'You've got your hands full'

Media request: Have you challenged yourself?

We have had a request for help from Alison Palmer, who is writing a piece for Essentials magazine, about women who have challenged themselves - and regretted it, and is also after two mums and their teenage daughters, for a fun piece in the Daily Mirror's women's section.

Alison says: I am writing a piece for Essentials magazine and looking for some ladies aged 30-55 who stepped out of their comfort zone - and wished they hadn't! I am especially looking for women outside of London, and several in the north, if possible.

Media request: Help the Hairy Bikers get their hands on your buns*

THE team behind the Hairy Bikers is looking for brilliant recipes to feature in the acclaimed BBC Two series Mums Know Best.

Si King and Dave Myers are once again undertaking a nationwide search for Britain’s most cherished and treasured recipes for the second series.

They say:

Do you have recipes that have been handed down through generations using tried and trusted methods and ingredients to create dishes which are firm family favourites?

Do you love to cook and feed people?

Do you own a dog-eared cookbook you wouldn’t be without?

Do you have nostalgic memories of cooking with your mum, grandmother or great grandmother?

Media request: Bloggers and first time novelists wanted for glossy women's magazine feature

HERE'S a messge from a senior journalist posting on Response Source.

Are you currently writing a blog or your first novel? I'm looking for women over 35 who, after much delay, have finally found the time to start writing the blog or novel they've always dreamed of. Ideally you'll have started in the last year.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know, please get in touch with a bit about yourself and attach a colour photo to your response.

Email: emma_pritchard[at]ipcmedia.com 

Deadline: July 16, 11am.

Today's the day: Back the Hadrian's walkers

This is a cross-post from Have a Lovely Time, which may or may not be anything to do with a post on Sticky Fingers.

THERE are some things in life that are too painful to think about.

So most of us don't.

Others of us get off their bums to help.

Today, some people are doing more than getting off their bums, they are (gulp) starting to walk the length of Hadrian's Wall.

Ready for Ten CyberMummy pub quiz -- in case you missed it!

THANK you so much to everybody who has tweeted me today to tell me how much they enjoyed the pub quiz at CyberMummy! I think that I spoke too quietly and quickly really.

So in an effort to rectify this -- and to satisfy those bloggers asking me what questions there were about them, here they are.

Please note I will post the answers tomorrow. There is no prize now, it's just for fun. I know you can easily get the answers from Google and it doesn't really matter but if you do want to have a go -- good luck.

The questions are very easy.

Cheers!

A new life after twins by Sarah Edmonds

 
FOUR years ago, almost exactly, my son O entered the world, a beautiful, happy, gorgeous little boy. No wonder then that my husband and I were keen to ‘crack on’ with number two. Fifteen months after his birth and a three month scan revealed identical twin girls were to join our family.

To be completely honest, the first year of their life seemed to bring more lows than highs....exhaustion, loneliness, feelings of having no one to talk to who understood, frustration and generally of life being difficult. The phrase ‘popping out’ vanished, only to be replaced by ‘military operation’, or more commonly ‘failed operation’.

Everyday Stranger on the "fragility and darkness" of postnatal depression

SHANNON's blog Everyday Stranger, is a new find for me. It's filled with beautiful writing and photos and  captivating thoughts.

She's also shortlisted for a Best Writer award in The MADs, where her blog is described as a "glorious patchwork of stories."

Here, she shares with us her experience of depression and what I'd call a cautious optimism about life on the other side.

Thank you Shannon for sharing your story, which I'm also including at Breaking the Silence.

She writes:

MY twins are two years old now, hurtling towards three.

This morning our son decided to "caterpillar" across the floor with his Thomas the Tank Engine trains, and our daughter politely asked “Can I have a turn too please?” after her brother had a spin from his half-sister.

They sing, they hold my hands, the kiss me, they fill my days with light.

It hasn’t always been this way.

Multiple mayhem -- a carnival of posts about twins and more

PHEW. Thank you so much for all your support of this special week on You've Got Your Hands Full which has reminded me why I set this blog up in the first place and put me in touch with some fabulous blogs, some already familiar, others new to me.

If you can say one thing that unites all parents of multiples, well it's that they're busy.

Forgive me for stating the obvious. So I didn't know what to expect with my planned carnival. I've ended up with a dozen or so entries and so I'm delighted.

In all honesty this was very short notice so if anyone wants to make this a more regular feature, with us taking turns to host a monthly carnival, then please shout up and we can kick off an on-going Multiples Mayhem carnival?

The guest posts this week and the carnival entries have made me laugh and made me cry. I hope our small but perfectly formed carnival informs and entertains. 

The loss of a twin by Emily Carlisle

AS a mum and a journalist, overuse of the words "every parent's nightmare" are bound to wind me up. Every parent's nightmare is not that they can't afford the latest trainers or worry over whether their little girl should have a mobile phone. Every parent's nightmare is quite simply that they should lose their precious child. Here, in the latest guest post for our Twins, Triplets & More week, the amazing blogger More than Just a Mother shares what that nightmare is really like.

I have read this post with tears running down my face and would like to say a massive thank you to Emily for sharing her story. She describes how she wishes she had been able to 'open up'' more and I hope by the simple act of doing that here, other parents searching for help in their darkest hour may find some and know at least, they are not alone.

FROM mythical Romulus and Remus to pop-duo The Cheeky Girls, the world is fascinated by twins and their unique bond. 

Parenting twins is hard work but an incredibly rewarding experience. 

Mothers of multiples, such as Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie, are part of an elite club many women would love to join.  But what happens when you are unceremoniously thrown out of that club?  When celebrations for the birth of your newborn are overshadowed by the funeral of their sibling? 

Twenty-six weeks into my twin pregnancy my waters broke and I was admitted to hospital.  The babies held on until the milestone marker of 28 weeks.