It is time for the 2nd edition of The Chill Mompreneur Series! This month, we have Alicia Cho, mother to a 4 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. She is a busy full time working mom in the marketing industry. Alicia also owns My Mini-Me, an online business specialises in princess costume rental and affordable children products.

Here is her view as a working mother:

The Chill Mom: Hi Alicia. Thanks for taking part in the Supermom feature post on my blog. Let’s start with your day. What is your daily routine?
Alicia: Morning wake up, get myself and the kids ready and fetch them to childcare, fetch ourselves to work. Thankfully, my husband and I work in the same company but different department so it is very convenient.

TCM: How do you balance family/work life?
Alicia: It is tough. After work, I need to rush to pick up my kids from childcare. I spend time with them at night (during bath, story telling, patting them to sleep) and on weekends we will bring them out to indoor playgrounds to play.

TCM: Which is your favourite part of the day? Why?
Alicia: Favourite part of the day would be weekday lunch time where I get to have a 2 hour “me-time”. I would usually go shopping, get a massage or a mani-pedi. Hahaha!

TCM: Are you using any specific sleep training method/routine?
Alicia: No, I find it too tedious. I prefer to go with baby’s flow because every baby is different.

TCM: What is your view on breastfeeding?
Alicia: If you can breastfeed, please do. However, I do tell my friends who are too stressed to just try their best. Don’t be too hard that ‘die-die’ you must breastfeed your child. Because most importantly you must be happy doing it. A happy mommy = a happy baby. Baby can feel it. I managed to breastfeed each of my children for more than 1 year. I had to pump at work everyday during lunch time and before going home if time permits. Sometimes my pumping session got delayed because of meetings. It resulted in breast pain but I still enjoyed the experience.

TCM: And your view on co-sleeping?
Alicia: I love co-sleeping although many of my friends advised me against it. My girl is sleeping in between me and hubby. We do not have a room for her yet as the baby room is for my boy now. We do have an extra room but it is currently their play room. We will only convert it to my girl’s room when she reach 6 years old and ready for P1.

TCM: Has motherhood changed you? How? 
Alicia: Definitely changed me a lot! I used to go out very often and was really into pole dancing & salsa dancing. Ever since I had my 1st child, I have to stop all of it. A bit sad at first but I hope to get back to dancing when my kids are older. I do not have a maid at home hence I have to do everything. I’m glad I have a pair of hands from my husband too.

TCM: What about your child/motherhood that surprises you? 
Alicia: Kids say the cutest thing ever! I love talking to my kids and hear them babble. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. But kids are very cute. There was once when we brought the kids to Toy R Us to browse for some toys. My girl wanted a lego set suitable for age 7 and above. We didn’t want to buy as the Lego blocks are small and can be quite dangerous for my 2 year old boy. He is always putting things into his mouth and throwing things around. I came up with a reason saying,”This toy is not nice to play” My girl replied “How you know? You should try.” In the end, I managed to distract her and didn’t get her the Lego blocks.

TCM: What is the most important value you want to pass on to your children?
Alicia: Do on to others what you want others to do on to you.
TCM: Any advice to expecting mothers? 
Alicia: Go with the flow, do not follow every pregnant mum’s behavior. Enjoy the pregnancy privilege of people giving up their seats; hubby and family members giving you more love.

TCM: What had inspired you to start your online business?
Alicia: I started this online business solely as a hobby and also to pave a way for me to switch to part time work when my child is ready for P1 (Primary 1 in Singapore).

Mommies, Alicia is kind enough to offer a one-time 10% discount on her online store, My Mini Me to you. Just quote “Chillmom10′ during your order. It is valid till 30th November 2013.  Don’t forget to ‘like’ her page too while you are there. You might win a goodie bag worth $50 comprises of children products. Good luck!