Happy fall everyone! I’m a little rusty with my blogging intros so I’ll just hop right into it! Today I wanted to talk about moving forward positively when starting with a new nanny family. The longer you are in this field, in my experience and that of my fellow nannies, the more likely you are to come across a family you didn’t gel so great with. It can be difficult and cause some serious emotional draining when it’s not working out with a family! We are in such a close knit working situation (your office is someone else’s home) and its a hard job to do well and with joy when you’re all not ..read more

Hey there Best Buds Fam! I am so excited to be back on the blog with this awesome piece! So, if you did not know, being a NCS I work with a lot of newborns and expecting moms. About a year ago I started offering the service to assist in registry/nursery planning. I was noticing a lot of clients either struggling with what they really need or putting a bunch of things they do not need on their registry (which is something you really do not want to do). Putting a lot of non-needed things on a registry can be super distracting from the must-haves! I personally would rather get all of the necessi ..read more

Happy 2019 everyone! It seems I know of a few nannies in transitions as well as families re-evaluating their childcare services and I thought it would be great to give you guys a quick rundown with what i’ve experienced in the nanny market in Houston. For all of my full time nanny positions I have found them on my own through connections, care.com and Facebook neighborhood groups. In Houston, from my experience, fellow Houston nannies and speaking with nannies in other states about how different their job hunts are, finding full time positions independently seems to be how we in Houston fin ..read more

Hey Hey!!!! Brooklyn here! If you have been keeping up with the blog, you know I am currently assisting a family in the mornings with their twins! I then proceed to my normal with L&S. I start my day around 6:30AM and don’t make it home until sometimes close to 9:00PM. I’ve been doing this for about 5 months now. So, depending on schedule changes(usually additions), some weeks I can be working up to 65 hours A WEEK. Now mind you, I’m still doing all things Best Buds while trying to take care of personal things as well. As the weeks have continued, I have started to notice all of the major ..read more

Hi everyone! Lauren here.  I have been recently interviewing for new positions here in Houston and thought I would share 3 major keys I like to include in my nanny contract that have been a major savior when working for families long term.   1. Guaranteed Hours I was in a situation with a previous nanny family where in the interview we discussed guaranteed hours, however when the time came for them to take a week of vacation I was not payed and could not stand my ground because it was not in my contract.  I now present guaranteed hours as something non negotiable and explain the importance of ..read more

Hey there guys! It's great to be back on the blog and man do I have an amazing story to tell! In my nanny journey I have grown so much and learned so much about not only myself but my passions and reasons for doing what I do. My main goal in my work is to help families and mothers have the best experience when it comes to their children. I get so much joy from helping mothers have some relief and feel more knowledgable and in control when new in parenting. That has always been my top priority. My most recent job really put that in perspective for me.  Around the end of January/ early February ..read more

Hi everyone!  The New Year has been a busy one for me! I left my nanny position of 14 months on January 5th and since then I have been interviewing with different families in hopes to find the right fit. It's honestly been a bumpy road getting back into the swing of things however I know I have avoided a lot of possible bad situations by looking for red flags and sticking with my gut.  There have been many past situations in my nanny career that could have been avoided had I gone with my instincts in the beginning and allowed myself to make the decision that would be best for me; versus going ..read more

Hello everyone! I'm Ronda P, a partner at Best Buds and a new mom. Up until now I've mostly been in the background, but now that I have started my own adventure of motherhood you all will be hearing a lot more from me. I will be doing a blog series on my big adventure called "The Truth About Motherhood". I am hoping to share my experiences with other women and maybe offer encouragement for all mothers out there. Stay tuned! Unlike many of my childhood friends, I never had a list of baby names prepared. All I knew is that I wanted kids and that was far away, until it wasn’t. When Dad and I foun ..read more

Hi there! Brooklyn here! I know it has been a long time! I have been diligently working with my new B9months on his eating! I believe what you do starting as an infant impacts adulthood. So, of course I only want him having the best food and learning good eating habits early. So since he started solids, at 5 1/2 months, I have been homemaking all organic puree's for him weekly. I am starting a series on healthy eating for infants and toddlers! I will be going into all the puree's I made and how I made them (super easy) and what are the best ones to start with. Also, now that we are transitioni ..read more

Hi everyone!  Brooklyn is in the process of finding ways to incorporate more filling foods into her nanny babies diet while trying to hold off on meats until after 1.  The main nutrients that meat supplies you with are are protein, B vitamins, vitamin E, iron, zinc, and magnesium and so it is imperative to incorporate foods dense in these vitamins to compensate for the lack of meat. If your baby is still breast feeding, breast milk contains iron and vitamin D and so you don't need to worry about them being deficient in these things, especially since milk is still their main source food. For ba ..read more