‘Bringing Up Bates’ Star Josie Bates Welcomes Baby No. 3

Josie Bates is officially a mom of three after she and her husband Kelton Balka welcomed their third child together. The Bringing Up Bates star, who is also mom to daughters Hazel, 2, and Willow, 4, announced the exciting news with fans on Feb. 22, one day after the delivery.

“Meet the newest love of our lives,” the couple wrote on Instagram. She went on to call the child “The sweetest little miracle.” She soon revealed that the child was a baby boy, Miles Kelton Balka. He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 21 inches long. 

Bates and tied the knot in a romantic outdoor ceremony in overlooking the Tennessee mountains in October 2018. They went on to welcome Willow in July 2019, with Hazel arriving in 2021 after the couple revealed in September 2020 that they suffered a miscarriage, Bates writing at the time, “sometimes you have to walk through experiences you never thought you would have to… I’ve never experienced the type of pain and loss that I’ve had these past weeks. There is an empty spot in our hearts and in our home. Even though we never got to see our baby face to face or hold its tiny hand, we know God has a purpose for its short life.”

The expansion from a family of four to a family of five comes after the happy parents first announced in August that they were expecting. At the time, Bates and her husband, who tied the knot in October 2018, recruited their two eldest daughters to help share the news, the reality TV star sharing an adorable video to Instagram captioned, “Balk, Party of Five.” In the short clip, the family held up a series of sonogram images, with Willow saying in a voiceover, “I have a surprise! Mommy has a baby in her belly. This is a picture of it. Hazel’s a big sister now. I can’t wait to see it! Love you, bye!” In a separate post, Bates shared a gallery of images of her growing family, writing, “Baby Balka coming early March.”

Bates and her husband did not learn their little one’s sex until their arrival, with Balka having revealed in a comment to one of his wife’s November posts that they “were waiting till birth to find out.” Meanwhile, Bates shred at the time that “the anticipation to meet this sweet baby and find out if it’s a boy or girl is building! We cannot wait.”