Lily Collins is fully embracing her new role as a parent after welcoming her first baby earlier this year via surrogate.
“Mom mode …” the 35-year-old actress wrote via Instagram on Thursday, February 6.
Collins gave fans a glimpse at her home life with baby girl Tove, sharing an intimate photo of the mother-daughter duo nesting. In the snap, the Emily in Paris star looked lovingly down at the newborn as she held her in her arms.
Collins’ sweet snap was posted less than an hour after her husband, Charlie McDowell, shared his own picture with their baby girl.
“Dad mode 
,” he captioned the photo, which showed the new dad holding Tove in his lap and playing with her arms. Collins couldn’t contain her happiness over their little family, writing in the comments section, “Love you so much .”
Collins and McDowell, 41, surprised fans one week prior when they announced in a joint social media post that their daughter had arrived.
“Welcome to the center of our world Tove Jane McDowell,” the couple wrote via Instagram on Friday, January 31, sharing a photo of the newborn in a bassinet on the couch. “Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way. We love you to the moon and back again …”
Celebrities including Amanda Seyfried and Sarah Hyland sent the family of three love shortly after the news broke. “This is perfect. So so happy for you four 
,” Seyfried, 39, wrote in the comments section, adding the pair’s dog to their headcount.
Hyland, meanwhile, replied, “I’m sobbinggggg .”
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Lily’s brother Nic Collins also gushed about his newest family member, writing via his Instagram Story on Friday, “Welcome to the world, Tove. [I’m] already so proud to be your uncle.”
While the comments were mostly positive, some users questioned why Lily and McDowell — who tied the knot in September 2021 — went the surrogacy route to expand their family.
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McDowell was quick to clap back at haters with a poignant social media response, writing in the comments, “Thank you for all the kind messages and love. We are overjoyed and very grateful. In regards to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby — it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy.”
The director explained, “It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child. It’s OK to not know the motivations of a surrogate regardless of what you assume. And it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regards to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives.”
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He ended with a joke, writing, “That’s all for now because she just pooped, and I need to change her diaper.”
After settling in with their little one over the weekend, McDowell returned to Instagram to give fans a peek at their new day-to-day life.
McDowell shared a photo of his wife pushing a stroller via his Instagram Story on Monday, February 3, with two red heart emojis. Lily reposted the picture, writing, “Utter bliss.”
