Tommy and Laura Mills of Deaver are the parents of the first baby born at Powell Valley Hospital in 2016.

Tux O’Brien Mills made his entry into the world at 7:53 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 3. He weighed 7 pounds, 6.6 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Tux wasn’t due until Jan. 10, but he announced his intention on Saturday to come a little early.

“We had a solid day of contractions” before productive labor began, Tommy said.

In fact, Tux’s parents made the trip from Deaver to Powell Valley Hospital on Saturday night, but they were sent home again Sunday morning.

“She just never was progressing as far as dilating and stuff,” Tommy said.

However, Laura’s contractions continued, and “We came back at about 11 o’clock (Sunday morning). I was worried about her getting pooped, so I brought her back and told the doctor, ‘Let’s make this thing happen.’”

Tux got his name from the nickname of a friend of his parents.

“He lives in New Zealand. He does sheep shearing, and he comes up every spring,” Tommy said. “When he was a kid, he used to eat dog biscuits, and the brand of the dog biscuits was Tux.”

While baby Tux isn’t actually named after the friend — or the dog biscuits — that’s where the inspiration for his name came from. Laura suggested the name, and it stuck.

“It’s short and sweet,” Laura Mills said.

“And O’Brien, it just kind of rolls off the tongue,” Tommy added.

Tommy — whose father also is Tommy Mills — said Tux’s name meets another tradition for naming boys in his family: Tux’s initials spell TOM, just as Tommy’s two older brothers’ names do: Trent Owen Mills and Travis Olan Mills.

“They all spell TOM,” he said. “That’s a tradition that all of us boys in our family have kept up with all of our boys.”

“So he kind of fit that mold, we’re TOM, too,” Laura said.

Tux is the first child born to the Mills, who were married in November 2011.

His grandparents are Tom and Bonnie Mills, who live south of Gillette, and Mike and Lynn Hansen of Lovell.

“He’s the first grandbaby in my family,” Laura said. “He’s pretty special in Grammy and Grampy’s world right now. They used to live right around here, but they bought a house in Lovell so they could be Grandma and Grandpa.”