Dr. William Petit and his wife Christine have been celebrating some good news just in time for the holidays: They welcomed a baby boy named William over the weekend.
On Wednesday, the couple shared a photo and details about their new baby, who weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces when he was born at 2:24 a.m. on Nov. 23 in New Britain, Conn.
“Our son is a beautiful Thanksgiving and Christmas gift,” Dr. Petit said in a statement. “He is very lovable and sweet. I will tell him of his two big sisters, Hayley and Michaela, and how they always helped others with smiles on their faces. I am sure they and their mother Jennifer are smiling down upon him.”
In July 2007, Dr. Petit lost his wife Jennifer and two daughters in a brutal home invasion in Connecticut.
In that attack, his family was held hostage and tortured before their home was set on fire. Petit, who had been locked in the basement, was able to escape, but the rest of his family was killed. Their attackers, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, are now on death row.
Petit met Christine, a photographer, after founding the Petit Family Foundation in memory of his family, and the pair tied the knot in front of 300 people in 2012, with the blessing of the family of his late wife.
In the statement released on Wednesday, Christine Petit said she was thrilled to be a mother for the first time.
"Though we were expecting him in a couple of weeks and hoped to have his nursery a little farther along, it's such a sweet blessing to have something this amazing happen right before Thanksgiving,” she said. “I'm filled with happiness and so grateful for his health. He's so gentle, tiny and adorable, and the feeling of having created a new little family is so peaceful. I could just stare at him all day."
Christine added that baby boy William “has his father's nose, but his long fingers will either play piano like his mom or basketball like his dad."
This story, updated on Wednesday, was originally published at 2:34 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25. TODAY.com writer Laura T. Coffey contributed to this report.