Bringing up baby! Josie Bates and her husband, Kelton Balka, became first-time parents on Friday, July 19.
The couple named their newborn daughter Willow Kristy Balka.
Four months after her wedding, the Bringing Up Bates star, 19, revealed that she was pregnant. “We can hardly believe it,” the reality star told In Touch in February. “We are already so in love with our little one and so very thankful to God for his blessing on our life as we start our little family.”
In the announcement pic, the pair cradled Bates’ baby bump while holding pink, blue and yellow balloons reading, “Baby Balka. Arriving July 2019.” The Pensacola Christian College grad, 23, kissed his wife’s head a she leaned back against him in a patterned blue dress.
Us Weekly exclusively confirmed that Bates and Balka wed in October 2018 — and it was a family affair! Pastor Gil Bates officiated, while Josie’s sisters, Erin Paine and Tori Bates, played the piano and violin. Her brother Lawson Bates performed a song.
“I never could have dreamed the love story that God would write for us, or the merging paths He would lead us on,” the groom wrote on Instagram at the time. “I can truly say there was no better feeling than being with the love of my life, surrounded by loving family and friends, who worked tirelessly to bring everything together, there for the sole purpose of cheering us on as we started our life together.”
Balka added: “All I can say is I’m thankful. Thankful and undeserving of the opportunities and blessing that God has put in my life through the lives of those around me. And now I’m thankful for the biggest blessing of all, my wife and soul mate, Josie Kellyn Balka.”
The bride went on to write, “So excited to begin our life together.”
