Good things come to those who wait — except in Tia Mowry‘s case!

When son Cree Taylor arrived on June 28, five days earlier than his expected due date, the actress was thrilled to finally see an end to her pregnancy.

“I was told to be prepared for him to come before or after my due date,” Mowry, 33, tells BET.com. “I was excited to get this baby out of me.”

And although she was prepared for the possibility of welcoming baby early, Mowry admits she didn’t anticipate the sudden wave of feelings after meeting her son.

“It’s a lot more emotional than I expected. I knew it would be emotional, but I didn’t know it would be this emotional,” she says. ”People always say you never know love until you have your own child and all of that is true.”

Completely “obsessed” and “involved” with Cree, caring for a newborn is already taking a toll on the new mom.

“I didn’t know I’d be this exhausted. I’m so sleep deprived,” she reveals. “When I talk to other mothers about it they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, honey, and it doesn’t change. Your body just gets used to it.’”

Fortunately first-time father Cory Hardrict is happy to step up to the plate when it comes to baby boy.

“He’s changing diapers, he’s feeding, bathing, all of it,” Mowry shares. “At night I pump bottles so he can do feedings.”

And with Mowry — who has shed 25 pounds “from breastfeeding” — returning to the set of The Game in September, life is about to get a whole lot more hectic.

“[Cree] is definitely coming with me,” she explains. “I’m excited, but very nervous about how I’m going to balance things out because right now I get no sleep and I’m gonna have to memorize lines. Lack of sleep and studying don’t go hand in hand for me.”

Despite her busy schedule, Mowry couldn’t be happier with her timing of starting her family with Hardrict, noting the decision to wait “when you’re older helps you emotionally. You’re much more stable. I’m more stable in my life.”

Ecstatic to be a mother, Mowry is ready for her Tia and Tamera co-star — and twin sister! — Tamera to share in the experience.

“At her wedding I said in my speech that she needed to get on it — now!”

– Anya Leon

There’s a baby on the way for Jason Castro and wife Mandy Mayhall.

“I am excited to announce that there will be a new addition to the Castro family! My wife and I are expecting our first child this August,” the American Idol alum, 24, wrote on his official Web site Friday.

“We just found out yesterday that it is going to be a girl! That makes me laugh … what am I going to do with a sweet little girl?! Probably just smile a lot … I cannot wait!!!”

Castro, who finished fourth on Season 7 of the hit reality show, married Mayhall in Jan. 2010.

– Sarah Michaud

There’s another cook in the kitchen — Top Chef‘s Tom Colicchio has welcomed his third son.

Wife Lori Silverbush gave birth to Mateo Lev Colicchio on Tuesday, March 22 at 12:11 p.m. in New York City, his rep tells PEOPLE.

Weighing in at 7.9 lbs., Mateo joins big brothers Luka Bodhi, 19 months, and Dante, 17, the chef’s son from a previous relationship. Mom and baby are both doing well, says the rep.

No hospital food for the newly-expanded Colicchio clan either! The chef de cuisine at Craft, James Tracey, is sending dinner from the restaurant over to the hospital for the family.

– Sarah Michaud with reporting by Liza Hamm

Melissa Rycroft Strickland is a mom! She and her husband, insurance agent Tye Strickland, welcomed a daughter on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 16, her rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Ava Grace Strickland, born in Dallas and weighing 6 lbs., 13 oz., is the first child for the pair, who wed in December 2009 in Mexico. Mother and child are resting comfortably.

“Our lives have changed so much in the last two years and today we’ve been blessed with the best change ever, our beautiful baby girl,” Rycroft, 27, tells PEOPLE.

Earlier this year, Rycroft — who was famously dumped by Jason Mesnick after becoming engaged on The Bachelor — said the turn of events had been an enormous blessing in her life.

“Everything is wonderful and life is exactly as it should be,” she said.

– Monica Rizzo

“She says, ‘If you go it’s going to be nothing! If anything happens, I’ll call you,’” he recalls. “I get to the Lincoln Tunnel and she calls me and she’s like, ‘It’s time.’ We did a U-turn, went right home and went to the hospital. We got here at 10 o’clock [in the morning] and at 5:11 p.m. she gave birth. It was pretty perfect.”

So was the ‘lovely’ timing. “What a perfect Valentine’s Day gift,” he says. “What kind of a Valentine’s Day gift do you and [your] wife want [more] than a new baby?”

Our365 Newborn Photography

Tuesday, Valastro was on cloud nine, snuggling with his newborn son, Carlo Salvatore, and introducing the baby to his two older brothers, Buddy, Jr. and Marco, and older sister Sofia.

“I said, ‘Carlo, welcome to the jungle,’” Valastro laughs. “My oldest, Sofia, is really, really gentle and wants to help, [but] the boys are going to make him rough at a young age!”

“They don’t want to let him go,” he continues. “They want to hold him and kiss him and hug him.”

The baby, whom Valastro and his wife named in honor of their family bakery, Carlo’s, and for former colleague Sal Picinich, who died of cancer two weeks ago, should be coming home soon. And Valastro is even taking a rare vacation to spend time at home with his ever-expanding family.

“I just feel so blessed and so happy,” he gushes. “I came from a big family of five so I believe in having a lot of children and I think it’s really nice, especially when a family grows up tight and together like me and my family did. I’m carrying those values on to my kids.”

So will there be another Valastro baby joining the clan in a few years? Not so fast, he chuckles. “Like we say in the bakery, the kitchen’s closed!”

— Lesley Messer

Fresh out of the oven!

Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro is a dad for the fourth time, his rep tells PEOPLE.

Valastro’s wife Lisa, who also appears on the TLC show, gave birth to son Carlo Salvatore Valastro on Monday, Feb. 14 at 5:11 p.m.

The baby boy was born at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston N.J., weighing in at 7 lbs., 3 oz. and measuring 20 inches long.

“We feel so blessed to welcome a healthy new baby into our family,” Valastro, 33, tells PEOPLE. “Lisa’s doing great and we can’t wait to bring Carlo home.”

Carlo joins elder sibligs Sofia, 7, Buddy, 6, and Marco, 3, at home in Hoboken, N.J., where Valastro runs Carlo’s Bakery.

The baby’s names each honor a man close to the family’s heart: Carlo, for the man Valastro’s father took over the business from, and Salvatore for Sal Picinich, who worked in the shop as a baker for more than four decades and whom Valastro considered to be a second father. Picinich lost his battle with cancer in January.

TLC will air a one-hour special celebrating the new baby on Sunday, March 6 at 9/8c, capturing the family preparing for his arrival, Lisa’s baby shower, and the birth of Carlo.

– Charlotte Triggs

Bill Rancic and wife Giuliana – who have publicly struggled with infertility and featured their issues on their Style Network reality show, Giuliana & Bill, this past season — are currently taking a break after trying in vitro fertilization twice in 2010.

“Right now we’re just taking a breather,” the 2004 winner of The Apprentice, 39, told PEOPLE at Nivea’s Teach & Tea event, held last Tuesday at The Lion in New York City.

“Our new motto is to have fun. We’re just going to play the cards that God gave us and enjoy it, even if it means being without children for a while.”

Rancic explained that although he and his E! News host wife aren’t actively pursuing parenthood, the pair is open to all options.

“We’re looking at everything — surrogacy, adoption,” he says. “One of my sisters adopted a boy about five, six years ago so we’ll see … maybe.”

For her part, Giuliana, 36, detailed the rigors and heartbreak of her fertility treatments.

“For two and a half years we tried to have a baby. Almost every day there was either an ultrasound, blood work or a doctor was looking at me. It just got so invasive,” she notes. “And the thing is, IVF does work. It worked for us the first time but we miscarried, sadly. It’s very easy for women — when they fail a couple of times, when they’re not getting pregnant or not having a baby and they’ve been trying for a long time — to get into a very dark place. It’s very hard to crawl out of that place.”

Discussing their joint decision to cease actively trying for a child, Rancic says, “We realized we’re healthy, we can travel and first and foremost, we’re a family, Bill and I. Baby or no baby, we’re a family and we love each other. And we had to come back to remembering who we were before this whole baby journey — a fun couple. We’re now back doing that.”

One example of how Giuliana is having a good time? “I wouldn’t be enjoying prosecco [white wine] today if I was pregnant!”

– Mary S. Park

Getting so close!

With her daughter due this month, Melissa Rycroft enjoys a night out in her hometown with Tye Strickland on Saturday evening.

The Bachelor alum, 27, and her husband attended Maxim‘s pre-Super Bowl bash, held at Centennial Hall at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas.

The following night, the Green Bay Packers went on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in Super Bowl XLV.

RELATED: Melissa Rycroft Is in Pregnancy Planning Mode

Energetic Top Chef contender Richard Blais and his wife Jazmin, already the parents of daughter Riley Maddox, 2½, have just expanded their family.

“Welcome Embry Lotus Blais!” the Atlanta-based Bravo chef Tweeted about his new daughter, along with posting a photo of the new arrival.

The girl arrived in Atlanta’s Piedmont Hospital on Saturday, Feb. 5, said the dad, who owns the Flip Burger Boutique in that city.

Earlier this week, Blais was dishing out Super Bowl recipes on CNN – suggesting veal sweetbreads instead of ordinary chicken wings.

– Stephen M. Silverman

It’s a boy for Bachelor alums Jesse Csincsak and Ann Lueders.

Noah Theodore Csincsak arrived via emergency c-section at 4 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2 in Frisco, Colorado. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 4 oz.

“No words can describe how blessed Ann and I feel having welcomed our son into the world today,” Csincsak, 28, tells TooFab.com.

“We are so excited to finally have him with us — we’ve been waiting our whole lives for this moment!”

The couple announced the pregnancy in August, just weeks before wedding in Las Vegas.

– Sarah Michaud