing down when I called. I first asked if they had any Caucasian Electronic Neonate boys left. I was told there wasn't. So I asked if there was any Electronic Neonates left. The lady was kind and apologized saying they were all sold. I was on the verge of tears. She then told me they had ONE Caucasian weighted Neonate boy left. I figured he was better than nothing. So I decided on him and an extra set of diapers, I now regret not getting a few other Neonate items. I set it up to have my baby shipped to my boyfriend, as I knew if I got the doll delivered to my home my parents would be angry as I was "to old for dolls." It go to the card information. When I gave the lady my card number she apologized again saying they only took Visa and MasterCard, which my card was neither. I asked her if she could hold the order and if my boyfriend could call with his number. She said that was fine. So I called him telling him what was going on. He then called to finish the order. I was ecstatic! I began going through baby name websites to find the perfect name. Oh and I went to ToysRus to pick up that doll pack-n-play.
A few days later my boyfriend called me after he had gotten done with work to let me know the baby boy was delivered. I couldn't wait till he drove down for the weekend. I had hit up a few thrift stores waiting. I also pulled out all the baby stuff I had from when I had life sized dolls as a child. I got everything washed up and ready to go for the new bundle. That Friday was Valentine's Day. So my boyfriend drove down after work. He got to my house late that evening and brought the box right into the house. I kissed him and ran down to my room to open the box.
Welcome Skyler Nicholas!
I was brought to a wonderful page. My eyes lit up when I saw it. There on my computer screen were dolls. Not just any dolls BUT dolls that looked like the Baby Think it Over dolls from high school that I fell in love with. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was ANYONE could buy them. They had a few different types. There was the basic 3; Unweighted Neonate- a basic light weight baby doll; Weighted Neonate- a basic baby doll with a bag inside that added weight, and Electronic Neonate- an electric baby doll similar to the RealCare baby. The difference between the RealCare and Electronic Neonate were that the RealCare was a simulator on a real baby schedule and the Electronic Neonate was a play doll so it cycled through care quickly. I was so excited. Here was my chance to finally own an electronic baby, made from the a doll I loved.
The excitement was short lived when I realized that the Neonates store was closing, and not just closing but closing in a week. On the plus side of that the dolls and all items were 50% off. I called my boyfriend crying. Here I found the exact baby I had wanted from a couple years prior to find out it was slipping through my hands. He told me to call them and order one. To put it on my credit card and he'd pay my card. The joy returned. Only to come crashing down when I called. I first asked if they had any Caucasian Electronic Neonate boys left. I was told there wasn't. So I asked if there was any Electronic Neonates left. The lady was kind and apologized saying they were all sold. I was on the verge of tears. She then told me they had ONE Caucasian weighted Neonate boy left. I figured he was better than nothing. So I decided on him and an extra set of diapers, I now regret not getting a few other Neonate items. I set it up to have my baby shipped to my boyfriend, as I knew if I got the doll delivered to my home my parents would be angry as I was "to old for dolls." It go to the card information. When I gave the lady my card number she apologized again saying they only took Visa and MasterCard, which my card was neither. I asked her if she could hold the order and if my boyfriend could call with his number. She said that was fine. So I called him telling him what was going on. He then called to finish the order. I was ecstatic! I began going through baby name websites to find the perfect name. Oh and I went to ToysRus to pick up that doll pack-n-play.
A few days later my boyfriend called me after he had gotten done with work to let me know the baby boy was delivered. I couldn't wait till he drove down for the weekend. I had hit up a few thrift stores waiting. I also pulled out all the baby stuff I had from when I had life sized dolls as a child. I got everything washed up and ready to go for the new bundle. That Friday was Valentine's Day. So my boyfriend drove down after work. He got to my house late that evening and brought the box right into the house. I kissed him and ran down to my room to open the box.
Welcome Skyler Nicholas!
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Welcome- How I found out about Baby Think it Overs
Welcome to my blog. I know some of you may know me from my YouTube channel, My Reality with Nicole, but other are just finding me for the first time. Thank you for taking the time to check me out.
A little about me and my background in the doll/reborn community. Growing up I have always loved dolls. When I was deemed "to old for dolls" I would sneak playing with them. In high school when I was in 10th grade I took the child development class that you had to take home a Baby Think it Over doll(now RealCare). I chose a Caucasian boy, that I named Anthony Justin. We called him AJ for short. I had a blast with the AJ. I loved the look of it and it was fun to have it on a real infant schedule. I scheduled to have the AJ over a long weekend. He was the old Generation 4(G4) BTIO doll, that you had to stick the black key in its back, turn, and hold it till the cry box cooed. The finger pain didn't detour me from wanting one. The only thing I got docked for was one abuse. After I left school I took AJ over to my mother's work. One of her co-workers hit him thinking it was funny when I sat him down by my mother to use the restroom. When I got back I started freaking out. The co-worker felt bad so she wrote a note to my teacher saying that if I had an abuse it was because of her. But other than that I had 100%. My cousin had just had her first baby a few weeks before I got to bring my BTIO home. She was 17 and baby was premature. So she had all the baby stuff but wasn't using it. She borrowed me clothes, a stroller, and other items which made having him even more fun. My teacher also had us draw sticks on if we had a single baby or twins. I was a little jealous of the two students that drew twins. They could choose to take them both at once or take one two times.
I loved children and babies so I took the second child development class in 11th grade. The second class we didn't need to take the doll home, but after everyone in the first class brought one home the students in the second class were given the opportunity to bring it home again for extra credit. I jumped right on that! This time I brought home a Native American girl. I named her Ryan Elizabeth. I had so much fun with her, just like the year before. Except she was a Generation 5(G5) BTIO. Which means you had to support her head. That added a little extra challenge to caring for her with that painful black key. It was hard giving AJ back, but it was harder giving Ryan back. This time I got a 100% so I was able to receive 50 extra bonus points for the class. By taking the class I became really close with the teacher.
In 12th grade I had already taken the two child development classes. I was a little bummed about that. I visited the teacher daily since her and I had become close. I would help her after school or during a study hall with things that needed to be done around the classroom. That year she let me take a baby home for the weekend, this time shut off, because she knew I loved the dolls so much. That time I took home a Hispanic girl. I don't remember what I named her, I think it was Sophia. It was still fun dressing and taking her out that weekend. When I returned her back to my teacher she started telling me about these new dolls Baby Think it Over was coming out with, Original RealCare(also known as G6). They were so technologically advanced. You had to hold their heads like a G5, BUT instead of that dreaded, painful black key, this baby had a sliver and gray ID. When baby cried you had to put the ID in a little hole in baby's back and baby would chime. Then you had to guess what care the baby was requesting. Baby would cry needing a bottle, which you needed to hold the bottle to baby's mouth till it cooed. It would need diaper changes at times, baby had two diapers with different colored patches that you had to change, and baby knew the difference between the two. Sometimes you had to burp the baby by patting its back. Other times baby just wanted to be rocked. Then there was the few times baby was just fussy not wanting care at all. Each care would end when baby cooed. I wanted to take one of THOSE babies home. But my school only had G4 and G5 babies. At the end of the school year my teacher let me in that the school got a grant and were getting the new RealCares over the summer to be ready for the next school year. I was happy for the school, but sad I couldn't take one home.
That next fall I started collage locally. I would go back to the high school about once a week to visit my teacher. She had showed me the new babies and her and I worked together figuring out how to program them with this weird blue box thing, the G4/G5 babies just had a cry box you inserted batteries and flipped a switch for an easy baby, medium baby, or hard baby. I was happy to help out but still a little sad I couldn't take one home. One of my collage classes was a public speaking class. We had to pick a topic, research it, and present it to the class as a speech.We got bonus points for bringing aids to back up our research. I decided to write a paper on teen pregnancy, since it was something close to me with my cousin. In the paper I brought up schools using the Baby Think it Over program. When doing the research my teacher from high school helped me on finding data from the company on the simulators helping prevent pregnancy. A couple days before she knew I had the presentation she called me to ask if I wanted to borrow one of the RealCares for a couple days. She hadn't sent one out with her students yet and figured I could give baby a test run in a simulation. I JUMPED at that chance. She let me choose a baby, so I picked a Caucasian boy again. This time I named him James Juan and called him JJ. I was so excited when I picked him up. I took him to class to do my presentation, which I got an A on. My teacher wanted me to keep him one night so after class I went over to my grandparent's home and showed him off to them. My grandma was a little freaked out by how realistic he looked and acted. My grandfather was very interested in him. This was back before digital cameras and phones that could take pictures, so I wasn't able to get pictures of my grandfather with JJ. He rocked and feed him a couple times. JJ was set on easy so that night he only woke me up once. I was sad to return him the next day to my teacher. She was happy to have a test subject and 100% care on him. I knew I HAD TO HAVE one of those babies. Problem was Baby Think it Over only sold to schools and were a lot more money than I could afford. So I tucked the baby in the back of my mind for a "one day" and went on with my life.
A little about me and my background in the doll/reborn community. Growing up I have always loved dolls. When I was deemed "to old for dolls" I would sneak playing with them. In high school when I was in 10th grade I took the child development class that you had to take home a Baby Think it Over doll(now RealCare). I chose a Caucasian boy, that I named Anthony Justin. We called him AJ for short. I had a blast with the AJ. I loved the look of it and it was fun to have it on a real infant schedule. I scheduled to have the AJ over a long weekend. He was the old Generation 4(G4) BTIO doll, that you had to stick the black key in its back, turn, and hold it till the cry box cooed. The finger pain didn't detour me from wanting one. The only thing I got docked for was one abuse. After I left school I took AJ over to my mother's work. One of her co-workers hit him thinking it was funny when I sat him down by my mother to use the restroom. When I got back I started freaking out. The co-worker felt bad so she wrote a note to my teacher saying that if I had an abuse it was because of her. But other than that I had 100%. My cousin had just had her first baby a few weeks before I got to bring my BTIO home. She was 17 and baby was premature. So she had all the baby stuff but wasn't using it. She borrowed me clothes, a stroller, and other items which made having him even more fun. My teacher also had us draw sticks on if we had a single baby or twins. I was a little jealous of the two students that drew twins. They could choose to take them both at once or take one two times.
I loved children and babies so I took the second child development class in 11th grade. The second class we didn't need to take the doll home, but after everyone in the first class brought one home the students in the second class were given the opportunity to bring it home again for extra credit. I jumped right on that! This time I brought home a Native American girl. I named her Ryan Elizabeth. I had so much fun with her, just like the year before. Except she was a Generation 5(G5) BTIO. Which means you had to support her head. That added a little extra challenge to caring for her with that painful black key. It was hard giving AJ back, but it was harder giving Ryan back. This time I got a 100% so I was able to receive 50 extra bonus points for the class. By taking the class I became really close with the teacher.
In 12th grade I had already taken the two child development classes. I was a little bummed about that. I visited the teacher daily since her and I had become close. I would help her after school or during a study hall with things that needed to be done around the classroom. That year she let me take a baby home for the weekend, this time shut off, because she knew I loved the dolls so much. That time I took home a Hispanic girl. I don't remember what I named her, I think it was Sophia. It was still fun dressing and taking her out that weekend. When I returned her back to my teacher she started telling me about these new dolls Baby Think it Over was coming out with, Original RealCare(also known as G6). They were so technologically advanced. You had to hold their heads like a G5, BUT instead of that dreaded, painful black key, this baby had a sliver and gray ID. When baby cried you had to put the ID in a little hole in baby's back and baby would chime. Then you had to guess what care the baby was requesting. Baby would cry needing a bottle, which you needed to hold the bottle to baby's mouth till it cooed. It would need diaper changes at times, baby had two diapers with different colored patches that you had to change, and baby knew the difference between the two. Sometimes you had to burp the baby by patting its back. Other times baby just wanted to be rocked. Then there was the few times baby was just fussy not wanting care at all. Each care would end when baby cooed. I wanted to take one of THOSE babies home. But my school only had G4 and G5 babies. At the end of the school year my teacher let me in that the school got a grant and were getting the new RealCares over the summer to be ready for the next school year. I was happy for the school, but sad I couldn't take one home.
That next fall I started collage locally. I would go back to the high school about once a week to visit my teacher. She had showed me the new babies and her and I worked together figuring out how to program them with this weird blue box thing, the G4/G5 babies just had a cry box you inserted batteries and flipped a switch for an easy baby, medium baby, or hard baby. I was happy to help out but still a little sad I couldn't take one home. One of my collage classes was a public speaking class. We had to pick a topic, research it, and present it to the class as a speech.We got bonus points for bringing aids to back up our research. I decided to write a paper on teen pregnancy, since it was something close to me with my cousin. In the paper I brought up schools using the Baby Think it Over program. When doing the research my teacher from high school helped me on finding data from the company on the simulators helping prevent pregnancy. A couple days before she knew I had the presentation she called me to ask if I wanted to borrow one of the RealCares for a couple days. She hadn't sent one out with her students yet and figured I could give baby a test run in a simulation. I JUMPED at that chance. She let me choose a baby, so I picked a Caucasian boy again. This time I named him James Juan and called him JJ. I was so excited when I picked him up. I took him to class to do my presentation, which I got an A on. My teacher wanted me to keep him one night so after class I went over to my grandparent's home and showed him off to them. My grandma was a little freaked out by how realistic he looked and acted. My grandfather was very interested in him. This was back before digital cameras and phones that could take pictures, so I wasn't able to get pictures of my grandfather with JJ. He rocked and feed him a couple times. JJ was set on easy so that night he only woke me up once. I was sad to return him the next day to my teacher. She was happy to have a test subject and 100% care on him. I knew I HAD TO HAVE one of those babies. Problem was Baby Think it Over only sold to schools and were a lot more money than I could afford. So I tucked the baby in the back of my mind for a "one day" and went on with my life.
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