Levi Spindler, who turns four next month, was “pretty excited” last week to be a first-time big brother, even though he earlier expressed a desire to have a baby sister, father Steve Spindler said.

Steve and second-time mom Hillary Hommy were also excited to welcome their second child — six-pound, 15-ounce boy Shea Spindler — on Jan. 1, and even more so because young Shea was the first baby born in Squamish in 2013.

That one, of course, could have gone either way. The couple had gone to see Dr. Gerhard Malherbe on New Year’s Eve “because it seemed like the baby had dropped, and we were thinking that it might be go time,” said Steve Spindler, whose family lives in Amblepath.

“He said, ‘Well, it seems like it’ll be soon but just go home and relax and see how it goes.’”

Relax Spindler and Hommy did, going home and having a little New Year’s Eve party with friends.

By around 11 p.m., “Hillary said it seemed like things seemed like they were accelerating, and at 1 a.m. it was getting pretty uncomfortable for her,” Steve said, “so we had to kick everybody out and say, ‘OK, we’ll see you a bit later.’”

When the couple arrived at Squamish General Hospital at about 1:30 a.m., “we mentioned the New Year’s baby, just trying to keep the mood a little bit light, and they said there had been a couple who had delivered just before midnight.”

Shea Spindler arrived on Jan. 1 at 4:03 a.m.

Hillary, who works for SparkNet Communications, a company that consults on issues of licencing, programming and research for radio, is now on a year’s maternity leave while Steve continues to commute to work for B.C. Lottery Corp. in Vancouver.

As for big brother Levi, “we told our friends who he was staying with to tell him that we’ll let him know as soon as we know,” Steve said. “We didn’t know what sex it was going to be beforehand but he had said, ‘I really want a baby sister.’ But I think he’s cool to have a brother.”