Daddy Dolls

My cousin, Steve, is leaving for Iraq soon. His wife, Christy, ordered a "Daddy Doll" for their daughter and "Daddy Dog Tags" for their son. Using pictures, the doll is a lifelike, hugable subtitute for Daddy while he is gone. The company was started by two military wives targeting military families, and although that is still their focus, the dolls, pillows, dog tags and other products can be great for any child missing any person for any reason. It has already helped my cousin's little girl sleep through the night while her dad was away at training.

Ian is too young to need a product like this, but if Curt ever has to back when Ian is older, I would definitely look into it.

Breastfeeding through Illness

Curt, Ian and I are recovering from a 36-hour bug that flattened us. It started Monday when Ian was very clingy and refusing to eat. Of course we had family pictures and Ian was not cooperative. As soon as we got home, Ian threw up. Curt started to feel ill a few hours later and then I woke up inthe middle of the night with it. Yesterday, we were destroyed. We couldn't even stand up, All Ian wanted to do was nurse. This was a little annoying, but we could just lay down and nurse which kept him occupied. He felt a lot better than we did yesterday. Today, we are all better, though still eating limited amounts and Ian is still clingy. Just in time to go to Jamaica tomorrow!

Ian Loves Mary J.

Mary J. Blige that is. My soon-to-be 15 month old son does not care about Elmo or Dora or Thomas the Train, but he has a definite thing for Mary J. Blige. It started this summer in Cairo as I was preparing for the packout. I was trying to work and Ian was following me around and fussing until Mary J. Blige came on Oprah. He stopped dead in his tracks and started watching the tv (which he never did before) and dancing. They play the same shows on the various AFN channels so hours later as my sister was flipping through, the same Oprah show was on and again, he stopped and danced.

Now, Mary J. has a new i Pod commercial and he is doing it again. Today, he was fussing for milk and as I was preparing to nurse, the commerical came on. He jumped off and danced his way towards the tv.

So, Santa is pre-ordering the new Mary J. Blige cd for Ian.