The 2024 new year’s baby was the third in his family to be born on New Year’s Day.
Cries of Joy: Hamilton Family Welcomes First Baby of the New Year
Monday, January 1, 2024
Riggins Walker Eckstein was 20.8 inches long, weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces with a beautiful full head of hair when he was delivered by Dr. Lacey Wood at Bitterroot Health in Hamilton on Monday.
Riggins is the son of Lucas and Jessica Eckstein. He has an older brother, also named Lucas.
Lucas, age 5, said having a younger brother is “great.”
“He fights over who gets to hold him,” Jessica said. “He’s going to be a great big brother and a big help. Riggins was born on 1/1/24 at 11:24 a.m.”
She said the baby was a fast, easy delivery. “He’s been the most peaceful, easy-going baby ever,” Jessica said. “He was 12 days early so I think he had a plan for not meeting my deductible for 2023,” Lucas said. “But he will be for 2024. Economically, we were discussing that.”
“We need to mention the gumbo we were eating the day before while we watched our beloved Green Bay Packers game,” he said.
Note for football fans: the Packers won over the Minnesota Vikings, 33-10, on Sunday.
“We were joking that the gumbo was so hot it was going to put me in labor, and it worked,” Jessica said.
As for being the third in his family to be born on New Year’s Day, Jessica listed previous winners.
“My Grandma Dee in 1940 and my Aunty Rita Jones in 1961,” she said. “Now Riggins. It is so crazy to me.”
The Eckstein family lives in Hamilton with Lucas, who graduated from Corvallis High School in 2007, in charge of the landscape-install portion of Vern’s Landscaping, while grandfather Vern manages the nursery on U.S. Highway 93 just north of Hamilton.
“When I graduated, I said I’d never come back,” Lucas said. “I left for a year and I was right back here. It’s a hard place to leave. We’re really blessed, we have a great state. It is changing, but everything changes.”
The family praised the hospital workers who donated items to the first baby of the new year, valued at around $500 and containing a portable crib, onesies, diapers, wipes and a variety of baby toys.
“It is so generous,” Lucas said. “They spoiled us.”
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