'You've got your hands full'

Working mum? Stay at home mum? Part timer? We're all just doing the best we can

THIS Saturday, instead of racing around on mum's taxi duties, I'm attending a conference in Birmingham for mums in business.

Author, journalist and blogger Antonia Chitty has asked me to join a panel discussion on how 'mumpreneurs' can boost their profile and my business partner at Passionate Media, Carol, has nominated me for an award. Carol is herself an award winner and she is pictured here with Sarah Brown when she picked up her prize from Mother At Work in 2006.

Twins and more on a Tuesday: Post natal depression

 

Twins can be a gorgeous blessing but bring extra demands for the parents.

JENNIFER at Twinhappy has a Twin Tuesday event where she wishes multiple birth families, wherever they may be, a wonderful day.

Last Tuesday I recapped about sleep problems with my twins for Josie.

Josie's Sleep Deprivation Carnival had a wonderful response, with lots of experiences and advice shared.

This week, for Twin Tuesday, I hoped it may be useful to dig out one of the most popular posts from this blog, about post natal depression and how, not surprisingly mums coping with more than one baby at once can be more susceptible.

Miranda's story has attracted some very supportive comments and emails. There's still a need for it to be heard as Google continues to send people looking for relevant information our way.

Children's book giveaway if you fancy it

THERE'S a giveaway here of children's book, The Kingdom of the Deep by Frank Hicks.

MAGICKED to the Kingdom of the Deep by the witch Griselda, the boys meet stingrays, octopus and squid (who only want a little squeeze and a cuddle) and then a mermaid (whose mother has lost her tail) but fortunately, the cat Snuggle comes to the rescue.

So goes a snippet of an introduction to the book, a charmingly illustrated adventure for children aged five and over.

Let me know in the comments under the post about the giveaway if you would like to be in with a chance of receiving one of six copies I have to give away.

Short story for Comic Relief - Lady Muck's last stand

HAVING found so much encouragement online since blogging about other stuff than twins, triplets and more, I thought I'd take a deep breath and share some of the fiction I've written.

The following is a short story included in a collection put together to raise money for Comic Relief. Although the project was started by me, I did submit this story, along with another one, anonymously.

Both came back with high praise from the judges so that was a great surprise.

My lovely friends Alice at DulwichDivorcee and ExmoorJane are now encouraging me to work on a novel and I keep saying I will but a small matter of two children and a mortgage keep getting in the way...(Plus of course an inevitable crisis of confidence, novels aren't for the likes of me...)

I hope you enjoy the following story and I hope you may even be able to spare a fiver to pay for a download for the rest of the TwitterTitters book as it's still on sale.

Top pantos join in Great Panto Review 2009. Wahay!

PLEASE check out Have A Lovely Time for news of some of the pantos already backing our Great Panto Review 2009.

To say I am delighted would be like saying Kristina Rihanoff is *quite* attractive.

Please do have a read and find out how you can support our bid to raise cash for a children's cancer charity at the same time as laughing our socks off this Christmas. Oh go on.

Thank you!

Stamp out bad punctuation in school letters. Full stop*

* WITH apologies of course to the NSPCC.

JOURNALIST Kim Thomas was featured in SchoolGate earlier this week, raising questions about teachers' sloppy grammar and spelling.

It's a dangerous path to tread. Inevitably, commenters picked up on her use of language.

PRs targeting bloggers: Is it worth it?

I'VE just spent far too long uploading two podcasts to our family travel blog, Have a Lovely Time.

They were recorded by my friend and Passionate Media colleague Paul Garrington quizzing senior Ford personnel in Frankfurt on concerns raised by readers.

Having made this possible, Katie Streten from the digital agency Imagination is now evaluating the "reach" of our work alongside four other bloggers from across Europe.

Do you say too much about your children online?

JOURNALIST Patricia Carswell is researching a piece for a newspaper about mums who feel they "over share" or in her words "blab" online when it comes to their children.

And while Patricia's deadline is up around about just now, it's a question many bloggers will continue to ponder.

From posting about poo to chortling about the funny things kids say, us "mum bloggers" don't shy away from the um, finer details of the challenges and joys of bringing up a family.

But how much is too much? Who says it's too much and why does it matter?

How my twins kept me awake at night, and top tips to stop it happening to you

I'M a sleep deprivation survivor.

This bold statement is in response to Josie at Sleep is for the Weak .

She's asking for news of light at the end of the tunnel - examples of parents who feared they may never again get a good night's kip but have been proved wrong.

That's the good news.

The bad news is it took me years. And in my case, it was more by accident than design.

I'M a sleep deprivation survivor.

This bold statement is in response to Josie at Sleep is for the Weak .

She's asking for news of light at the end of the tunnel - examples of parents who feared they may never again get a good night's kip but have been proved wrong.

That's the good news.

The bad news is it took me years. And in my case, it was more by accident than design.

Please support our Great Panto Review 2009

Photo by Sallycat101 on Flickr

OVER at Have a Lovely Time, I posted earlier today about a 'collaborative blogging project' which can hopefully have parent bloggers laughing their socks off, while also making a difference to a children's charity.

Please read this to understand more. Please do leave an encouraging comment on the post so that we can start to pick up more momentum.

If you'd like to request review tickets and contribute, please give me a shout.

If you'd like to support NACCPO, whether or not you'll be visiting a panto this year, please visit our Justgiving page. I have set a target for the time being which I hope is realistic. This may change, depending how we go.

Thank you!