January 2022 – Diary of a Gay Dad. I am a full time dad to five young children.

The Children

Somebody once told me! ‘Show me the three year old and I’ll show you the adult!’ And I believe this saying to be 100% true. As all five of our children’s personalities were set in stone very early on…

Amritsar with Gracie

Amritsar is our oldest and undoubtedly our most academic thinker. As a toddler, she would be so focussed on play and tasks undertaken, like round peg in round hole, star peg in star hole etc! Such a meticulous thinker. She is definitely our best behaved child.

As this picture may suggest, Tara is our most empathetic child. She is Amritsar’s twin. The younger twin, or rather lighter, as their births were down to a C-section.

She has always shown consideration and kindness to her other siblings. Especially Caleb, the youngest and the one needing the most support.

It is no surprise that people immediately take to Tara. Every child in her school boasts her friendship! Mind you, she still has a mischievous streak! Expertly pulling the strings of our younger three to do her bidding! The ‘Puppet Master’!

Thor, from the very beginning has been our screamiest child. But he also brings with him character and wit. In the last two years he has progressed much. Less screamy and more witty as a result.

He will make you smile with his mumblings and muses! He has a whole repertoire of behaviours that create smiles and drama.

Just this minute he has said ‘hello Dadda, I love you Dadda’! He really is a lovely boy! But his wrath… oh my goodness, his wrath!

The older of our younger set of twins is Aaliyah. Again, older due to her weight at birth due to a C-section. She absolutely loves dogs. And she has that special affinity with Gracie our Dalmatian. Her three most beloved soft toys are all dogs.

Aaliyah is head strong and assertive! Three years ago, on our Summer break in Provence, she took to swimming like a professional. She just ‘Got It’, like a fish to water.

She also shows much compassion to her younger twin Caleb. Though they are also just as happy fighting like cats and dogs!

Caleb, our youngest. Already mentioned twice! Yes, the children are all protective when it comes to Caleb. Well, maybe not Thor as they are often fighting! But that’s a boy thing right? Caleb is a late developer! He is at present going through various tests in order for us to ascertain his level on ‘the scale’!

He is more screamy now. Especially if he does not get his own way. Academically he struggles a lot. He is finding writing most difficult, to the degree of still misspelling his own name!

But like crawling late, walking late and talking late – he has ultimately mastered these things!

So, I hope this update on the children finds you all well, and reacquaints you a little bit with ‘My Big Crazy Family Life’!

More diary entries to follow! I thank you for stopping by. Happy weekend all…

Daddy and Dadda’s Dinner

It has been a very long time since this blog has seen a post devoted to Daddy and Dadda’s Dinner!

And we have dined at home extremely well. Simple ingredients mostly, but maximum flavour for sure.

On Instagram there is even our own hashtag #daddyanddaddasdinner which will bring up the full feast of what is our lives in food.

I will attach the last 10 foodie pics from my iPhone library and give a few basic words explaining each.

Presentation is key when you see food, you really need to excite all of the senses, appearance, smell and taste are all as important!

Red Prawn with ratatouille, salmon and sautéed creamy potatoes

Crab Linguine made with the reserved liquor from our lunchtime Mussels and Frits

Chicken Tikka’s with homemade Masala Sauce and Naan Bread

Salmon and Oyster mushrooms, served with black pudding, mashed potatoes in a Savoy cabbage leaf and a white wine sauce

Lamb filet, garlic green beans and homemade dauphinois potatoes

Sea bass, scallops, Green beans and Mash

A Jersey Royal Terrine with steak, salmon, field mushrooms and petite pois ala Francaise

I think that should do for now. The first dish was Friday nights dinner! Those red prawns were excellent. Tonight we are going with Singapore noodles with prawn and a mushroom fried rice with Chinese five spice chicken! Bon Appetite Everyone!

The Dogs Dinner

In a couple of my earlier diary entries, I’ve told you all about our 2 Dalmatian dogs, Remus and Gracie. They really are part of our family, our first born.

Quite ironically, the fact that Remus had fathered Gracie (with a little coercion), was one of the elements that led John and I to the decision ourselves, to become parents! If Remus could manage it, why on earth couldn’t we (with a little coercion)?

Well, It didn’t take me too long in my return to diary writing to plug my now, first book, Eighteen Moons. You know, I have written three books at this stage. This first story is the story of how two blokes (John and me) went about becoming a family of seven, nine if you include Remus and Gracie. Available through Amazon, simply by searching Andi Webb, that’s Andi with an ‘I’… it really is the most amazing story, filled with a whole myriad of emotions! But we persevered against huge odds, and here we are, several years on, living my big crazy family life!

So, Now is the time to reacquaint you with our two rapscallion hounds! Both a little crazy, and both act like they are still pups of 6 months old. Especially Remus, he has a very dear heart and is 100% devoted to me, and the family.

He has always been my constant, my shadow. Always there, always beside me, always needing to know that I am there for him. And Gracie applies the same tactic more or less! A dog really is for life, aren’t they?

Right, back to the dogs dinner!

I have previously explained that our dogs are on a 23 and a half hour day. Their dinnertime was 4pm around 3 years ago. But given that they would whine for an hour before they got their food, daily. After a few months their dinner would be brought forward by 30 minutes… a few months would pass, and again, given the sheer amount of whining, another jump forward of 30 minutes.

When I stopped my regular diary updates in October of 2020, Remus and Gracie’s dinner was at midday, no longer 4pm!

Well, in this more recent time, they did whine, whine, whine!

Now guess when their dinner is, these spotty dogs of mine?

A month just past, it had settled at nine…

Okay, no more rhyming, I promise!

Today the dogs dinner is in fact as soon as I get up, be that 7am or 7.30 – unbearable really as they whine at the bedroom door for the longest time!

At present, they are snuggled up beside me on the sofa. Tara watching the television, Thor, Amritsar and Aaliyah drawing at the kitchen table and Caleb, well, Caleb is running around like a headless chicken as he often does!

Just a small story today, to ease myself back into the rhythm of diary writing. Thank you for reading, and wishing you all a lovely evening.

I wonder what the weekend has in store!

The Weekend Roundup!

Well, our night out at Henry and Joe’s restaurant in Newbury went very well. An 8-course taster menu with accompanying wines was thoroughly enjoyed. As we do not get out very often, and a Birthday to celebrate is a very good reason to enjoy a good night out.

Enough talk about me, so what about the children? Age wise, Amritsar and Tara will be 9 years old in March, Thor is 7 years old now, and Aaliyah and Caleb are 6, OMG, they are growing up so fast! So very much has happened in this last year and a half. All of us and you, living with the constant threat of covid 19 in our lives. Back in October, John caught it! He had flu like symptoms for 48hrs and then seemed better. Though he had passed it on to Amritsar and Tara. Next was Thor, then finally Caleb. We had what seemed like 100 calls from test and trace as John’s number was given for all 4 children. Aaliyah and I were however spared. Mind you, I’ve had a cold now for 3 months. Maybe that is why I did not contract it. So many antibodies fighting this different corona virus! It feels very reminiscent of the early days when the children were all going through preschool and their snotty noses were a constant. I remember having one cold after another for around 4 years in total.

Enough of that. We are all alive and happy, that is the main thing! The pandemic has taken so many people way too early in life.

So, this is my introduction back into diary writing. There will be a lot more talk of the children a bit later on. But I think you’ll agree from watching the video, they are all so much bigger.

Though having said all of this, I have decided that I am not going to force my writing upon you daily. Rather weekly updates on family life, here in the Shires. And my continuing mission is to share some of Daddy and Dadda’s Dinner ideas and of course, Dadda is still Jammin’ and I will be compiling the data for my next book offering, Dadda Gets Jammin’ on this very blog. There will be regular installments of my take on contemporary jam making, including chutneys and preserves.

Happy Birthday Daddy