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Well, Brendan threw us all for a loop by waiting almost a week past his due date to arrive, so nobody managed to guess closer than two days to when he was born. Not surprisingly, the time portion of the game ended up being the deciding factor, since being off by just a day meant a difference of 120 points. The average guess was off by 155 hours or 775 points.

Erica and I both guessed that the baby would be a girl and born two days before the due date, so we were completely out of the running. She scored 940 points and I scored 930 by guessing just two hours later than my wife did.

I’m sorry to say that the highest score went to my coworker, Erica Wilkinson, who scored 1825 points by guessing the baby would be born a week early, female and 8 lbs 1 oz. She guessed the right length, though, so that helped her score a little.

Coming right down to the line, another coworker, Dylan, went neck and neck with the winner, but lost out with a score of 345 points. Dylan managed to guess everything but the date exactly right, so that definitely deserves an honorable mention. Congrats to Dylan!

Finally, the winning guess breaks down as follows:

• 230 points for guessing April 5th at 9pm
• 50 points for guessing Female
• 15 points for guessing 8lbs 11 oz
• 5 points for guessing 21 inches

With a total of 300 points, my little brother Andy is the winner! Congratulations!!

Brendan James Bayless was born at 6:42 pm on April 7th, 2008. Erica’s doctor checked her this morning during her regular appointment and decided it was time to get the baby out. We arrived at the hospital at about 1:30pm and they started inducing Erica’s labor then. By about 6:30 all was ready and she pushed for just about 10 minutes. As Erica was in labor, the weather outside ranged from overcast to spits of rain to a cheery spring blizzard, but at almost the same moment Brendan entered the world, the sun broke through the clouds and flooded our delivery room with light (I’m not being poetic… it really happened!). He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He has a fuzz of reddish hair and a very happy disposition. He’s been well behaved all night. His mom is doing just fine, though her blood pressure continues to be a bit high as it was for the last couple weeks of her pregnancy. Here is our newest little addition to the family:

For those who participated in our baby guessing game, I’ll tally up the points tomorrow and let you know who won. Right now I need some sleep!

The internet is the most powerful collaboration and connection tool ever created by man. Here’s a short video talking a little about how the network is being used to connect people with each other and with ideas.

Still no baby. Erica goes completely stir crazy at about 4pm every day. We sit at home at night wondering if there is anything we can do to pass the time. And, maybe worst of all, 85% of the guesses made in our baby game have already passed. A few people did guess the 4th or 5th, though. Of course, just the fact that the date you guessed has already passed does not mean you can’t win the game, so stay tuned!

While we wait, it never hurts to watch the Allman Brothers Band for a few minutes: