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I'm helping my nine-year-old daughter raise her baby
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She had a bottle this morning already? Yeah. See, that's a good mama. We take our dolls everywhere
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The dolls aren't just toys to me. They're part of my family. People call me sick for treating our dolls as babies
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This is creepy, very disturbing. My friend Princeton hates these dolls. These dolls look like dead babies
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And it freaks me out. Let me see if I can get him to hold one of my babies
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Oh, no. Good morning. Day in store. Hey, girly girl. You ready to get the day started today
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Yeah. My name is Cannon. I'm a single mom with two children and two babies
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Three live at home with me still, but only one is real. Let me see puka wuka wuka
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She has some good sleep. Yeah. Let me see. Oh, she got bad hair. Look at her
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You gotta have to comb her hair, girl. My son, Martell, is 24 years old, and then I also have a nine-year-old daughter
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Her name is Day and she lives here with me. That's like my bestie. We love all things frilly, all things feminine, all things fun
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It's pretty much all about the dolls. It's a store. Today I'm putting her in a white dress because it looks cute and we got matching dresses
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Why do you match outfits with them? Just to be coordinated. I just think that it's totally adorable and cute
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We wear matching outfits anyway. I thought, why not do it with the dolls as well
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Does she need a diaper change or something? No. She had a bottle this morning already
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Yeah. See, that's a good mama. You take good care of your baby. To what extent would you say the dolls are a part of your family
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The dolls are a very integral part of our family. It's just something about holding them that does release, like, endorphins as if you're
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holding a real baby. I get to just cure my baby fever constantly
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It's amazing. Oh, this is just a little big. but this okay. Can't say you're gonna grow into it but you know it'll do. What does Day think of
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the reborn dolls? Day absolutely thinks of her doll as her baby. She takes star with her everywhere
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like we go to the movies we go to a restaurant or whatever we have to have star with us so I had to
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get her like a little carrier because you know it's hard carrying babies around. She's learning early
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I'm doing most of the babysitting most of the time because you know she's full-time in school so
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So she can't afford to be a full-time parent. So we both do what needs to be done for the babies essentially Tell us how you first discovered Reborn Dolls I was a single mom at the time My son was only two years old
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And back then, there was no YouTube or social media. So I just used to surf the web
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and I could not tell you how I came across these dolls. But somehow, I found them by way of a Black artist
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when she made these one-of-a-kind, beautiful dolls. And it really intrigued me
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Let me just show you my workstation. It looks kind of weird when people come in because baby parts
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So I do always give people a disclaimer before they come in for any reason. So they don't call the police on me, basically
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When I started to make Reborn dolls for myself was around COVID
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And I wanted to get one for my daughter. But I could not see myself paying thousands of dollars for a doll for a six-year-old
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So since I had time and it was COVID, I just started ordering the parts
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and looking at YouTube videos and different things like that. And I started practicing to make her a doll
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This is how they look when they're like freshly blank before I've done anything with them
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It's all like arms and limbs and everything. So this is how they first start
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When I got laid off from my corporate job, I started to practice it more and more again
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And then I started to post my dolls online. People expressed interest in purchasing them
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That's pretty much how I got into it. They would like more babies to look after, but also I'm teaching her how to make them herself
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Just make sure you get that color on there really even. I would love to make dolls myself one day because it's important for other people who haven't had dolls to play with them like their family
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I was so happy when my mom made Star for me because it was like a real life baby
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Have you ever worried that it might confuse day looking after such realistic dolls from such a young age
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No, she is a very intelligent young lady. She understands play and pretend and she gets it
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So she's not confused about it at all. Head to your room and play and then we'll take the dolls out for a little walk later so we can get some sunshine
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How does that sound? Yeah. Yeah. This is right before I box her up
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I post a lot of different content on social media when it comes to my dolls
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I have some content regarding my daughter being out with her doll and just kind of helping me through the process of making the doll
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When I first started posting videos I don think I was really considering how strongly people would feel about it I have gotten so many negative comments They call me mentally unstable They say that I neglecting my real daughter
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for fake dolls. Some people even say that I'm satanic and the dolls are possessed
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This is creepy. I don't like it. Very disturbing. Sick AF. I mean, I don't know what they really want me
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to do with these comments. I thought that was a dead baby at first
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Are you crazy? Of course I'm not crazy, it's just art. I don't wanna think about dead babies at all
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The main way that I would say it has affected me as a parent is just to be more mindful
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of making sure that my daughter is mentally fortified and just knows that she doesn't have to be beholden
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to people's negative opinions and small-mindedness. I don't worry about dolls having a negative impact on her
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We all grew up playing with dolls, different types of dolls. So it's pretty socially normal in that aspect
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Hers are just more realistic than others. That's all. What do family and friends think of your reborn dolls
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When I first started to do it, a lot of my family and friends were like
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what is this? What are you doing? They didn't know if I was having a midlife crisis, if I wanted another baby
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Hey, Princeton. Damn it. What's going on? Princeton is hilarious. He was having a movie night for his wife for her birthday
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We were in the restaurant and I randomly pulled the doll out of the tote
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And when I tell you he was mortified. Man, when you brought that doll into that restaurant
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that was crazy. I was kind of weirded out. It was just a little concerning
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I'll say that. These dolls look like dead babies and they look real
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You know what I'm saying? Are you not concerned about daylight growing up with this stuff, like all the dolls laying around
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I mean, not really because when you have a daughter, like she plays with dolls and while they're not as realistic
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I mean, it's still a doll. So no, I'm not too concerned about her being confused
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by him or anything like that. Children have great imaginations and have the heads
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and arms and legs kind of laying around the house. I mean, you don't think she'd be affected by that at all
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No, I wouldn't say so. And mostly because I feel like I've included her
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so much in the art, so I think she definitely gets it. And she likes the art of it, so I think it's good for her
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I think that he still dislikes the dolls. Let me see if I can get him to hold one of my babies I actually have Trinity right here Would you like to hold her You haven been really this close Oh no I just cool on that
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How about you just hold it? Oh, absolutely not. You just hold it
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Hold her head. See? Look at that. Right? Don't she feel real? Yes
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Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. This is amazing, Cannon
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This is amazing. You think so? Yeah, take it back. Take it back
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Take it back. It's not really for me, but I do think it's dope to see
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So congratulations to you. Definitely got the art in you. So keep going
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I would like the world to understand that reborn dolls are similar to a lot of other different hobbies
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and things that people just fall into and kind of enjoy. Slow down
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I am. People get them for a myriad of different reasons. Most of them are very personal
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and I would just want the world to just be more mindful of how you're approaching and judging
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and assuming things about people that you don't know. I love going out the house with the babies
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because I can surprise so much people and how cute they are
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I can say that I have never gotten a negative reaction from a stranger in public
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And it just makes me happy to know that I can bring some joy to someone's day
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Art is meant to make you feel. So I just, I feel like I'm doing the right thing because if nothing else, it's definitely making people feel
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Come on, stars. Time for bed. Would you like to add more reborn dolls to your family in the future
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I will have a lot of dolls. I'll just put it that way. I'm not going to give you a number because you're not about to judge me any extra, but I'm going to have a lot
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Life before Trinity and Star was just boring. And so we didn't have them
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It would just be a lot less colorful, a lot less happy. While I understand that this could be a community that is very confusing to people
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I would just like people to remember there's just still people at the heart of it
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So I would just say, stop judging so harshly. I mean, it's just art, people
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It's just a little bit of art. It's okay. It's not going to get you. You're going to be okay
