The Muller-Zelazny Family

The latest on the whole crew

Category: General

General

Ant Julie

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A few days ago Evan and I were having a conversation and I told him how lucky he was to have a brother AND a sister. Of course – he asked “why” and I then proceeded to tell him that I only had a sister – Aunt Julie.
He said “what aunt?”
I said – “Aunt Julie”
He said “Aunt Julie?”
I said – “yes – your Aunt Julie is my sister”.
He said “Aunts? I do not like Aunts (thinking I was talking about ants and not aunts).

I just got a kick out of the fact that he thought I was talking about ants and not aunts. He definitely keeps things interesting!

Family General

Where Did Those Names Come From?

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A number of people have been asking about the names we chose for the twins so here is the story behind them:

Since my (Jen) preferred names got shot down (Josh and Reva, Brandon and Brenda, Washington, Lyndon, etc) we had to get serious about acceptable names. As with Evan – I wanted each baby to take some sort of family name.

William Fredrick
I personally always loved this name. I love the short name “Will” and how William can sign his name “Wm”. This is not a direct family name, but there are several family members with this name on both sides. Frederick is Amy’s father’s name and so we wanted that to be part of the name. (I personally like to pronounce it Friedrich).

Cora Louise
Amy and I really liked Cora and if Evan ended up a girl instead of a boy – it made the top three names (Olivia, Cora, Grace). After trying name combinations together, I decided it would be really nice to give her my paternal grandmother’s name Louise. Since Cora Louise sounded better than Oliva Louise – we chose Cora. (Will and Grace would have been too weird)

So there you go…

General

From Jen’s Perspective

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When we found out the last IVF cycle did not work, Amy and I were both pretty upset. Everything went well, the prognosis was great, but for whatever reason…it just did not take. Our fertility doctor scheduled the post procedure appointment to talk about it, options, etc and we both went without too much hope. She talked to us about possibly moving to a new state (ha) to get it covered, having me try (no way), or trying a cycle using IVF drugs but using IUI. Fertility treatments are not cheap, but we both wanted to give it one last shot.

I sold my beloved Apple and McDonalds stock to pay for most of it and we were off to give it one last shot. The numbers did not look good, but I wanted to make sure we would not regret not trying later. Amy did her acupuncture and I just hoped for a positive first test – because that is by far the hardest thing to deal with…all the work and then not even the satisfaction of a positive…even if only the first test.

After we found out the first test was positive I started getting nervous and had it in my mind Amy was pregnant with six. I just had a weird feeling since we had no idea how many eggs were really produced and good. The next test showed a very high number which indicated multiples. Next up was the initial ultrasound to see how many were actually in place. Before the appointment Amy and I were talking and we were hoping for two and not three (or my six). (Although I had my TLC show name ready (Amy and Jen plus ten) (we would include pets too). When there was only two – I remember being very excited.

On the way home, I called my parents and grandparents. I will never forget talking to my grandparents – they seemed pretty nervous. 😉 That night, I do not think Amy or I slept at all. All sorts of questions/thoughts raced through our heads. (How are we going to pay for college, do our cars fit three car seats in the back, etc).

After that – I have gone through periods of excitement followed by periods of nervousness…and these periods can last minutes or days.

At this point – I just make fun of Amy as she “had to get the stroller put together” even though the act of taking the twins on a walk is months away. She has been pushing to get everything in order and the babies’ room is just about ready to go with clean clothes, matching crib stuff (except pink for Cora and blue for Will), and etc.

Amy always loved being pregnant with Evan and it was hard to see her so uncomfortable/sick this time around. The last few months have been better but she still is uncomfortable since they are constantly trying to stretch her stomach out so they have some room.

I look forward to meeting the twins later this year…and every day think ok – at least this is one more day that they are still inside growing (I am overly worried about them coming early). When they do come – hopefully they will both be happy and healthy – and good playmates for Evan.

Three kids…who would have thought?

General

Evan’s Quotes

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Evan just cracks us up and has had some super quotes lately.

Last weekend we were in a store waiting for Amy to get out of the dressing room and Evan went over to some woman who was also waiting for her friend and he said “I love your purse!”. The woman in the dressing room laughed and asked if he just said “I love your purse” and when she found out that is what she said, she told him “I love that purse too” and laughed.

Evan has some really cool building toys which are made out of plastic and are magnetic. He usually builds parking lots or roads for his cars but the other day he told me “let’s build a concourse”. Yes – we do travel a lot.

Evan also told Amy “your nails are beautiful” after she came home from her manicure.

Upon leaving the Super Bowl party – he told the host “thanks for the party”.

He is such a trip.

General

The Superstar

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Evan has become quite the poser for the camera lately and I decided to get him to pose this morning since I was actually running a little early. Here he is after I told him to “pose”. As you can see he poses as naturally as I do…and both of us look equally as cool. Evan enjoys wearing his sunglasses on occasion and when he does I call him either “the superstar” or Bono (U2). Perhaps I can get some footage soon of him dancing (he break dances). If the entertainment industry does not want him, he come work for me 😉

General

Happy Third Birthday Evan!

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Happy Birthday Evan! It is hard to believe Evan is now 3! I actually have memories from when I am 3 so I am excited that soon Evan will start building his memory for events we can talk about in the future. Today Amy got him out of bed (always a treat for him), he had a brownie from Mrs. Fields for breakfast (thanks Rosemary!) and then got to hang out with Josh and Phil Sr. while they hooked up the new fridge to our water line.

Later today we are going to take him to dinner at Chuck E Cheese (he called it “Yucky Cheese” this morning), have some cup cakes, and then end the day with some Garfield cartoons in bed.

Happy birthday!

Favorites General

Mommy’s Beautiful Hat

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For years (probably 20) I have worn a ski hat – red with a big ball on the top and have loved it. Amy thought it was a bit much – especially since it had a hole in the middle (I called it the bullet hole), so I only wore it when using the snowblower on below zero days. The other day I put it on and as soon as Evan saw me where it, he looked at me and said very seriously “Mommy – your hat is beautiful!” That little sentence made my day because Amy had been making fun of it for years.

When we got home from our outing where I wore the hat – I put it on the table by the door (ok – probably the floor) and put Evan to bed. I went down to my office for a few minutes to quickly check email and the next thing I know Amy called me up to see the result of a horrible incident – Colby (who never has once shredded anything) – decided he liked my hat too and shredded the ball on top so that only 4 strands were left. I went from having a wonderful (beautiful even) hat to having a Charlie Brown Christmas tree like hat. Oh well. At least at the end of the day I can say Evan thought it was beautiful. Thanks Evan!

General

Our Christmas Tree

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img_0486 Over the weekend we went out and picked out our Christmas tree. Evan enjoyed looking at all the trees and of course talking to all the people that were around us. We picked out the tree and upon paying for it Evan enjoyed one of the employee candy canes. Luckily for us, the cashier was in the Christmas spirt so Evan did not get yelled at.

When we got home and started decorating, Evan got quite excited and even helped put on some of the ornaments. He ended up putting them all in one area, some on the same branch, but since he wanted to help, they are on as he wanted. All in all, Evan absolutely loves decorations and loves to point them out wherever we go. He especially likes going to stores like Target where they have tons of decorations hanging down from the ceiling. As soon as we walk in – his face lights up.

img_0487While getting the tree ready in the garage, Evan decided he wanted to play out in the snow. He did not have any snow pants on so I was surprised how long he stayed out there, but he had a blast playing first with all his trucks in the snow, then building a “castle” with all his sidewalk chalk. Evan and I have also been enjoying the snow together as I discovered we have a common interest: throwing snowballs. As soon as we go outside he gets a snowball together and throws it at me and then I throw one at him. I look forward to next year when we can build forts together and have a real snowball war!

Favorites General

Evan the Baker

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100_1204Each weekend Evan looks forward to a few things: shopping (he recently told me big boys love to shop), spending time with us, and making Mama (Amy) pancakes. Every Saturday Evan and I get up and he makes Amy breakfast (even though she rumbles on about how it is not the same as her mother’s recipe).

Any opportunity Evan gets to measure out ingredients, mix them together, and then try out the newly finished product – he is there. He loves to dip his finger into anything (even just the flour mixture) and then will say something like “this is my favorite”. Last week, his babysitter sent him home with a plate of cookies and a memory stick from her camera. We took a look at the memory stick and saw how he made the cookies earlier that day. I thought that was pretty darn cute – and had to share. Check out the baker in action!