‘Blue Bloods’ Star Vanessa Ray Welcomes Baby Boy With Husband, Shares First Photos

Vanessa Ray has expanded her family by one adorable new member! The Blue Bloods actress announced Thursday that she and her husband Landon Beard had welcomed a baby boy named Isaac Ray Beard via adoption in an interview with PEOPLE. See the photos of her little one here.

Isaac was born on Nov. 7, the actress revealed, and the way he joined their family was “quite a whirlwind.” Ray continued that she and Beard had never been “totally sure” if they were going to have kids, but one day on set, “I was about to do a family dinner and I just had this overwhelming sensation of family and what I love about our life and all of these things.” Ray recalled calling her husband in tears, telling him that she felt like they were meant to adopt a child.

Ray’s Blue Bloods co-star Bridget Moynahan was one of the first people she told about her decision to adopt, and Moynahan encouraged her to connect with actor Peter Hermann, who alongside wife Mariska Hargitay adopted their son Andrew and daughter Amaya. Coincidentally, Ray and Hermann had a scene together in their next script, and Hermann “really held our hand and walked us through everything that we would need to know about adoption,” Ray recalled, adding of the adoption process, “It’s a lot of first dates almost. It almost feels like there’s a ton of heartbreak that comes along with it.”

While it did take about a year for Ray and her husband to find a lawyer and fill out the paperwork required, things really got rolling once they finally were able to put their information on an adoption website. Less than a week later, the couple was traveling to meet a potential birth mother. 

When Isaac was born a week early, Ray said there wasn’t much time to prepare, but luckily, her friends scrambled to create a nursery for them in just 24 hours. After adopting Isaac, Ray broke the news to her Blue Bloods co-stars, and now at three months old, Ray said that Isaac has become “a real part of the family,” having already met Moynahan, Donnie Wahlberg. Will Estes, Marisa Ramirez and Tom Selleck. “

For now, Ray is soaking up every moment with her son. “We’re just so focused on him right now,” she said. “And just showering him with love and trying to absorb every single moment we can of his just littleness, his little life.”