LGS introduces a new team member!

I know a lot of you saw that we were looking to hire a live-aboard nanny for Rhys and after a while of searching and interviewing, we finally found the perfect match! We are so excited to welcome Tara to the LGS lifestyle.

Tara is from North Carolina and is a super fun addition. She already came up with a nickname for Rhys to call her, so we will be referring to her as either Tara or Nanatee! How fun is that?

Most cruising boats will typically hire crew for help with things like maintenance, docking, anchoring and even hire out personal chef’s! People will utilize crewfinder.com or different cruising forums to find these types of people. When hired, it is typically for an exchange as well as a little “play” money. The exchange is that the people hired will get to come on board and travel for free in exchange for services. They will also get somewhere to sleep and typically their food provided as well. Knowing that this is a normal investment for cruisers, we got to thinking that we could hire someone as a nanny that essentially does the same thing. So, we put a post out on cruising forums for 2-3 months but were just getting hits for actual crew members. The other aspect that we didn’t really like about hiring crew is that these people usually come on and off boats rather quickly-- sometimes for as little as one passage. We were really looking for someone more long-term, that could become part of our little tribe.

After the failed attempt to find someone on those sites, we took it upon ourselves to post on our instagram that we were looking to hire a nanny. Sure enough, it worked like a charm! This is how we came to meet Nanatee. The first selling point for her was that she was interested in traveling to literally anywhere so we didn’t have to worry about picking and choosing based on her preferences.

After finding that out, we did a lengthy interview process with her, and when we were sure this would be a good fit we decided to begin the transition! Before she came on board she had to get loads of stuff ready. Just like what we did before we moved onto our first boat, she had a garage sale, sent items to family members to store for her, got out of her home, sold her car, and downsized everything. She went through the same process that all cruisers have to go through prior to living on a boat-- only she did it in a very short amount of time!

While she was busy doing this, she obviously had some questions about the process so we spent the next 4 weeks communicating and texting every single day. It was perfect because we got to know each other really well! I felt like I already knew her before she moved on board. Also during this time, we moved Rhys from the forward berth to the aft berth on the port side. This gives Tara her own private area with her own berth and head. ((This is pretty unheard of for “crew”)).

Part of her agreeing to this position was that we would pay for her travel to get to and from us, so we rented her a car, and last week she drove it from NC to MA to meet us here and here we are! She has now been on board for a week and we are so excited! The first few days we had Tara mostly observe us so that she gets a feel for our style of parenting. This coming week we will do more observing of her to make sure she is getting the gist of everything and to make sure we are okay with how she handles situations that arise. The third phase will be Tara alone with Rhys for a few hours at a time. 

The reason we decided to get a nanny was because running our own business requires a lot of time, and while we have been making it work, it will be so much easier for Tara to come in and take Rhys for a few hours so we can focus on filming, writing posts, creating content and all of the behind the scenes aspects without interruption. We will be way more productive in a shorter amount of time, and Rhys gets to stay having fun and being entertained the entire time. It’s great for us and it’s great for him as well! Another plus about Nanatee is that she is a teacher so she will be doing all of Rhys’ homeschooling. We really wanted to find someone with some type of teaching background so this was absolutely perfect.

While she is mostly here for Rhys, she will also be assisting with provisioning, laundry, dishes, etc. She won’t be helping as a typical “crew” but still so so helpful, and it will allow us to go out and have some date nights with drinks every so often :).  

There is no end date for this-- she is with us for at least the next year or two and we are so excited about the fit. She is meshing SO WELL with the family and we are thrilled to have her. We really wanted someone that would just be an extension of the family and so far that is what Tara has proven to be.