February Recap

 We can't believe that we are on the last day of February and we have a lot to cover in our February recap.

We celebrated our ninth blogging anniversary on February 8th. We also announced the return of Bringing Up Bates.

Jackson, Addallee, Jeb, Trace, and Bobby all celebrated their birthdays. The family welcomed a new granddaughter on February 9th making her the sixth birthday to be celebrated.

Chad and Erin shared some heart felting news regarding Erin's health. Lawson shared that he has a girlfriend who's birthday happens to be on February 10th! The family enjoyed a vacation. 

The family celebrated Valentine's Day.

March birthday cover

It's hard to believe that just three years ago, the Bates family did not have any March birthdays but now they have three birthdays.

First birthday is Kolter on the 25th. The second birthday is Zoey who's birthday is on March 28th. Everly's birthday is on March 30th.

Bates Boys line up

Now that John and Alyssa have welcomed their fourth child into the world, we thought that it would be wonderful to share the line up. We will also have one for the girls in a few days. 

1. Gil Bates- January 1, 1965

2. Chad Paine- April 18, 1987

3. Zach Bates- December 30, 1988

4. Brandon Keilen- September 15, 1989

5. John Webster- November 21, 1989

6. Lawson Bates- July 27, 1992

7. Nathan Bates- August 29, 1993

8. Bobby Smith- February 16, 1995

9. Kelton Balka- July 4, 1995

10. Evan Stewart- August 24, 1995

11. Trace Bates- February 1, 1997

12. Travis Clark- March 9, 2001

13. Jackson Bates- February 17, 2002

14. Warden Bates- May 19, 2003

15. Isaiah Bates- October 16, 2004

16. Judson Bates- September 15, 2010

17. Jeb Bates- February 1, 2012

18. Bradley Bates- October 29, 2014

19. Carson Paine- May 14, 2015

20. Kade Smith- November 9, 2018

21. Kolter Smith- March 25, 2020

22. Jayden Bates- coming June 2021

All about Kolter: 11 months old

 Can you guys believe that Kolter will be One next month? Be sure to check out our March birthday cover which will be out in two days.

This past month, he celebrated his first Valentine's day. He also celebrated his father's birthday. He got a new cousin (Maci) who was born on February 9th.

New photo of Lawson and Tiffany

In honor of Tiffany's 22nd birthday, Lawson got to spend her special day with her celebrating.

We do want to address our mistake with the adopted daughter part on our meet Tiffany post which we later took out that part but are still getting agreements about us being disrespectful. We did not mean any rude or disrespect. We acknowledge that we made a bad choice in wording and quickly fixed it.

New photos of the Webster girls

It has been two weeks since John and Alyssa welcomed their baby girl into the world. Alyssa shared on February 11th some photos of the sweet baby girl with her older sisters.

Allie Jane will turn 6 on April 11th. John had said that Allie has wanted to read to the baby since finding out that she would be a big sister.

Lexi and Maci's birthdays are two weeks apart.

Zoey will turn three in just a few weeks.

New photo of Layla's 1st birthday shoot

We have three new photos of Evan and Carlin's daughter as she celebrated her first birthday in January 2021.

Do you think that she liked her smash cake?

Yesterday, we shared Layla's 12 month update for you all to enjoy.

All about Layla: 12 months old

 Written on February 5, 2021

Layla is a little over twelve months old and today we are sharing her first year of life recap. 

Following her birth, she has a younger cousin (Kolter) and will be getting four new cousins in the next following months.

Be sure to check out our post tomorrow for her first birthday photo shoot.

updated February birthdays cover

A new baby has been born! 

John and Alyssa have welcomed their sweet baby girl on February 9, 2021 so we updated our birthday cover. You won't' have to wait long until our March birthday cover comes out, it will be out on February 27th

All about Maci: introduction

 Maci Jo is here. 

She was born on February 9, 2021 just 8 days before her due date. 

She weighted 6lb 3ozs. 

Congratulations to John, Alyssa, Allie, Lexi, and Zoey. 

To see her birth announcement by clicking here.

To see her first photo by clicking here.

Grandbaby Balka: Boy or Girl!

 It's an exciting time for the family. The current countdown for the Bates grandchildren is 12 granddaughters and five grandsons! Today we are revealing the gender for Baby Balka #2 and it's a ...

We can't wait to meet Hazel Sloane Balka and neither can Josie, Kelton and Willow! 

Congrats to the happy family

49 Bates and counting

When we first started our blog in 2012, There were 21 Bates and now we are fast approaching 49 members in the Bates family. Three of them are in courtships and there is currently three grandbabies due in June 2021.

The Boys currently have 21 members in their line up. They also have one boy on the way due in June 2021.

The girls currently have 25 members in their line up. They also have one girl on the way due June 2021.

At the time that we are writing this, Josie and Kelton have not shared if they are having a baby girl or a baby boy but it should be soon.

Lawson, Katie, and Nathan have all announced their relationships so our counts included their special someones.

Baby Balka: Gender Reveal #2 coming soon

We know that you all are currently waiting patiently for Kelton and Josie's gender reveal. 

It is coming soon! What do you think what the baby will be? Boy or girl?

Stay tune for the big news! 

Double Birthday #2

In the month of February, the Bates family has two double birthdays! Today is the second one of the double birthdays.

Happy birthday to Jackson and Addallee. Addallee is turning 15 years old while Jackson is turning 19 years old.

Bobby turns 26

Happy birthday to Bobby

Erin's health issues and new photo

 Many have been asking about Erin and we have some answers to share with you all. We also ask that you pray for the Paine family. We also want to share a new photo of the Paine family

Erin revealed that she had three surgeries to remove cysts. She is doing much better. 

Valentine's Day 2021

 Happy Valentine's Day 

Meet Maci Jo Webster

We recently shared that John and Alyssa welcomed baby #4 into the world and today we have photos of the sweet baby girl to share with you. 

You will have to wait to get her birth stats on her "All about Maci" introduction that will be out soon but now for more photos. 

More new photos of Nathan and Esther

 Nathan recently shared new photos of him and Esther that we thought that we would share it with you. 

20 weeks pregnant

Josie is 20 weeks pregnant with her second child. The couple has not announced if it's a boy or girl but hopefully will soon.

As many of you know that both Whitney and Tori are expecting in June 2021. Tori announced that she was going to have a baby girl while Whitney announced that they were going to have a boy.

Season 10 update

We are so excited to share that uptv has announced season 10 of Bringing Up Bates!

It returns on Thursday, April 8! 

Meet Tiffany Espensen

Now that both Nathan and Lawson have announced that they have special someones. We thought that it would be nice if we officially introduce them on our blog. A few days ago we introduced Esther and today is Tiffany's turn.

She is the daughter of Dan and Robin Espensen. She was adopted at 13 months old by the couple and joins brother Erik.

Her full name is Tiffany Lian Espensen and her birthday is February 10, 1999.

You can read Lawson and Tiffany's relationship announcement by clicking here.

Four miscarried Bates Babies

We have been many questions about the babies that Gil and Kelly Bates had between 2007 and 2012 and what the order of is with them.

Here is the order of the Bates children with the miscarried babies:

16. Ellie- April 2007

17. Jewels 

18. Jubilee 

19. Callie- August 2009

20. Judson- September 2010

21. Zion- March 2011

22. Jeb- February 2012

23. Sunny- August 2012 

It is unknown when Jewels and Jubilee were miscarried but here is the order.

Baby Girl Webster is here

We are so excited to share the safe arrival of Grandbaby #15 and that means John and Alyssa have welcome baby #4. John and Alyssa shared that their baby was a baby girl and were going to named her Maci Jo.

Congrats to the family as they begin their new journey as a family of the six.

We will be sharing new photos of the sweet baby girl later this week for you all so stay tune.

Meet Esther Keyes

 Now that both Nathan and Lawson have announced that they have special someone's. We thought that it would be nice if we officially introduce them on our blog. Up first is Esther. 

She is the daughter of George and Lisa Keyes. She has 13 siblings. She was born on October 14, 1997. The couple began their relationship on October 14, 2020.

To see their relationship announcement by clicking here.

9 years and counting

Before I start on today's post, I know that I said on Facebook that our blog was about to celebrate our eight anniversary but its really our ninth anniversary ❤!

We started the blog right after Gil and Kelly welcomed their 19th child into the world. 

We blogged all the weddings of the Bates children to date! Our most recent wedding was Evan and Carlin!

We have done all the engagement and and courtships of Zach, Erin, Michaella, Alyssa, Josie and Carlin. We have also shared the courtships of Nathan and Katie

We have blogged all of the grandbabies that have been born. The last one was born in March 2020! We have also announced all the pregnancies with our most recent ones being Alyssa, Josie, Tori and Whitney!

What do you think will happen this year?

New photo of Nathan and Esther

The family is currently on their vacation but we wanted to share new photos with you since we have a little bit before the next birthday. 

Special friend for Lawson

Yesterday, Lawson shared a new photo on his Instagram along with Tiffany and we are so excited to share it with you all. 

here's the second photo 

Carlin's surprise visitor

 Right before Layla's 1st birthday,  Carlin had a surprise visitor, Joy and Evelyn. 

Carlin and Joy have been best friends for a number of years. 

Bradley prays for baby brother

 Back when Zach and Whitney shared that they were expecting baby #4 with their kids, Bradley prayed that he would have a little brother and he was not the only one. His father did too when Kelly was pregnant with baby #4.

If you don't know that who Bates Baby #4 was, it was Lawson.

Bates Double birthday #1

Happy 1st day of February!

It's been a busy week for the Bates family! This week they have three birthdays. Yesterday marked Layla's 1st birthday and today we are celebrating Jeb and Trace!

That's right, Trace is turning 24 years old while Jeb is turning 9 years old!