Break out the champagne and cigars — Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean is officially a dad.
In Touch Weekly reports the 34-year-old singer and his wife Rochelle Deanna Karidis gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Ava James early Tuesday morning in Los Angeles.
“We are all doing well and are thrilled to welcome Ava to the world,” McLean told the magazine, announcing the news of his daughter’s birth. “We are so in love with our bundle of joy and happy to have started our family now.”
According to the report, baby Ava entered the world at 4:51 am, weighing 7 lbs and 7 oz.
In Touch notes Ava is the first child for the couple, who married in December of 2011 and announced the pregnancy just four months later via a YouTube video.
McLean said at the time:
“I just wanted to say thank you guys for all your love and support. Because we love you all so much, we wanted to share with you –- for the first time –- something very special. We’re having a baby!”
After confirming the pregnancy via video announcement, AJ and Rochelle brought back the cameras in July to reveal the sex of the forthcoming child .
“It’s crazy — the first Backstreet girl,” AJ vlogged at the time, also spilling the details on Ava’s name.
In addition to his new duties as a dad, AJ McLean is busy in the studio working on a new album with the Backstreet Boys . The band announced in July they had rejoined forces for the first time in more than six years and would produce a new record sometime in the near future.
“We’re really excited — this actually is our first time in the studio together, all five of us, since 2005,” Howie Dorough, 38, told US Weekly at the time. “We’re recording our brand-new record here in London.”
