It's Christmas Day! Video Post # 15: Zachary shows off one of his presents.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas; we hope you're having a lovely day. We've been having a wonderful time in Leyland and Zachary has enjoyed lots of new sights and sounds, getting so overwhelmed by it all that we've had to divide his present openings into 3 stages (he's currently asleep before the last stage). 

Going to St Andrew's church this morning was especially exciting as Zachary had a chance to show off one of his presents. Here's a video of the occasion...

Ready for Christmas!

Everything's bought, wrapped and packed, so we are ready to drive 200 miles to see Grandma Jeanette and Grandad Harry, as well as Zachary's Aunties and Uncles in Lancashire. So we are looking forward to spending Christmas week there and then it's off to Exeter for New Year's to see Bumble and Grandad Rob, plus even more Uncles. 

Zachary has been helping us get ready by embellishing the presents...

Pink is his favourite colour!

 Zachary has also been getting into the Christmas spirit in other ways...

Will he get stuck down the chimney?

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Video Post #14: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

Here's what we got up to on our Dobson 'Christmas Day'.

Feeling Christmassy!

This week has been incredibly busy with lots of Christmas fun. On Saturday we very much enjoyed Cosmeston Christmas, the annual get-together of the previous housemates at Cosmeston Street, with the very welcome new addition of Zachary this year. The day involves a roast turkey dinner, stockings, presents under the tree from Secret Santa and a Christmas film. The girls had kindly put together a stocking and presents to go under the tree for Zachary full of toys and gifts which were very much appreciated. We had a wonderful day and left with very full, happy bellies. Here are a few of Zachary's highlights from the day...

Auntie Phobe and Auntie Vickrum introduce a bauble

 

Guess which is older - the baby or the pudding?

Zachary opens a present with Auntie Beckrum

Celebrating with Auntie Phobe

On Tuesday we headed to Mummy's work to catch up with colleagues and to enjoy a festive meal together. Caroline from work (currently on maternity leave) also came along, bringing the very smiley baby Owen who is just a week older than Zachary.

Zachary and Owen shake hands

Opening presents from the lovely Auntie Kirstie

On Wednesday was the Christmas party at the Gabalfa Baptist Church toddler group, with songs, party food (not for Zachary quite yet) and... Santa!

Some of the other mums and babies at the group

Zachary was overjoyed to meet Santa

On Thursday was the 'Latch on' baby group Christmas party. Zachary enjoyed the tots play session with singing, dancing and playing with tinsel.

Singing Christmas songs with actions

Playing jingle bells

In answer to the pudding-baby conundrum (see caption above), the pudding is older at 6 months, whilst Zachary is only 5 months old.

Video Post #13: Cosmeston Christmas

Here's Zachary enjoying a lovely get-together with the Cosmeston girls for our annual Christmas day...
  

Zachary Out and About

As Christmas gets closer, the Dobsons get busier. Here are some of the things we've been up to recently...

It was lovely to catch up with Marni (Swith's best man) & Miriam, Ben (preacher) & Libby and Dan (usher), Jo & baby Elijah a few weeks ago in Swansea. Marni and Miriam cooked an amazing lamb curry and we played a board game whilst Zachary enjoyed being passed around, particularly seeing Elijah and his toys. 

Playing the drums with Libby

Having a cuddle with Marni

There was lots to see at the annual switching on of the Christmas lights in Whitchurch - from the bright lights of the fairground rides to the banging fireworks, Zachary loved them all.

Bright lights and big sounds make Zachary a happy boy

It was Rosie's birthday at Mummy's work, so we paid a visit for cuddles and lunch. Zachary had a good time being mollycoddled by Kirstie and we're looking forward to seeing them again soon for a Christmas meal.

Birthday fun in the office

Kirstie introduces gambling

We spent the first Saturday in December at the Bath Christmas market. The first port of call was a park and ride with horrendous queues, then into the city centre which as always was packed full of people with the same idea as us. We did have a fantastic day however, although it did get a little tricky attempting to find places to stop and feed Zachary when he was hungry, but the weather was on our side. 

Daddy was pleased at the number of women who commented at how cute he was; he didn't seem quite so happy when I explained they were talking about Zachary!

See if you can spot Daddy and Zachary in the lengthy queue

The beautiful stalls lit up in the evening; bedtime for a tired boy

In addition to the many, many market stalls, we paid a visit to the smellies shop 'Lush'. The sales assistants commented on how cute Zachary looked in his froggy hat and liked him so much that they gave us a free bath bomb for him.

A robot bath bomb for Zachary

Next week will be an extremely busy one as we get Christmassy: we have 3 Christmas parties at toddler groups, 2 Christmas meals (with colleagues and house group) and we're having friends around for some Christmas treats.

Zachary playing with Thomas at the Gabalfa toddler group

Video Post #12: Zachary Walks! (well, sort of)

Zachary loves to stand, with help from Mummy and Daddy which seems quite rare for his age (20 weeks) and sometimes he moves his legs forward on his own.

Just Like Daddy!

Here's why Zachary is just like his Daddy...

1. He looks just like him

A lot of people have commented that Zachary looks like Swith, particularly his nose - according to Grandma Jeanette, he has a 'Boulton' nose (Daddy is disappointed, as he doesn't like his nose very much).

Hopefully Zachary won't need thick glasses like Daddy

2. He likes his food

Like Daddy, Zachary has always fed very well - when he was born he latched on straight away, and since then he has always fed very quickly, taking only 5-10 minutes in the night. It'll be interesting to see how he does when we introduce food (usually around 6 months if he's interested then); we expect he'll eat anything, just like his Daddy.

Zachary tries to munch on Daddy's giant cookie

3. He likes the football

Well, not the football specifically, but he is always very interested in the TV whenever we have it on. Daddy is an avid supporter of Manchester United, which we expect will rub off on Zachary when he gets older (Daddy hopes so).

Daddy and Zachary enjoy seeing United win again

4. He is inquisitive

Although Zachary doesn't bombard you with questions the moment he meets you (as Daddy tends to do), Zachary is extremely interested in the world around him, especially people and lights, sometimes staring at them for significant amounts of time.

Zachary examines the passing cars

5. He likes books

Maybe not quite the same books as Daddy; Zachary likes his swimming book and any other book that has bright colours and well defined pictures.

Reading with Daddy

Video Post #11: Zachary gets an early Christmas present

Here's Zachary opening his second early Christmas present for his first Christmas, from Marni and Miriam (the first was a hand knitted ball with bells inside from Bumble which he loves to play with):

Weekend Fun

Last weekend we travelled down to Exeter to visit Mummy's side of the family. Zachary very much enjoyed seeing Bumble, Grandad, Uncle Julian, Uncle Aaron and his Great-Nan while we were there.

Zachary enjoys a cuddle with Uncle Aaron

Zachary has been teething recently, so hasn't been his usual happy self. He has rosy cheeks, dribbles a lot and chews on anything he can get hold of. The nights have been tough for the last few weeks, as Zachary keeps waking every 1-2 hours, just like in the early days. We're hoping he'll soon get back to sleeping 'through the night'.

Bumble helps to calm Zachary down

Whenever we're down in Exeter, we try to fit in a visit to our favourite Force charity shop, which has won an award every year for the last 11 years for being the most profitable charity shop in the UK. Zachary had a good time looking around, especially enjoying the fancy dress section.

Zachary steals Ronald McDonald's wig

Then it was on to Uncle Julian's house to have a look at all his recent developments, including a new shed, a fish pond and his retro 50 inch rear projection TV.

Uncle Julian holds a smelly boy

Zachary meets a terrapin

Zachary was pleased to meet his Great-Nan for the first time last weekend. She gave him a woolly snowman which he hasn't stopped looking at ever since.

Giving the snowman a stare

On Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed a walk with Bumble and Grandad along the flood defences (some of the river is siphoned off into a separate channel to prevent flooding) to feed the ducks and swans. Unfortunately there were mainly hungry seagulls, and if you didn't aim the bread accurately, a seagull would dive in and intercept it in mid air. 

Video post #10: Sleeping like a Baby

Zachary is incredibly jumpy, especially when asleep...

Half Term Part 2

A favourite activity of half term was playing our new board game, Twilight Imperium. Zachary watched us play now and again, but didn't quite have the attention span of the first game - a 12 hour epic!

Twilight Imperium - roughly the same length as a 4 month old baby

Zachary enjoyed visiting his Great Grandad in his nursing home, who was very pleased to see him. He also got a lot of attention from the nurses.

Smiling at Great Grandad

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend two different firework displays over half term. The first was in Leyland, at St Andrew's church and also involved eating burgers and treacle toffee (though obviously not for Zachary!). Zachary was wrapped up very warm in his new all-in-one suit (a gift from Great Grandad) and had a wonderful time watching the flickering flames of the bonfire. Just as he was beginning to drift off to sleep, the fireworks began with a loud bang which made him jump and start screaming. A few seconds later however, he was gazing at the bright lights of the display and decided he liked it after all. 

Zachary with Daddy and Uncle Bar before the fireworks

The second display was the annual Caerphilly fireworks with the beautiful backdrop of the floodlit Caerphilly Castle, to celebrate the birthdays of Mummy and Auntie Beckrum. Unfortunately the weather was terrible, but we huddled under umbrellas and Zachary had his own waterproof to keep him dry. The fireworks were fantastic as always and Zachary loved them although he was soon overwhelmed and fell fast asleep despite the bright lights and loud bangs. He awoke once we were back in the dry and had fun being passed around for cuddles.

 

Huddling but happy

Video Post #9: YMCA!

Here's Zachary having a sing along with his Uncle Bar...

Half Term Part 1

We had a wonderful half term and packed it so full of activities that I've decided to divide it into two parts! Here's part one...

The first Saturday in half term was a particularly busy one. The Dobson three visited Hereford for its annual food festival, enjoying the many delights of cheese and chutney, cake and cider. Zachary enjoyed sitting up in the pram (he's now big enough to do so) and watching the crowds of food enthusiasts wander by. 

When the food and crowds all got too much...

Then it was on to Wigan to see our favourite fellow United fan Ashok, with his dad and sister who enjoyed a few cuddles with Zachary...  

Zachary ignores Ashok to look at the TV

We then spent most of half term visiting Daddy's side of the family in Leyland, Lancashire: Grandma Jeanette, Grandad Harry, Auntie Marilla and Uncle Bar.

Pleased to see his Grandma

Zachary loves his Uncle "YMCA" Bar

A highlight of the week was a trip to Brimham rocks in Yorkshire. For those from Devon, this is like a more compact version of Dartmoor (much less hill climbs though), with arrays of oddly stacked rocks well suited to climbing. Auntie Marilla and Uncle Bar loved climbing to the top of each stack, while Zachary, strapped to the front of Daddy, had fun watching them. 

Auntie Marilla, Daddy and Zachary

An exhausting trek

We also had a lovely time visiting a cheese factory in Garstang, Lancashire. Zachary watched intently from above as they prepared the cheese. Mummy, Daddy and Auntie Marilla particularly enjoyed the free samples of cheese afterwards.

Mmm...cheese

After cheese, then came ice cream! Wallings Ice Cream Parlour was a delight to visit, with a huge variety of creamy flavours, the highlight being delicious bonfire toffee. Unfortunately the maize maze and alpacas were not available - we'll have to go back again to see those (what a shame!).

Zachary looks to see if there's any breast milk ice cream

As we left the ice cream parlour, the heavens opened and we ran to the car. Unfortunately Zachary wouldn't tolerate having his hood up, so he got drenched on the way and wasn't too happy!

Look out for part two next week...

Video Post #8: Firework Fun!

Here's Zachary enjoying the fireworks on Saturday...

Boy and his Toys

Zachary is now 15 weeks old and has become a lot more interested in his toys over the past few weeks. He is starting to get bored if he doesn't have anything to play with, which is especially bad if we forget to bring a toy along to church with him! Here are some of his favourites...

Zachary enjoys his swimming book, as it has bold colours and outlines. He likes the Octopus best.

He loves his robot as it has so many different colours and textures.

He doesn't always just play with his toys! Perhaps he will enjoy eating lamb when he grows up?

Video Post #7: Bouncing Bar

Here's Zachary at a trip to Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire on Monday. He loves his uncles and aunties.

Zachary's Recent Adventures

Zachary is now 14 weeks old and enjoys getting out and about to see people. Here are a few of the places we've been recently...

This week at the mother and baby group, a lady was leading a noisy activity session for the babies and toddlers. This included a bubble machine which the children loved (Zachary gazed in wonder as the bubbles descended), parachute games in which the children enjoyed lifting their corners to watch the soft toys bounce up and down (Zachary wasn't too sure about the amount of wind generated by the flapping parachute) and playing with musical instruments such as drums and maracas (simply too much stimulation for one afternoon - Zachary fell fast asleep!). 

Shopping with Zachary has its moments; sometimes he's perfectly happy throughout, but on occasions he'll scream until you give in and carry him out of the shop. This week, he was having a good day:

The chocolate biscuit aisle - fortunately Zachary is indifferent about chocolate.

We've also had a few girly get-togethers of late, made not quite so girly by the presence of a certain little boy. These included attending a vintage fair and a craft/GB bake-off night. Zachary is very popular with the ladies!

Zachary being burped by Auntie Sarah at her house in Llantrisant

Sitting happily between Auntie Phobe and Auntie Vickrum for a toastie lunch.

A highlight of this week was visiting Mummy's old colleagues at the hospital to celebrate Mr Whiston's 50th birthday. Zachary enjoyed being passed around the many eager arms.

Miss Hill and Mr Whiston entertaining Zachary

Is Zachary getting tired of Mr Whiston?

This coming week we're looking forward to attending the Hereford Food Festival (lots to see for Zachary and lots to taste for Mummy and Daddy!) and visiting Zachary's grandparents (on Daddy's side) for half term.