The Vampire Diaries alum Ian Somerhalder, Nikki Reed expecting child

Mrs. Carter: Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed have some more incredible news to share today!

In a post on Instagram, the star of The Vampire Diaries for eight seasons made it clear that he and his new wife are welcoming their first child together. Their joyous announcement below gives you a pretty good sense of just how happy that they are to be entering the next phase of their lives together:

“To our friends, family, and rest of the world. In my 38 years on this earth I’ve never experienced anything more powerful and beautiful than this. I can’t think of anything more exciting than this next chapter and we wanted you to hear this from us first. This has been the most special time of our lives and we wanted to keep it between the three of us for as long as possible so we could enjoy this time with each other and our little one who is growing so fast…because that’s what they do, they grow so fast. Thank you for your kind energy. Love, Ian.”

This pregnancy comes at a perfect time, given that this is the first time in years that Somerhalder is not going to be starting up production for a new television show come June or July. While we assume that he’ll have many more projects coming up (and the same goes for Reed, who was recently a part of Sleepy Hollow as Betsy Ross), we do think that he has a little more creative flexibility. Plus, after eight years of doing one thing, we’re sure that it feels pretty good to have to go to work in the same spot again.

Nikki and Ian first married back in 2015, and they started to date back in the late summer / early fall of 2014. They first kept quiet about their relationship, but overtime grew increasingly public about it. They had to take on some nasty tabloids for a while, but it definitely seems to be worth it on the other side.

Congratulations again to these two! Hopefully they have a happy and safe pregnancy, and we hope to see them back on TV again soon enough.

Are you happy for Ian and Nikki? Share some of your thoughts in the comments below!

Meanwhile, be sure to head over to the link here to get some more news when it comes to The Vampire Diaries and the aftermath of the series finale earlier this spring. (Photo: The CW.)