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What’s up with the Bates family? It’s been more than a year since UPtv abruptly canceled the reality series Bringing Up Bates, which followed the lives of the many members of the large Tennessee family. While the TV cameras may have gone away, the family – which consists of Gil and Kelly Jo Bates, their 19 kids, and more than two dozen grandkids – continues to share updates with their many fans on social media. Here’s where things stand with some key members of the Bates family in 2023.  

Lawson Bates married Tiffany Espensen in May 2022 

Lawson Bates and other members of the Bates family standing on a porch in an episode of 'Bringing Up Bates'
Members of the Bates family, including Lawson Bates (in pink shirt), in an episode of ‘Bringing Up Bates’ | UPtv

Lawson Bates is the fourth of Gil and Kelly Jo’s kids and one of the best-known members of the Bates family. In May 2022, he and his girlfriend Tiffany Espensen said “I do” during a sunset ceremony in San Diego. Now, he and the one-time Disney Channel and MCU actor are living in Nashville, where he’s continuing to pursue his music career. The newlyweds haven’t started a family yet. They said in a recent YouTube video that they do plan to have children, though they’re not sure when that will happen. 

“We don’t know when we’re going to have a baby,” Lawson said. “We’ll have to see.”

Trace Bates and his wife Lydia welcomed their first child

While Lawson and Tiffany haven’t yet added to their family, the Bates family is growing in other ways. Lawson’s younger brother Trace married Lydia Romeike in early October 2022. The couple wasted no time in starting their family. In early March 2023, they announced they were expecting their first child.

Lawson and Tiffany’s son was born on Sept. 12, 2023. His name is Ryker Cruise Bates, with Tiffany sharing the news on Instagram.

Ryker gets the honor of being Gil and Kelly Jo’s 26th grandchild. 

Other Bates family baby updates 

Couple sitting on hammock in episode of Bringing Up Bates
‘Bringing Up Bates’ | UPtv
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Trace and Lydia’s baby is just one of several Bates family babies arriving in 2023. 

The first new Bates grandchild of the year was born in February, when Katie Bates and Travis Clark welcomed their first child, a daughter named Hailey James. Then in March, Katie’s sister Alyssa Bates gave birth to her fifth child. She and her husband John Webster named their baby boy Rhett. 

Meanwhile, Zach and Whitney Bates welcomed their fifth child. Lily Jo Bates was born on Aug. 15, 2023.

2022 was also a busy year for Bates family babies. Erin Bates and Chad Paine; Evan Stewart and Carlin Bates; Bobby Smith and Tori Bates; and Nathan Bates and Esther Keyes all had babies last year. 

More Bates family news

In addition to new babies, the Bates family also celebrated a wedding. Jackson Bates proposed to his girlfriend in March 2023, according to an update from the Bates family’s Instagram account. Jackson married Emerson Wells on Oct. 14.

Meanwhile, Carlin Bates has been updating her followers on her mysterious health condition. The mom of two started having seizures after giving birth to her second child in 2022. In April, she and her husband Evan shared in a YouTube video that she was taking medication for the condition and that the episodes are now “few and far between.” However, the doctors are still trying to “pinpoint” exactly what’s causing the seizures. 

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