Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins Expecting Baby No. 5!
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins are set to expand their family to seven, as they announced on Tuesday, August 26, that they’re expecting another child.
The couple took to Instagram to share the news about their fifth baby. In a video, Akins, 35, stood next to Rhett, also 35, while he performed his 2017 hit “Life Changes,” which reflects on fatherhood.
“I was just starting to wrap my head around being a dad. A big surprise disrupted our plans. Now Lauren’s showing — we have another on the way. That’s —” Rhett paused his guitar playing as Akins raised five fingers, “five kids under ten. What can I say? Yeah, life changes. You wake up and nothing feels the same. Yeah, life changes.”
Akins displayed a sonogram to the camera and laughed while looking at Rhett. “Here we go again!” the couple captioned their post. “We’ve got some really excited big sisters in our home. God is truly good.”
As high school sweethearts, Rhett and Akins became parents with the adoption of their daughter Willa from Uganda in May 2017.
“I called Thomas during one of the first nights I met her in Uganda and told him about her,” Akins shared exclusively with Us Weekly in 2019. “Without a moment’s hesitation, he said, ‘Bring her home. She is ours. We are going to make this happen.’”
Lauren Akins and Thomas Rhett Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Shortly after, Akins welcomed daughter Ada. The couple later had daughters Lennon and Lillie in February 2020 and November 2021, respectively.
When asked about expanding their family, Rhett mentioned in his 2024 Us cover story that they are “both really happy with four.”
“With Lillie starting school, we’ve been buzzing with excitement, saying, ‘What will we do with eight hours a day, three days a week?’” Rhett mentioned at the time. “But it wouldn’t be surprising if we welcomed a fifth child in the next three or four years.”
Reflecting on fatherhood, Rhett expressed a wish to tell his past self on his first day as a dad to “cherish every moment.”
“It’s easy to wish away the challenging years. [Lauren] refers to them as the ‘wiping years’—wiping tears, wiping floors, wiping bottoms, all of that. I’ve been a dad long enough to recognize how quickly time passes,” he noted. “One day, my parenting challenges will shift from refusing to eat broccoli to something much bigger. I’m learning how to fully embrace these moments.”
