This year the first Jewish baby arrived on Thursday, Jan. 8, and she didn’t come alone.
Twins Zoe Rose and Zachary Benjamin Messerman were born at 12:42 a.m. and 12:49 a.m., respectively, at Milwaukee’s St. Joseph Hospital.
Parents Jeffrey and Chana Messerman, of Cedarburg, already the parents of three daughters, were well-prepared for twins.
In fact, “We were going to adopt twin boys the previous fall, but a month before they were born, the birth mother changed her mind [about putting them up for adoption],” Chana Messerman told The Chronicle in a telephone interview.
When the Messermans began to pursue a different adoption, they reconsidered and decided to try to have another biological child.
“I jokingly said, ‘Let’s just do it one more time and let’s have twins, a boy and a girl, and then we’ll be done,’” Chana said.
When she went for an ultrasound five weeks into her pregnancy, the nurse setting it up got a funny expression on her face and Chana said, “It’s twins, isn’t it?” And it was.
Zoe, like her sisters, has “a reddish complexion, dark hair and eyebrows and very long, dark eyelashes, and Zachary looks like the polar opposite — you can’t really see his eyelashes which are a light strawberry blond, and he has a fair complexion and light hair,” their mother said. “We can’t really figure out who he looks like, but I think, maybe, my brother.”
Also, as with their older girls, Zoe is content to go back to sleep after she eats, while Zachary is more active. He eats, then looks around for an hour before going back to sleep.
Dad Jeff Messerman, 38, was raised in Manitowoc/Two Rivers where his family owned Messerman’s Furniture until he was in high school. Then they sold the store and moved to Brown Deer, where Jeff finished high school.
Now a stay-at-home dad and screenwriter, he has two independent films in post-production.
Mom Chana Messerman, 35, was born in Indiana and raised in Milwaukee and Mexico, she said.
In another example of making their intentions real, Chana said that Jeff, half-jokingly suggested, when they married, that he work full-time for seven years and she stay home. After that, she would work full-time for seven years and he would stay home. By that time, he figured, the children would all be in school and they could both work full-time.
That is what they have done, Chana said. He worked outside the home for seven years, and now she manages a Bath and Body Works store in Sheboygan. Jeff has been at home for a year-and-a-half.
Zoe and Zachary’s older sisters are Abigail 7, who attends Parkview Elementary School in Cedarburg; Jane, 5, who goes to preschool at the YMCA; and Mallory, 2.
Their maternal grandparents are Marilyn and Angelo Loyo of Wauwatosa. Their paternal grandparents are Shari and Howard Messerman of Brown Deer.
The babies’ Hebrew names are Rochel, named for her paternal great-grandmother, Rose Golden; and Benyamin Leibel, named for his paternal great-uncles, Ben Borsuk and Elmer Borsuk.
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