'You've got your hands full'

'Raising Sextuplets' reality show to air on WeTV

THE Masche Sextuplets of Arizona will star in a new reality-television show on WeTV, slated to start June 11, 2009.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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

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.

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.

Career focus: Fun sessions are music to Cathie's ears

Cathie Flynn, far left, and fellow Musical Minis franchisees.

IF your children are still very young, you may be wondering if the day will ever come when you will return to work and not feel totally frazzled. In the first of an occasional series, mum of 10-year-old twins, Cathie Flynn, explains how she found a career path that fitted in perfectly with family life - and brings lots of laughter too...

Cathie is a franchisee for Musical Minis.*

This is a nationwide network of music sessions for babies and toddlers and each 45-minute session introduces music and percussion, concentrating on rhythm, song, sound and movement. A "world of music" is introduced to the children - from classical to modern, to encourage language development and improved co-ordination.

"Best of all," says Cathie, "it's great fun."

How much 'one on one' time do you give your multiple birth children?

HERE'S a picture of my daughters on a recent trip to London.

That's Emily and Melissa in the front and a friend they made one day. No I don't know what he's supposed to be either.

We went together as a family. It would never have occured to me that we should split up and head for different destinations.

So imagine my surprise, when they both returned from a school trip last week, to numerous parents asking with a bemused expression: "They BOTH went then?"

Did they really think one would go without the other?

Book review: Twins in the world by Alessandra Piontelli

Review by Katrina Hill

As a recent mother of twins I was very excited to be given the opportunity to review Twins in the World: The Legends They Inspire and the Lives They Lead and wasn't disappointed.

From the moment I found out I was carrying twins I felt driven to find out as much as I could about the two little lives that would be entering the world and coming home with me. Whilst an expert with singletons, twins are a whole new experience and, quite frankly, daunting at times. Unless you have twins, are a twin or have a fascination with twins then you probably don't know about the complexity with just the basics of the genetics.

What's it like looking after baby twins? Read and weep (with laughter)

FOUR down, mum to go, is a fantastic, relatively new blog, all written from the "frontline" of raising four boys.

This post - filled with squirty poo and vomit (you have been warned) from twins Zach and Jonah made me wince and laugh out loud.

I hope you can find time to check out this wonderful blog. Way to go, mum of four! The post has made me remember a day I kept a diary filled with how many times I'd changed nappies and cleared up vomit.

It was fascinating as you can imagine. Perhaps I will dig it out, bet you can't wait.

Does having boy/girl twins make you emphasise your daughter's femininity?

I'VE not heard of this before, but it's a question that was recently raised by a new aunt of a brother and sister.

If you've heard of this happening, or feel you may have done it yourself, then please get in touch.

I'd love to hear your experiences. Or if you are the parent of boy/girl twins and feel strongly that this isn't the case, please let me know why.

As this isn't a question I'd happened across before, I thought it could make quite an interesting discussion.

Tips to help get your children into a sleeping routine from You've Got Your Hands Full readers

A WHILE back I wrote about how disappointed I was that when my daughters were younger, we never managed to conquer the 'get them off to sleep and you can have a life in the evenings' challenge.

Commenters offered some excellent advice and shared their stories of how they had mastered said challenge. Now I have been asked for advice from an expectant mum of twins. So it has made me remember that it would be a good idea to bring those pointers together.