Photo: Getty Images
Parker McCollum is going to be a dad this year.
The “To Be Loved By You” artist and his wife, Hallie Ray Light McCollum, shared a stunning sunset photo on Instagram on Wednesday evening (February 7), capturing the parents-to-be sharing a kiss as Hallie cradles her growing baby bump. Hallie captioned the photo: “God’s little blessing. We Iove you so much already, Baby M!”
“I’m gone be a daddy!” McCollum exclaimed in a tweet. “Baby M coming later this year! Such a huge blessing from God!”
McCollum and his wife got married in 2022 in a stunning ceremony at a venue in Tomball, Texas, the award-winning country star’s home state. Hallie was first to share gorgeous photos from the ceremony and of their wedding rings. McCollum previously told PEOPLE that he “couldn't wait to ask her to marry me,” in July 2021. “There was no backup plan and no hesitation. I didn't overthink one thing. I was like, ‘It can't get any better than her.’ There was no doubt in my mind that I was making the right decision. She saved my life in a way. I don't think I was headed down the right road.”
“You know what? I say the thing that I’ve probably learned the past year,” the Never Enough artist said, per his record label, of his first year of marriage, “you can take a girl anywhere she wants to go, buy her anything you want to buy her, but your quality time is like the number-one thing that they really care about, at least mine does, and it’s the one thing I just don’t have a surplus of. And so I’ve learned really to, and it’s hard for me to relax and slow down. I’m just always, always going. It’s kind of where Never Enough comes from. You know she handles it really well. She’s really easy on me. But I have learned more than anything that is it my time that probably goes the furthest with her.”
Last month, McCollum announced that he would cancel a show set for August 30 in College Station, Texas, citing “unforeseen circumstances,” and promised at that time that “it’ll all make sense at some point in the near future…we have some exciting news that we’ll be announcing in the near future so be on the lookout!” Some Instagram commenters guessed that McCollum would be unable to perform that show because his wife was pregnant (McCollum, however, didn’t comment on whether that was his reason for the cancelation when he and Hallie announced the pregnancy).
One of the first country artists to congratulate McCollum on social media was Adam Doleac, who wrote in a tweet: “Congrats dude! That makes the two of us.” Doleac and his wife, MacKinnon, are expecting Baby No. 1 this year. They recently posted a sweet center reveal, announcing they’re expecting a baby boy. McCollum and Doleac are among several country artists to become first-time parents in 2024, and others are welcoming Babies No. 2, 3 and 4 into their families. Other artists growing their families this year include Kane Brown, Jon Pardi, Gabby Barrett, Jessie James Decker and more. See the full list of baby announcements here.
Congrats, McCollum family!