Moving Over + Warm Mediterranean Salad
Thursday
Well, Thursday was a big day for Arthur. He turned 14 months old! And his birthday present? His first night away from his mother. We wanted to test the waters to see if it would be possible for Miklós to take him to Hungary without me, and it seemed like this would be a good time, as we were moving between two homes and had the grandparents around to help out.
The morning started out pretty normally, though. Arthur woke up a bit before 7:00, and was in pretty good spirits for most of the morning. He had his usual series of breakfasts, and played with both his grandparents before Nagymama took him out for a walk. When she returned just before noon, Arthur got his last serving of Mama milk for quite a while, along with a solid, hour-long nap.
Miklós and I headed out to the new house around 1:30, while the grandparents took care of the bug. Apparently, everything went well! He didn’t nap during the rest of the day, but his nagymama told me he was cheerful and chatty, and had a big dinner. Jutka made him a banana-milk smoothie to have instead of a susu nightcap, and he went down fine. So that’s a major relief!
Friday
Arthur survived his first night away from me! I'm not sure whether to be happy about that or disappointed - a bit more Mama missing would've been nice. He slept in until 7:00, which I'm sure everyone in Maastricht appreciated; we were all exhausted and tense yesterday, and a good night's sleep was something we all needed.
Arthur spent the morning with Nagymama, while the men worked on disassembling furniture and packing. Then they all headed out to Tilburg a little after 2:00. It took Arthur nearly an hour, but he did eventually fall asleep on the car ride over, which was probably very good for everyone involved. He slept for over an hour, so was somewhat well-rested by the time they arrived a little after 4:00.
I can't say Arthur had much of a reaction to seeing me, but he certainly was happy to have some susu! He kept wanting more and more nursing sessions, which I was happy to oblige him in; my boobs were full and desperately wanted some draining.
Miklós and Nagypapa left quickly after assembling Arthur's crib, and the little fellow and I ran to the store while Nagymama did a bit of cleaning. Arthur was rather shrieky in the stroller, but for the remainder of the evening, he was in pretty good spirits, smiling like crazy through his (massive) dinner with Nagymama and I.
I was apprehensive about how putting him to bed would go, but I shouldn't have been; despite being in a new room without his pops (and with a bit more light than he's used to), Arthur went down without a peep! And with that, the little guy had his first night in his new home.
Saturday
Well, I guess Arthur likes his new room, because he slept until 8:20. 8:20! I can't remember the last time he's slept past 7:20. I guess he really needed it - he'd probably been feeling the tension of the past few days as well.
Unfortunately for all of us, one set of our new neighbors are renovating their home completely before moving in, and spent the entire day drilling. This made it difficult for Arthur to nap on me at any point, so his nagymama took him for a mid-afternoon walk in the hopes he would go down. I was very happy that it took him all of 15 minutes to fall asleep - at 3:15, it was quite a bit later than his usual nap time. Then again, he woke up quite a bit later than usual, too! He napped for about 45 minutes before waking up.
Arthur was pretty cheerful throughout the afternoon, but dinner ended up being an hour later than usual, which meant Arthur's bedtime was also an hour later than usual. And he was really starting to lose it by that point. Not that I completely blame him - it had been a long day. He spent longer than usual nursing, and when his pops tried to take him to bed, he wasn't too thrilled, but did go down pretty quickly. Fingers crossed his second night in his new room will be another long one!
Sunday
Well, Arthur didn't sleep in as late as he had the previous night, but at least it wasn't a terribly early morning for him - around 7:15. He had his usual series of breakfasts before Nagymama took him out for another walk. When they arrived back home at around noon, Arthur had his first (long overdue) bath in the new house!
Luckily, there was no drilling going on at the neighbors' today, so after his bath, Arthur was able to have a nice, very long nap on me - it must have been nearly 2 hours. The poor little bug must have been beat.
The rest of the day was spent playing with Nagymama upstairs, going for walks with Nagymama, and eating. At dinner, in addition to his baby food, Arthur ate an entire half quiche! Then again, he had less solid and nursing sessions than usual - the past week I think I've only been nursing him three times a day. By bedtime, he was ready to crash!
Alright, it probably comes as no surprise that I haven't been cooking lately. So today's recipe is another from the backlog - it was something I made ages ago, sometime in the summer, I think. I mostly followed this Instagram post, but I feel like it's an extremely flexible recipe, which could be made with a variety of veggies and seasonings. And it's one I'd happily chow down on again! Here's how I made it:
Warm Grilled Vegetable Yogurt Salad (serves 2)
Ingredients
2 eggplants
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 red onion
3-4 garlic cloves
salt & pepper, to taste
2 tsp paprika
½ tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp oregano
500g cherry tomatoes
500g Greek yogurt/quark/skyr
150g feta/similar cheese
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
balsamic vinegar (optional, for garnish - I might omit this next time)
red chili flakes (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Cube the eggplant into small pieces, about 1 cm cubed.
Add them to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and drizzle with ½ tbsp olive oil, season with salt, pepper, ½ tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp oregano, and 1 tsp paprika. Toss to coat.
Cut the red onion into petals, and add to a separate pan along with the tomatoes. Drizzle with ½ tbsp olive oil, then season with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp paprika.
Stick the veggies in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, use a stick blender to blend the yogurt with 100g of the cheese, 2 tsp minced garlic, a pinch of salt, and 2 tbsp lemon juice.
Spread the yogurt-cheese sauce at the base of two plates and top with roasted veggies.
Crumble the remaining cheese on top, and drizzle balsamic vinegar + red chili flakes on top (if using).
Eat up, Buttercup!
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