Ollie’s first adventure to America!

11 February

2 weeks ago we embarked on our first family holiday. At 9 months old it was Ollie’s first time to fly, I was excited and anxious at once. I couldn’t wait to get away, especially in January, after all the Christmas madness. We were headed to Wellington in Florida to see my brother Cian compete (he’s a show jumper for those of you that don’t know)

First stop was Orlando. We opted to fly direct to there from Dublin. We could have flown to West Palm Beach but it was a longer flight with a stop over in London and I didn’t fancy that much.
So we decided to brake the trip up by staying in Orlando for 2 days before driving to Wellington (just over 2 hours away)

Our flight over took nearly 10 hours!! I nearly collapsed when the pilot announced it- seemingly we’d to go the scenic route to avoid bad turbulence. Our flight was at midday so I hoped Ollie would have his lunch then have a long sleep. Luckily the flight was pretty empty on the way over so we’d loads of space and nobody really around us. I was worried how he’d be , I didn’t want to be that distressed mother with the screaming baby everyone was staring at!!
Luckily he was super, he hardly slept though, for about 2 hours in total!
He was so mesmerised by the new experience. He just stood at the seat the whole time looking around, waving and shouting at the air hostesses for their attention.
I was very prepared though, I’d plenty of rice cakes, fruit, food, milk, books and toys at the ready.

I was shocked at how he was still awake when we landed, 10pm Irish time/5pm US time. He lasted until we got to the hotel, he had another bottle and went straight asleep. He adapted well to the time difference, he continued going to bed at the same time as home, 7pm. He woke nearly every morning at 5.30am though which was ridiculously early for us but really you couldn’t expect anymore from a little baby who’d just been uprooted from his little home routine. He did really well at that so I was delighted with him. We just had early nights too! Oh how times have changed!

I had packed all our summer clothes as the weather forecast was looking good. I literally brought 2 pairs of jeans and a hoodie. Unfortunately when we arrived to Orlando the weather wasn’t great! Actually it was horrible! raining and freezing! Which was so unlucky as seemingly it had been amazing days before.
So I wore the same jeans and hoodie for 2 days!! I even bought a jacket to go over it, it was that cold!
We didn’t care too much though.

While in Orlando and only 10 minuets away from DisneyLand we really wanted to go. My parents had brought me ,my brother and sister to Disney when I was about Ollie’s age.
I have a photograph of me in the Buggy and my Mum pushing me.
Obviously I don’t remember but I love the photo so I wanted to go too and be able to tell Ollie all about it in a few years. Plus it seemed like a shame not to go with being so close.

We first went to Magic Kingdom. There were a few things that we were able to bring Ollie on, like ‘It’s a small world’.. That was definitely my favourite and Ollie was mesmerised.

We then got to meet Mickey Mouse in “Mickeys House” – Mickey Mouse was unbelievable, he wasn’t just another man dressed up in costume. Everything about him was as you see on TV, his voice , gestures, sayings, everything. Ollie was totally shell shocked at meeting him. He’s the only cartoon character he has any interest in. He spent loads of time with us and we got lots of pics too. We were so lucky it wasn’t busy that day and there was practically no waiting for anything.

Night time at Magic Kingdom is absolutely unbelievable. They have the most magical outrageous parade I’ve ever seen followed by fireworks at the castle every night.
It really is a magical place.

It was so sweet seeing all the kiddies old enough to appreciate where they were, one little girl beside me was crying ,her Mum asked her what was wrong and her response was “I just can’t believe I’m in Disneyland”
I nearly started to cry myself listening to her!!

We also got to go on a safari in Disneyland and see some amazing animals. It’s absolutely huge there with so much to do.

I’d love to go again one day when Ollie’s much older with his cousins. They’re all about the same age and all boys! I’d love to experience that with them so hopefully we’ll get to go back in the future.

From there we drove to Wellington , over 2 hours south of Orlando. Ollie slept the whole way.
The weather was the complete opposite there, it was gorgeous!
We spent a week with my brother and his family. It was lovely to catch up with my sister in law and new nephew Ben, he’s only 4 months old.

Some days we went to the horse show to watch Cian compete other days we went to west palm beach, it was fabulous there. Another day we went to Miami which was only about an hours drive away, I really loved it down there. It was very cool, very beachy, chilled out atmosphere. I got to go to the Miami Dash store, being a massive follower of the Kardashians I was excited to see it. I’d been to the one in New York a few years ago and thought it was only okay. Sadly this store wasn’t up to much, the clothes were pretty tacky, very over priced and real mish mash of designers. It was cool to see it though, there were paparazzi outside (no sign of the K sisters though!)

We went for lovely walks, and ate in some gorgeous restaurants. On the food front I was concerned about what Ollie would eat while we were away. Up until our trip i had been making, blending and freezing all his food. I wasn’t going to be able to do all that while we were away so I was a little nervous. If you knew him you’d know why I was nervous, he’s the hungriest child you’ll ever meet. He shouts at me when his meals are finished, he just loves eating! I did try him with some of those organic pre made meals before we left , I thought I could bring some with me as a back up. Much to my amazement he wouldn’t eat them, he’d usually eat absolutely anything, or so I thought.
So I abandoned that idea and just said he’d have eat what we’re eating.
So when choosing restaurants we just went to ones with a good variety, one of us ordered something Ollie could have at it worked out perfectly. He had grilled chicken, veg. Baked salmon, mash. Rice and beans. He fed some of it to himself, he loves that. Now that we’re home I’m going to try keep that up.

He has 2 bottles a day now, one in the morning and one before bed.
I just brought one box of aptamil and that lasted the trip.
I got those microwaveable steriliser bags in Mothercare which are brilliant if you’re traveling.

Over all we had an amazing trip. It wasn’t the most relaxing holiday ever and I’m whiter than when I left but it was one of my favourites. We made so many memories with Ollie, he grew up so much while being away. He loved socialising with all the people he met, he loved the restaurants and learning to blow kisses to waitresses! He loved the swimming pools and the beach.

I certainly won’t forget him knocking a bowl of chicken noodle soup out of Brian’s hand all over my jeans just before we boarded to fly home. Or having to take off all his clothes in the front seat while in Walgreens car park because he’d soaked his clothes. I’d run out of nappies and had to use a swimming nappy until I got to the shops!! Turns out they don’t work that well out of the swimming pool!!

It’s back to reality now, I’ve a busy working week ahead and I’m looking forward to getting back to business.

For now though it’s all about washing and cleaning!

The joys of Motherhood!

Have a good week
Love Pippa x