Shiri Appleby Pregnant With First Child With Fiance Jon Shook

Actress Shiri Appleby attends the 1st Annual Baby2Baby Gala at The BookBindery on November 3, 2012 in Culver City, California. Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images

Roswell‘s leading lady Shiri Appleby is expecting a little bundle of joy come spring – but both she and her new fiance are opting to stay in the dark about their baby’s gender.

“He really wanted to do it and it sounded like fun,” the actress told Us Weekly of fiance Jon Shook‘s suggestion to keep the gender a surprise. “It’s really made the whole pregnancy a heightened excitement because you just don’t know what it’s going to be!”

Appleby, 34, and Shook, a chef and owner of L.A.’s Animal, are instead keeping busy decorating their baby’s room (with monochromatic colors and a chandelier) and making sure that their little one – whom they call “Baby Shook” – is healthy.

“Thank God, knock on wood, I’ve had a really easy pregnancy,” Appleby told Us. “I’ve been working out a lot just because it feels good. And I’ve loved it, you get to eat as many breads and pastas as you want and don’t gain weight. It’s been great!”

Shook, 31, has been reveling in the early stages of parenthood too.

“Right now he’s really excited,” Appleby said of Shook. “He felt the baby kick the other day for the first time and we went to that really fun, five-month check-up where you see the baby in 3D and we were just laughing our heads off the whole time. It’s just so much fun.”

The pair got engaged just a few months before, during a July trip to Ventotene, Italy. Shook had to propose twice because Appleby was so excited and overwhelmed.

“I was like, ‘I want to slow this moment down,'” she told Us at the time.

Going through their pregnancy has, in fact, made their bond stronger, Appleby said.

“When you see this guy going to all the doctor’s appointments with you and you tell him you’re feeling a certain way and two minutes later he’s looked it up on the Internet to tell you that it’s normal, you realize that you’re really starting a family with somebody,” she said, “and it’s just – there’s no way to look at that person and not be more in love.”