Push Presents

So not sure how many of you are familiar with push presents, but the general concept is you get a gift for simply having a baby be removed from your body (ideally pushing them through the birth canal). I have thought this idea pretty much stupid, as at least I know in my case its me saying to my husband 'lets have a baby' so why should I be rewarded for something I asked for? I do like some of the presents I have heard about over the years, for example one of hubs co-workers got his wife a maid service for 2 months so she could focus on bonding with baby as opposed to keeping up with the house AWESOME. 

Well so I guess here is where my post maybe starts to make sense. I have had a TON of friends lately get pregnant and have babies, like 2 born in May, 1 due any day now, then there is me in 2 weeks (eek!) and another due late July. Oh! and lets not forget those due this Fall! But anyways, I wanted to do something for everyone, something simple as well lots of preggo moms while I'm pregnant means lower will to craft on a specific timeline. So I went with something simple yet practical: HEADBANDS. That's right, perfect for before baby for those days lets face it you'd rather live in your jammies, great for the delivery room hospital stay to keep your hair out of your face, and lets not forget about those sleepless nights with a newborn when its Thursday and you remember you haven't showered since Monday.

So I thought I'd take a moment and show off some of the cute little headbands that have gone on to live their lives with some wonderful mamas.

Now yes everyone so far has gotten the Frayed Fabric Headbands :)

A little green for V. Its classy and chic just like her


A little cool blue for L. I thought this one would be best for her relaxed look and work wonderfully in coordination with her nursery (as yes I thought about that)


A little lavender and yellow for J. Some of her favorite colors with just a bit of country charm, help her remember her time down south.


R got this gorgeous purple one, as its something she had been asking for. But sadly I didn't get that one out in time before she had her precious girl (epic fail on my part) AND to make matters worse I never snapped a picture :(


BUT here is a little one I made for me to wear when I get to the hospital to keep me pretty while I go for my VBAC. I think it will look great with the charcoal grey Pretty Pushers that hubby bought me. Yes I plan to try and look as beautiful as I can while pushing a baby out. You know I won't look pretty but at least I will have tried ;)

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes

So I woke up yesterday morning with another one of my slightly unusual pregnancy cravings. I wanted pancakes and apple pie, don't ask me I generally dislike apple pie even. But I decided it had to be done and quickly as my little man does not like to wait for his 'num nums'.

Last week while searching on Pinterest and Google I came across a recipe of how to convert a plain box of cake mix into pancakes and let me tell you I am addicted to it. So yesterday morning I modified it to suit my needs, here is what I came up with.

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes
1/2 box of cake mix (white, yellow, funfetti whatever plain flavor you have on hand)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp brown sugar (NOT packed)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick stove top pie filling, recipe to follow (can substitute can pie filling but I never have that on hand)

So lets start with the quick stove top pie filling as it needs to cook down while you gather the rest of the ingredients.

Quick Stove Top Pie Filling
1 granny smith apple cut into 1/4" chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
mini pinch of nutmeg

Dump all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring up to a gentle boil over med/med-high heat. Cook for roughly 8-10 minutes until the water and sugar create a caramel sauce around the apples and the apples are fork tender.
Pull off the heat and cool.

Now back to the pancakes....dump all ingredients into one bowl, stir. Simple as that no need to do wet and dry bowls just mix all together. Gently fold in the pie filling, if you went with a canned pie filling you might want to chop up your apples a bit as big slices won't work as well here. Now here is the real trick to pancake making stop what you are doing and let the batter rest at least 5 minutes. You heard me don't go making pancakes right away.

Now turn on your electric griddle if you have on to 300 degrees and allow it to preheat, if you are doing this stove top I'd say over med/med-high heat but you hopefully know your stove best to know what temp works. Spray with cooking spray and get to making pancakes. Now I do find these take a bit longer to cook on each side than the traditional buttermilk pancakes so be patient and don't try flipping them too soon. They will be slightly gummy still in spots due to the apple pie filling 'sauce'.

Enjoy! We sure did. They are truly sweet enough to eat on their own but a little syrup and butter never hurt.....or if you are pregnant like me wait till your child is taking a nap and smear it with a little frosting YUM!

My husband had these cold later when he got home and exclaimed BEST apple pancake he had ever eaten! Now that makes me smile as we are big time apple eaters here :)