CNN's Kristen Holmes Welcomes Her Second Baby with Husband Noah Gray: 'Constantly Reminded How Lucky I Am' (Exclusive)

Kristen Holmes' family has grown by one more!

The CNN national correspondent has welcomed her second baby with her Chief of Comms for DC Fire and EMS husband Noah Gray, a rep for Holmes confirms exclusively to PEOPLE. Their daughter, Eleanor Ricky Gray, was born in Washington D.C. at 7:58 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14. She weighed 6 lbs., 11 oz. and measured 19.5 inches long at birth.

Eleanor Ricky is named after Kristen's maternal grandmother, Eleanor Romano, and Noah's father, Ricky — two of the kindest, most generous people that the couple say they have ever met.

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Related: CNN's Jessica Schneider and Husband Adam Harrison Welcome Baby No. 2 After Fertility Struggles: 'Still in Awe' (Exclusive)

"Our son Eliot, 3, is already in love with his new baby sister and can't wait to take care of her," Holmes shares. "Eliot meeting Eleanor was one of the sweetest encounters my husband and I have ever witnessed. He wanted to cover her in kisses and make sure she has everything she needed."

"He was also very excited by the gift Eleanor brought him to the hospital — she shocked him by knowing his love of Hot Wheels from birth," the newly minted mom of two jokes.

Although she's had a "grueling" and "exhausting" last year as she's balanced her career and motherhood, Holmes says it's been "one of the most rewarding."

"Seeing a campaign through from start to finish was one of my ultimate career goals, but it was also incredibly important to me to grow my family and give Eliot a sibling, so I set out to do both," she shares. "It was a lot of compartmentalization."

"For much of the last year I was in a new state every day without time to even think about what I was physically doing — waking up at 4 a.m., sometimes with intense morning sickness, getting on a flight at 6 a.m., covering a campaign rally in a swing state, and then doing it all over again the next day."

However, Holmes says that despite it's challenges, she feels "lucky" to be in the position she's in now.

"I remember at 8 months pregnant, calling my husband and saying, 'Oh my god, we're going to have another baby in the house.' And he was like, '...yes?'" she remembers.

"All of this was only possible with the help and support of my incredibly patient husband and I'm constantly reminded how lucky I am to be able to pursue my career ambitions, as well as my dreams of building a family."

Read the original article on People