Olive (Grace) came to us as our daughter's baby nurse when she was 3 weeks old. As new parents, we were completely overwhelmed with taking care of our newborn, especially when it came to evenings. After the first week home, our baby no longer wanted to sleep in her own bed, but would only sleep if my husband or I were holding her. We knew at that point we definitely needed help. We immediately felt at ease with Olive and after seeing how wonderful she was with our baby we knew we made the right choice. The very first night she has our baby sleeping in her crib! Within a couple of days, our baby was on a schedule, eating and sleeping when she should be. Olive was also a huge help in organizing the baby’s room and helping us with every aspect of her care. When I was having much trouble breastfeeding, she was very supportive of the decisions I made regarding it and helped me to feel good about my decisions. Olive is so caring and nurturing with our baby, she has our complete trust. She was also very respectful of giving us “family time”. Knowing our baby was in such good hands and being well cared for, my husband and I were even able to go out to dinner a couple of times without any worries.
Having Olive in our home with us was a pleasure and we will definitely be calling upon her again when we have our next child.
- M.R. and L.R.
I am pleased to write this letter as a recommendation for Olive “Grace” Harris.
As first time parents, my husband and I were looking for a baby nurse that would be calm and patient with us and our baby; someone that would answer all of our questions and someone that would help us to get started on “the basics” of parenthood. Grace filled these expectations and more.
After having Grace spend two weeks with us, I feel well-rested and ready to be on my own! I have appreciated the time she has spent with us and will miss her after she is gone.
- D.L.
It is with pleasure that we recommend Olive (“Grace”) Harris as a baby nurse. Our son was born on May 15, 2007 and Grace welcomed him to our home on Thursday, May 17th when we arrived home from the hospital.
As new parents, we knew nothing about taking care of a newborn. We knew it would be a huge challenge for us and having a baby nurse would be the only way to manage the first few weeks of our baby’s life. It all began on the car ride home – we didn’t know how to get the car seat unhooked to bring him upstairs. We called Grace to come down and within seconds she brought him out of the car and upstairs to our home. Prior to that, Grace was working with my mother and sister, preparing the apartment for our arrival. She gave them suggestions on what we needed to buy right away, and she took the liberty to organize his room so that everything was as organized as possible. His changing table was prepared for the many feedings to come and each drawer and basket was filled with the items that we would need – ensuring that they were easily accessible – and the process would be as seamless as possible.
Throughout the two weeks, Grace taught us everything we would need to know about caring for an infant. She counseled us on breastfeeding which became a huge challenge during the first few days. She showed us how to change diapers, burp our baby, put him to sleep, take a bath, sponge bath, clean around the area of his circumcision and gave us tips on how to read his cries and playfulness. She cared for our baby and his belongings around the clock, allowing us to catch up on some much needed sleep.
Additionally, Grace helped put our baby on a schedule with feedings, surprisingly leaving us at the end of two weeks with our baby practically sleeping through the night (going forward, we hope we will be able to keep this up). The help of a baby nurse was crucial for us and Grace has certainly impacted not only our lives, but that of our baby’s as well. It is obvious that he responded well to her confidence, soft spoken tone with him, and her expertise in infant care.
Grace gave her opinions on all kinds of related issues and topics based on her years of experience as a baby nurse, nanny and being a mom herself. She is extremely bright and she continues to study to further her education, experience and overall knowledge.
In sum, we highly recommend Grace.
- D.K. and M.K.
I am writing this letter on behalf of Olive “Grace” Harris, who has been our baby nurse for the past 10 weeks. Our twins were born on September 20, 2007, and Grace began her time with us on September 24th when we arrived home from the hospital.
As second (and third!) time parents, we did not have the same concerns as first time parents. For instance, we did not need to learn the basics (such as diapering, feeding, bathing, etc.). However, our needs were in some ways even more demanding given that we not only have two newborns in the house, but a 23 month old toddler as well. In addition, I was recovering from a C-section and was breastfeeding (as well as bottle feeding) both babies.
Grace has been wondering in handling both babies simultaneously, and both have thrived in her care. She assisted me in breastfeeding both at the same time (not always an easy feat!). She was also able to hold both babies at the same time in order to bottle feed the (something I was not able to do) and managed to bathe and change them quickly so that they would stay on the same schedule. As the babies grew, she recognized that they needed to move somewhat onto their own schedules at night since one of the twins started sleeping through the night at 7-8 weeks (our other baby still wakes most nights for a feeding around 4-5am). However, Grace has been able to maintain them pretty much on the same schedule during the day so we are not constantly feeding and changing babies at different times.
In addition, it was especially important to us that we be able to spend a lot of time with our 2 year old during this time to help him adjust to life with two new babies at home. Having Grace with us was crucial to that end. Moreover, during the first half of Grace’s tenure with us, it was necessary for me to rest in order to recover from my surgery, which took longer than expected given certain complications. Knowing that the twins were in excellent care helped tremendously, and allowed me to recuperate as quickly as possible.
Grace is a caring and compassionate person. She has handled all of her duties with love and kindness, and I know it will be difficult for her to leave the babies. I have appreciated the time Grace has spent with us and will miss her after she is gone.
- J.M.
We are writing on behalf of Olive (“Grace”) Harris, who has been our baby nurse for the past two weeks. Our son was born on December 19, 2006, and Ms. Harris was waiting for us when we arrived home from the hospital. We knew from the moment we met her that she was an exemplary baby nurse, and overall wonderful, caring person.
Ms. Harris has been a life saver over the past two weeks. She has made a tremendous effort to educate and train us in all of the essential tasks associated with newborn/child care including how to effectively diaper, feed, swaddle, bathe, and dress our child. Equally important, she was very patient and encouraging of our efforts to learn and practice all of these duties and responsibilities.
Ms. Harris performs well above and beyond her requisite duties. In addition to imparting her expertise in baby care, she helped us to organize our living space to accommodate our baby’s needs and to provide a clutter free living environment. When we first arrived home from the hospital, she immediately helped us to organize our household and made sure that all of the necessary supplies were at her disposal or on the immediate shopping list. She was also incredibly helpful in making sure that our baby’s bris (circumcision) went smoothly, finding a friend on short notice to help out with the event and in assisting us with rearranging the apartment to accommodate our guests. In addition, Ms. Harris insisted that we go out on several occasions to ensure that we did not lose sight of one another and tend to our own personal needs. These special efforts had an uplifting psychological impact on us and greatly helped to reduce unnecessary stress levels that we could have had.
Ms. Harris has excellent people skills and great instincts. She was incredibly supportive of the efforts to breastfeed and helped both of us deal with our struggles and issues in this area. Ms. Harris always provided sage advice and made us feel confident in our abilities to be successful parents. Moreover, she handled all of her duties with kindness and love toward our baby that we were always comfortable leaving him in her capable hands. Over the past few weeks, we not only feel that we have learned volumes from Grace, but have made a life-long friend.
It is without reservation that we would recommend Ms. Harris to serve as a baby nurse or nanny for some other lucky couple.
- R.R.T. and A.T.