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IN THIS ISSUE:
A Message From Kathy I know first hand that no matter how proactive one tries to be about the holidays, it's very hard to make sure everything is taken care of in advance. I suggest, however, we all take a breath. While most of us are careful to avoid being self- MBF is here to help you find space and sanity to really savor this holiday season with your family. We offer chefs and on-site childcare for parties, temporary nannies to care for your children while you take care of last-minute shopping and holiday elves to help you with all your cards, gifts and other seasonal demands. No matter the pressures, we are here to help you find delight in the season. Let us know how we can support you. Happy Holidays!
Help ease the work of your loved ones this season with a Mom’s Best Friend Gift Certificate! The perfect gift of a date night, support with housework, or cooking is just what your friends, coworkers or family members need! This gift wil be one they l cherish and can be purchased either as a block of hours of service or in specific dollar denominations for your delighted gift recipient! Book your Holiday Elf to help with shopping, gift wrapping, shipping, decorating and more! 2008 Pricing Changes "Book a Best Friend" Reminder Email Don't get caught without a sitter for your Holiday Functions!
 November 21-25: Most schools are off for Thanksgiving Holiday, so be sure to book your temporary nanny if you need care..
December 21-January 7: School holidays -- book your sitters accordingly December 31: New Year's Eve -- book your sitter early! (Holiday pricing applies) January 1: 2008 Pricing goes into effect
Metroplex Baby, November 6, 2007 Press Release: Mom's Best Friend Adopts BabbleSoft Software
Mom’s Best Friend now has a great new service to provide to our families with infants through our new partner! Babblesoft, a web and mobile software provider, has introduced Baby Insights and Baby Say Cheese, and will be providing the software to new mom clients of Mom’s Best Friend. The software is designed for exceptional nanny/family communication by recording valuable baby care information. Baby Insights, a superior alternative to pen and paper, can help ease the mind of a Baby Say Cheese is an online photo album with milestones and a family tree. The ‘first crawl, first smile, and first word’ can easily be documented and the application is perfect for busy parents who don't have time to organize their baby's first year album pictures. The software applications are essentially a journal of the infant’s life with inputs by the family and the nanny. Please take a full look at the BabbleSoft website for further information.
By Claire Flynn, Child Development Specialist, founder of For Kids' Sake, and is a nationally recognized author of three books for parents. We often envision the holidays as the perfect time for families. But parents often say that this is the time their kids tantrum, act aggressively, or become obsessed with wanting toys. What's going on? Please take a look at the full article for a thorough explanation of how to simplify the holidays.
 Q: I’m trying to get tax breaks on my childcare expenses and the form asks for a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). Should I call MBF to get their FEIN?
A: No, MBF’s FEIN will not work. To get your tax break, you need your own FEIN. Here’s how it works.
A: I may have to revoke my “expert” status on this question since I’m not sure anyone can be a holiday expert. We all just do our best to take care of the people we love and care for while trying not to lose sight of the true meaning of the season. However, I do understand that having a few old tricks up your sleeve may help alleviate the season’s demands, and in my own experience I have found a couple of things to be useful. Of course, do your best to be prepared with shopping, cards and any other holiday tasks as much as you can before Thanksgiving. I know many of you out there start I also make a comprehensive, evolving list of all the people to whom I’ll be giving gifts, taking special care not to forget my children’s teachers, the mailwoman, the newspaper delivery person and all the other very important—though too often unsung—people that we rely on. And since I do my best to purchase gifts that people actually want and need, I use this list to solicit gift suggestions and websites where I can find them directly from the gifts’ recipients. I suggest getting children involved in the holiday as much as possible as well, not only to have extra helpers but also to instill the thoughtfulness toward others that is really at the heart of the season. I continue this discussion by offering holiday tips especially tailored to kids on my most recent blog on the MBF website. Enjoy the holidays!
This pre-holiday season is the best time to go  through your children’s toys and organize them. With so many recent and popular toys now being recalled for lead poisoning hazards, it’s crucial for parents to make sure the dangerous items are removed from the home. And of course, organizing your toys now means you’ll be making room for incoming holiday gifts.
The first step is to educate yourself about which toys are being recalled. There is a complete list with photographs of each item to help with identification. Even if your children are older, please do look at this list and attend to any items you may have, because you may donate your toys later to a charity who may then accidentally give the dangerous toys to another child. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the recall list, you can begin your organizing process. Sort the toys into like categories, such as dolls, doll clothes, race cars, building blocks, and others. As you find recalled toys during your process, put them aside into a disposable container such as a box or bag. Each recall announcement’s instructions usually say that you should return the toy to the store where it was purchased. However, if you don’t know or remember where the toy was purchased, you should dispose of it properly at a hazardous waste facility since lead can seep into the groundwater. Once you have organized your toys into categories, you can find the best containers for them. As professional organizers, one of the mistakes we commonly see is people trying to store the toys in their original packaging. The packaging is typically designed for shipping and selling the product, not for storing it long-term. A better choice is something durable and easy to handle, like a clear container. You Make it a point each year at this time to repeat the process and get ready for the new items the holiday will bring. If you need help, give us a call! Lorie Marrero, 512.301.2426, www.livingorder.com
Congratulations to Stacey Green for being voted our 2007 Houston Supernanny. Stacey has years of nanny experience, and she cares for the children she watches as if they were her own.  She is loving, understanding and caring. Her current family raves, "Not only does she truly care about our daughter, she goes above and beyond daily! She is attentive, caring, nice and professional. She has brought a gread deal of joy to our lives and we are very thankful to have her." One of her past employer families agreed, "Stacey truly has a gift when it comes to children. My husband and I have had Stacey in our family for 12 years and I am amazed at how much our family has grown since she has been with us. Stacey is energetic, intelligent, caring, determined, dependable, and persistent."
"Thank you so much for providing free childcare at our October Just Between Friends event. The sale was a huge success, and a trailer full of wonderful children’s and maternity clothes, toys, books and furniture was given to the Adoption Coalition, as wel asl a portion of the proceeds. Hundreds of area foster and adoptive  families will be blessed by the things donated, and were blessed by the sale itself. Foster and Adoptive families were given the chance to shop a special “presale”, and many got great bargains for their kids. Hundreds of Austin-area families not in the foster system benefited from the JBF Sale, buying and selling gently-used items to help with their family budgets. Thank you so much for your support!" --Jill Sayre, Just Between Friends, Austin
Settlement Home Holiday Needs |
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focused during the holidays, we may also end up erring on the other side, losing the joy of the season by putting way too much on our shoulders. We can all learn to ask for help more often, especially in busy times like these. 
understand there is so much to do and so little time. You can use the extra set of hands! Our temporary services team is ready to send you support for shopping and gift wrapping, decorating your house, shipping packages, addressing and sending cards and more! Our handy 
new parent leaving their baby in the care of a nanny. The goal of Baby insights is to help make better informed decisions for the infant through the maintained recorded information. 
buying gifts for next year the day after Christmas, and I certainly buy gifts year round, especially when I run across something I know someone special to me would like. I keep an appointed gift closet in my house to store presents for holidays—as well as for birthdays, weddings, graduations and so on—throughout the year. 
can also cut out a picture of the toy from the original box and tape it on the container to aid your child in staying organized.
l that they will always be there for me in any situation. They showed me respect. I selected MBF agency because they sounded like an honest and friendly agency to work for." Patricia L 