Angela Cuzzilla is married to Frank and has identical twin girls, 2 years, called Layla and Allegra. She has been married 9 years and lives in Melbourne.
Angela has recently started her own online designer babywear and accessories store, WeeWillieWinkie.com.au.
Angela Cuzzilla
C4K: You've just started your own business, how did that come about?
AC: I opened my own business in January 2010. Wee Willie Winkie is an Online Designer Baby Wear store. I spent five months setting everything up and launched at the start of this year. I initially came up with the idea while I was on the search for quality baby shoes for my girls and just couldn't find anything I really liked here… In the end I found these adorable shoes in Brazil called Xick Baby Shoes and tracked down the company. It turned out they didn't have a distributor in Australia, so it all started from there!
C4K: How do you cope during the day with starting a business and twin girls?
AC: My day revolves around organising the girls, and when they are sleeping (luckily my beautiful girls sleep between 2-3 hours during the day) is when I catch up on running my business, returning emails and getting general day to day chores done. I then start again once my girls go to bed at night. So I generally don't get to bed until 1 or 2am!
C4K: What were your main motivations to return to work and what was the hardest thing about it?
AC: My main motivation for getting back to work, was to help contribute to the family finances and to fulfil a lifelong dream of having my own business. I think the hardest thing is just juggling home and work when you work from home and have the children around as well. It's also hard to maintain proper focus on them as well… you do get a sense of Motherguilt when they're with you and your mind's on other things. They definitely pick up on that straight away!
C4K: With twins it must be quite hard to get anything done – work or otherwise. Who looks after the (non school age) children when you're working?
AC: Generally I manage to have them with me most of the time, but I'm really lucky in having their grandparents nearby, so they look after them quite regularly when I need some time. As you can imagine trying to get errands done with two year old twins is not easy!!!
Sometimes I think I really do not stop…I am always on the go. Even more so now that I have opened the business. I love being busy though and I have never been one to sit down for very long. My husband works long hours, and when not at work he is at the house we are building, so it's really full on at the moment!
C4K: Do the girls attend formal child care at all?
AC: No, not as yet, but I have booked them in from June onwards. I am finding I do need more time to spend on my business and day to day things and I know I think it will benefit both me and the children.
My other motivation for childcare is to help in developing their social skills before they start kinder next year. They are really close to each other and very connected to me, so I'm trying to build their independence and give them some more social interaction with other children by putting them in childcare.
C4K: How did you find your child care and was it a difficult process?
AC: No it wasn't difficult, luckily. I had researched a few child care facilities on CareforKids.com.au and found a couple I liked the sound of, then my sister in law recommended the one I eventually went for and they had places from June. It's quite nerve-wracking really, having been so close to them and having had them with me up until now, but it's also exciting and I'm sure they'll have a great time and at least I'll be able get my work done during the day (and sleep at night!) and really focus on the girls when they're home, so hopefully we'll all reap the benefits!
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