Mario congrats and glad you’re going for the Big Surprise on Birth Day: “I’m going to wait to find out if it’s a boy of a girl,” he told me. “I want that whole ‘it’s a surprise’” factor!

It was completely obvious that actor Mario Lopez is thrilled to bits about first-time daddyhood. “It’s going great. I’m excited,” a beaming Mario, 36, told me  at the 12th Annual Young Hollywood Awards at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in LA oay 13. But, “there’s no blueprint or manual” to learning to be a first time father he explained, so, “I’m going to write a book for first time dads !”

For now , the host of Extra, America’s Best Dance Crew sand the host of our Young Hollywood Awards says he’s just ”taking a lot of advice, letting it all process,” and when the baby arrives, ”I’m going to be very hands on – you’ll probably see me doing the diapering and the bottles on Extra.”

And, though Mario’s girlfriend, Courtney Laine Mazza (a Broadway dancer that he’s been seriously involved with since 2008), “isn’t that far along” yet — the couple just released the news that they’re expecting on Mar. 10 — Mario says he’ll be taking baby birth prep classes and jokes that ”my kid will probably end up being born on screen!”

“I’m looking forward to every minute, just the whole process.”

- Bonnie Fuller and Lindsey DiMattina

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