Bringing Up Bates alum Katie Bates shared a moment of bliss weeks after her husband Travis Clark’s cheating scandal rocked their family.
“My baby girl is three 😭 I don’t even know how that’s possible. You made me a mom,” Bates, 25, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, February 17, along with photos of daughter Hailey’s birthday celebration. “I was just a 22 year old girl holding you for the first time and somehow you’ve grown into this beautiful, happy, caring little person💗You are the sweetest big sister.”
The caption continued, “The way you check on your brother, the way you want to help with everything, the way you wrap your arms around the people you love and squeeze so tight. You love your family and your cousins so much. You feel everything so big and love even bigger. You are thoughtful and so full of joy. Your giggles fill our whole house. Your little ‘I love you momma’ will always be my favorite sound 🥹 Happy third birthday to my sweet girl. I’m so proud of who you are and I love you so much 🫶🏻.”
Bates finished off the post with “#birthday #celebration #three #family #love.” (In addition to Hailey, the former reality star shares son Harvey, 17 months, with Clark, 24.)
Several members of the Bates family responded with birthday wishes for Hailey in the comments section of the post.
“Happy birthday sweet girl 🥹💕 love her sm!” Katie’s sister-in-law Whitney Bates wrote, while her sister Josie Balka said, “Happy birthday, sweet girl ❤️❤️ we love you so much !”
“This is so cute!!!!! 🩷,” Katie’s sister Alyssa Webster wrote.
“Obsessed with her 🥹🥹” Katie’s sister Carlin Bates added.
Katie also shared a separate video documenting her decorating the house with pastel paper chains, crepe paper, balloons, garland and a table full of gifts.
“Can’t believe my little girl is waking up a three year old 😭💗 So excited for her to see her birthday surprise 🎂,” she captioned the clip.
Hailey’s birthday celebration came just one month after Clark publicly admitted to cheating on Katie. (Hours before Clark made the confession, Katie revealed via Instagram she had suffered pregnancy loss.)
“This is hard to write, but I owe the truth and I owe an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife,” Clark wrote via his Instagram Story on January 17. “I had an affair and repeatedly broke her trust. There is no excuse for what I did.”
Clark apologized for the “pain, humiliation and betrayal” he caused Katie through his “choices.” Katie, for her part, broke her silence on her husband’s infidelity two days later.
“This is not how I imagined beginning this year or this new season of our lives,” she wrote in a statement via Instagram on January 19. “This has been an incredibly painful time for me and for our family. As many now know, our marriage has been deeply hurt and my trust has been broken. Right now, I am taking life one day at a time and focusing on what matters most: our children, their future, and my own healing.”
Katie said she “supported” Clark’s desire to publicly take accountability for his actions for the sake of “transparency.”
“We are working through this privately, seeking counsel both together and individually as we try to determine the best path forward for our family. I am also being supported by legal counsel,” the statement continued. “This is not a quick or easy process, and it is not one I am taking lightly. Every decision about our future will be made slowly and carefully, with what is best for our family and our children as the highest priority.”
