For the children produced by the blue-eyed blonde and her black-skinned husband cover just about every spectrum of the inter-racial rainbow.
Or, as Chris proudly describes it: ‘We’re like a box of chocolates – dark ones, brown ones and white ones.’ The couple’s remarkable brood includes a daughter who shares mum’s fair skin and eye colour; her golden complexioned sister; their olive-skinned big brother; and the latest arrival, a button-nosed, black baby boy who looks just like dad.
Precisely how they ended up with four such different children is doubtless of great interest to geneticists, but it came as a surprise to Tess, a former model, and Chris, a store supervisor.
At one stage they even wondered whether daughter Amiah, the palest on the Giddings family colour chart, might have been switched at birth with another child at Colchester General Hospital.
Yet the couple’s attitude to rainbow family life is refreshingly black and white.
‘We couldn’t care less what colour they are,’ said Tess, 24. ‘They are a great joy to us and we couldn’t be happier.’
After their first child, Jacob, now six, was born at Southend General Hospital in Essex, Tess and Chris, from Colchester, watched him develop into a perfect blend of his parents – with olive skin, blue eyes, and soft, curly brown hair.Savannah, now four, was born at the same hospital and looked almost identical to her big brother as a baby, but is growing up with slightly paler skin and lighter hair.
Then along came Amiah. ‘When she was born we only got a quick glimpse of her because her blood sugar level was so low, and she was whisked away for treatment before a wristband could be put on her,’ said Tess.
‘When she came back an hour or so later, and I got a proper look at her, I couldn’t believe how white she was.
‘I said to Chris: “Do you think they’ve given us the wrong baby?” Chris never for one moment thought I’d cheated on him. He was my first boyfriend, we’re happily married and there was never any doubt about that.
'It's so nice having children who are all a bit different. They are all gorgeous and we love them all the same', said Tess Giddings
He was born a year ago with dark skin, black curly hair and brown eyes. ‘When we first saw him, Chris nearly fell over,’ said Tess.
‘He took one look at him in the delivery room and said: “Oh my god, he’s black!” The midwife just stared at him in astonishment and said: “You do know you’re a black man, don’t you?”
‘We were laughing and Chris said: “You don’t understand – I have one child who is completely white!”.’
Chris, 33, was born in Britain two years after his parents emigrated from Nairobi, Kenya.
Tess said: ‘Zion has got darker and is the only one with brown eyes. He has completely got Chris’s genes, whereas Amiah has got whiter. She has straight, blonde hair and light blue eyes.
‘It’s so nice having children who are all a bit different. They are all gorgeous and we love them all the same.’
Aside from an occasional raised eyebrow, the family has never encountered racism.
‘Thankfully, most people are colour blind these days,’ added Tess. ‘Our children are living proof of that.’
DailyMail