Shane McAnally and Husband Michael Baum Welcome Baby No. 3, Son Texson (Exclusive)

Songwriter Shane McAnally has a new baby boy, and he’s a smash hit with his family!

Texson Ray McAnally Baum was born via surrogate in the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 26, in San Diego, Calif., to McAnally and his husband, Michael Baum.

The baby, who weighed 8 lbs., 10 oz., is McAnally and Baum’s third child, joining their 12-year-old twins, daughter, Dylan, and son, Dash.

“We were instantly in love,” McAnally tells PEOPLE exclusively. “He’s just perfect in every way.”

Earlier, McAnally, 51, told PEOPLE that Dylan and Dash were resistant to adding to their family of four, but McAnally had hope they would eventually “come around.”

That hope has already been realized, the dad is delighted to report. “The moment they laid eyes on him,” McAnally says, “it really was love at first sight.”

The Nashville hit-maker, who has written and/or produced more than 50 No. 1 country songs, says the baby’s unique name was inspired by his roots: McAnally was born and raised in the north central Texas town of Mineral Wells. The baby is being called Tex.

“‘Texson’ is about me being a Texan and he is the son of a Texan, so that’s why it’s spelled the way it is,” McAnally explains. The baby’s middle name is the maiden name of McAnally’s grandmother.

McAnally and Baum have long wanted to expand their family, but their move from Nashville to Santa Barbara, Calif., in late 2023 made them feel the time was finally right.

“We have really nested,” McAnally says. “It’s just been a really good thing for our family. Michael always says, ‘Things grow here,’ and so we just wanted to expand the love.”

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As the couple pursued surrogacy for the second time, McAnally says, they took it as a sign that every step of the process went smoothly.

“It just started to feel like it was meant to be,” he says. “I have to trust the way the universe does things, and it was all green lights.”