'You've got your hands full'

How twins cope with diabetes and have helped drive research towards treatment and a cure

THIS is a piece by me featured in this month's Sweet magazine. As someone whose family is affected by diabetes and who is facing her own struggles with a diagnosis, I've found it a wonderful magazine.

Pictured is Nicki Ward and family who was one of the mums to share their experience for readers.

AS a mother of twins, Abbie Pagett has always encouraged her six-year-old daughters to be as independent as possible.

Kelsey and Bethany are in different school classes and have their own friends and interests.

But there’s one part of their life that Abbie, and her husband Dean, 25, would have preferred them to have been more similar in– good health.

Happy Christmas and thank you

THANK YOU to everyone who has read, commented on, linked to or discussed this blog in 2008.

As the most hectic time of the year is now upon us, I don't know when it will be back. But I wish you a wonderful holiday season and peaceful New Year, with multiple blessings!

In the meantime, if you are looking for a lovely family-friendly UK destination for a winter break, I can recommend the Priory Inn, in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

A full review will follow as soon as possible. But you can also check out what my daughter Emily thought of it here.

A history of separating conjoined twins, by BBC Online

AFTER the sad loss of Hope Williams, the BBC provides a compelling history of surgery on conjoined twins here.

These operations remain eminently challenging for medical teams, with complicated planning including experienced and some would say courageous experts.

See also: More reports about conjoined twins.

Conjoined twin Hope loses fight for life

THE Birmingham Post reports that Hope Williams died last night, surrounded by her sister and her parents. Nothing else to add to the piece except to say that like many mums today, I'm saying a little prayer for the family.

Schools admissions process 'badly letting down' multiple birth children - new campaign launched

TAMBA has launched a campaign to stop twins being sent to different schools - saying this traumatises children and places an enormous burden on the parents.

They are calling for the schools admission code to be changed to recognise the needs of families with twins, triplets or more. They are also calling for appeals committees to be given training to be made more aware of those needs.

Tamba says multiple birth families encounter a range of problems when applying for primary school places which appear to be exacerbated by maximum class size legislation.