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

As you know, from 8.30am – 3.30pm, my time is now my own! It seems that I have been kept busy enough around the house, plus some writing and editing have also been had. Did I mention that ‘Thirteen Moons More’ was published over the weekend and today I got the obligatory email from Amazon stating that the paperback edition is now available to purchase via your Amazon app or account! I will say no more – it’s out there, if you choose to have a look in to see what our family has been up to over this last 12 month period.

Yesterday saw a final edit on the ‘Family Planner’ screenplay! This project I completed a couple of years ago now, though I put it aside in favour of telling the full, uncensored story of ‘Eighteen Moons’ in the form of a novel. Well, I gave ‘The Family Planner’ a dust off and re-browsed its contents. I have decided to send it into the BBC in December when they open applications for new writers (screenplays) and actually have a department that will read through each and every screenplay that they receive. Do you know the reason as to why I chose the self publishing way as opposed to the conventional route? Well, I felt that there would be more control over content and the spectrum of possible projects, plus I was not impressed with the established ‘Agent’ element within the publishing industry…

‘The Family Planner’ is really a super edited version of the time I spent in India. It is approximately a two hour screenplay with dialogue and direction all amassed! Screenplay writing is a step away from the traditional styles as you are considering the locations, the movements, the subtle nuances of each and every scene! Well, my copy editor, Bern is going to give it the once over on Monday – she is busy moving house this week! My heart goes out to her and her husband as I know moving home can be extremely stressful… I’ll keep you updated on that project. The screenplay that is – not Bern moving house! Lol

I am also starting to compile a format for Dadda Gets Jammin‘. It is really all about doing the research. You know the plan is to have a recipe book on ‘Jam and preserves’ that isn’t entirely a recipe book about ‘Jam and preserves’. It’s early days yet. But like my blog, I want it fully illustrated, family snapshots as well as Jam and a lot of banter, maybe some reminiscing as well as the jam making element!

And finally the fabled ‘Mrs Snodgrass’ and ‘Naughty School’. The plan is for a series of short stories, all based around the goings on at ‘Naughty School’. The introductory story is complete and ready to publish here on my blog! So look out for that sometime in the next week or so.

I will end with – ‘what’s on the menu today’! A large pan of puttanesca was made this morning – destination freezer. This was followed by wild boar sausages with green lentils, onion, finely chopped carrots and pork stock, all cooked down to an sumptuous mass of delight! Then followed a frangipane tart (bakewell), made with Dadda’s most recent, well set raspberry jam (no pips). This was kind of inspired by last nights ‘Mr Kipling’ offering to the children. We can do better than this, can’t we I said to myself. I’m looking forward to sampling this dessert tonight. Warmed slightly in the microwave and drizzled with double cream… Bliss!

John came home early from work and we set off for school once the children were settled with Sindy, a chicken, ham salad wrap, a packet of hoola hoops and a cherry bakewell! Five children to cover, 2 teachers and an hour to converse! It was lovely to see a few friendly, fellow parents there with a handful of little ones, reminding us as to why we were all there.

I am happy to say that there are no real concerns regarding all five. They were all commended for being the unique individuals that they all in turn are. The little ones are surely settling into their new routine and the girls are both doing well.

Now, Thor is following both of his older siblings and loving the art element of the school day. He did in fact, Sunday evening, come up with, completely on his own, a picture of lemons! They had all been sucking on fresh lemon at the weekend – don’t ask! That’s what they asked for when we poured our guests a gin and tonic! I remember how, as babies, they all loved lemons. Anyhow, his artwork is photographed beneath. I am more impressed that he chose a tool / stencil, quite out of the blue, to create the repetitious lemon shape. It was a piece of cut card from a cardboard cupcake box. See what you think? He is only 5 after all.

Dinner was just had and I’m sure it will be a relatively early night. How does a roast pork dinner on a Tuesday sound? Not too much hassle as a lot of the prep was done alongside this weekends Sunday roast meal and I grabbed the cooked pork joint from the freezer this morning. No pork scratchings sadly, but a good dollop of Dadda’s homemade apple sauce! Hmmmmh…

Well, we’ve managed to brave the storm of a hectic weekend with friends staying and the children have been spoilt rotten. They are presently getting their hair dried by our friend Sarah – So I have been relieved of that chore and am sitting at the kitchen table with a little time to myself. Tara and Aaliyah have just stormed down the stairs to say nite nite to Josh, who is chilled on the sofa watching Harry Potter! Daddy has just shouted downstairs for them to return. Now Thor can be heard giggling away in the living room and I hear Tara and Caleb charging down the stairs, their hair must be dry. The guys arrived on Saturday morning and are headed back into London tomorrow morning with John on his way in to work. Daddy is still shouting for them at the top of the stairs. They are all now sat with Josh – watching Harry Potter! They are all oblivious of the story’s of Harry and his wizardry due to still being so young! They have a lot of catching up to do with his books and movies in the time to come.

The children were all brought new Halloween costumes last week in preparation for our Hallow-Fawkes festivities in a few weeks time. The not so famous five insisted on trying them on for the arrival of our friends on Saturday morning.

What with the company, I had the time to publish ‘Thirteen Moons More’ on Amazon this weekend. The ebook is now available by simply searching for ‘Thirteen Moons More’ on your Amazon account or the app. The paperback is also available, but might take up to 72 hours to process on their system.

Argentinian red shrimp Thermidor was enjoyed last night with jumbo triple fried chips (spag-bol was had for lunch) and we all feasted on two roast chickens with all of the trimmings earlier today. Last nights cheese board left me feeling unable to move, but a good nights sleep was had. I even had the chance to lie in until 9.30 a.m. this morning. A first for me in recent years…

Signing off now – last night with Sarah and Josh and all of that so – hoping you all had a pleasant weekend too. Screams can now be heard from the children’s bedrooms… nite nite. The cheese board has just miraculously reappeared!

On Monday we did do maths and English. Our school ran a mile at the field near the pavilion. We had fruit at break time. We learnt about pirates and about Blackbeard! I had ice cream and chocolate brownie for dessert at lunchtime. Tennis club was at the end of the day. Tara and Hugo our neighbour were there also. When it was Wednesday we learnt more about famous pirates. I played ring a ring a roses with my friends (twins) at lunchtime and I had an apple at break time. On Thursday I went on the slide with lots of my friends. I read with a teaching assistant a book called ‘Paula and the Vet’. We did hand writing. I had roast chicken for lunch and pancakes with chocolate sauce for dessert. When it was Friday, I had a banana at break time. I did reading comprehension. I came home to get ready for ‘Rainbows’ at the village hall. We made shakers with a 2 litre bottle that was empty. We put rice in the bottle and decorated the outside with different colours and stuck on stars!

Monday I played with Georgina and she gave me some seeds. I went swimming on Tuesday and swam without a float. We had some of Dadda’s dried apples as a snack. On Wednesday I did ‘Mental Maths’ and ate pizza at lunchtime. Thursday I was playing ‘Monsters’ with Thomas who wears a nice coat with cars on. I can’t remember what I ate – sorry! Friday I made an egg person that I called Frackle. The teaching assistant is the mum of some friends of ours. Fish fingers for lunch with chips. And I did talk to George about his birthday and he’s inviting me. This week I finished my picture of a pirate ship. I drew the masts, the sails and a crows nest. And I drawed a boney thing and it was a skull on the flag. And I playing with Remus and I did put the music on and he did dance! And I gave him a treat as he was dancing and spinning. I played lots of games with Aaliyah and the other twins in my class at school. One of our games was, we had to try and not stay on the yellow lines or we couldn’t fly!!! And if we stepped in a puddle we could go fast. Me and Gracie were playing jumping.

Regards the editing of my new book ‘Thirteen Moons More’, we are almost there. The final read through and ultimate edit is happening as we speak! The notion of the completion of this project is exciting for me. Though I obviously have certain reservations on what happens to the book next, once I self-publish! It was over a year ago when I completed ‘Eighteen Moons’. The final chapter, final paragraph, final word, was written whilst holidaying in the South of France. Little did I know then that I was also about to start a new venture, a diary about daily life and all of the ups and downs that, that entails. And then, to compile the contents into a second paperback book – I am completely filled with surprise! My life as a father has just seemed so completely ‘normal’ over these past six years.

I think I stated in one of my first diary entries that ‘it’s about the little things – isn’t it’? And all of those ‘little things’ have certainly added up – haven’t they?

I believe that I am just a straightforward guy, Mr regular, nothing too out of the ordinary. I do hope that my words speak for themselves on that score?

Then there is of course, self doubt. I am thinking, who’s even bothered to hear what I have to say! Self doubt really sucks – doesn’t it? We all suffer when we ‘let it in’. Maybe that is what makes us all feel completely normal.

I have already mentioned that my next project will be Dadda Gets Jammin’ and that is also exciting for me! Just keeping busy can take away self doubt, or at least harness it into something less destructive. So I say to myself, no time for that, onwards and upwards. I will aspire to do just that! Aspire, that’s a good word isn’t it? – a word to inspire, one to trust in!

A roundup of our week here in ‘The Shires’ at the weekend. But for now, I will leave you with a simple thought! ‘Trust in Yourself’…

Yes, tonight’s picture is of our future Olympian Gymnast Aaliyah. But firstly I would like to praise Tara. Sadly I have no pictures of her in her football kit, but for the last 4 weeks, since the beginning of term, Tara has gone to football practice on a Monday after school as part of the children’s extra curricular activities. It would seem that sadly, she is the only girl on the team. But guess who is their most prolific goal scorer is? You’ve got it – Tara, with five goals behind her at this point in just the four games. Bravo and well done to you Tara – giving those boys a run for their money! We are so proud of you.

Now, onto Aaliyah! Several months ago we realised that she could do the splits with relative ease. Mostly whilst cavorting away on one of the sofas! It’s not rocket science, is it? If you see an ability in your children, it needs to be nurtured! And today saw Sindy take our youngest daughter Aaliyah to her very first gymnastics lesson in one of the local towns. A bit of a logistical nightmare as both girls are doing their chosen sport on the same day, same time and of course, I don’t drive! But Aaliyah and Sindy came back, Aaliyah, jubilant of her participation in this, her first lesson. I think that they will both do very well at their chosen sporting assertions.

Well done to you both XX

Shame on you! No more iMovies and no more YouTube either. Both apps I have used abundantly in the recent past. However, my phone has been ‘broken’ by the manufacturer, supplier and software provider – The Apple Corporation! It’s something about their most recent IOS 13.1 update and the 6’s inability to download it!

I’m proud that in this last year, I have never voiced a political point of view. This can now be said of international politics, but is no longer applicable to corporate politics as I call ‘Shame on you Apple’ for essentially breaking my trustworthy iPhone 6 Plus.

You have maimed my ability to produce my diary blog in all of its 3 dimensions unless I shed out on a newer model. How very ‘Corrupt’ of you.

All that said – all is well at home!

Thank you all. My commiserations to any fellow 6 or 6 Plus users…

Can you imagine my surprise when I received an email saying happy first birthday! It seems that my diary blog has weathered a whole year. Fitting that I only today wrote the final paragraph of Dadda’s new book ‘Thirteen Moons More’. It’s now in its final edit and should be available on Amazon on or around next weekend. It is essentially the edited version of my diary posts. A year in the life of my family. ‘Eighteen Moons’ essentially tells the story of how my amazing family came together and ‘Thirteen Moons More’ is the story of just who we are today.

On other matters, the wasp nest that was mentioned earlier is a problem. A few wasps had managed to enter the children’s room last night, buzzing away and waking up all of the crew in the early hours. Their screams could be heard by our most distant neighbour, but Thor’s was the loudest. They invaded our room and a plan B had to be considered. They ended up top to toeing in the spare room, though Thor continued his screaming for some time. Needless to say John and I are extremely tired today having had pretty much no sleep at all.

Family life in The Shires eh!

It’s been a few days since my last update! So what’s been going on here in ‘The Shires’? Firstly, all the children are well and coping with school admirably! Sindy has reported no meltdowns at the school gates. Dinnertimes have been a little louder than in the past. This may be due to the fact that they are all eating a main meal at school lunchtime now, so my home cooked meals for the children have been limited to making sandwiches, toast and hummus, that sort of thing. I’ve tried to make up for it a bit by baking a pudding / dessert. I picked the last of the Blackberries on the driveway and the remaining Raspberries in the orchard to make an apple and berry crumble, (served with homemade custard) this week, as well as a fresh pineapple upside down cake and a Victoria plum cobbler. There has however been plenty of cooking for daddy and dadda’s dinners. On a different note, ‘Hey Google’ has just started chatting away quite out of the blue! She’s now put on the BBC news completely without my requesting it.

I’m now sat in the kitchen – I wonder if Alexa will do the same? Just in case – I have pulled her plug out, so guaranteed a little piece and quiet. The children have headed upstairs in prep for bedtime. I was called up around 8pm last night – an altercation with a wasp on the girls night light. I had to squish it sadly, but it got them to settle. Been a bit of a problem of late, there must be a wasp nest somewhere in the gables, but with this cool turn to the weather, I guess they will die off naturally within a matter of days or weeks.

On the subject of weather, it’s really is starting to feel Autumnal now. I put the central heating on this morning. We’ll see how it goes, but I might just need to switch the system on for daily heat anytime now.

This mornings workout was good, leaving my biceps a little achey though. Sadly next week will be the last I see of Adam as he is starting a new job at one of the gyms in Reading, leaving him little time for personal training. He’s a great guy. I’m happy he has found a new route in his life. Just means that I might need to find a new mobile trainer who covers ‘The Shires’!

Did I mention that we found a frog in the watering can? We also found newts! The wonders of living in the countryside eh!

A random pic of me chilling on the terrace!

Overall, a quiet enough week really, so maybe more at the weekend. Nite nite

Gracie is back to her old self again, albeit minus one dew claw! The grumpy vets receptionist insisted that they do not take customers without an appointment, but saw the anxiety being suffered by Grace. The vet essentially just snapped the dew claw off, no local anaesthetic at all and charged us £50 for the privilege. Gracie was not happy but seems to have cheered up now, a couple of treats and hugs later! Though having said that, the vet suggested Gracie go on a diet as she is five kilos overweight. Better cut down on the treats I guess, but it seems unfair to give one to Remus (who burns off the calories) and not one to Gracie. Other than that, all is well.

Don’t worry, I used shop purchased mushrooms for the nut loaf, but I believe this variety is more than likely edible. Okay, take no chances when it comes to wild mushrooms. The fungi I picked this morning showed signs of an insect having munched away on one side. That’s promising that it is not poisonous. I also sliced it and smelt it.

The aroma resembled our cultivated mushrooms. Again promising regards being edible. I binned it though as I was not 100% sure. The shop bought mushrooms were good enough for today’s cashew nut roast.

I last made this one two weeks ago when friends Glen, Victoria and daughter Fi came to visit. I did a rundown on the ingredients on my blog, but promised Victoria that I would give her the recipe. I think they’re visiting again in a few weeks. Maybe best I make another one, then she can actually see how it all goes together. Eh Voila!

And I really am going to learn how to photograph food a little better if I am thinking of compiling a recipe book. Maybe Dadda Gets Jammin’ is just the beginning.

Please excuse the chintzy plate – a charity shop purchase to originally be used as a bonbon dish for Dadda’s homemade rum truffles. More of that closer to Christmas.

For Gracie today, a run in the morning dew lead to a slow limp back to me on the terrace, her eyes saddened. On looking down I noticed a little blood and her ‘dew claw’ bent to a 90 degree angle. She is now at the vets awaiting the inevitable removal of her front left appendage. Poor Gracie, she yelped when I touched it. An update later.

Well what didn’t happen! Just finished bath time and our angels have ascended the stairs to bed with relative compliance. We enjoyed a roast beef dinner tonight and Spaghetti bolognese was had at lunchtime. Okay, one amusing thing happened over dinner and that was Tara piping up to Daddy and myself, both sipping a glass of ‘Chateauneuf du pape’, opposed to the black current squash they were all enjoying. She said ‘you’re drinking the blood of Judas’! Hmmmh – I think a couple of biblical stories may have been merged from story time at their C of E School! I had to smile and put her right on what the red wine signified! I do find it awkward talking about religion with them being so young!

Missed country file due to the inclusion of ‘strictly’ to the Sunday night BBC schedule. Not my thing, but there you go! Talking of countryside, that’s where we inhabit and this week saw the children find a frog stuck in the neck of the watering can, then today saw two newts discovered in the brown grass/moss beneath the now emptied swimming pool. Lots of eggs were also there. A neighbour helped carefully move them to their pond, where I believe there is a small population already surviving the rigours of the British elements.

There were many crazy run arounds the living room and kitchen over the weekend, plus lots of shouts, screams and laughs. The compendium (games cupboard) was emptied en masse and hopefully some of the multiple pieces from those various games and puzzles are back in their correct boxes. My rules – one game at a time was ignored by John today as I was spending time Jammin’ in the kitchen making this years ‘Xmas X-rated’ Jam. A delicious combination of rum soaked raisins, pears, sugar, an extra slug of rum, apple pulp and lemon juice, all this complemented with a combination of fragrant, festive spices. A real indulgence and the aromatics should be well infused in their sterilised jars by the time Xmas arrives. Regular strawberry jam was also made this week plus a well set raspberry jelly, sieved to exclude the pips and the perfect marriage to thickly buttered sour dough toast.

Strictly still on in the background. Damn this show is camper than Christmas! Is this really what the nation dines on? Oh dear – these are interesting times aren’t they!

It seems that every family has one, doesn’t it? What with Sindy back from her holidays, things are back to (the new) normal. Yesterday saw me dry fresh figs in the dehydrator as they are well priced this time of year. I cooked down a mass of sweet apples to make ‘Dadda’s Apple Sauce’. I really could not look another apple in the face – all of that peeling, tedious! The jars are now sat in the provisions cupboard along side yesterday’s other creation, the home made ‘Tomato Chutney’ all lined up like an infantry of little soldiers, in their shiny, bright, sterilised jars. This year we had a fair amount of home grown tomatoes that went into the cooking pot. Though I made up the volume to 3kg of tomatoes with strained tinned tomatoes. Don’t tell anyone will you?

I’m still in a quandary as to my next ‘project’! I am seriously considering learning to drive. A few of you sent me their kind support on my Facebook page when I suggested that idea.

My new book, an edit of this diary called ‘Thirteen Moons More’ should be complete within the coming couple of months. ‘Eighteen Moons’ tells the story of how my family came to be, so it is only fitting that ‘Thirteen Moons More’ tells you the story of the family that we have become today!

Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when the Kindle and paperback versions are available through your Amazon account. Do you know what? I recently realised why the children love the ‘Beat Bugs’ rendition of the Beatles ‘Paperback Writer’ so much. Duh! Silly me – I wrote a paperback didn’t I! It is also encouraging as they all want to write a paperback book when they are older. A bit of growing up to do first however.

I recently considered a business manoeuvre regarding ‘Dadda’s Jam’ and seeing if a third party (bigger company) might be interested in licensing ‘Dadda’s Jam’ as a brand and sexing up the Jam industry a little. You know, get away from the frumpy, old lady image of it! But sadly the concept fell on deaf ears. With so many funky combos, I’ve decided that my next project may have to be another book. Not just any book, but a recipe book containing all of Dadda’s ‘Jammy Combos’. Mind you, I know nothing of compiling a glossy, commercial recipe book for Jams, pickles and chutneys. But once my new book is out there, I am going to get working on Dadda Gets Jammin’ – I can’t wait!

That’s it for now – I hope you like the pic of me in today’s entry, as today, it’s all about me I guess. thank you to photographer and friend @michellemartinoli

MiMi was actually a bit stinky today / so I called it in for bath time for the children’s soft, well loved toys today. All smelling of roses now… however Caleb’s ‘Chicky’ was nowhere to be found. Everyone is now up in bed hugging the most precious of day to day memories!

For the reception year induction, our little ones were asked to talk to their teachers and classmates about their summer holidays. On our meeting with three of the teaching staff last month, we were given three sparkly, refractive cut outs of hot air balloons. Today I chopped up photographs as the printer at home is still not working and pritt sticked the hell out of a few of our summertime memories.

The collages are going into school tomorrow and I believe that when all thirteen children in the class have finished the project (or rather their parents have found the time), they will be talking about their summer holidays to the rest of their class.

Definitely something for the memory box’s ‘additional items box’. Tara and Amritsar’s balloons are somewhere in the wardrobe! Just thinking how big the ‘additions! Box might end up being!

Just a thought – maybe we should attach the balloons to the tops of the baby Boxes now that they are sealed for the next fifteen years? There’s an idea! These memory balloons will be stuck to the wall at school for the next few months, but when they return home – we will have a small piece of time standing still to include in their future historical reminders of childhood. I have to smile xx

With today being the ‘Autumn Equinox’, it is fitting to say goodbye to the Summer and thank you to it for so many happy memories. Excuse the pictures, I think this weekends picnic saw just these taken at the West Berkshire County Show. I hope you liked my ‘Fun Fair Frolics’ video yesterday?

Our nanny Sindy was also back from her travels today and resumed the school run, allowing Daddy to return to work and Dadda to once again get Jammin’! Today saw the damson crop pulped and fused with lemon juice and sugar, making this years offering of delicious damson Jam. No pectin needed as damsons, like plums are naturally very high in pectin. I also dried the crop of mint in the microwave instead of my dehydrator, making a speedy process of it! Fused with apple pulp and sugar and boiled until a firm set was inevitable, there now sits 6 jars of Dadda’s mint jelly. Not for buttery toast, rather a roast (leg of lamb) that is sat in the freezer. You know you can’t beat ‘homemade anything’, can you? In addition to this, last years crabapple juice was thawed from the freezer and boiled up with sugar to make the most amazing crabapple jelly, set to perfection and pinky purple in colour – amazing with roast pork and crackling.

The fitness trainer is back in the morning, so I had better refrain from overdoing the calories, but I believe tonight’s spaghetti puttanesca (cooked today) is an extremely healthy overindulgence. So why not go for it?

Aaliyah and Caleb are presently playing catch, running around the new living room coffee table. Now Tara and Amritzy are fighting for lappy privileges.

Sindy has just said to all of the children, just how much they were missed. Nite nite all.

And just who would you imagine had the breakdown? To be honest, there were a number of mini meltdowns by both Thor and Caleb after they had exited from their classroom. The emotional traumas were mostly associated with the PTFA selling ice cream and lollies in the school yard. I knew it would lead to trouble. I said to John ‘This will lead to trouble’ and guess what? It lead to trouble – complete screamy tantrums from both Caleb (having dropped his ice cream within minutes), then Thor, mostly venting his unjustified anger, running around like a thunderstorm, preparing his little bolts of lightening and energised screams of thunder for all the waiting mums and dads to endure.

Daddy had to pick him up in the end and put him under his arm in order to get him to the car, but his tantrum continued, if anything he was getting louder and louder and so very angry. Legs were kicking and his high pitched screaming was his very vocal contribution to this afternoons school pickup. Caleb had settled once his ice cream had been replaced.

I do not believe that Caleb could have conceived possible competition to Thor’s starring roll in what can only be explained as hellish, a moment that was extremely upsetting for both Daddy and Dadda.

Not a good end to his second week at ‘Big School’. I only hope that with our nanny Sindy’s return on Monday, his behaviour settles. There’s no going back. Thor will adapt, in time…

As parents, come on – you don’t like your child to be unhappy, but you also have to note when a child decides to bring you down a peg or two (usually with an audience). It is upsetting.

Well, there’s no ‘screen time’ thanks to the ‘scream time’ on the horizon for the foreseeable – I’m looking for a little more ‘Harmony in the Home’ before Thor enjoys his ‘Crossy Road’ again.

It is a big day out with a picnic tomorrow, finishing off with a barbecue on our terrace. An update on that tomorrow perhaps. But just for now I am enjoying the peace and quiet of the evening, some grown up time to cleanse away those little traumas from ones mind and looking forward with the inherent optimism we parents rely on for a happy home. So fingers crossed for tomorrow’s big day out X