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

Taking Control of your Wellness (Guest Post from Laura Pearson)

Want to Take Control of Your Wellness? Here Are 5 Tips for Health Advocacy Today

Advocating for your health is one of the most important things you can do. It will help you lead a happier, healthier life, but you’ll also find that your confidence skyrockets as you learn to speak up for yourself. If you’ve been looking to become your very own wellness ambassador, keep reading as Diary of a Gay Dad shares 5 essential tips for doing so today.

1. Stay Informed about Your Health

Read up on health and wellness topics that interest you, and ensure you understand any medical information or instructions from your doctor or health care team. If there’s something you don’t understand, don’t hesitate to ask questions. After all, the more you know about your health, the better equipped you’ll be to make informed decisions about your care.

2. Find the Right Support

A big part of being your health advocate is referring to the right professionals. Taking advantage of free preventative care under the Affordable Care Act is an excellent place to start. You should also find the right healthcare professional for your health goals and needs. LGBTQ+ families often have unique needs in healthcare and advocacy, and finding a professional who respects and supports your wellness will be critical to achieving your health goals.

3. Take Care of Your Mind and Emotional Wellbeing

Physical health is closely intertwined with mental and emotional health, so taking care of all aspects of ourselves is essential. Make sure to schedule time for activities that make you happy and help you relax, such as spending time with friends and family, reading, listening to music, or getting outside in nature. According to Everyday Health, taking care of your mental health will help you be your best self and better able to advocate for your own physical health.

4. Prioritize Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. So, in addition to staying informed and speaking up for yourself, another essential way to be an advocate for your own health is to prioritize prevention. This means making lifestyle choices that will help you stay healthy, such as eating a nutritious diet, regularly exercising, and getting enough sleep. It also means being proactive about your health by getting regular check-ups and screenings and taking steps to prevent injuries and illness, such as wearing a seatbelt and sunscreen.

5. Manage Your Records

Finally, being aware of your rights as a patient is essential. According to HIV Legal Network, this involves knowing your rights to privacy and confidentiality, understanding your right to informed consent, and being aware of your right to access your own medical records. It would help if you also were constantly maintaining your documents. This way, they will be ready for easy access and can be reviewed for errors after a visit or prescription. In addition, saving your health records as a PDF to your iPhone is a great way to access important files and documents on the go. When you do so, you won’t have to rely on WiFi to access your documents – just remember where you saved it, and you’ll be good to go!

Advocating for your health can seem daunting, but it’s important to remember that you have the right to be involved in your own care. By staying informed, speaking up, and taking care of yourself, you can be your best advocate and ensure you get the care and treatment you need.

Getting ‘Up to Date’

Well, this diary was predominantly written way before covid hit us. The children were still quite young. So where are we now in their development?

Amritsar and Tara were 9 years old back in March. They are both happy, beautiful girls. And yes, they do fight often… Tara is a bit of a Tomboy, but we can still get Amritsar into a dress on occasion!

Thor (now 7) is a little charmer, and a bit of a dude! They like that word – dude! Then we have Aaliyah, who loves pink, rainbows and unicorns! And she happily gets into a dress at any opportune moment. Then there’s finally Caleb, a good looking chap as it happens, a little too prone to tantrums for my liking however.

Caleb has a few learning and socialising difficulties. We are working out a plan for his future needs with his school at present. The others all seem to be excelling at school, especially sports! Aaliyah would like to return to gymnastics. She gave it up before covid hit, falling out with the coach, who seemingly made a rude comment about her hair of all things!

Amritsar loves netball, Tara football (obviously) and Caleb is undecided on his chosen sport! It’ll come, though they all ran well on their sports day at school last week. I’m not sure about Thor’s chosen sport! He did start football club, like Tara, but doesn’t really know what to do with the ball!

The children’s summer fete was held last weekend and today’s photo is of Thor with his snakey looking face paint! Fun was had by all.

I will remind you that I am known as Dadda in the family, and my partner John is Daddy. Daddy’s work keeps him busy, and home life seems to keep me busy enough! Daddy and Dadda’s Dinner is still a thing! We do eat rather well for sure.

We are at present looking to move house. The children are all growing so fast. Their two rooms on the top floor just don’t seem to be big enough. Amritsar definitely wants her own room, as does Aaliyah. Tara would definitely be happy to kip in with the boys. Though that’s not going to happen. She does get a bit boisterous at times! And definitely leads the two boys astray.

That’s it for now. Oh! I didn’t mention Aaliyah and Caleb’s age. They will be 7 next week on 5th July. Though their party will be held the following weekend. More on that for sure.

A Happy Medium!

I was going to name this post ‘Instagram vs Blogging’, but I have settled on ‘A Happy Medium’!

Yesterday, quite randomly, I decided to ‘Google’ myself and was surprised at a little memory that I found… once upon a time my name, ‘Andi Webb’ would have uncovered someone else with this very same name! One lady working for the US department of Education, or maybe an artist who produced a style of art that wasn’t really me!

But yesterday I ‘Googled’ my name and I, yes me, I came up! Well, a couple of the others alongside, but predominantly me. And that made me smile.

Several mentions down, way past my Instagram, my Worldpress, my book, or rather books on Amazon, there is a mention on IMDb, the movie information site, with my name, and that brought back a happy memory! A time when I designed clothes and costume, and worked on wardrobe for a couple of productions. I even made clothing for a few major celebs…

As you know, I tend to go visual nowadays, using Instagram as my main interaction within social media. But today I thought that I would reminisce about my experience yesterday here, on my blog, at Worldpress.

I smiled as my Instagram account Instagram.com/mybigcrazyfamilylife came up first on the search, but then my blog, showing me, that it is relevant, somehow it means something! Then thirdly came my books, as mentioned, on the Amazon platform.

My audiobook of Eighteen Moons came next, then the IMDb mention…

I did enjoy designing clothes. I actually talk about this period of my life in my third book released by ‘My Life Publishing’ in January of this year. The title being ‘Many Moons Before’, the prequel to parenting. You know, I even made clothing for ‘Slash’ of Guns and Roses fame, back in ‘The Day’!

So back to the title of this post, a ‘Happy Medium’? I could not really have relayed what I am saying right now on Instagram! I forget this… I am a writer, a man with a diary… haha, predictive text has just shown me the word diarrhoea! You gotta smile…

I have made many friends on Instagram, several have purchased and reviewed my first book ‘Eighteen Moons’. And for that, I am grateful. But then again, I have made several friends over the years on Worldpress too. I hope you know who you are?

So, I have realised that I truly do want to write, and to do this with any effect, Twitter and Instagram are just not the right medium!

Lol and I can post photos on here too! that’s simply amazing. I’m sorry if they are mostly square…

So, ‘My Big Crazy Family Life’ continues, here at andiwebb.net / diaryofagaydad.net

Right, ‘A Happy Medium’ has indeed been struck! So, what about those photos I have been talking about!

Right Post Called Tail Towel

That was my reminder!

What on earth could it mean? I am now thinking?

I have failed to blog over this last month! A birthday befell me 4 weeks ago, then the tragic death of my older brother…

Though this post is not going to dwell on either of those things. I have just traveled the globe to be there for his goodbye service in Australia, (I live in the U.K.), and I have only just circumnavigated my way home, to John and the children. They all missed me, these last 8 days, as I indeed missed them.

You already know, I’m the guy who wrote, The Diary of a Gay Dad, don’t you?

Well, if not, here I am, Andi Webb. A two year diary blogger who took a break. One of those years ended up in paperback format, Thirteen Moons More, the successor to my first novel, Eighteen Moons. That was the story of how my partner John and I became parents! It only seemed fitting to write a second book on just how those two naive blokes, Andi and John panned out as parents.

Well, last year there was even a third book, Many Moons Before. It only took me 6 months to write, and then a couple of months in the editing. Thank you dear friend Bern for that. And that book was all about me, rather selfish huh? The prequel to parenting. I’ve sold around 25 copies! So, a big thank you to those who invested in reading my true life story. It’s a cracking story, a life well lived, or maybe not! You be the judge of that?

We can’t always be responsible for what befalls us, can we? It’s what we do to put things right that matters… or indeed embrace the good that touches our daily lives! Keep it close.

Okay, so what about this posts title, I hear you ask?

Haha… I had asked Alexa earlier, to remind me to ‘write post called tall tale’ or something suchlike!!! I forget now, tall tall, tail tall, or was it tail tail. I’m sure it really doesn’t matter as I have moved on already. And these last moments and thoughts don’t even seem to matter now as they may have a short while ago. Because I am my own life’s creator and commentator, aren’t I?

You know what I mean – right? I’m expecting a few comments today by the way! And I will answer all and any.

Why is it that popular bloggers or TikTok’ers ask you? ‘Just drop me the name of your town or city and I’ll give you a shoutout’!!! WTF!!! Am I that desperate to increase the volume of my comments on this blog and in particular, this specific post. It’s a seminal one, for me, that is!!! Maybe for you too… ummmh!!!

So, I ask myself, three real life novels into my career of writing… well, just what can I write about next?!?!? I have promised Dadda Gets Jammin’ and that title will surely come into being! It’s started of course, but as it’s relative to life being lived, I will be adding new chapters as and when! Julia Child took many years to compile her book after all.

The Diary of a Gay Dad (the teenage years) is of course, yet to happen. And the children are all for now, just happy children, going about their early school hood years! Completely bonkers at the weekends of course, but overall, just happy children…

I want, no, need a writing project outside of blogging, away from the 3 biographical stories.

On my journey home from Australia, which was over thirty hours from door to door by the way, I imagined that I had joined the ranks of fictional writers!!! Yes those who write and invest in their imaginations, and build worlds and situations. Possibly within unimaginable worlds from present, past or future…

Okay, my next novel is now my #wip (work in progress) and it’s title is going to be ‘Portal’. And this is the first time it has been spoken of, and it is truly now, down on paper, as to coin a phrase.

‘The full moon was cloistered by cloud’… (The first sentence!)

Well that’s it really! I have now officially joined the ranks of fictional writers out there! Hoorah! This is a good thing…

Also, if you are still reading these last paragraphs, please drop into comments any thoughts that you may have! this project is in need of your participation. I’m going to write this book having noted your feedback! Will this book be children’s fantasy fiction, something of the soul, science fiction, or completely something else?

I have reached this point now in this blog post and I am feeling completely jubilant! Firstly, to have recognised the processes and life situations that have led me here in my writing career, with 3 books written, and all available for you to read through Amazon (just search Andi Webb). That’s Andi with a ‘I’ by the way. And secondly, I now appreciate that the small seed sown here today in this new adventure, Portal, will now be given all of the nourishment it needs, in order to grow and flourish. A fourth novel – unconnected, wild and random…

I actively want you to help co-write this novel. To help within it’s conception, to guide what will be an amazing story. I want you to give a little piece of you. Or a bigger piece, that’s up to you.

I don’t think that there has ever been a writing project quite like this before?

I am, or rather, WE are about to build a whole new world together. And that makes me smile.

So how is your day going?

Do you see what I’ve done? I have invited you, the reader of this blog, to comment a third time!!! And I hope, for one reason or another you do!

Join me?

I just realised!

Being back to blogging, albeit not daily, I just realised that I had reacquainted myself to you lovely people! But I have done very little by way of actually filling this diary with the day to day happenings within my family space!

Well, Aaliyah has only just hugged Remus, our Dalmatian and told him that she loves him. She is now skipping around the living room with Tara.

We are planning on going out shortly! To a local retail park to buy some ‘stuff’ at Pound Land! More, Chinese made, plastic tat, that will inevitably find its way to the bin. Especially if Caleb gets his hands on it!

A couple of Christmases ago he ripped the heads off of all 5 animal ‘squishies’ they had been given, over a 24hr period! He is still so very bad when it comes to breaking things. He makes it his mission to fidget with something until it gives / breaks.

He is presently watching ‘Siren Head’ on YouTube, on the television, with Thor! I’m not really sure if it is age appropriate! We will wait and see on that score.

Daddy has just gathered wood and kindling for a log fire that we shall light on our return home.

Tara and Amritsar are presently hugging daddy, or have they actually taken over playing daddy’s iPad? Hmmmh…

Aaliyah now doing art in the kitchen, and I? Well, I am resting on the sofa after having just served up a lunch of Sausage, mash and peas! I think that we are ordering ‘Chinese’ tonight! We only order takeaways about once a month! Last time it was Indian. Tandoori King Prawns… heaven, though a little too red looking I remember! Why do they do that?

I might give you an update on Thursday as it is my Birthday! Hoorah. I am not making a birthday cake this year, rather a pile of chocolate brownies with embedded Oreo cookies and roasted hazelnuts! Damn those hazelnuts took ages to blanch, peel and roast! Note to oneself! Buy pre done in the future! Like dressing a crab! I have learned that life is too short!

Happy Valentine’s all for tomorrow! If you celebrate it, that is! I think we are doing cards and a nice dinner of Alaskan Spider Crab and homemade triple cooked Chips / Fries… bliss!

Earlier in the day Daddy and Dadda are watching Tara play football for the school team. They are in the county quarter finals you know! Last week they won in all 4 matches they played to qualify! Fingers crossed that they are triumphant.

More from the ‘Diary of a Gay Dad’ soon…

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!

My Final Diary Entry, At Least For Now!

It is with some regret that on the 2nd anniversary of my diary blog diaryofagaydad.net, I have to explain, that after these past 24 months of sharing the ups and downs of parenthood, my musings on this forum have (for now) come to an end. I will of course leave the archive online and intact if you ever chose to relive the ups and the downs of 2 years of parenting five small children?

A message from a fellow blogger tonight that ‘I am bored’, has lead me to the conclusion that it is now time to step away!

No pictures, no finale, no fanfare, just goodbye for now my friends…

On other social media such as Facebook, I do not post often. But if you found any part of my blog something positive to muse over (btw predictive text just flashed up ‘pissup’ lol) just search ‘Andi Webb London’ and I will surely follow you back!

The other option is Instagram of course! http://www.instagram.com/mybigcrazyfamilylife

I am certainly considering ‘Diary of a a gay Dad, the teenage years’ though 4+ years away at this point! Another time altogether, maybe it will be a great time for us both to catchup once again.

Thank you for listening these last 2 years, thank you for being there and ultimately thank you for caring. I am very happy to know you.

And for those that I am not connected to on other social media platforms, good bye and take care.

Daddy and Dadda’s Dinner

Chilli and rice with a Sriracha smothered fore rib.

We held off on Sunday Roast and went all Moroccan

Ham roast and fine beans with Dadda’s Apple Jelly

Hoping everyone is well and thank you for browsing my diary page. I have been a little absent of late! If you don’t already follow on Instagram, our page is http://www.instagram.com/mybigcrazyfamilylife

I’ve been spending a little too much time on there! Have a lovely day…