I am so excited to kick-off the Meet a Mama Series this week. First up is a good friend of mine. Like me, she’s moved around quite a bit the last few years and has raised her little one away from her hometown/family. We met in college and have been friends ever since. I knew when I started this series she’d be one of the first moms I’d feature!
Meet Liz
Hi my name is Liz Binder and I was born and raised in Kansas City. I moved to Chicago after graduating from the University of Kansas and met my husband Dave. We moved to Denver, CO for his residency and lived there for 4 years. We recently moved back to Kansas City after Dave accepted a job at Research Medical Center. We have one 2-year-old daughter named Evelyn and two cockapoos, Gates and Bandit. I worked in marketing and advertising for 10 years and now stay home full time with Evie. We enjoy hiking, skiing, and traveling to visit our parents in Florida.
Picks from Evie & Liz
- RuffleButts Swimsuits – I LOVE these swimsuits! She has worn them since she was a baby. I love the long sleeves and fabric with UPF 50+ so it helps protect their skin from the sun. They all run ~$30 so won’t break the bank either. Nordstrom carries the brand but if you order from their website directly you can get them monogrammed for $6.99, which is a fun touch.
- Inglesina lobster highchair – We have a standard highchair but have been using the lobster chair that hooks on our bar counter top the most! The chair can be used up to 37 pounds which I love because so many products out there have a limited lifetime and our babies grow so fast!! It is super easy to throw in the wash and clean, and has a built in attached bag in the bottom for carrying & travel. It comes in a variety of fun colors & doesn’t look horrible in your kitchen either. This is also a great chair to take out with you to restaurants. It fits smaller babies better than the standard restaurant high chair. We get so many compliments on the chair when we take it with us out.
- Food truck toy – Evie is obsessed with this pretend food truck! It comes with 3 food options & smoothies that she loves to serve us while she stands behind the counter. It also has a built in cash register that says the numbers out loud to help kids with numbers. Super cute and she has had it for a long time and still loves it to this day!
- Tegu Magnetic train blocks – Evie loves blocks and anything she can push around the floor, so the tegu magnetic train building blocks are great for that. She can build them several different ways so that promotes creativity and they are really easy to use for all ages. I was first introduced to Tegu blocks by a friend who recommend the Tegu travel pouch set for an upcoming plane ride I had. Magnetic anything is great for planes/travel and the set comes in a few different color options.
- Baby Shark Pop Up Tent – Evie loves all things Baby Shark, and I got this pop-up tent on sale for $20 from Amazon and actually had it sent to Florida for her to have on Christmas Day. Best part about it is that you can literally fold it up really small and put it in a suitcase/ hide it under a crib (which is what I do) or a closet & not have to look at it all day every day. We have the Hide N Play but they make more tunnels and such that you can add on to later if you want. Perfect for mama’s with limited space or who don’t like to look at toddler toys all day.
- Wipe-Clean ABC workbook – Dave LOVES this book and actually goes through it almost every night while Evie is in the bath. It is a wipe-clean workbook with lots of pictures and helps kids learn their ABC’s and letters. It comes with a dry erase pen for when they get a little older and want to start practicing writing so it will last for a long time and get lots of great use. It literally taught Evie the alphabet and now she can tell you things that start with every letter which is pretty great for a 2 year old. Practice makes progress and that is definately true with this easy-to-use learning book.
- Multi-color magnetic drawing board – I keep this in my car for Evie to color and play with while I’m running errands, etc. When you color, the screen reveals different colors which is fun and also comes with some shape stamps. The pen is attached which is helpful so I’m not trying to find it while driving… the stamps are not attached so if your child is on the younger side you might want to keep those out if you are driving and not able to constantly fetch them.
- Rainbow rice sensory bin – Evie LOVES playing with rainbow rice! It’s so easy and affordable to put together. Just get a plastic bin (I use the small clear storage bin) and just put in some plastic measuring cups, a plastic funnel, rainbow rice, scoopers and some pompoms. The DIY is easy and keeps her occupied for a LONG time. One note on this… I set it on on hardwood floor because it is easier for me to sweep up the rainbow rice and reuse. I’ve also used two plastic cards to scoop up the rice from the floor and this works really well. Also, please note that this sensory kit is best for kiddos over 18/24m once they understand not to put the rice in their mouth. (Beware though, if you have dogs that will try to eat the rice, it gives them runny diarrhea… we have had this happen a couple times now with Bandit and it takes about 2 days to get it out of their system… just FYI.)
Sweat Adventures 