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VIDEO: Baby at New Year’s a Dandy adventure

Trish Dandy and Peter Weinkam, it was a New Year’s surprise to see baby Daphne arrive a month early

Since she comes from a family of performers, it’s probably fitting that the Cowichan Valley’s New Year’s Baby: five pound 15 ounce Daphne Weinkam arrived a month early.

“She just couldn’t wait to get on stage and be the star of the show,” laughed mom, Trish Dandy, as she cuddled her newborn in Cowichan District Hospital’s maternity ward, with husband and proud new father, Peter Weinkam, looking on from close beside her.

Weinkam is a violinist and Dandy is a singer, so it’s not surprising that the little one wanted to get on with the show.

Daphne was born at 7:49 a.m. after only four hours of labour.

Dandy realizes that she was pretty lucky, for a first-time mom, as many take considerably longer than that to deliver their first infant.

There’s a sweet surprise for anyone who meets little Daphne, too. Under her hat, she is a curly carrot top, picking up a family trait from Dandy’s side.

“Her great-grandmother’s going to be very excited because Daphne has red hair. Her great-grandmother didn’t have any grandchildren or great-grandchildren with red hair until now. Her kids did, like my father and my aunt, but none of us did. It’s a great 100th birthday present for her.”

“She had her birthday party in October, and Daphne got to go, too, even though she didn’t know about it.”

Mom and baby both looked great but Dandy said she expected to be staying in hospital until the following day, before heading home.

“They like to do that with first-time mothers,” she said.

It’s been an exciting time for the couple.

“We’ve also just bought our first house,” Dandy said.

Weinkam and Dandy have only been married since November 2016 so the family is basically starting off a whole new life together.