Gaylord Palms: Alexis’ First Trip to Orlando – Part I

When we were first invited to Andrew’s mom’s wedding reception in Orlando 3 months ago, our first thought was “Oh, we’d love to, but there is no way we can drive all the way to Orlando with Lexi”. That was a bummer, but it beat the prospect of a screaming baby in the car for 4 hours. As the time went on, though, and Lexi was getting more and more manageable at 4 months on, I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, we’d be able to make that trip. We knew her problem was the carseat and we put all our hopes into the new roomy convertible car seat from Maxi Cosi. As I wrote before, the car seat worked out fabulously. The screaming fits ended as soon as we swapped our infant seat for this new cool (as in temperature-wise) and big Pria 70. So we tentatively told my MIL that it was looking like we could actually make it.

We were both super super super excited. Before Lexi, we’d take frequent trips to Orlando to just have dinner or walk around the parks, or see friends, as well as drive to Miami and other cities of interest in Florida. It’s what we did for fun. With Alexis being a very particular baby, especially in the first 4 months, and hating the car seat, we’ve put it all on hold, but we both couldn’t wait until we would go these places with our daughter.

Each one of us had our own concerns having never traveled with an infant. I was concerned about how she’d do in the car, how she’d fall asleep there, whether I’d be able to keep her entertained for the whole 4 hours. Andrew was really worried about what we’d do in the hotel, considering that at that time Alexis would only fall asleep while being rocked. But we went for it, figuring we’d play things by ear and do what we had to do.

With it being our first overnight trip and hotel stay, we packed everything imaginable, and his mom promised us a portable foldable rocker (which worked out FABULOUSLY, btw).

So after a pretty uneventful and totally manageable drive to Orlando where I completely went through my whole repertoire of songs, books and games, we checked into the hotel and brought in a million of our bags. It was time to put Lexi down for a nap, if we had any prayer of her surviving the reception that started at 6-7pm.

After doing her nap routine and some nursing, I handed her over to Andrew to rock, while I prepared our clothes for the reception. Of course, like expected, she was more interested in the room and all the new fun things to look at, rather than sleep which is what she desperately needed. The blackout blinds didn’t help, because they still left a bit of light for her to stare at.  He had to go into the bathroom to completely block out the light for our curious little baby girl.

In the meantime, I discovered the biggest fail of the trip ( cuz there’s always gotta be one): out of all the *crap* we brought with us, Andrew somehow left the bag with MY clothes at home. I am talking: all my clothes, reception dress and shoes – everything! The only thing I had was what I was wearing, which was yoga leggings and an organic Whole Foods tee. LOL.

I was at a loss. We didn’t have time to drive to the mall or a store, I didn’t have much hope for the hotel’s touristy shops, but I figured I’d go check them out, anyways. As I was walking through the expansive and magnificent Gaylord Palms, I suddenly remembered grabbing my new Hollister dress out of the dryer and throwing it in the trunk of the car, thinking  I might  get a chance to wear it the next day.

OMG! I couldn’t believe my luck! I ran to the car and sure enough, the dress was there! Granted, it wasn’t the dress I expected to wear, but it still worked for a laid back reception better than yoga pants.

{I have to admit that I have really enjoyed the challenges that having a new baby has thrown into our life, because we were way too used to being relaxed and laid back, never rushing anywhere, just the two of us for many years. This, the excitement, the lack of time, is so much more interesting to deal with. We were getting really boring there for a while before Lexi came along and flipped our lives upside down.  Now, I cannot help it but smile thinking about all the little “screw ups” we’ve had at every turn, as we learn to deal with our “new situation” }

Ok, so back to Gaylord Palms… I came back to the room to find Lexi sleeping, Andrew said it had been really easy to put her to sleep with a rocker and in total darkness.

So we start getting ready while she sleeps. I laid out an outfit her her, the same outfit she *pooped* all over on 4th of July and we didn’t get to wear, so I was happy it got some use. Thirty minutes later she woke up, all smiles and leg kicks, and we were ready to go. Late, but ready.

The reception was held in one of the hotel’s restaurants, Villa de Flora. I will post photos of the hotel and our second day there in the Part II, but if you’ve never been to Gaylord’s, it is the most magnificent hotel I have ever been to or stayed at. It’s a little town/jungle located under a glass roof. Huge and mind blowing.