Liverpool and England star Joe Cole and his wife Carly have exclusively shared some happy news with HELLO! – the couple are celebrating after becoming parents for the second time. Carly, 28, gave birth to a little boy on Friday October 19 at 10.44am in the Portland Hospital after a fairly swift labour – her waters broke at 3am. The new arrival weighed in at 6lb 13oz.
The couple's son is a little brother to their daughter, two-and-a-half-year-old Ruby. The adorable little girl made her entrance in March 2010, and Carly let Joe pick her name as a reward for supporting her through a 16-hour labour. Speaking in an exclusive interview with HELLO! In which Carly shared the first pictures of her daughter (below), she said: "I told Joe that if he was good when I was in labour he could choose. "She also told us that her sportsman husband is a keen, hands-on father who "likes to do at least two nappies a day and wants to do his fair share". She added: "He loves being a dad and wants to do as much as he can. He's more of a worrier than me and I think he'll be really protective."
Carly wed her footballer beau in 2009 during a romantic ceremony in Chelsea, where the pair were based while Joe played for the upmarket area's football club. Photos from the special wedding, which was attended by famous faces including Joe's football colleague John Terry and EastEnders actress Kara Tointon, appeared in HELLO!
Joe was taken aback by how gorgeous Carly looked in her classic figure-hugging Oscar de la Renta gown. "Even I was surprised by how unbelievably stunning Carly looked," he said. "She was more beautiful than I have ever seen her. "The next chapter of their lives began when Joe signed for Liverpool in July 2010 and the couple relocated from their £3 million former townhouse in Chelsea to a new, ultra modern £2.6 million home in the exclusive footballers' enclave of Formby.
The couple were soon welcomed into the social circle of Joe's new football club. Carly told us: "When we first moved up here, there were three big social events in a row, including Jamie Carragher’s testimonial and his wife Nicola’s 30th birthday. I thought, ‘This club are a sociable lot!’ "I didn’t really need that network of wives and girlfriends when Joe was at Chelsea, because I had my own existing circle of friends around me. But because I don’t have that here, it’s nice to have that support and to know that, when the guys are away, we can meet up."
