Holmes flaunted her new sparkler the day after Cruise proposed over a candlelit dinner atop the Eiffel Tower. Photo by: JEAN-PAUL PELISSIER / REUTERS / Landov
Tom & Katie: Baby on the Way| Pregnancy, Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise
A friend of the Holmes family, who remain in Toledo, says the family is "supportive. . . . They have to give way to the privacy of Tom and Katie and let them proceed at their own pace." Still, "Katie is so far away. It's challenging for them," says the friend. "I know they're staying in close contact with her, and they are positive and loving. That's how they are."

While mom-to-be Holmes can draw on her parents' expertise, her fiancé "is a great dad already," says Cruise's pal, actress Leah Remini. Isabella and 10-year-old Connor – whom Cruise adopted as infants with ex-wife Nicole Kidman – "are so cool," says Remini. "You can sit and talk to them about life."

Adds Cruise's M:I 3 costar Greg Grunberg: "They are really well-adjusted and engaging, really pleasant and wonderful to be around." The kids have been fixtures on the M:I 3 set, where, despite 12-hour workdays, Cruise "is having a ball," says DeVette. And there's hardly a need to worry about whether the actor will be able to keep up with a new tot. "He's almost more of a stuntman than anything," says M:I 3 director JJ Abrams. "My stuntman is standing there saying, 'Tom, can I please do one?' I'm nervous every day."