'You've got your hands full'

On holiday in Ceredigion, West Wales

THE following is a dual post from our new travel blog, which I've been working hard on.

WE're often found at a caravan at Quay West Holiday Park in New Quay, West Wales. Here are some images from our stays there as well as some beautiful images of the surroundings from Bigstockphoto.com.

Making connections with other multiples

I've sought out other parents of multiples since I learned I was pregnant with twins. I understand how important connection can be, especially from parent to parent. We made another interesting connection yesterday.

We'd been to see a parade in the morning and were out eating lunch before running some errands and heading home. A man stopped by our table and told us what a beautiful family we were. (Nice intro, by the way.) Then he asked if the girls were twins. As I mentioned in a comment in Linda's recent post, most people don't even realize my daughters are twins, so I was surprised and said, "Why, yes, they are!"

Then he told us that he was an identical twin. He and his wife had seen our daughters, and they'd wondered if they could be twins.

That's the first time a twin has reached out to my twins. It was kind of nice.

also blogs at Deep Muck Big Rake. Write her at becky_handsfull@yahoo.com.

Giveaways at our new sister site, www.havealovelytime.com

WE'VE started a new blog at Have a Lovely Time all about family holidays, short breaks and activities.

Thank you to Potty Mummy, Mom Most Traveled, Englishmum and Littlemummy for being the first guest contributors and joining our team.

Big thanks also to Cartside, Exmoorjane, Laura from Are we nearly there yet Mummy and Dulwich Divorcee for the posts they have lined up. And a massive thanks to Camilla and Keris for all their hard work.

Amid all these kind offers of contributions,* we've also been contacted by various companies pledging their services/products as giveaways to our readers. Not all of these offers are accepted, I hasten to add.

In the next couple of weeks, I will update our 'giveaways' page to include more details and set a deadline of the end of June for this batch of goodies.

Do you mind when people refer to your children as "the twins" or "the triplets"?

I SORT of know I shouldn't care about this, yet I do. I know it's not the end of the world and there are lots more pressing matters we can all turn our minds to, but when people call my daughters "the twins", it irritates me.

"They have names, you know," I want to point out. (But of course don't because then well, the other person would see that I sort of cared about something so outwardly trivial.)

Depression: My story, plus why you journalists should speak up if they are feeling down

THE following piece appears in this month's Press Gazette, but isn't online.

I'm posting it here, as well as on my blog for freelance writers, in the hope of further raising awareness that mental illness doesn't have to be 'dirty little secret' - even if when you are in the midst of it, the last thing in the world you'd ever want to do is tell people!

As someone who is fully recovered, I hope my experience and the advice offered here by freelance journalist colleagues, the NUJ and charities, may help others suffering the effects of a mental illness.

I'd welcome any comments at the end of the post, especially from others with similar experiences. Again, I hope this could help show those going through a tough time that they are not alone.

AS I sat on my bed at 3am, sobbing and contemplating throwing myself through the window, I knew I had to seek medical help. Despite thinking everyone would be better off without me, part of me was still rational enough to know I didn’t want to feel like this.

Art at the double: Tate Modern wants twins

ARE you an identical twin? Fancy taking part in an art exhibition at the Tate Modern? (or as The Guardian puts it sitting in front of a pair of Damien Hirst's spot paintings while people look at you.)

The museum is appealing for pairs of identical twins to get in touch as it announced details of this year's big autumn show, Pop Life: Art in a Material World, examining Andy Warhol's declaration that "good business is the best art". It's to be held in October.

According to the Independent, the exhibition, three years in the planning, will also look at more modern day artists at their most "self-aggrandising."

News round-up: Mum of twins has triplets, plus other current stories

ESSEX mum Joady Dyer has welcomed triplets into her family - and will have no shortage of helpers thanks to her 15-year-old twin daughters.

Joady, 39, also has a nine-year-old. You can read a fuller story courtesy of Bounty, here.

The Sun reports on the arrival of identical triplets Alfie, Sebastian and Zak, conceived without IVF treatment, by Emma Spooner, 28, and husband Ken, 35, of Cockley Cley, Norfolk. The BBC has a lovely video.

"Brainy" triplet brothers who have excelled in science are celebrated by the Reading Eagle.

Twins and Eurovision: double the talent!

ACCORDING to this piece, twins loom large in this year's Eurovision once again, even if these sisters fell at the last hurdle before getting there.

The above video is of twin sisters Sophie and Magaly who charmed the Eurovison audience back in 1980 with Papa Pingouin, ending in a respectable 9th place, before going on to have a massive hit in their native France.

Tagged by Littlemummy.com and Dulwich Divorcee: Some stuff about me

Erica and Alice have passed the baton on this one, so here goes...

1. What are your current obsessions?

As ever lots of things. Family and work, work and family. That's about it really. Blog wise, I'm still reeling from our Disney experience, and am blown away by the work of Camilla Chafer and Keris Stainton so far on our new travel blog, Havealovelytime.com.

2. Which item of clothes do you wear most often?

Just anything black, black and more black. If you want to know why, look here.

Project Seahorse update: Please vote for inspirational video! (Today's the last day...)

YOU may remember that some months ago, I featured a video on You've Got Your Hands Full which was a tribute to a precious little girl called Emily, a quadruplet who died when she was just days old.

I remember thinking at the time that being able to spread the word about the work that her family have gone on to do through their Project Seahorse organisation, despite their own grief, to help other families, underlined my belief in blogging.

Now Emily's dad Phil Roberts, from Lexington in Kentucky, has been in touch to tell me about another video and this time, ask for my help in getting people to vote for it in a TV channel's competition.