Canaan Smith on Welcoming First Child Soon: ‘It’s Crunch Time’ (Exclusive)

Canaan Smith and his wife, Christy, just announced they were expecting their first child, who is due in November. The singer-songwriter recently opened up about the baby’s impending arrival, and why the couple chose to not find out the gender ahead of time, in an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com.

“We’re three weeks out now, so that’s like crunch time to get everything ready and the nursery put together,” Smith said. “We already washed all the clothes. You’re supposed to wash all the clothes with baby detergent, so we’ve done that, and put them away. I was trying to hang the blinds this morning in there, and had a little trouble ’cause it’s not the right width, so I’m up there trying to rig it all these funny ways. We’re just taking care of business as best we can right now, ’cause we know it’s gonna get crazy.”

Smith and Christy gave careful consideration to whether or not they wanted to prepare for a son or daughter ahead of time, but decided to keep the suspense of their baby’s gender for as long as possible.

“It doesn’t make me nervous,” Smith insisted. “It just kind of keeps me, I don’t think engaged is the right word, ’cause I’ve been engaged the whole time with the whole pregnancy and the process with Christy. But it also keeps me – and I don’t want to say excited about it either, ’cause I’ve been excited about it, but here’s something it does that, if you don’t know what’s coming, you kind of feel like you’re more in tune and having to pay attention to the every moment. Just get stuff ready either way, and be as prepared as you can in that regard, so it’s actually been fun, her and I not knowing has been a lot of fun.”

Smith found out Christy was expecting after enduring a long demonstration by Home Depot, who came to their house to do a water test.

“I come home that day, and there’s this random stranger doing a water test in our house,” Smith recalled. “Christy had called me on the way home to double check and be sure I was on my way, and it was, ‘Everything cool?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, everything’s fine.’” I could tell she wasn’t telling me the whole story, but when I got there, the lady was already there, and so we had no privacy. I was already pissed that I couldn’t decompress from my day and just chill at my house; I had to listen to this presentation, that was my first initial reaction.”

Unfortunately for Christy, Smith became incredibly engrossed in the demonstration, making it last over an hour, before his wife finally had him to herself.

“I’m totally engaged, and I’m excited, and I’m stretching out this demonstration way beyond what it should be, just ’cause of my excitement,” Smith recalled. “Christy’s sitting on the barstool just kind of in another place the whole time, and I’m the one engaged and whatnot with the lady. I’m thinking the whole time, ‘Wonder what she’s thinking? Wonder what she’s gotta tell me?’ And I didn’t even think about that.

“No sooner than we said, ‘Thanks, we’ll think about it. See ya later,’ and walked the lady out the front door, I turned around and she immediately said, ‘You remember that dream I told you I had, that I was pregnant?’”

Smith didn’t remember the dream, but he quickly realized what had been on Christy’s mind the entire time.

“I couldn’t even finish saying ‘Why?’ and it hit me. She said, ‘Yeah, we’re pregnant.’ It was cool,” Smith said. “It was such a big moment, because everything felt more finite at that point. Everything felt like we had a meaningful purpose, ’cause marriage is amazing; marriage is the coolest thing ever. But now we have a purpose behind the marriage.

“In addition to just her and I being partners in life, we now have a responsibility to raise a kid right,” he added. “It kind of all hits you, and if you start thinking about it – at least I had nine months to let it sink in, too. I’ve done the whole, up and down with my emotions the whole time, and you’re never ready.”

Smith just signed with Florida Georgia Line‘s new record label, Round Here Records. He just released “Life Ain’t Fair,” which he co-wrote with FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Corey Crowder. More music is expected to be announced shortly.

Photo Credit: Getty / Michael Hickey