Kay & Tay Welcome Baby Girl and Share More About The 2-to-3 Transition

Kaylee and Taylor Dudley—better known as Kay and Tay —have built an online community of millions by sharing the funny, heartfelt, and all-too-relatable ups and downs of marriage and parenting daughters Ellie, almost 2, and Kinsley, 13.

Now, the Dallas-based duo has even more to celebrate. After sharing a glimpse of Kaylee heading into labor, the couple took to their Instagram Stories to announce the arrival of their newest addition, affectionately nicknamed “Bug,” on October 9.

Before welcoming their baby girl, Kay and Tay gave The Bump an exclusive peek behind the curtain—offering a look at their parenting philosophies, go-to strategies, and the sweet, unfiltered moments that don’t always make it to your For You Page.

The Bump: How do you feel this pregnancy has differed from your other two? Anything take you by surprise?

Kaylee Dudley: Every pregnancy I’ve had so far has been so different, which is surprising because I’m the same person; you’d think it would be similar. My acne, nausea and all of that was so much better this time around. I almost thought it was a boy because it was just so different in the first trimester.

She has also been my most active baby by far. Not just me feeling her a lot more, but she’s been flipping all over the place. One minute she’s head up, the next minute she’s head down. I don’t know if it’s like a space thing because I’ve been pregnant before, and she just has more room in there, but she’s been a little flipper. She’s like a fish in there.

TB: The big day is right around the corner. What’s your birth plan like this time around? Anything you plan on doing differently?

Kay: I feel like with any birth plans, things can change and you have to just be willing to go with the flow. I want an epidural, but that could change depending on what’s going on. I know for sure I want to bring home to the hospital room. I plan to bring my own pillow, blanket and even my own hospital gown. The ones they provide you are so crunchy and uncomfortable. I also think this time I’ll plan on playing some Zen music. We’ve been doing it throughout this pregnancy with Bug, and I think playing it during contractions might keep me levelheaded and not panicking about the pain.

TB: Fans love that you’ve been calling your baby girl “Bug.” How did that nickname come about? Is it something you think will carry on after she makes her entrance?

Kay: A lot of people think Bug is her name, but it’s just her nickname. When I was pregnant with Ellie, we called her Bean because the first ultrasound looked like a little bean. That stuck—we still call her Ellie Bean to this day.

With this baby, we wanted something similar since we weren’t sharing her name. When I told Tay I was pregnant, I actually got him upstairs by saying there was a bug in the bedroom. He came looking for it, and the nickname just stuck. And my parents used to call me Bug, so it kind of feels like a family nickname now.

TB: Speaking of names, are there any runners-up that you loved but ended up not choosing for Bug?

Kay “Yes! Our very first top name before we got pregnant again was Charlotte. After Ellie, we were like, ‘If we have another girl, we wanted to name her Charlotte and call her Charlie.’ So Ellie and Charlie. But apparently, everyone else loves the name Charlotte, too. We know some people who used the name, and so we didn’t really want to use a name that had been recently used. So it just didn’t work out, unfortunately, but I still love the name. We also loved Leighton. We were gonna call her Laney and Laney Bug. The one that we ended up going with was the one we kept going back to. The one we picked is like a family name, and it’s just the one that I think ultimately feels right.

TB: Do you have any more saved baby names you hope to use in the future? Do you see yourselves as a family of five or would you like to keep growing your family?

Kay: For me, I am definitely open to having more. I think my health plays a big part in how that looks in the future. I have very hard postpartum periods with my lupus, so it’s really gonna depend on that and, I don’t know, we’re kind of just winging it. We’re definitely open to it, I mean for sure. But we’re also open to being done if that’s what needs to happen too.

Taylor Dudley: I think if Bug had been a boy, we might have just stopped. But now we’re like, well, we may not be able to experience having a baby boy. So maybe we should try again one day.

Image: Courtesy of AGPR | Cydnee Jex

TB: Speaking of your postpartum experience, Tay, how do you plan to support Kay postpartum? What did you learn from supporting her after Ellie’s arrival?

Tay: The first time, I didn’t know what to expect. It was my first time being around someone newly postpartum, so it was a lot of learning. Your body goes through so much when you have a baby. There’s a lot of healing to do, so I tried to be there physically, helping with the baby, cleaning bottles, keeping the house in order and making sure Kay had what she needed so she could rest and bond. I also learned how important it was to just be there emotionally. Postpartum hormones go crazy when you have a baby. Sometimes Kay would just randomly cry, and I had to be patient and listen.

Kay: He was really there in every aspect that I needed him to be there for, and it really makes a huge difference for a woman who’s postpartum. Just him being there to listen to me vent and cry about nothing, because there are so many times when you just will cry about nothing or cry because you’re not pregnant anymore. It’s so silly because you don’t want to be pregnant by the end of it, and then you cry because you miss it.

TB: What’s your best advice for moms or dads-to-be struggling with anxiety around the postpartum period?

Kay: I think the best advice I can give is that our bodies were meant to do this. It will all come how it’s supposed to come. You don’t have to just obsess over all the trends that you see on social media or making sure you’re on a schedule or ‘Will happen the way it’s supposed to happen?’ Just take it day by day and soak in all of that newborn bliss because it goes by so fast, and you’ll find yourself looking back and saying I wish I had been less stressed and just enjoyed it.

TB: Great products can really help make life easier in those first few months. What are some things you found yourself coming back to every day when you had Ellie, and what things do you plan to splurge on for Bug?

Kay: My number one thing is the Owlet Dream Sock. It’s a bit of a splurge, but it gave us so much peace of mind with Ellie, just knowing it would alert us if her oxygen dropped. Thankfully, that never happened, but it was so nice knowing it was there. We also love the Newton Breathable Bassinet. You can find cheaper bassinets, but that one gave us peace of mind because it’s breathable, so we for sure got one of those again.

Tay: I’d add Coterie diapers. They’re definitely a splurge compared to other brands, but they are totally chlorine-free. We almost never experienced diaper rashes with Ellie even to this day, out of all the ones we tried, they are hands down the best ones. And then the Baby Bjorn bouncer—we used it every single day.

TB: Outside of these products, can you tell us more about your nursery?

Kay: We didn’t work with one specific brand. It’s more like a culmination of so many small businesses and thoughtful touches. For example, all our baskets are from BEBE Bask, and a lot of the shelves and décor came from Etsy makers. We even have antique picture frames mixed in. Cuddle + Kind donated dolls that we used for this adorable doll shelf wall. It’s honestly the most dreamy nursery I could have imagined. Now I feel mom guilt because I need to redo Ellie’s room!

Tay: We really wanted it to feel calming. The wallpaper is this petite floral design, kind of cottage-y, and we layered in vintage frames, sconces and soft lighting. All of the lamps and sconces can shift to red light, so at night we can keep it dim and cozy instead of harsh overhead lighting (a big hack we learned from our time with Ellie). Kay bought the same sheepskin rocker we used in Ellie’s room, and she keeps saying she can’t wait to sit in it at night with Bug.

Kay: Yeah, just sitting there in that rocker with the sconces glowing—it’s such a vibe. I can already picture nursing her in that space. It feels so special.

TB: Speaking of preparing for baby, the 2-to-3 transition isn’t always easy. What are you most anxious about with bringing home Bug? How do you hope to ease the transition for Ellie?

Kay: It’s totally different bringing your second home to a pre-teen than bringing another little one in when you have a toddler. I’m nervous about how Ellie handles the transition because she doesn’t really understand what’s happening. But we’ve been doing a lot of research trying to figure out how best to introduce a baby into the picture when she has been the baby her whole life. We’ve been told to give her a baby doll and tell her it’s her baby, so when I’m feeding Bug she can feed her baby too. A pediatrician gave this advice to someone who works at my dental office, like 25 years ago, and she said that it works.

Tay: We also plan to have Bug ‘give’ Ellie a gift when they first meet, to initiate a friendship right off the bat. We will make sure that Ellie knows it came from the baby, so she knows the baby is a good and fun thing and nice.

Kay: We will also try not to be holding the newborn when Ellie walks into the hospital room. Instead, we’ll have Bug in the bassinet so Ellie sees her as her own person, not like Mom and Dad holding another kid. Little things like that will hopefully help with the transition. We’ll report back with what works!

TB: Welcoming a third child is a big transition not only for your older children, but also for your relationship. How are you working to strengthen your marriage ahead of this change?

Kay: We’ve been really intentional about making our evenings work-free. Once Ellie goes down, it’s really just about Tay and I, and I feel like that’s so important because it’s easy in those early years with little ones to slip into a roommate situation where you are just going through the motions. The end of the day has to be focused on each other and what the other needs. Sometimes that may look like ‘Let me go watch my show and you play a video game,’ sometimes that looks like us cooking dinner together. You really just have to prioritize time together without littles around.

Tay: It’s an interesting case for us because for a lot of people, you feel worse when you’re pregnant, but Kay feels better because she has Lupus, and her Lupus kind of goes into remission when she’s pregnant. For the first two trimesters, we focused on traveling and our careers. But now, in the third trimester, we’ve tried to slow down and stay at home, establishing a routine that we can add a baby to. We’ve prepared that routine ahead of time so we can easily slot a baby into the schedule we’ve given ourselves.

TB: As you approach these last few days before Bug’s arrival, what gets you most excited about becoming a family of five?

Kay: It’s silly and simple, but I’ve had a new double stroller put together and just sitting in my living room for a month now. I am so excited to fill it and just have both my babies in it and push them around the neighborhood. Overall, I’m just excited to see the dynamic between Ellie and a baby. I had a 12-year-old when Ellie was born, and obviously, that was so magical, but it’s different. It’s not a baby. You don’t get to match them in clothes. There’s no way in heck my preteen was gonna wear the same clothes as Ellie. So I haven’t got to do that. So I’m really excited to have like two little girls. Everything I’ve bought for Bug, I’ve bought Ellie matching. So we are going to do the matching thing for sure. And I’m very excited about that.

Tay: I think Kay’s right on it with the interaction. I’m excited to see the dynamic of Ellie having a sister close in age. It’s really fun to watch Ellie play with Kinsley, but with Kinsley just about to turn 14, it is very different. It’s the same way that I would play with Ellie. Kinsley is very mature and plays like any adult would. It’s going to be so much fun to watch Bug and Ellie babbling at each other and getting into antics.