ABC/Image Group LAMaren Morris and Ryan Hurd welcomed their first child, a son named Hayes Andrew, near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. 

Though Maren’s been candid about her postpartum depression and the struggles of having a baby during one of the most difficult times in recent memory, all-in-all, she’s loving being a mother.

“I feel like we lucked out with Hayes, because he’s so relaxed and so chill,” she reveals. “And maybe that has something to do with us, but honestly they do sort of form their own personalities even at two or three-months-old.”

Seeing the emotion on Hayes’ face makes it worth it all for Maren.

“Because they’re such potatoes in the beginning and they just sleep all day,” she reflects, “I think when he was like three-and-a-half months, four months, when he started giving genuine smiles, that’s definitely when you feel like, ‘Okay, this kid knows who I am, he knows that he’s finding joy in something already.’”

“And it’s always something random that makes him laugh,” she adds, “but I think that’s been the heart-melter is when that kid smiles.”

Maren says that’s one way you can definitely see he’s his father’s son.

“Everyone has said since he was born that he looks like me,” she explains, “but when he smiles, he’s got my husband’s like crooked smile. And that definitely melts my heart, ’cause it’s Ryan.”

Hayes has also gotten some pretty impressive baby gifts from his mom and dad’s friends, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood, just to name a few. 

By Stephen Hubbard
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