Another Potential Home + Focaccia

Monday

Arthur woke up at 7:00 on Monday. By the time he reached my boob, he was famished, chugging like there was no tomorrow, and fussing to be switched to the fuller boob after he had half-emptied the first.

“I guess he didn’t eat anything before nursing, huh?” I asked Miklós.

“Oh yes he did,” he replied. “He finished off that dish you made him (it was a very big portion), had some Cheerios, and some more of that fruit purée.” Jesus. Once again I dread teenage Arthur’s appetite.

I guess that wasn’t enough for him though, because Arthur went on to eat an avocado half with his dad and Nagymama while they had their own breakfast. Nagymama took him for a stroll afterwards, from which he returned to chug some more susu and take a nap. Then he was off for another walk before he said his goodbyes to Nagymama and Papa, who were driving to Tilburg for a home viewing.

In his new big boy clothes from Nagymama

While they were gone, Arthur nursed, crawled around as fast as he could, and had his usual afternoon snack with Mama. We worked on finishing off some of Arthur’s leftovers in the fridge: another half avocado and the remainders of the zucchini-pea and forest fruit baby purées. His massive appetite continued though, because after that, he proceeded to eat two (small) peaches, some slices of tofu, and a handful of Cheerios.

Arthur didn’t nap when I nursed him at 3:00, probably because I was video chatting with the folks in Tilburg, having a tour of another potential new home. At 5:00, though, he more than made up for it, when he slept for well over an hour on me, only waking up when G-Dawg called.

Despite the long nap right before dinner, Arthur was a bit of a fussnugget when it came to his solid supper, whining, grunting, and purposefully droppings bits of his tofu and Cheerios over the side of his high chair. He was pretty squirmy afterwards too, and I was more than ready to send him to bed!

So, on Monday, Arthur ate:

• Mama’s Delight (yellow bell pepper purée, red lentils, whole-wheat orzo, bay leaves, tahini, TVP, formula powder, garlic-infused olive oil, peanut butter)

• Cheerios

• baby food purée (apple, cherries, strawberries, plum)

• avocado

• baby food purée (pea, zucchini, potato)

• tofu

Tuesday

Few toys are better than a stick!

Poor Nagymama; Arthur woke up around 5:00, cried for a few minutes, and went back to sleep. He woke up again at 6:30, gently fussed a bit, then started chatting with his nagymama, who mimed sleeping in the hopes that he would take the hint and imitate her. He watched her and babbled a bit for about half an hour, before falling back asleep. Arthur then slept until about 8:20, so while it was an early morning for Nagymama, it was a late one for Mama!

Of course, Nagymama was eager to feed Arthur a second, solid meal after his first liquid one, so while she had her own breakfast, she fed Arthur some Cheerios and avocado. Arthur still had an appetite for susu afterwards, but didn’t want to nap. I wasn’t terribly surprised; I guess he had had a later morning than usual.

Happy in Nagymama's arms

After liquid breakfast #2, Nagymama took Arthur on a nice long walk by the river, then back to Mama for some susu. He didn’t sleep during either of these activities, so he was building up a nice bank of sleep deprivation. And it showed during his afternoon snack. Arthur rapidly wolfed down a substantial portion of cream of wheat I had made (mixed with yellow bell pepper purée, formula powder, almond meal, walnut oil, cinnamon, cloves, and peanut butter), followed by a couple of tofu slices and a small peach. He grunted and fussed whenever there was no food in front of him, which was charming. But we did try giving him a bigger cup to drink out of; a plastic sippy cup specially made to be spill-proof! I’d tried giving him this cup in the past, but it was always too heavy for him before. This time, however, he was able to successfully drink out of it, and drank a decent amount of water! Nagymama and I were quite impressed.

After lunch, Nagymama whisked Arthur off for another walk, in the hopes that he would take that much-needed nap. And luckily, nap he did, for a good 45 minutes! Then it was more susu, more playing, and a walk to pick his pops up from the train station.

Arthur’s dinner was, once again, tofu, but this time he had it with some microwaved sweet potato. He had a pretty good appetite, finishing off both foods. He didn’t nurse a ton afterwards, but I would say he got a decent supper in, so no complaints there!

And that brings Arthur’s Tuesday tapas to:

• Cheerios

• avocado

• Mama Porridge (cream of wheat, yellow bell pepper, formula powder, almond meal, walnut oil, cinnamon, cloves, peanut butter)

• tofu

• peach

• sweet potato

Wednesday

Arthur slept in until after 8:00 on Wednesday! And this was without any previous morning wakeups - he slept through 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00 without a peep. He did wake up when I flushed the toilet a bit before midnight, but only cried for a couple of seconds before settling right back to sleep, so it was a pretty solid night for the dude (and Nagymama!)

Arthur had his usual trio of breakfasts: liquid-solid-liquid. For his solid breakfast with Nagymama and Papa, Arthur ate an entire jar of ready-made baby food purée. I was very impressed, and pretty thrilled - it was the spinach-fish-rice one, so it was nice not to have to worry about feeding the rest of that stinky jar to him over the course of the next day or two. I guess Arthur likes it though!

Despite having a bath before his 10:00 nursing session, Arthur didn't nap then; I think his late morning meant that he hadn't accumulated enough sleep debt at that point. So Nagymama took him out for a final walk before leaving to the airport around 1:00.

Post-nap good mood

Arthur didn't nap on either the walk nor the following nursing session, but at least he ate well during his afternoon snack. I had cooked him up another Mama's Delight, with a slight variation in ingredients. This one contained red lentils, whole wheat orzo, TVP, bay leaf, yellow bell pepper, formula powder, toasted sesame oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, peanut butter, and broken flax seeds, and Arthur wolfed it down! He followed it up with another small peach, a handful of Cheerios, some homemade low-fat yogurt mixed with almond meal and shredded coconut, and a number of blueberries. Despite eating this plethora of other foods, Arthur's fishy breath remained. Ah well, at least he got a very long, very needed nap in during his 3:00 nursing session.

Arthur was in a very sweet mood after his nap and subsequent walk with his dad. We spent a while playing, snuggling, and giggling with each other. He started getting a bit restless as dinner time drew near, but settled down with a big serving of Mama's Delight, which he happily devoured.

So, Arthur's solid intake on Wednesday came to:

• fish baby food purée (white fish, spinach, rice, green beans, peas, parsnip)

• Mama's Delight 2.0 (red lentils, whole wheat orzo, TVP, bay leaf, yellow bell pepper, formula powder, toasted sesame oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, peanut butter, broken flax seeds)

• peach

• Cheerios

• homemade low-fat yogurt

• almond meal

• shredded coconut

• blueberries

I didn't cook on Monday or Wednesday, and on Tuesday it was the breakfast-stuffed sweet potatoes that I posted a while back. Those are quickly becoming a go-to; super easy and tasty, with a lot of protein. Nagymama was raving about them, which made me happy, because we have pretty different tastes in food. But anyways, since I've already posted that one, here's the recipe for the focaccia we had on Saturday. It was quite simple to make, and turned out pretty amazing, both in appearance and taste. I like that you can really have fun customizing the toppings too, and make a showstopper of a bread! This will definitely be a repeat recipe; it's a nice accompaniment to all sorts of things (including the Turkish eggs we had it with). I pretty much just halved this recipe, changing the toppings to make it a bit more gourmet. I would say it serves 4 pretty nicely. Here's how I made it:

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Easy Focaccia (makes 8 small slices or 4 larger ones)

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (I used spelt)

• ⅛ tsp instant yeast

• scant tsp salt

• 1 cup water

• 1 tbsp olive oil (I used garlic-infused, which kicked it up a notch - highly recommend!)

• 1 tbsp cornmeal

• toppings of choice (the original recipe suggests Italian seasoning, but I topped mine with sliced garlic cloves, sliced tomatoes, and fresh rosemary, and it was perfection. I bet olives, onion, artichokes, eggplant slices or even cheese would also work great here!)

Instructions

1. The night before, mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water in, and stir to combine, until it is a sticky ball with no dry flour in the bottom of the bowl. If there is dry flour, add more water tablespoon by tablespoon until there isn't (I didn't need to do this).

2. Loosely cover the bowl (I just used a dish towel) and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours.

3. The next day, dust the dough and your hands with flour, and turn it over on itself a few times to form a ball in the center of the bowl.

4. Line a baking sheet or rectangular dish with foil, then drizzle with ½ tbsp olive oil. Brush it to coat the surface of the foil, then sprinkle the cornmeal on top.

5. Place the dough on the baking sheet, stretching it out to fill the sheet, flouring hands again as needed.

6. Drizzle the remaining ½ tbsp olive oil over the top of the bread, and brush to coat evenly.

7. Add your toppings of choice, then let the bread rise for another hour.

8. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Use your fingers to press dimples into the bread dough.

9. Bake bread in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is crusty golden brown.

10. Let it cool before slicing and serving.