9/18/2009

in

Katherine Heigl and husband Josh Kelley are proud parents of a 10-month-old South Korean girl, Naleigh.

Pahull Bains

Katherine Heigl and husband Josh Kelley have released the first photos of their 10-month-old daughter, whom they adopted from South Korea. They have named her Nancy Leigh – after Heigl's mother Nancy, and sister Margaret Leigh – but call her by her nickname, Naleigh.  
  
The 30-year-old star said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that the "process is intense," but she had personal reasons for choosing a baby from Korea since her own sister was adopted from there. "My sister is Korean and my parents adopted her back in the '70s and so I just always knew that this is something I wanted to do. I just wanted to make sure that I was marrying a guy who understands that this was going to have to happen. Not everybody is down with that, not everybody thinks that," she said.  
  
Josh Kelley is clearly as excited and passionate about the new addition to their family. At his concert in Oxford, Ohio, on Friday, he exclaimed on stage, "We adopted a baby from Korea, me and my girl, and she's awesome, dude! This girl is the bomb!"  
  
The beautiful baby "was actually born the day before me in November, which I thought was really serendipitous and just kind of like a sign," Heigl said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last week. She and her husband applied to adopt from Korea last year, and had to complete a 40-page questionnaire regarding their personal backgrounds and parenting philosophies in order to be eligible for the process. They have been preparing for a baby since late last year, according to Us Weekly, and did not expect that they would be blessed with a baby so soon, as they had earlier been informed that the process could take years.  
  
The happy family is enjoying their first moments together. "Katherine, Josh and Naleigh are together and doing well," Heigl's rep, Melissa Cates, told Us Weekly. Congratulations and best wishes!